Better Today Than Yesterday

"If we allow more people to solve problems without permission, and if we tolerate (and don’t vilify) their mistakes, then we enable a much larger set of problems to be addressed." - Ed Catmull Recently, a friend said: “At a certain point, you can’t muscle it anymore.” It was one of those comments that made me stop midstride and say, “Why didn’t I think of that.” I love it when that happens, and it...

In the West, we often think of art as a blank canvas, something we add to create the final piece. In the East, artists frequently start with a piece of jade and remove parts until the art is revealed. We each have a self-image formed through our experiences. We often cling to this image, which influences various aspects of our lives—how we dress, behaviors, language, beliefs, friendships, and self...

You’re not as good as you think. You don’t have it all figured out. Stay focused. Do better….This is the characteristic of how great people think. It’s not that they find failure in every success. They just hold themselves to a standard that exceeds what society might consider to be objective success. Because of that, they don’t care much about what other people think; they care whether they meet...

Highlights from Charlie Munger's Commencement Speech at The Harvard School in 1986.If you found that helpful, please copy this link and send it to a friend.https://kellyvohs.substack.com/p/how-to-guarantee-a-life-of-misery Take care, Kelly PS: What Alcohol Does to Your Body, Brain & Health - As mentioned, this. episode by Dr. Andrew Huberman may change how you view alcohol. This is a public episod...

If you found that helpful, please copy this link and send it to a friend. https://kellyvohs.substack.com/p/three-ideas-about-time Take care, Kelly This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit kellyvohs.substack.com

If you found that helpful, copy this link and send it to a friend who might find it helpful too. https://kellyvohs.substack.com/p/taking-the-longview-on-people Take care, Kelly This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit kellyvohs.substack.com

We are just bags of water walking around in our own unrealities. - Epictetus We tell ourselves stories. Some of them are true, but a lot of them are not true. Stories about what we can do, and what we can’t do. And who we are, and who we aren’t. Most importantly, about who we can and cannot be. Be careful with your stories. Many of them are unrealities. When we’ve reached a conclusion we haven’t n...

"The professional prepares mentally to absorb blows and to deliver them. They aim to take what the day gives them. They are prepared to be prudent and prepared to be reckless, to take a beating when they have to, and to go for the throat when they can. They understand that the field alters every day. Their goal is not victory (success will come by itself when it wants to) but to handle themself, t...

The idea that there are “well-rounded” people is a prescription for mediocrity, if not for incompetence. Strong people always have strong weaknesses, too. Where there are peaks, there are valleys. - Peter Drucker Someone asked me about my "leadership focus" in '24, and here is where I've landed: * Respond , Don't React : This has been at the top of my list for the past three years. A smart friend...

(The audio and video are the same, but with a bit more color than what is below. I enjoyed putting this together and hope you enjoy it, too.) “Why is everyone walking around underperforming relatively to their ability? Largely, it’s because people live their lives trying to avoid embarrassment." - Dr. Gio Valiante I’ve been lucky to study under masters. One day, a master of his craft sat me down a...

(The audio and video are the same, but with a bit more color than what is below. I enjoyed putting this together and hope you enjoy it too.) Jeff Bezos, talking about hiring: "Will you admire this person? If you think about the people you’ve admired in your life, they are probably people you’ve been able to learn from or take an example from. For myself, I’ve always tried hard to work only with pe...

Here are a few of the most important lessons I learned this year. But first, something from someone we lost this year: I think it’s a huge mistake not to absorb elementary, worldly wisdom if you’re capable of doing it because it makes you better able to serve others, it makes you better able to serve yourself, and it makes life more fun… —Charlie Munger My 10 Lessons Learned From 2023 * Be Unprodu...

I am sure that neither numbers nor strength brings victory in war, but whichever army goes into battle stronger in soul, their enemies generally cannot withstand them. —Xenophon Wilma Rudolph was born in Saint Bethlehem, Tennessee, on June 23, 1940. At the age of four, she contracted polio, a debilitating disease that left her with a paralyzed left leg. Doctors initially believed she might never w...

