Hidden Genius – Polina Marinova Pompliano

Hidden Genius by Polina Marinova Pompliano
Date read: 4/8/24. Recommendation: 9/10.

After interviewing thousands of top performers, Pompliano has assembled the mental frameworks they use to navigate life and understand the world. This book surprised me in all the best ways because it feels like a practical, modern-day philosophy book. There’s no fluff, and it doesn’t rely on hacks, it’s about systems. Pompliano gives readers a no-nonsense guide to the art of living well. I loved the chapters on creativity, mental toughness, risk-taking, and embracing the constant act of self-discovery.

Check out my notes below or Amazon for details and reviews.

My Notes:

Creativity:
“Creativity is just connecting things. When you ask creative people how they did something, they feel a little guilty because they didn’t really do it, they just saw something. It seemed obvious to them after a while. That’s because they were able to connect the experiences they’ve had and synthesize new things.” Steve Jobs

“But here’s the catch about doing something truly original: It’s sometimes messy, which makes it vulnerable to criticism—especially by incumbents.” Polina Marinova Pompliano

Mental toughness:
Accountability mirror: Face your insecurities to overcome them. When David Goggins wanted to become a Navy SEAL, he looked at himself in the mirror and said, “You’re fat, you’re lazy, and you’re a liar. What are you going to do about it?”

Voluntary hardship: Do something that sucks every single day. Helps you shift to offensive mindset and gets you out of comfortable routines. “I brainwashed myself into craving discomfort.” David Goggins

Choose the path of most resistance: “To exist in this world, we must contend with humiliation, broken dreams, sadness, and loss. That’s just nature. Each specific life comes with its own personalized portion of pain. It’s coming for you. You can’t stop it. And you know it.” David Goggins

Listening to yourself vs. talking to yourself: “When you listen to yourself, you hear all the negativity and all the reasons why you can’t go on…but when you talk to yourself, you can tell yourself the things you need to hear in order to overcome the challenge ahead of you.” Polina Marinova Pompliano

Control your inputs:
“Who wrote the software running in your head? Are you sure you actually want it there?” Elon Musk

Multidisciplinary approach:
“We think we are in this one-room house. Books help us realize we are in a mansion. Reading is a way to find the lost parts of us.” Matt Haig

Moving target:
“Human beings are works in progress that mistakenly think they’re finished. The person you are right now is as transient, as fleeting and as temporary as all the people you’ve ever been. The one constant in our lives is change.” Dan Gilbert

“In order to understand who you are, you must first understand who you are not.” Polina Marinova Pompliano

“Once we’ve reached a certain level of success, we get comfortable and complacent. We wrap our identities around jobs, relationships, and material possessions—all things we could lose. Over time, we begin to trust ourselves less, and leave our destinies in other people’s hands. It’s the one thing preventing us from unlocking our own hidden genius: We are scared to bet on ourselves.” Polina Marinova Pompliano

Broken Money – Lyn Alden

Broken Money by Lyn Alden
Date read: 4/2/24. Recommendation: 9/10.

Alden arms readers with an understanding of the evolution of money—where it came from, where it’s going, and what’s at its foundation. She digs into the modern financial system, financialization, the long-term debt cycle, currency debasement, and digital currency. It’s particularly relevant to today’s economic environment—in order to understand where we’re heading, we must understand how we got here and how things have transpired in the past. Similar to Ray Dalio’s The Principles for Dealing with the Changing World Order, in that regard, but far more detailed. A great read for those interested in finance, economics, and wealth preservation.

Check out my notes below or Amazon for details and reviews.

My Notes:

Primary question:
“Who controls the ledger?”

“The answer, geopolitically, is that in the telecommunication age, whichever country has the most economic and military prowess is likely to have the primary control over the world’s ledger, unless or until there is a better solution, or until no single nation is large enough to force its will onto the rest of the world.” Lyn Alden

Currency debasement:
“Problems inevitably arise in every realm, and time and time again authorities inevitably turn to the creation of more currency to soften those problems and devalue various debts in a non-transparent way.” Lyn Alden

“When the government establishes a central bank, and especially if it outlaws gold ownership, it takes monetary power away from the people and gives it almost entirely to the banks and government authorities. People at that point have limited ability to custody their own scarce and liquid assets, and instead must rely on the central banking ledger; they must therefore submit to the risks of currency debasement and must give up most of their privacy. Government officials can now more easily take purchasing power away from savers—not just through transparent taxation but also through non-transparent inflation of the money supply—and channel it toward their goals.” Lyn Alden

Governments learned taxes were too transparent, people could see what they were paying for. Whereas printing more money over time was less obvious and allowed them to achieve the same outcome. “…this new capability represented a tremendous power shift from those who use the ledger to those who control the ledger.” Lyn Alden

“Rather than blaming individual politicians for handling the budget of countries poorly or blaming individual central bankers for handling private sector credit poorly, I instead point mainly toward sound money principles being nearly impossible to implement with the current level of monetary technology that we’ve had over the past century and a half. With the ability for central banks to print fiat currency as needed, and the speed of hard physical monies (e.g., gold) being too slow to present a realistic alternative payment system compared to fiat currency ledgers, it inevitably shifted political incentives toward constant fiscal deficits, constant credit growth, and constant currency devaluation, with little or no resource for those who disliked this situation.” Lyn Alden

Gold vs. fiat:
20th century was the only time in history, on a global scale, where weaker money (fiat) won adoption over harder money (gold). “And it occurred because telecommunication systems introduced speed as a new variable into the competition. Gold, with its inherently slow speed of transport and authentication, couldn’t compete with the pound, the dollar, and other top fiat currencies with their combination of speed and convenience, despite gold being in scarcer supply.” Lyn Alden

Speed: “This mismatch or gap in speed had been a foundational reason for the greater and greater levels of financialization that the world has seen over the past century and a half.” Lyn Alden

World reserve currency:
Many people think there must be a world reserve currency…”The world is instead shifting toward a multipolar, neutral reserve currency system, rather than a system where one country issues far-and-away the most dominant world reserve currency. No country, whether the United States or China or anyone else, is big enough to issue a fiat currency that the whole world can use and would want to use. The only thing that can be big enough is a form of supranational money; one that has natural scarcity and is not issued by a government.” Lyn Alden

“No structure, even an artificial one, enjoys the process of entropy. It is the ultimate fate of everything, and everything resists it.” Philip K. Dick

Qualitative easing vs. qualitative tightening:
QE: The Federal Reserve can create new base money through QE. Creates new bank reserves out of thin air, buys existing assets like Treasuries or mortgage-backed securities with new reserves.

QT: The Federal Reserve can also decrease the amount of existing base money by performing QT. Sell Treasuries or mortgage-backed securities for reserves and therefore delete those reserves. 

Inflation:
2% inflation target = prices double every 35 years

Price deflation is a good thing: “Ongoing productivity gains should make prices lower over time, not higher. Central bankers do everything in their power to make sure prices keep going up. To put this another way, central bankers do everything in their power to ensure that deflationary productivity gains are continually offset by a greater amount of currency debasement, so that nominal prices of goods and service keep marching higher at a slow and steady pace despite becoming more efficient to produce.” Lyn Alden

But deflation is bad for highly leveraged financial systems. That’s why policymakers and economists fear it. 

“There is little or no political incentive to run a surplus in any near term, and so it is rarely ever done.” Lyn Alden

Bitcoin:
Volatility due to how new it is as an asset class. Monetized from zero to more than a trillion-dollar market cap in its first 12 years. Only held by small fraction of global population. “Only once it is closer to its total addressable market, with extremely high levels of liquidity and user adoption, can its notorious price volatility realistically diminish.” Lyn Alden

Guaranteed to be cyclical (higher-highs, higher-lows): “A new type of emerging money cannot be widely adopted quickly This is because if too many people adopt it at once, it drives up the price and incentivizes leveraged buyers to enter it. This leverage eventually causes a bubble to form and to pop, which sets the price back and disillusions people for a while until it builds the next base and grows from there. Due to the attachment of leverage, Bitcoin cannot realistically have a fast and smooth adoption curve like non-monetary technologies can.” Lyn Alden

Generations – Jean M. Twenge

Generations by Jean M. Twenge
Date read: 3/11/24. Recommendation: 9/10.

Questions the previously held view that generations are forged by events and instead suggests that generations are shaped, to a much greater degree, by the technology we grow up with and the underlying trend toward individualism and a slower life. Twenge’s goal is to demystify generational differences. She analyzes a huge amount of data over the past 100 years, covering gender, income, politics, marriage, etc. The entire book is fascinating but the recurring theme around the deterioration of mental health is particularly interesting to explore. Reading between the lines, there are lessons on how to protect your own well-being and better relate between generations. It’s relevant to everyone, but particularly important for parents.

Check out my notes below or Amazon for details and reviews.

