☕ saturday mornings - August 27, 2022
☕ saturday mornings - August 27, 2022
fairy tales, missing out & overcoming brick walls
Happy Saturday all!
I hope you’re having a great start to your weekend.
What I’ve been up to:
I'm leaving for Spain tomorrow for a 4-month study term. I recently discovered Ernest Hemingway loved Pamplona, visiting 9 times in total and writing one of his most popular novels 'The Sun Also Rises' as a love letter to the city.
Here's a recap of the coolest things I've explored this week.
✍️ Quote I’m pondering:
Neil Gaiman, English author, on the truth behind fairy tales:
“Fairy tales are more than true: not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten.”
✍️ Another Quote I’m pondering:
Joseph Campbell, American writer, on authenticity:
"The privilege of a lifetime is being who you are."
📚 Book passage I loved:
Ignore any advice that tells you you are going to miss something.
Every mistake I have ever made in business, marriage, and personal conduct was because I thought if I didn't do or get this now, it was never going to happen.
―Tribe of Mentors by Tim Ferriss (from Terry Crews)
💡 Idea from me: Brick Walls
Brick walls, coined by Randy Pausch in his book ‘The Last Lecture’, are the obstacles life inevitably creates that stop you from getting what you want.
Obstacles can be extremely frustrating. It's easy to feel that things should be… easy.
But, in Randy's words, "brick walls are there for a reason. They're not there to keep us out. The brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something. The brick walls are there to stop the people who don't want it badly enough."
As a young man, Randy applied to his dream school, Brown University, but was curtly rejected. But, he decided to call the admissions office and kept following up until they finally agreed to accept him. He got over the brick wall through sheer determination.
Later in life, his university research group was admitted to visit the NASA headquarters. It was Randy's dream, but as a faculty member, he wasn't allowed to join. But, he refused to roll over.
Randy writes, "I was heartbroken, but I was not deterred. I would find a way around this brick wall. I decided to carefully read all the literature about the program, looking for loopholes." He discovered he could visit as a journalist and was able to join his students on the trip of his dreams.
Randy teaches us that, often, tenacity matters more than talent.
Obstacles can be overcome. If we can reframe them, from a negative thing to an opportunity to show how badly we want something, we can find the drive and find a way to get over the brick walls.
And, in the end, Randy reminds us:
"Experience is what you get when you don’t get what you wanted. And experience is often the most valuable thing you have to offer.
It's a phrase worth considering at every brick wall we encounter, and at every disappointment.
It's also a reminder that failure is not just acceptable, it's often essential."
❓ Question for You:
A question from James Clear, author of Atomic Habits, to inspire play:
Is taking things so seriously improving my performance? How can today feel like play?
📸 Photo of the week:
The Klementinum is a historic complex of buildings in Prague, once the third largest Jesuit college in the world.
One of the buildings is this ancient Baroque library. It stores books nearly as old as Prague, still accessible to certain members of the library.
It was, hands down, one of the most beautiful rooms I've ever seen.
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Have a fantastic weekend.
Much love to you and yours,
Tommy