“You never really understand a person until you consider things from their point of view...until you climb into their skin and walk around in it.” - Atticus Finch Hi friend, Most people don’t spend as much time thinking about you as you think. They’re too busy worrying about themselves. Sometimes it’s selfish, usually it’s just survival. You and I are no exception, and it often holds us back. We c...

"Even bad fortune is fickle. Perhaps it will come, perhaps not; in the meantime, it is not. So, look forward to better things." (Seneca) Hi friend, Here are a couple of thoughts from me: * Good or bad, most things are not permanent. Enjoy the good. Don’t overreact to the bad. * We can spend our energy complaining or changing. Only one can make things better tomorrow. * Lead with trust. You have to...

"Dying is easy. Living is the trick." (Red Smith) Hi friend, Have you ever wondered who drinks the most coffee? This coffee party started in Ethiopia, and now you can find it growing in 70 countries and drank almost everywhere. Brazil produces the most coffee, and Finland drinks the most coffee at four cups daily. Our Scandinavian friends consume about 25 pounds of coffee per capita compared to th...

"To me, the real winners are the ones who step out of the game entirely, who don’t even play the game, who rise above it. Those are the people who have such internal mental and self-control and self-awareness, they need nothing from anybody else." (Naval Ravikant) Rare for apple trees, it stands by itself. With two branches jutting at a 45-degree angle, it’s not pretty. I often wonder if the more...

“Because here's another sneaky little truth about life. You can't be an important and life-changing presence for some people without also being a joke and an embarrassment to others. You just can’t.” -Mark Manson Watch, Listen, or Read :) Hey friends, My time in the army taught me a lot. How to carry a rucksack is at the top of that list. Big bag, pack it full of bullets, beans, bandaids and walk....

"The deliberate envisioning of loss supplies the perspective necessary to appreciate the gifts in your life because you can only truly understand how something is serving you once you know both its presence and its absence." -David Cain Do you get sick often? Once a year? Four times a year? Every couple of years? I don’t know about you, but I hate being sick. Sore throat, headache, whatever. The d...

“Like everyone, you think you are rational, but you are not. Rationality is not a power you are born with but one you acquire through training and practice. Generally, what causes us to go astray in the first place, what leads to bad decisions and miscalculations, is our deep-rooted irrationality, the extent to which our minds are governed by emotion.” -Robert Greene Emotion is good. It is the fue...

“In the course of a week, he became to me a brother, a father, a friend, and the most worthy of confidence. His uniform good temper, coolness in danger, and resources in difficulties, his prudence, fortitude, and perseverance, under the most trying circumstances, render him a most valuable character." -William Clark talking about his friend Meriwether Lewis. In 1804, two remarkable explorers and l...

“Our stupidity may be clearly proved by the fact that we hold that “buying” refers only to the objects for which we pay cash, and we regard as free gifts the things for which we spend our very selves. We are eager to attain them at the cost of anxiety, danger, lost honor, personal freedom, and time; so true it is that each man regards nothing as cheaper than himself.” -Seneca Alonzo Fields was Pre...

"We forge our truest identity by putting our heads into the mouths of the scariest demons, the realities of our lives. Only by facing our fears, our prejudices, our passions, can we transform the energy that is the source of our aggression, the source of our confusion, the source of our struggle." (Jerry Colonna, Reboot) I’ve always wondered why I tend to see the 1% wrong when 99% is right, whethe...

"Listening is suspending disbelief." (Rick Rubin, The Creative Act) Though I didn’t know it then, the back door was like most. The cement was smooth and discolored by the thousands of bags of trash dragged, pushed, and willed outside—a dumpster to the right and a pile of cigarette butts to the left. After swinging and slamming for over a decade, the metal door sounded like most metal doors. It was...

Humans think in stories, and we try to make sense of the world by telling stories . The truly unique trait of 'Sapiens' is our ability to create and believe fiction. All other animals use their communication system to describe reality. We use our communication system to create new realities. - Yuval Noah Harari Hi friends, What does success mean? That’s been on my mind lately. Well, that’s not tru...