My Notes:

Generational differences:
Major events don’t shape generations, technology does: “Generations differ because technology has radically changed daily life and culture, both directly and via technology’s daughters individualism and a slower life.” Jean M. Twenge

Focus of this book: demystifying generational differences may help reduce intergenerational conflict. 

“Gen Z doesn’t believe that gender is fluid because they were born after 9/11; they believe gender is fluid because that is the next step for an increasingly individualistic and online culture. Millennials aren’t marrying later because they were young during the Great Recession; they are marrying later because adult development has slowed as technology created the triple trends of more protected children, more years of education to prepare for information-age jobs, and medical advances enabling longer life spans. Gen Z isn’t depressed because of the economy; they’re depressed because smartphones and social media created an atmosphere of constant competition and severed them from in-person human interaction.” Jean M. Twenge

“Rising individualism waves through the story of each generation.” Jean M. Twenge — Silents harnessed this went they fought for abolition of racial segregation and overturned laws that discriminated based on gender. Boomers did when they protested the Vietnam War draft and challenged rules about what women could/couldn’t do. Gen X’ers valued self-confidence and harbored distrust. Millennials took positive self-views to another level and supported LGB rights. Gen Z makes the argument that everyone can choose their gender, and there are more than two. 

Individualism: “Mask mandates were a difficult sell in a culture that had embraced full-throated individualism for five decades.” Jean M. Twenge

“All cultural systems have trade-offs, and individualism has brought Americans a culture with unprecedented freedom, diverse voices, and a belief that people can be who they want to be. However, it also created more distrust of others, and a fragmented social fabric. Leaving social rules behind to favor the individual brings both freedom and chaos, both liberation and disconnection.” Jean M. Twenge

Slow life: This has grown with each generation, delaying traditional milestones. Children are now safer but less independent. “By the time Gen Z came along, the slow-life strategy was at full scream, with driving, working, and even sex delayed.” Jean M. Twenge

“We have taken technology’s priceless gift of time and used it to watch funny videos and lust after other people’s lives—diverting but not always enlightening or beneficial.” Jean M. Twenge

“As the primary instigator of generational and cultural change, technology presents the ultimate trade-off. Technology has given us instant communication, unrivaled convenience, and the most precious prize of all: longer lives with less drudgery. At the same time technology has isolated us from each other, sowed political division, fueled income inequality, spread pervasive pessimism, widened generation gaps, stolen our attention, and is the primary culprit for a mental health crisis among teens and young adults. This is the challenge for all six generations in the decades to come: to find a way for technology to bring us together instead of driving us apart.” Jean M. Twenge

Silents (born 1925-1945):
The most mentally resilient generation we’ve seen…they married young, which created challenges but led them to have children and value family, key protective factors against mental distress as you age. 

Boomers (born 1946-1964):
Whether or not someone experiences depression, has an enormous amount to do with the surrounding culture. It’s extremely rare in traditional hunter-gatherer tribes, as well as traditional agricultural societies. It’s what clinical psychologist Steve Ilardi calls “a disease of civilization.” 

Boomers were far more likely than previous generations to suffer from depression and poor mental health. Contributing factors were unprecedented acceleration in individualism and technology. More specifically, television allowed people to begin forming unrealistically high expectations. Boomers were the first generation that grew up with TV and were bombarded with advertising from a very young age of all the things they should want or aspire to be like. Trend would only accelerate with rise of social media and reality TV in the 21st century. 

“We blindly accept soaring expectations for the self—as if some idiot raised the ante on what it takes to be a normal human being.” Martin Seligman, Psychology Today, 1988

Boomers explored individualism through groups (seminars, protests, festivals): “For Boomers, self-focus was new: Most grew up in the more collectivistic 1950s and early 1960s, so the individualism of the late 1960s and 1970s was uncharted territory. To this day, Boomers frequently talk about the self in terms of a ‘journey’ or a ‘voyage.’” Jean M. Twenge

Generation X (born 1965-1979):
“For Gen X, though, individualism wasn’t a journey—they were born at the destination…Gen X learned from their Silent and Boomer parents that the self came first.” Jean M. Twenge

Rise of self-confidence: In early 1950s, 12% of teens agreed with statement “I am an important person.” By the late 1980s, 80% of teens agreed. And while self-confidence doesn’t predict success, it does help protect against depression. And depression plateaued between Boomers and Gen X’ers. Potentially because of resilience built during their free-roaming childhoods and independent teen years.

Millennials (born 1980-1994):
Raised the stakes on the individual self…went from important to paramount. 

First generation in American history where the majority of 25-39 year-olds are not married (roughly 45%).

Mental health: happy as teens, depressed as adults. Last generation that remembers growing up and not being connected all the time. Shaped their lives, but did not define their earliest memories.

Mid 2010s, rates of depression among Millennials began to soar. Lots of contributing factors, but again, ballooning expectations had something to do with it and the level of disappointment many faced in their adult lives. Social media and the online outrage machine was in full swing. Marriage and religion tanked, and along with it social bonds and community offered by those institutions. Technology changed the way people judged their lives and stripped away in-person interactions.

“In the individualistic culture Millennials have known all their lives, individual freedom is valued over the tight social bonds of institutions like marriage and religion. Although individualism has many upsides, its risks include isolation and loneliness and their bedfellows unhappiness and depression. The lone self is a weak foundation for robust mental health: humans need social relationships to be happy and fulfilled in life. That is especially true as people age past young adulthood. This might be why Millennials were happier as teens but not as adults—individualism and freedom feel good when you are young but empty when you are older.” Jean M. Twenge

Outrage machine: “Bad news, anxiety-provoking news, and news that incites anger sells, none of which is good for mental health.” Jean M. Twenge

“Millennials’ lives and mental health have been influenced by online interaction, but most spent their formative years before it completely took over. Who did spend their teen years in the age of the smartphone? That would be Gen Z.” Jean M. Twenge

Generation Z (born 1995-2012):
Concerned with authenticity, confronting free speech issues, pushing the norms of gender, and struggling with mental health.

Gender: Gen Z young adults are much more likely to identify as either trans or nonbinary than other generations. Only 1 out of 1,000 Boomers identify as trans, 23 out of 1,000 Gen Z young adults do. 

Mental health: Number of teens and young adults with clinical-level depression more than doubled between 2011 and 2021—full-blown mental health crisis that was building long before COVID. Increase in mental health issues is a generational shift. And it began appearing in the early 2010s. 

Early 2010s were defined by smartphones and social media. Went from optional to mandatory. “The case for technology, especially social media, causing the rise in mental health issues among young people relies on four primary pieces of evidence: 1) timing, 2) impact on day-to-day life, 3) group-level effects, and 4) the impact on girls.” Jean M. Twenge

“Teen depression and digital media use increased in lockstep. Internet use, social media use, and smartphone ownership rose as depression rose.” Jean M. Twenge

Consistent across countries and geographies…UK, Canada, Australia, US. 

Isolation: Average teen spent more than 8.5 hours a day with screen media in 2021. Digital communication took over, became the norm, and squashed in-person gatherings. Teens spend less time with each other (hanging out, driving, going to parties). 

“TV time is only weakly linked to unhappiness and gaming (which is more popular among boys) is pretty much a wash until it reaches 5 hours a day. But unhappiness starts to trend upward after just an hour a day of social media use for girls.” Jean M. Twenge

“Believing that the cards are stacked against you is an example of what psychologists call external locus of control. If you have internal locus of control, you believe you are in control of your life. An external locus of control is the opposite: the belief that nothing matters, because it’s all up to luck and powerful other people to determine what happens. That is unfortunately occasionally true, but it’s also a defeatist way of looking at the world—and it’s more common among Gen Z.” Jean M. Twenge

Relentless – Tim Grover

Relentless by Tim S. Grover
Date read: 3/4/24. Recommendation: 8/10.

Having trained and worked with some of the greatest athletes for decades—Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, Dwayne Wade—Grover details their mindsets, how they operate, and what drives them. The common thread between top performers is that they’re relentless, ruthless, and trust their instincts. It’s a great counter to many of today’s popular self-help books that talk about reducing stress, embracing slow productivity, and maintaining balance. Grover shares insightful, counterintuitive advice on running towards stress, imposing your standards, and seeking respect over friendship. Not for everyone, but if you’re in the mood for a book about cultivating a killer mindset, check this one out.

Check out my notes below or Amazon for details and reviews.

My Notes:

On criticism that his book isn’t prescriptive enough:
“‘It doesn’t tell you what to do.’ That is 100 percent accurate. Why should anyone want to be told what to do? The whole point of this book is that in order to be successful, to truly have what you want in your life, you must stop waiting to be told what to do and how to do it. Your goals, your decisions, your commitment. If you can’t see the end result, how can anyone else see it for you?” Tim Grover

Trusting yourself:
Working with NBA legends: “He flew two thousand miles to hear these two words: Don’t think.” Tim Grover

“This book is about following those instincts, facing the truth, and getting rid of the excuses that stand between you and your goals.” Tim Grover

“Here’s the key: I’m not going to tell you how to change. People don’t change. I want you to trust who you already are…” Tim Grover

“When you become too focused on what’s going on around you, you lose touch with what’s going on deep inside you.” Tim Grover

Standards:
“From this point, your strategy is to make everyone else get on your level; you’re not going down to theirs. You’re not competing with anyone else, ever again. They’re going to have to compete with you.” Tim Grover

“Physical dominance can make you great. Mental dominance is what ultimately makes you unstoppable.” Tim Grover

Cleaners:
Most intense, driven competitors. Refuse limitations. Do whatever it takes. Addiction to success defines you.

