“I want to be thoroughly used up when I die, for the harder I work the more I love. I rejoice in life for its own sake. Life is no brief candle to me. It’s a sort of splendid torch which I’ve got a hold of for the moment and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before gratitude handing it in to future generations.” - George Bernard Shaw
Heat and pressure privilege any lump of coal humble enough to admit its origins, patient enough to endure the struggle, and...
Personal Growth and Leadership
Personal Renewal, by John Gardner
Solitude and Leadership, by William Deresiewicz
The Disadvantages of an Elite Education, by William Deresiewicz
This is Water, by David Foster Wallace (VIDEO)
Conan O'Brien’s 2011 Dartmouth Commencement Address (VIDEO)
Conan O'Brien’s 2000 Harvard Commencement Address (VIDEO)
J.K. Rowling’s 2008 Harvard Commencement Address (VIDEO)
Eric Thomas’s “How Bad Do You Want It” Speech (VIDEO)
...This post is a continuation of Books that Have Changed My Life, Part I.
As time passes, I spend less time reading newspapers, magazines, and social media posts, and more time reading books. The information is denser, and the intellectual return-on-investment is higher. Plus, the news cycle is all garbage anyway; I usually find out about important events by asking others what’s happening in the world, then researching the things that sound interesting. But there are so many problems...
My post serving as one of five entrepreneurs in residence for the U.S. Government ended in May. It was a huge (and surreal) honor, and a learning experience that still hasn’t fully digested. I’ve been writing and will continue writing about the experience, but here are three quick takeaways:
D.C. may be full of hot air, but many of its leaders know what they’re doing and don’t get enough credit. I was blown away by the open-minded, outcomes-oriented, bipartisan...
It’s been almost a year since I graduated from college. I had an incredible four years at the University of Chicago, and learned more than I could have ever anticipated. Now that it’s in the past, I sometimes wonder: what do I wish I knew before entering college that I know now? Here’s the advice I’d have shared with my 18-year-old self:
Master the art of asking great questions. Questions are the driving force of learning. The faster you can optimize your ability to...
It’s easy for us to complain, bicker, and point fingers at power.
It’s a lot harder for us to rise to the occasion, to stand up and fight for what we believe.
The fight worth fighting is not easy. But for those of us who somewhere deep down believe in the possibility of a better future, the difficulty of action is no excuse not to act. We know hope is real. We’ve felt it. We’ve seen it. We’ve seen a single flame, ignited out of thin air, light a pitch black room....
Charlie Jones said “The only difference between where you are today, and where you’ll be a year from today, are the books you read and the people you meet.” Since I started reading voluntarily at the age of 14, books have had a huge influence on my life. Most of the books below are ones I’ve read multiple times, dog-eared dozens of pages in, and given as gifts. They and their authors have shaped who I’ve become.
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If you follow me on Facebook, Twitter, or Linkedin, you know I’m always posting quotes. I’m a total quote junkie. It’s how I get through the day. Here are the ones I’ve printed out and taped to mirrors, written on my hands for inspiration on sad days, crammed into the front covers of Moleskines, and have memorized for opportune recitation. ;)
“If you’re going through hell, keep going.” - Winston Churchill
“It takes conviction and vulnerability to believe in...
“Only in the synthesis of the most diverse fields of knowledge does life reveal its full intensity. Today, in a time of globalization and collapse of national identities, this is as true as ever. The age of specialization is over. Mixing together aspects of life that have apparently little to do with each other will be the essential talent of the twenty-first century. It is time for an athletic philosophy: a philosophy forged through muscles and heart; a philosophy born out of the union...
"Nature loves courage. You make the commitment and nature will respond to that commitment by removing impossible obstacles. Dream the impossible dream and the world will not grind you under, it will lift you up.“ - Terence McKenna
It takes little courage to dream.
Dreams are just fantasies, and fantasies are a dime a dozen. Whether it’s of a different career, different colleagues, a different family, different children, different friends, a different partner, a different body, a...