Daily Spark

Developing the discipline of looking for and applying leverage is how you make substantial increases in your ability to solve problems.

A firm belief in possibility of creating something valuable is what teams rely on during the most trying parts of the journey. Without it, it becomes all too easy to feel burnt out and to quit just as you're on the cusp of producing something great.

If you’re able to go through the exercise of upgrading your limiting factors to enabling factors, the benefit is two-fold and well-worth it: you get more effective operations and, perhaps most important, room to breathe and a renewed sense of sanity to ensure that you and your team are able to continue doing the work you believe in.

Sometimes you can be your own worst enemy when it comes to taking on challenges to foster growth.

It’s important to normalize the idea of discomfort — that isn’t to say that all forms of discomfort are good, but it remains true that it is only when we’re stretched beyond the limits we’re comfortable with that the adaptations for growth are able to occur.

Where you choose to spend your time greatly influences your ability to make long term progress towards your goals. 

A simple mindset to help you navigate through your most ambitious goals: think big, work small. If you're a business, focus on how to earn your first $1, then $10, then $100 and so on. If you're trying to write a novel, focus on writing the first page, then the second. Envisioning lofty goals doesn't require you to figure out how you will get there. Envisioning lofty goals in smaller units of prog...

 

Breaking things & accrued wisdom are huge but understated part of the creation process. It's not trial & error, it's trial & learning. Try things, break things, learn, repeat with greater wisdom, and in most cases you'll inch closer towards your goal.

This is the new paradigm: more minutes spent no longer guarantees that you will do better work. Learning to maximize EACH minute with focus & intention will.

How you experience the world is determined in large part by the stories you tell yourself about events have happened.

To have a healthy sense of optimism isn’t about hoping for a perfect world, it’s about resolving to be resilient in a decidedly imperfect one.

Growth doesn’t happen when you’re doing what is familiar and comfortable, it happens when you reach a point where you feel at capacity, uncomfortable perhaps, and out of ideas but resolve to keep on going just a little bit more.

Yes, it is almost always uncomfortable to try new things, but what change worth making in life has ever been easy?

The widget is half the work. 

Leading a fulfilling life, doing great work, and having meaningful relationships all depend on your ability to make increasingly better judgments about how tolerant it makes sense to be or not to be in any given situation.

New York University professors Dr. Gabriele Oettingen and Dr. Peter Gollwitzer developed a research-backed mental strategy called WOOP (Wish, Outcome, Ostacle, Plan) to help people change to healthier habits, improve social behavior, and improve academic performance.

When you apologize for your identity or for tending to basic human needs, you shortchange the respect that you deserve as a human being among fellow human beings.

If there is only one rule that you could depend on to live an honest and examined life, let it be to always do with courage what makes sense — especially in situations when it’s challenging to do.

In all areas where progress and change matter, it helps to both be an ambassador for answering how and to have a very low tolerance for situations where no one seems to be asking it.

To the extent that expanding the possibilities of your development and journey through life matter, intellectual bravery is one of the most valuable skills you can equip yourself with in life.

If the work and change you seek to create matters enough, creating the best possible chance for it by trying is worth the effort alone.

There’s nothing wrong with taking pride in your work ethic, but perhaps now more than ever it’s clear that an equal amount pride should be taken in Personal Space ethic — the kind that is intentional about pausing, taking extended breaks, and reaping the wide array of personal and professional benefits that come along with it.

When it comes to preserving your sanity, being fully engaged and energized, and being happy , choosing to miss out on some things is one of the best decisions you can make for your wellbeing.

Your work isn’t going to please everyone and that’s okay, because it’s not for everyone . It’s for the people embrace it.