“Why do I call them Cleaners? Because they take responsibility for everything. When something goes wrong, they don’t blame others because they never really count on anyone else to get the job done in the first place.” Tim Grover

Dark side:
“Cleaners have a dark side, and a zone you can’t enter. They get what they want, but they pay for it in solitude. Excellence is lonely. They never stop working, physically or mentally, because it gives them too much time to think about what they’ve had to endure or sacrifice to get to the top.” Tim Grover

All Cleaners have slow-burning anger, but it never becomes blind rage. Channel this into results, staying steady and unemotional. Get to work. 

“A Cleaner thinks, if I’m feeling nervous, how the fuck are they feeling? They have to deal with me.” Tim Grover

Pressure:
“Most people run from stress. I run to it. Stress keeps you sharp, it challenges you in ways you never imagined and forces you to solve issues and manage situations that send weaker people running for cover. You can’t succeed without it. Your level of success is defined by how well you embrace it and manage it.” Tim Grover

“Everyone wants to cut back on stress, because stress kills. I say bullshit. Stress is what brings you to life. Let it motivate you, make you work harder. Use it, don’t run from it.” Tim Grover

Presence:
“The loudest guy in the room is the one with the most to prove, and no way to prove it. A Cleaner has no need to announce his presence; you’ll know he’s there by the way he carries himself.” Tim Grover

Respect, not friendship: “Kobe rarely goes out with teammates, he’d rather work out or watch game film. And he’d much rather have your respect than your friendship. Michael was the same, so was Bird. They relied on their small inner circles of trusted friends—not teammates—who didn’t need to be entertained or impressed.” Tim Grover

Make your own decisions:
“To Cleaners, trusting others is the same as giving up control, and they usually have a painfully hard time with that. Cleaners have this in common: at some point they learned they could only trust themselves…it forced them to rely on the sheer power of their gut instinct, and they realized that to survive and succeed, they could never take their hands off the wheel.” Tim Grover

“Michael was insistent on handling his own responsibilities. He didn’t wait for a security guy or a driver or a stylist or a ticket manager to take care of things; he took care of things himself. I’m always amazed to see superstars who can’t do anything on their own; they hand over all of their responsibilities to others, and then they’re surprised when they don’t get the results they wanted.” Tim Grover

The truth is simple:
“The truth is simple. It requires no explanation, analysis, rationale, or excuse; it’s just a simple statement that leaves no doubt…But highly successful people rarely get to hear the truth; they’re surrounded by assistants and security and aides and the PHDs who go to tremendous lengths to keep their place in the circle of trust by managing the truth, shoveling polite opinions and puffy compliments, and generally keeping the boss happy.” Tim Grover

Same as Ever – Morgan Housel

Same as Ever by Morgan Housel
Date read: 1/29/24. Recommendation: 8/10.

People are obsessed with trying to predict the future. In Same as Ever, Morgan Housel cautions us against trying to predict specific events and instead focus on predicting people’s behaviors, which have remained the same for thousands of years. We still respond to fear, greed, uncertainty, and social persuasion in the same ways that we always have. If we want to understand a rapidly changing world, it’s far more effective to focus on what stays the same. Each of the 23 short stories in this book offers a different framework to help us understand risks, consider opportunities, and build more meaningful lives. We would all benefit from spending more time reflecting on the wisdom we’ve earned through our past.

Check out my notes below or Amazon for details and reviews.

My Notes:

Focus of the book:
Base predictions on people’s behaviors, not specific events. “Predicting what the world will look like fifty years from now is impossible. But predicting that people will still respond to greed, fear, opportunity, exploitation, risk, uncertainty, tribal affiliations, and social persuasion in the same way is a bet I’d take.” Morgan Housel

In victory, know when to stop:
“An important life skill is getting the goalpost to stop moving. It’s also one of the hardest.” Morgan Housel

Moderation:
“Money buys happiness in the same way drugs bring pleasure: incredible if done right, dangerous if used to mask a weakness, and disastrous when no amount is enough.” Morgan Housel

Challenging assumptions:
“You gotta challenge all assumptions. If you don’t, what is doctrine on day one becomes dogma forever after.” John Boyd

Evaluate probabilities and play to the 51%:
“Most people get that certainty is rare, and the best you can do is make decisions in which the odds are in your favor….But few people actually use probability in the real world, especially when judging others’ success.” Morgan Housel

Uncertainty blinds us:
People claim they want an accurate understanding of the future. But this is a lie. They want certainty. And they will ignore reality to get here. 

“We need to believe we live in a predictable, controllable world, so we turn to authoritative-sounding people who promise to satisfy that need.” Morgan Housel

Patience + scarcity:
“Most great things in life—from love to careers to investing—gain their value from two things: patience and scarcity. Patience to let something grow, and scarcity to admire what it grows into.” Morgan Housel

It’s supposed to be hard:
Pain is a necessary, important part of life. The more you come to accept this, rather than always seeking shortcuts, the better off you’ll be.

Seinfeld on getting asked if he could have outsourced writing to a consulting company like McKinsey to keep the show going: “If you’re efficient, you’re doing it the wrong way. The right way is the hard way. The show was successful because I micromanaged it—every word, every line, every take, every edit, every casting.” 

“If you can get your work life to where you enjoy half of it, that is amazing. Very few people ever achieve that.” Jeff Bezos

Margin of safety:
“The purpose of the margin of safety is to render the forecast unnecessary.” Benjamin Graham

Master of Change – Brad Stulberg

Master of Change by Brad Stulberg
Date read: 1/22/24. Recommendation: 8/10.

The modern self-help equivalent of Nassim Nicholas Taleb’s Antifragile. Stulberg explores “rugged flexibility,” arming readers with the mindset they need to navigate a rapidly changing world and thrive in, rather than resist, life’s instability. The result is a similar concept to antifragility but packaged in a way that’s more accessible than Taleb’s framing. Stulberg offers readers a system for embracing change and leans on stories from artists, athletes, and scientists to bring his ideas to life.

Check out my notes below or Amazon for details and reviews.

My Notes:

Adaptation:
“In the vast majority of situations, healthy systems do not rigidly resist change; rather, they adapt to it, moving forward with grace and grit.” Brad Stulberg

Allostasis: Stability through change. Term coined by Peter Sterling (neuroscientist) and Jospeh Eyer (biologist).

“Following disorder, living systems crave stability, but they achieve that stability somewhere new.” Brad Stulberg

Rugged flexibility:
Stulberg’s equivalent of Nassim Taleb’s “antifragility.” See Antifragile book notes for references.

Applies non-dual thinking to stability and change: “To be rugged is to be tough, determined, and durable. To be flexible is to consciously respond to altered circumstances or conditions, to adapt and bend easily without breaking.” Brad Stulberg

“This is rugged flexibility, the quality you need to become a master of change, to successfully navigate disorder and chaos and endure over the long haul.” Brad Stulberg

Resisting change:
“Remember, life is change. If you fear change, then, in many ways, you fear life—and chronic fear becomes toxic both in self and in the culture at large.” Brad Stulberg

Reality is your friend:
“Once you accept something as an immutable reality in the present moment, you give yourself to stop wishing it away or trying to manipulate it on your terms. This allows you to direct all of your energy toward acceptance and moving forward.” Brad Stulberg

Dopamine Nation – Anna Lembke

Dopamine Nation by Anna Lembke
Date read: 1/3/24. Recommendation: 8/10.

Dopamine Nation is categorized as a clinical psychology book, and it is certainly that, offering strategies for those struggling with addiction, depression, and anxiety. But it’s equal parts philosophy. Lembke reflects on the modern world where we have constant access to high-reward, high-dopamine stimuli—everything from social media and news to drugs and food. And she offers a refreshing perspective, challenging us to embrace pain and its importance in our lives, rather than numbing ourselves at the first sign of discomfort. As her book notes, our obsession with empathy has run wild and must be paired with accountability if we want to drive lasting change and live more balanced lives.

Check out my notes below or Amazon for details and reviews.

My Notes:

I do whatever I want, whenever I want:
“Over the past three decades, I have seen growing numbers of patients like David and Kevin who appear to have every advantage in life—supportive facilities, quality education, financial stability, good health—yet developing debilitating anxiety, depression, and physical pain. Not only are they not functioning to their potential; they’re barely able to get out of bed in the morning.” Anna Lembke

Pain is necessary:
“Prior to the 1900s, doctors believe some degree of pain was healthy….By contrast, doctors today are expected to eliminate all pain lest they fail their role as compassionate healers. Pain in any form is considered dangerous, not just because it hurts but also because it’s thought to kindle the brain for future pain by leaving a neurological wound that never heals.” Anna Lembke

We spend our entire lives running from pain and even the slightest discomfort, trying to distract ourselves each step of the way. 

“The reason we’re all so miserable may be because we’re working so hard to avoid being miserable.” Anna Lembke

“Pain to treat pain. Anxiety to treat anxiety.” Anna Lembke

“What if, instead of seeking oblivion by escaping from the world, we turn toward it? What if instead of leaving the world behind, we immerse ourselves in it?” Anna Lembke

Assuming responsibility: 
Victim narrative: “Patients who tell stories in which they are frequently the victim, seldom bearing responsibility for bad outcomes, are often unwell and remain unwell. They are too busy blaming others to get down to the business of their own recovery. By contrast, when my patients start telling stories that accurately portray their responsibility, I know they’re getting better.” Anna Lembke

“One of the jobs of good psychotherapy is to help people tell healing stories…We as mental health care providers have become so caught up in the practice of empathy that we’ve lost sight of the fact that empathy without accountability is a shortsighted attempt to relieve suffering.” Anna Lembke

“But if the therapist can help the patient take responsibility if not for the event itself, then for how they react to it in the here and now, that patient is empowered to move forward with their life.” Anna Lembke

How to Know a Person – David Brooks

How to Know a Person: The Art of Seeing Others Deeply and Being Deeply Seen by David Brooks
Date read: 11/20/23. Recommendation: 8/10.

David Brooks has been my favorite author this year—his focus on the messiness of life and learning to invest more of yourself in what matters just hits differently as you get older. I absolutely loved The Road to Character and enjoyed this latest book just as much. As Brooks observes, “There is one skill that lies at the heart of any healthy person, family, school, community organization, or society: the ability to see someone else deeply and make them feel seen…” And to be clear, most of us suck at this. Myself included. But Brooks offers a practical guide and exploration of how we can try to develop one of the most important skills we can invest in—learning how to truly see and illuminate another person.

Check out my notes below or Amazon for details and reviews.

My Notes:

The power of being seen:
“There is one skill that lies at the heart of any healthy person, family, school, community organization, or society: the ability to see someone else deeply and make them feel seen—to accurately know another person, to let them feel valued, heard, and understood.” David Brooks

“In how you see me, I will learn to see myself.” David Brooks

“The purpose of this book is to help us become more skilled at the art of seeing others and making them feel seen, heard, and understood.” David Brooks

“To be able to understand people and be present for them in their experience—that’s the most important thing in the world.” Mary Pipher

Pitfalls:
“On social media you can have the illusion of social contact without having to perform the gestures that actually build trust, care, and affection. On social media, simulation replaces intimacy. There is judgment everywhere and understanding nowhere.” David Brooks

“Politics doesn’t make you a better person; it’s about outer agitation, not inner formation. Politics doesn’t humanize. If you attempt to assuage your sadness, loneliness, or anomie through politics, it will do nothing more than land you in a world marked by sadistic striving for domination. You may try to escape a world of isolation and moral meaninglessness, only to find yourself in the pulverizing destructiveness of the culture wars.” David Brooks

Illumination:
“Respect is a gift you offer with your eyes.” David Brooks

“Nothing in life is of any value except the attempt to be virtuous.” Iris Murdoch

Interpretation:
“Experience is not what happens to you, it’s what you do with what happens to you.” Aldous Huxley

Stop asking “What happened to this person?” Start asking “How do they interpret what happened? How do they construct their reality?”

“We do not see things as they are, we see things as we are.” Anaïs Nin

“A person is a point of view. Every person you meet is a creative artist who takes the events of life and, over time, creates a very personal way of seeing the world.” David Brooks

“Life isn’t about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.” George Bernard Shaw

Identity:
If you find what is sacred to a person, there you will find rampant irrationality (paraphrasing psychologist Jonathan Haidt). “A person with an overreactive defense architecture is thinking, My critics or opponents are not just wrong, they are evil.” David Brooks

“Without your wound where would your power be? It is your very remorse that makes your low voice tremble into the hearts of men. The very angels themselves cannot persuade the wretched and blundering children on earth as can one human being broken on the wheels of living. In love’s service only the wounded soldiers can serve.” Thornton Wilder

Be Water, My Friend – Shannon Lee

Be Water, My Friend by Shannon Lee
Date read: 11/9/23. Recommendation: 9/10.

Be Water, My Friend captures a loyal Bruce Lee fan base, but Shannon Lee’s enthusiasm for her father’s philosophy and her personal commentary delivers a book that holds its own. The core tenet of the book is that fluidity leads to growth and evolution. Martial arts reflect personal growth in this way and there’s no better teacher than Bruce Lee. The emphasis on “life is motion, find a way to move with it” builds upon ideas in the Tao of Jeet Kune Do, but in an accessible way for an audience who might be more interested in philosophy than martial arts. Beautiful sections on awareness, enthusiasm, experimentation, purpose, and movement. One of my favorite books that I’ve read all year.

Check out my notes below or Amazon for details and reviews.

My Notes:

Bruce Lee’s background:
Martial arts was his chosen love, started practicing wing chun gung fu in Hong Kong at 13 years old, and he practiced every day until his death at 32. 

His sifu (teacher) was Yip Man, who was trying to teach a fiery young Bruce Lee the importance of gentleness, fluidity, and pliability, not just strength and cunning. 

“Never assert yourself against nature. Never be in frontal opposition to any problem, but control it by swinging with it.” Yip Man

Movement:
Bruce Lee lived every aspect of his life according to the philosophy of movement. He was interested in concepts and tools that applied to real-life situations. “He didn’t deal in points earned or light touches landed, as was the style of the day in high-level competitions. He called that kind of point-oriented, competitive fighting, with so many rules on how to score without causing injury, ‘dryland swimming.’” SL

“Like flowing water, life is perpetual movement.” Bruce Lee

“No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river and he’s not the same man.” Heraclitus

Awareness:
“For many of us, life happens to us. We get trapped in unconscious patterns of living and forget that there are, in fact, many choices and many ways to be fully involved in the creation of our lives. To say it another way, we want to be fully alive versus merely subsisting. And to do that, we have to be paying attention.” SL

Movement is life: “Pliability is life; rigidity is death, whether we are speaking of the body, the mind, or the spirit. Be pliable.” Bruce Lee

“Don’t put all your focus and energy into your career so that one day you will be content and happy. Work on being content and happy and bring that into your career and the rest of your life.” SL

Purpose:
What you do and who you are is not as important as how you express your “what” and your “who” in everything you do. SL

Self-actualization: “It is to know oneself and express the uniqueness of oneself for the world with such skill and with such ease that, like water, it will flow naturally from you.” SL

“And you don’t get to express your best self out in the world without a healthy dose of personal inventory and integrity. It takes work to make your insides match your outsides.” SL

“But only you will really ever know whether your life was good for you.” SL

“All goals apart from the means are an illusion. There will never be means to ends, only means.” Bruce Lee

“Life is a process, not a goal; a means but not an end; a constant movement rather than an established pattern.” Bruce Lee

Letter at age 21: “I feel I have this great creative and spiritual force within me that is greater than faith, greater than ambition, greater than confidence, greater than determination, greater than vision. It is all of these combined. My brain becomes magnetized with this dominating force, which I hold in my hand.” Bruce Lee

Martial arts:
“Proficiency in martial arts is the practice of keeping centered and skillfully responsive under the direst of circumstances: the threat of physical harm.” SL

Yin and yang:
Not opposites, but complements. They work together to form a whole. “And so it is with water. Water is gentle yet powerful. Soft, yet strong. Flowing, yet deep. And so it is with life.” SL

Experimentation:
(Before JKD) By 1964, Bruce Lee had established a second martial arts school in Oakland, CA, called the Jun Fan Gung Fu Institute (another was in Seattle) where he taught a slightly modified form of wing chun, the martial art he had learned in Hong Kong as a teenager. “I say ‘slightly modified’ because my father had started to contemplate and experiment with shifts in technique—these were very small deviations from the traditional norm, such as a slight angling of the foot here, more movement at the waist there, quicker initiation of movement in response to an opponent.” SL

But he was still just 24 years old at the time and a bit of a loudmouth. “He was also bucking tradition in ways that annoyed the Chinese kung fu old guard in San Francisco’s Chinatown community. My father would give demonstrations at the Sun Sing Theater in Chinatown, and he would talk loudly and brashly about how many of the Chinese Martial arts were bogged down by unnecessary, wasted motions, using the term ‘classical mess’ repeatedly to disparage other traditional kung fu styles. He would then challenge people to come up onstage and see if they could best his technique.” SL

“As if that weren’t enough to ruffle feathers, he also opened his schools to people of all races and backgrounds. In the eyes of the kung fu establishment, traditions were meant to be adhered to, and while the occasional non-Chinese might find their way into Chinese kung fu classes from time to time, there was certainly not an open-door policy to the general public. Bruce was disrespectful ‘ruining’ the old ways, and for the traditionalists in Chinatown, this would not stand.” SL

“In late 1964, the San Francisco Chinatown community issues a challenge against my father. They’d had enough of this bold young man and his rebellious ways, and they were going to do what they could to silence him. They proposed a challenge match to be fought at my father’s school in Oakland. If their champion won, Bruce Lee would cease teaching, and if my father won, he could continue on unimpeded.” Page 57 for full story. 

Bruce Lee won the fight, which lasted three minutes, after his opponent took off running after the exchange of initial blows. Lee had to grab hold and attack him from behind while running, something traditional martial arts hadn’t prepared him for. Despite the victory, he was disheartened that traditional wing chun hadn’t prepared him for this “anything goes” scenario. The traditional practices were too specialized, too rigid. This was the great revelation of his martial arts career and led to the seeds of jeet kune do. 

Jeet kune do (JKD):
Jeet kune do = the way of the intercepting fist.

“When my father created his martial art of jeet kune do (JKD), he took great care to establish deep philosophical principles to accompany it. These philosophies were meant to engage the mind and the spirit as well as the body and were a key component to guarding against rote drilling and perfunctory training. JKD emphasizes formless and non-telegraphic movement—movement that happens so instantaneously and in perfect response to the actual situation that the opponent cannot see what’s coming. The philosophy attached to JKD is meant to root the practitioner in a fluid and present state to keep him or her flexible and capable of initiating and responding to change. And one can only respond to change if one has enough mobility in approach to do so.” SL

Starting ideating on JKD in 1965, formally named it in 1967. 

One of the first teachings of JKD is the on-guard position. It was the starting stance from which all movement ignites. It was based on his study and understanding of the laws of physics and biomechanics, as well as other combative arts—wing chun, boxing, fencing. Bruce Lee saw a certain amount of tension as a necessary component of being on guard. You’re coiled, ready to strike. Not too rigid, not too relaxed. 

Purposefully unbalancing yourself: “To be balanced is to be more or less at rest. Action, then, is the art or method of unbalancing toward keeping oneself moving forward, learning and growing.” Bruce Lee

When Bruce Lee started JKD, it was an extremely unorthodox approach for fighting arts of the time. He advocated for forgetting what you think you already know, emptying your mind, and making room to let knew information in. This doesn’t mean forgetting. It means opening your mind and your approach to each experience with a willingness to consider something new. 

“Never be for or against. The struggle between ‘for’ and ‘against’ is the mind’s worst disease. Do not like or dislike, an all will then be clear.” Bruce Lee

When developing JKD, looked to standard martial arts for inspiration and information, but also looked beyond at Western boxing, fencing, biomechanics, and philosophy. 

“He admired the simplicity of boxing, incorporating its ideas into his footwork and his upper-body tools (jab, cross, hook, bob, weave, etc.). And from fencing, he began by looking at the footwork, range, and timing of the stop hit and the riposte, both techniques that meet attacks and defenses with preemptive moves. From biomechanics, he studied movement as a whole, seeking to understand the physical laws of motion while understanding biological efficiencies and strengths…He was open to all inspiration and all possibilities.” SL

Core tenants of JKD: “Research your own experience. Reject what is useless. Accept what is useful. And add what is essentially your own.” Bruce Lee

Art of relaxed concentration: “The warrior’s instinct was not to be confused with animal instinct. Like a visceral reaction, it came from a combination of wisdom and discipline. It was an ultimate reasoning that went beyond reason, the ability to make the right move in a split second without going through the process of thinking.” Eiji Yoshikawa

Jeet kune do requires us to be the quintessential version of ourselves. 

Reality is your friend:
Despite feeling troubled after the Oakland fight, he could have pushed that off to the side without examining it. But he did examine and turn it over. “But because he took heed and gave serious attention to the entirety of his experience, in particular the troubling bits, he created a new art form and philosophy and went on to change the landscape of martial arts globally.” SL

Let the problem lead you: “We shall find truth when we examine the problem. The problem is never apart from the answer; the problem is the answer.” Bruce Lee

Pure seeing versus sticky mind:
Pure seeing = not projecting your own preferences and opinions during an experience so you can see it for what it is. Similar to Scout Mindset by Julia Galef.

Sticky mind = moment in an encounter when you get stuck trying to enforce some strategy you have that’s separate from what’s actually happening in the present moment. In martial arts this often reveals itself when fighters get caught up in what they want the fight to be, rather than what the fight actually is as its unfolding. And this spells disaster, as you’re unable to demonstrate the flow, presence, maturity, or ability to respond appropriately. Your mind is stuck. Your cup is too full. Bruce lee advocates for “emptying your cup.”

Workouts:
March 27, 1968, Bruce Lee did 500 punches with his right hand, 250 punches with his left, series of ab exercises, 7 sets of leg raises, sit-ups, sidebends. Did another 500 punches with his right hand, 250 with his left. Cycled two miles, followed by one more set of 500 punches with his right hand. 

Enthusiasm is king:
“When we are enthusiastic, we are inspired by life. We are in joy; we are eager.” SL

Born Standing Up – Steve Martin

Born Standing Up by Steve Martin
Date read: 10/18/23. Recommendation: 9/10.

Steve Martin details his early years, influences, and the lightning strike of his stand-up success that was decades in the making. I love studying people who you can tell are doing what they believe they were meant to be doing. Martin is certainly one of them. His story resonates on many levels—finding something that feels true in childhood, taking risks to eliminate a nagging sense of what if, imitating your way to originality, struggling to find consistency, and eventually reaching a place where your craft no longer serves you like it once did and relearning how to find your way forward. Entertaining, insightful, and one of the best comedic biographies out there.

Check out my notes below or Amazon for details and reviews.

My Notes:

Influences:
TV had a huge influence on Steve, it’s where he found Laurel and Hardy, who were clever and gentle. That’s where he learned that jokes are funniest when played upon oneself. He watched Jack Benny’s variety show and learned how funny a slow burn was. He would watch The Red Skelton Show and memorize Red’s routines and perform them the next day during “sharing time” at grade school. 

Disneyland:
Summer of 1955, Disneyland opened in Anaheim, CA. They were hiring kids Steve’s age to sell guidebooks on weekends and during the summer in the park. Steve pedaled his bicycle two miles to Disneyland, was pointed toward a souvenir stand a few steps inside the main gate, spoke with a vendor named Joe, and got the job. He was issued a candy-striped shirt, a garter for his sleeve, a vest with a watch pocket, a straw boater hat, and stack of guidebooks. They were sold at 25 cents each and he received two cents per book. Earning up to two dollars every day. They were sold in the morning when people poured through the gates. By noon he was done but didn’t have to leave, had free admission the the park. Became a regular employee at age 10.

As he wandered Disney and found shortcuts and hidden treasures, two places captivated him. “One was Merlin’s Magic Shop, just inside the Fantasyland castle gate, where a young and funny magician named Jim Barlow sold and demonstrated magic tricks. The other was Pepsi-Cola’s Golden Horseshoe Revue in Frontierland, where Wally Boag, the first comedian I ever saw in person, piled a hilarious trade of gags and offbeat skills such as gun twirling and balloon animals, and brought the house down when he turned his wig around backward. He wowed every audience every time.” SM

“Here I had my first lessons in performing, though I never was on the stage. I absorbed Wally Boag’s timing, saying his next line in my head…I studied where the big laughs were, learned how Wally got the small ones, and saw the tiny nuances that kept the thing alive between lines. Wally shone in these performance, and in my first shows, I tried to imitate his amiable casualness.” SM

“Merlin’s Magic Shop was the next best thing to the cheering audiences at the Golden Horseshoe. Tricks were demonstrated in front of crowds of two or three people, and twenty-year-old Jim Barlow took the concept of a joke shop fay beyond what the Disney brass would have officially allowed…I loitered in the shop so often that Jim and I became buddies as I memorized his routines, and I wanted more than ever to be a magician.” SM

“With any spare money I had, I bought tricks, memorized their accompanying standard patter, and assembled a magic show that I would perform for anyone who would watch, mostly my parents and their tolerant bridge partners.” SM

At age 15 (August 1960), a job opened up at the magic shop and Steve got the gig. “I stood behind a counter eight hours a day, shuffling Svengali decks, manipulating Wizard decks and Mental Photography cards and performing the Cups and Balls trick on a rectangle of padded green felt. A few customers would gather, usually a young couple on a date, or a mom and dad with kids. I tried my first jokes—all lifted from Jim’s funny patter—and had my first audience that wasn’t friends or family.” SM

As he demonstrated tricks 8-12 hours/day, started to improve, channeling his impression of Jim. 

Later a man named Dave Steward took over as manager of Merlin’s, a former vaudeville performer, whom Steve learned a lot from. Like his opening joke, the glover into dove trick where he threw a white magician’s glove into the air, it hit the floor and lay there, he stared at its then went onto his next trick. First time Steve had seen laughter created out of absence so he borrowed this and used it in his own routine. 

Steve learned to throw everything at the audience, costumes, lights, music, everything. But originality was not yet on his mind. He started to lean more into comedy, because that seemed to have a clearer path forward, like Stan Laurel, Jack Benny, or Wally Boag. And advanced magic tricks cost too much. 

Knott’s Berry Farm:
At age 18, Knott’s Berry Farm needed entertainers with short acts. Steve auditioned with his thin magic act at a small theater and got the job at the Bird Cage Theatre. 

“At the Bird Cage, I formed the soft, primordial core of what became my comedy act. Over the three years I worked there, I strung together everything I knew including Dave Steward’s glove into dove trick, some comedy juggling, a few standard magic routines, a banjo song, and some very old jokes. My act was eclectic, and it took ten more years for me to make sense of it. However, the opportunity to perform four and five times a day gave me confidence and poise.” 

Over time learned it was not magic he was interested in but performing in general. 

Evolving beyond imitation:
Eventually, in his early 20s, realized how important originality would be and that comedy could evolve. “I would have to write everything in the act myself. Any line or idea with even a vague feeling of familiarity or provenance had to be expunged. There could be nothing that made the audience feel they weren’t seeing something utterly new. This realization mortified me. I did not know how to write comedy—at all. But Id did know I would have to drop some of my best one-liners, all pilfered from gag books and other people’s routines, and consequently lose ten minutes from my already strained act…After several years of working up my weak twenty minutes, I was not starting from almost zero.” SM

Started testing his concept of creating tension but never releasing it. No formal punch lines. What would audience do with all that? They’d eventually have to pick their own place to laugh out of desperation. 

Also gave himself a rule: “Never let them know I was bombing: This is funny, you just haven’t gotten it yet. If I wasn’t offering punch lines, I’d never be standing there with an egg on my face. It was essential that I never show doubt about what I was doing.” The act would go on with or without them. 

Taking the leap:
“I concluded that not to continue with comedy would place a question in my mind that would nag me for the rest of my life: Could I have had a career in performing?” SM

Writing career:
In 1967, landed a writing job on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour. Started painfully and was uncomfortable contributing anything of his own. He faced pressure to deliver, was unsure of himself, and felt doubt from other professional writers on the show. One afternoon was asked by Tommy Smothers to write an intro for a sketch dealing with television. Steve went upstairs to his office and couldn’t come up with anything. Suddenly a line occurred to him, but it belonged to his roommate, comedian Gary Mule Deer. Steve called him and got his approval to use it. Then he went downstairs, handed the line to Dick Smothers: “It has been proven that more Americans watch television than any other appliance.” Two highly experienced writers came up and asked if he wrote that joke, he said yes, and they said good work. Afterward, he was much more relaxed and able to contribute more to the show. 

Early Act:
In the early days (1960s), Steve’s act was a catchall, cobbled together from juggling, comedy, folk, banjo playing, weird bits he’d written in college, and magic tricks.

With practice, Steve’s act became more physical. Singing, dancing, etc. “My teenage attempt at a magician’s grace was being transformed into an awkward comic grace. I felt as though every part of me was working.” SM

“Between 1973 and 1975, my one-man vaudeville show turned fully toward the surreal. I was linking the unlinkable, blending economy and extravagance, non sequiturs with the conventional.” SM

Consistency:
“It was easy to be great. Every entertainer has a night when everything is clicking…What was hard was to be good, consistently good, night after night, no matter what the abominable circumstances.” SM

After years on the road, now had four hours of material to pick and choose from. 

Hitting his stride:
Dave Felton, Rolling Stone, on Steve’s act: “This isn’t comedy; it’s campfire recreation for the bent at heart. It’s a laugh-along for loonies. Disneyland on acid.”

His audience developed more like that of a rock-and-roll band than that of a comedian. 

“This lightning strike was happening to me, Stephen Glenn Martin, who had started from zero, from a magic act, from juggling in my backyard, from Disneyland, from the Bird Cage, and I was now the biggest concert comedian in show business, ever.” SM

When he started playing arenas, he could no longer experiment. Eventually, he lost touch with what he was doing and suffered an artistic crisis. Walked away from stand-up and never did it again. 

Film:
Determined to parlay his success from stand-up into motion pictures. 

Carl Reiner’s influence: “His memory was sharp as cheddar, and he would spontaneously relate anecdotes relevant to our work.” SM

The world of moviemaking had changed me. Carl Reiner ran a joyful set. Movies were social; stand-up was antisocial. I was not judged every day by a changing audience. It was fun to have lunches with cast and crew and to dream up material in the morning that could be shot seven different ways in the afternoon and evaluated—and possibly perfected—in the editing room months later.” SM

“I got another benefit: my daily observation of Carl Reiner. He had an entrenched sense of glee; he used humor as a gentle way of speaking difficult truths; and he could be effortlessly frank. He taught me more about how to be a social person than any other adult in my life.” SM

The Artist's Way – Julia Cameron

The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron
Date read: 9/5/23. Recommendation: 9/10.

The definitive guide to discovering and developing your creative self. Cameron takes a true self-help approach with journaling invitations, activities, and exercises that help guide readers to tap back into their creative souls. And the invitations are actually helpful—this is coming from someone who ignores 90% of prompts in books. But these held real value. The new-age, recovery-style 12-step program likely alienates some readers, but if you’re willing to look past that there’s a lot to love about this book. And the message of channeling ourselves into more meaningful work is one we can never hear too many times.

Check out my notes below or Amazon for details and reviews.

My Notes:

Questioning previously held beliefs:
“Nothing dies harder than bad idea. And few ideas are worse than the ones we have about art.” Julia Cameron

“As you learn to recognize, nurture, and protect your inner artist, you will be able to move beyond pain and creative construction.” Julia Cameron

Creativity:
“What we play is life.” Louis Armstrong

“If you want to work on your art, work on your life.” Chekhov

“The function of the creative artist consists of making laws, not in following laws already made.” Ferruccio Busoni

Relaxed concentration:
“A mind too active is no mind at all.” Theodore Roosevelt

“I will tell you what I have learned myself. For me, a long five or six mile walk helps. And one must go alone and every day.” Brenda Ueland

It takes time:
“Nobody sees a flower—really—it is so small it takes time—we haven’t time—and to see takes time, like to have a friend takes time.” Georgia O’Keeffe

“The cost of a thing is the amount of what I call life which is required to be exchanged for it, immediately or in the long run.” Henry David Thoreau

“We learn by going / Where we have to go.” Theodore Roethke

Focus on your story:
“You need to claim the events of your life to make yourself yours.” Anne-Wilson Schaef

“What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters, compared to what lies within us.” Ralph Waldo Emerson

“It always comes back to the same necessity: go deep enough and there is a bedrock of truth, however hard.” May Sarton

“To know what you prefer instead of humbly saying Amen to what the world tells you you ought to prefer, is to have kept your soul alive.” Robert Louis Stevenson

“No trumpets sound when the important decisions of our life are made. Destiny is made known silently.” Agnes De Mille

“Be really whole

And all things will come to you.” Lao-Tzu

Risks:
“The universe will reward you for taking risks on its behalf.” Shakti Gawain

“Chance is always powerful. Let your hook always be cast; in the pool where you least expect it, there will be a fish.” Ovid

“Whatever you think you can do or believe you can do, begin it. Action has magic, grace, and power in it.” Goethe

“Often people attempt to live their lives backwards: they try to have more things, or more money, in order to do more of what they want so that they will be happier. The way it actually works is the reverse. You must first be who you really are, then, do what you need to do, in order to have what you want.” Margaret Young

“There is the risk you cannot afford to take, and there is the risk you cannot afford not to take.” Peter Drucker

“Man can learn nothing except by going from the known to the unknown.” Claude Bernard

“One does not discover new lands without consenting to lose sight of the shore for a very long time.” André Gide

Tao of Jeet Kune Do – Bruce Lee

Tao of Jeet Kune Do by Bruce Lee
Date read: 8/8/23. Recommendation: 8/10.

Compilation of Bruce Lee’s notes and essays published after his death. But don’t dismiss this as a martial arts handbook. It’s much more than that, showcasing Lee’s personal philosophy of formlessness, fluidity, and adaptability. Lee challenges the rigidity of traditional martial arts, emphasizing creativity, practicality, and emptying your mind so you can be present for the fight in front of you.

Check out my notes below or Amazon for details and reviews.

My Notes:

Beginnings:
Classical wing chun style that Bruce Lee began studying was developed 400 years before he was born. 

Jeet Kune Do (JKD):
The Tao of Jeet Kune Do is not complete, Bruce Lee’s art was ever-changing.

To understand JKD, you must throw out all ideals, patterns, and styles. Throw away even the concepts of what is or isn’t JKD. 

Formlessness: “Jeet Kune Do favors formlessness so that it can assume all forms and since Jeet Kune Do has no style, it can fit in with all styles. As a result, Jeet Kune Do utilizes all ways and is bound by none and, likewise, uses any techniques or means which serve its end.” Bruce Lee

“The art of Jeet Kune Do is simply to simplify.” Bruce Lee

“Agreeing to certain patterns of movement to secure the participants within the governed rules might be good for sports like boxing or basketball, but the success of Jeet Kune Do lies in its freedom, both to use technique and dispense with it.” Bruce Lee

“A Jeet Kune Do man faces reality and not crystallization of form. The tool is a tool of formless form.” Bruce Lee

Self-knowledge is the basis of JKD: “Jeet Kune Do is the art not founded on techniques or doctrines. It is just as you are.” Bruce Lee

“In jeet kune do, the goal is self-knowledge through breaking free of unexamined tradition and being fully involved in the reality of the moment with no attachment to prescribed routines.” Linda Lee Caldwell

“With the philosophical underpinnings of fluidity and adaptability as its central theme, Lee was adamant that he did not invent a new style when it came to jeet kune do. Instead, his overall approach to martial arts was to unify martial artists by focusing on fighting ‘as is,’ thereby eliminating the need for styles, tradition, and formality that rests on set patterns. And because of his objection to stringently held traditions, jeet kune do can use all ways yet be bound by none. Philosophically, Lee eliminated the duality of ‘for or against.’” Tommy Gong 

Rigidness of martial arts styles: 
“In the long history of martial arts, the instinct to follow and imitate seems to be inherent in most martial artists, instructors and students alike. This is partly due to the human tendency and partly because of the steep traditions behind multiple patterns of styles.” Bruce Lee

“Instead of facing combat in its muchness, then, most systems of martial art accumulate a ‘fancy mess’ that distorts and cramps their practitioners and distracts them from the actual reality of combat which is simple and direct. Instead of going immediately to the heart of things, flowery forms (organized despair) and artificial techniques are ritualistically practiced to simulate actual combat.” Bruce Lee

Real combat is not fixed, it’s alive. There’s freedom in nonconformity of style. 

“When, in a split second, your life is threatened, do you say, “Let me make sure my hand is on my hip, and my style is ‘the style.’ When your life is in danger do you argue about the method you will adhere to while saving yourself?” Bruce Lee

“A so-called martial artist is the result of three thousand years of propaganda and conditioning.” Bruce Lee

“He then becomes a slave to the pattern and takes the pattern to be the real thing.” Bruce Lee

“The second-hand artist blindly following his sensei or sift accepts his pattern. As a result, his action, and, more importantly, his thinking become mechanical. His responses become automatic, according to set patterns, making him narrow and limited.” Bruce Lee

“I hope martial artists are more interested in the root of martial arts and not the different decorative branches, flowers or leaves…when you understand the root, you understand all its blossoms.” Bruce Lee

“Jeet Kune Do favors formlessness so that it can assume all forms and, since it has no style, Jeet Kune Do fits in with all styles. As a result, Jeet Kune Do uses all ways and is bound by none and, likewise, uses any technique or means which serves its end. In this art, efficiency is anything that scores.” Bruce Lee

“It symbolized the oppression that rigid traditions and formal styles had on their student. ‘Organized despair,’ as Lee called it, contributed to the ‘death’ of independent inquiry and stunted the complete maturation of a martial artist. Ultimately, Lee concluded that sales divide martial artists instead of unify them, thereby restricting the growth of the individual.” Tommy gong

Creativity:
“Research your own experience; absorb what is useful, reject what is useless and add what is essentially your own.” Bruce Lee

“Art lives where absolute freedom is, because where it is not, there can be no creativity.” Bruce Lee

Fluidity:
“If nothing within you stays rigid, outward things will disclose themselves. Moving, be like water. Still, be like a mirror. Respond like an echo.” Bruce Lee

“When there is no center and no circumference, then there is truth. When you freely express, you are the total style.” Bruce Lee

“A real street fight is unpredictable and your enemy may be an expert in any fighting style, you must not be surprised in the fight. Therefore, it is important to research and understand every fighting style in order to win.” Bruce Lee

Relaxed concentration:
“Empty your cup so that it may be filled; become devoid to gain totality.” Bruce Lee

“The mind is originally without activity; the way is always without thought.” Bruce Lee

“With all the training thrown to the wind, with a mind perfectly unaware of its own working, with the self vanishing nowhere, anybody knows where, the art of Jeet Kune Do attains its perfection.” Bruce Lee

In JKD focus is on keeping your mind in a state of emptiness. Bruce Lee believed all movements come out of emptiness. Emptiness is where sincerity, genuineness, and straightforwardness are found. Emptiness ensures that freedom of action is never obstructed.

Scout mindset:
“It is the ego that stands rigidly against influences from the outside, and it is this ‘ego rigidity’ that makes it impossible for us to accept everything that confronts us.” Bruce Lee

Simplicity:
“The height of cultivation runs to simplicity. Half-way cultivation runs to ornamentation.” Bruce Lee

Find yourself in the work:
“All goals apart from the means are illusions.” Bruce Lee

Intuition:
“The deluded mind is the mind affectively burdened by intellect. Thus, it cannot move without stopping and reflecting on itself. This obstructs its native fluidity.” Bruce Lee

Compassion:
“It is compassion rather than the principle of justice which can guard us against being unjust to our fellow men.” Bruce Lee

The Gifts of Imperfection – Brené Brown

The Gifts of Imperfection by Brené Brown
Date read: 8/2/23. Recommendation: 9/10.

Whereas Robert Greene’s niche is human nature and power dynamics, Brené Brown’s is vulnerability and shame. In The Gifts of Imperfection, Brown advocates for wholehearted living built upon authenticity, worthiness, and the realization that your story matters because you matter. Brown focuses on a familiar problem—what she refers to as a “midlife unraveling,” where the universe challenges you to let go of who you think you are supposed to be and embrace who you are. Brown relies on her background as a researcher and pulls from personal stories to land her message of developing our capacity for courage, compassion, and connection.

Check out my notes below or Amazon for details and reviews.

My Notes:

Embracing your story:
“Owning our story can be hard but not nearly as difficult as spending our lives running from it.” Brené Brown

“She could never go back and make some of the details pretty. All she could do was move forward and make the whole beautiful.” Terri St. Cloud

Reckoning:
Midlife unraveling = challenged by the universe to let go of who you think you are supposed to be and embrace who you are.

“People are like stained-glass windows. They sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when the darkness sets in, their beauty is revealed only if there is a light from within.” Elisabeth Kübler-Ross

“The dark does not destroy the light; it defines it. It’s out of fear of the dark that casts our joy into the shadows.” Brené Brown

Wholehearted living:
Engaging with life from a place of worthiness.

“It’s; so much easier to say, ‘I’ll be whoever or whatever you need me to be, as long as I feel like I’m part of this.’ From group-thinking to gossiping, we’ll do what it takes to fit in if we believe it will meet our need for belonging. But it doesn’t. We can only belong when we offer our most authentic selves and when we’re embraced for who we are.” Brené Brown

Authenticity:
“Authenticity is the daily practice of letting go of who we think we’re supposed to be and embracing who we are.” Brené Brown

“Authenticity demands wholehearted living and loving…it’s how we invite grace, gratitude, and joy into our lives.” Brené Brown

“To be nobody-but-yourself in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody but yourself—means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight—and never stop fighting.” E.E. Cummings

“When we value being cool and in control over granting ourselves the freedom to unleash the passionate, goofy, heartfelt, and soulful expressions of who we are, we betray ourselves.” Brené Brown

Perfectionism:
“The thing that is really hard, and really amazing, is giving up on being perfect and beginning the work of becoming yourself.” Anna Quindlen

“Perfectionism is the belief that if we live perfect, look perfect, and act perfect we can minimize or avoid the pain of blame, judgment, and shame…It’s stopping us from being seen.” Brené Brown

“Healthy striving is self-focused—How can I improve? Perfectionism is other-focused—What will they think?” Brené Brown

Creativity:
“When I make creating a priority, everything in my life works better.” Brené Brown

Early inclinations:
“What one loves in childhood stays in the heart forever.” Mary Jo Putney

LifePass – Payal Kadakia

LifePass by Payal Kadakia
Date read: 7/15/23. Recommendation: 7/10.

Payal Kadakia’s story makes this book worth picking up. Lots of wisdom around how to navigate your own creative entrepreneurial journey. But as she demonstrates, it starts with revealing more of yourself. Only by putting yourself out there can you open yourself to the right opportunities and self-select out of the wrong ones. The generic self-help exercises at the end of each chapter are forgettable. But it’s easy to look past those.

Check out my notes below or Amazon for details and reviews.

My Notes:

Post-college (Bain):
Took a job at Bain & Company (management consulting) because it looked good on her resume and made her parents proud. For 2.5 years worked 70 hours/week as an associate consultant, then six months before contract renewal was sitting in her manager’s office receiving negative feedback for the first time. She questioned Payal’s reliability and commitment to clients. “If you really want to further your career as a consultant, your clients are going to have to come first. I don’t know if that’s the case for you.”

Her manager was referring to the fact that Payal was studying dance and performing with a troupe, Bollywood Axion, outside of consulting on nights and weekends. Six months before they had a big performance on the same day as an important client meeting and she chose to be at the show. Her manager didn’t make a big deal about it then, but 6 months later it was rearing its head and impacted the way her boss saw her.

Her initial instinct was to dive back into work and prove to her boss that she was worthy of staying on as a consultant. But as she worked harder she realized she would have to give up dance, what she truly loved doing, which wasn’t a compromise she was willing to make. 

“I realized my boss was completely right. I wasn’t fully committed to being a consultant. I wasn’t making Bain my everything, because it simply wasn’t enough for me.”

Warner Music Group:
When her contract was up at Bain, Payal found a job in 2008 working on licensing agreements for digital music at Warner Music Group. It paid less and wasn’t as prestigious, most of the people in her life looked at her like she was crazy. But this was the most comfortable compromise at that time, she wasn’t quitting to dance full time and was giving herself more predictable hours. She had a steady income, work ended at 5 p.m. every day and she could attend dance classes and rehearsals all evening. 

This was a period of transition. Also left Bollywood Axion and started choreographing her own dance pieces (something she found to be a powerful expression of herself). Led her to start her own dance company that showcased Indian dance as an art and culture beyond merely a form of entertainment and fun. Started Sa Dance Company. 

Sa Dance Company:
Applied to participate in an annual Indian dance festival in downtown Manhattan. NYT dance critic, Alastair Macaulay, decided to do a piece on the festival in the next day’s arts section and Sa would be on the Saturday morning cover. Huge half-page image of Sa in motion, dancers looked radiant—a sign she was on the right track. She felt like the universe was telling her to believe in herself and what she was doing.

Spent the next several months planning Sa’s weekend-long Premier NYC Showcase. Dove into making her own production, writing her own story, creating new choreography, and rehearsing for hours with the dancers with the goal of sharing the beauty of Indian dance. To reserve the theater, Payal fronted $20k, her entire savings account. It was on her to sell tickets to break even. Had to sell 1000 tickets to cover her costs. All three shows sold out. 

Sitting in her office at Warner, she realized there was still a disconnect between the person she was at work and the life she wanted for herself. 

San Francisco:
During the Warner and Sa years, she spent all her time working and dancing. But in the summer of 2010, one of her close friends (Parul) invited her to San Francisco for her birthday. This helped create some distance and the change of pace helped her gain new perspective. 

At the birthday gathering, she chatted with Parul’s friends, who all seemed to be developing apps, starting companies, or embarking on some type of entrepreneurial journey. People were pursuing exciting, creative projects as actual career paths. Unlike anyone she knew in New York.

On Sunday night red-eye flight back to New York, her mind was racing. Idea of creating something of her own as her career fascinated her. How could she create something that provide the same type of freedom and inspiration? She gave herself two weeks to come up with an idea for something she would be passionate about creating. 

Back in NYC, as she settled into the week, she opened her laptop and looked for a ballet class to attend. She searched websites for different studios across the city, comparing schedules, researching their instructors, mapping out their locations. Two hours later looked up and had thirty browser tabs opened and realized she wasted her afternoon without finding anything. Entrepreneurial epiphany: why wasn’t there one place you could go to find and book classes?

This was the earliest inkling for ClassPass, an app to give people the opportunity to keep moving and try new things, and as a business, it became a new path for my life that aligned my calling with my career. 

Leaving Warner:
Created business plan and built up courage to leave her job. The day she quit got a message from the vice chairman of Warner asking her to come to his office. He wanted to hear about what she was doing next. He told her he wanted to invest, gave her a check for $10k and introduced her to David Tisch, who was heading up Techstars (one of hottest tech incubators in NYC). 

ClassPass:
Built beautiful product, homepage colors were just right, launched to fanfare and publicity, but then zero bookings came through. Social media, brand partnerships, press hits were not leading indicators of success. The false signals of success shielded them from seeing the real problems right in front of them. Hadn’t fully understood the challenges our customers were facing in getting to class. Reservations were the most important metric. 

1.5 years after visiting SF, went back to try to raise capital, met with big-name VC firms. None of them wanted to give her money. And no one was signing up for classes on their website. Sent email blast to 10k subscribers asking people to sign up for a free class, and not a single person converted. 

Decided to launch something new with a value prop that was more enticing. There wasn’t anything motivating customers to book classes through their site. Passport idea allowing them to bundle together trial classes at different studios to explore new classes over the course of a month. But this was only available to new customers for first month. Sales improved but then people dropped out or used new emails to sign up for another month, upsetting the studios when people returned at discounted prices after their initial trial. 

Eventually pivoted into a subscription service for fitness classes that allowed customers to return to classes they liked and continue exploring month after month.

Years later ClassPass was acquired by Mindbody, thanks to a connection and partnership she cultivated with Rick Stollmeyer (their founder) in the early days.

The Wright Brothers by David McCullough

The Wright Brothers by David McCullough
Date read: 5/20/23. Recommendation: 9/10.

Another favorite by one of the best biographers—David McCullough. The Wright Brothers tells the fascinating story of an unlikely duo—Wilbur and Orville Wright—who defied the odds with limited resources and connections to become the first to master human-controlled flight. It’s an incredible tale of humble beginnings, resourcefulness, calculated risks, and seeking meaning over influence. While the Wright brothers faced competitors who poured upwards of $100,000 into failed experiments in aviation, all said and done, the Wright brothers spent a little less than $1,000 in their efforts, all self-funded through their bicycle shop in Dayton, Ohio. Great lessons on the advantage held by outsiders—when you don’t have to play by the same rules or face the same level of obligations or pressure that industry insiders might, you operate with a level of freedom and flexibility that drives innovation. Brilliant biography and well worth your time.

Check out my notes below or Amazon for details and reviews.

My Notes:

Beginnings:
“What the two had in common above all was unity of purpose and unyielding determination. They had set themselves on a ‘mission.’” DM

“The Wright family book collection, however, was neither modest nor commonplace. Bishop Wright, a lifelong lover of books, heavily championed the limitless value of reading.” DM

“But it isn’t true to say we had no special advantages…the greatest thing in our favor was growing up in a family where there was always much encouragement to intellectual curiosity.” Orville Wright

Wright Cycle Company:
In the spring of 1893 Wilbur and Orville opened their first small bicycle shop selling and repairing bicycles. By 1895 they were selling about 150 bicycles per year. They soon began making their own bicycles which sold for $65 and the model was called the Van Cleve.

Bicycles were the sensation of the time but were proclaimed morally hazardous. “Because of bicycles, it was said, young people were not spending the time they should with books, and more seriously that suburban and country tours on bicycles were not ‘infrequently accompanied by seductions.’” DM

Even after they became interested in flight, they kept the bicycle shop going so they had a steady source of income to pay for their own experiments. Octave Chaunte tried to talk them out of it and offered to provide financial assistance to the brothers but they were unwilling to accept. 

Sharpened ice skates (15 cents each) during the winter to create additional income at the shop. 

Early inquiries into human flight:
1899 Wilbur wrote to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington requesting documents or books on the subject. The Smithsonian sent a generous supply of pamphlets on aviation. Wilbur and Orville started studying. 

“In the Summer of 1899, in a room above the bicycle shop on West Third Street, the brothers began building their first aircraft, a flying kite made of split bamboo and paper with a wingspan of five feet. It was a biplane with double wings, one over the other…” DM

“On May 13, 1900, Wilbur wrote a letter to Octave Chanute—his first letter to the eminent engineer—asking for advice on a location where he might conduct flying experiments, somewhere without rain or inclement weather and, Wilbur said, where sufficient winds could be counted on, winds, say, of 15 miles per hour. The only such sites he knew of, Chaunte replied, were in California and Florida, but both were ‘deficient in sand hills’ for soft landings.” DM

“In an answer to an inquiry Wilbur sent the United States Weather Bureau in Washington about prevailing winds around the country, they were provided extensive records of monthly wind velocities at more than a hundred Weather Bureau stations, enough for them to take particular interest in a remote spot on the Outer Banks of North Carolina called Kitty Hawk, some seven hundred miles from Dayton….To be certain Kitty Hawk was the right choice, Wilbur wrote to the head of the Weather Bureau station there, who answered reassuringly about steady winds and sand beaches. As could be plainly seen by looking at a map, Kitty Hawk also offered all the isolation one might wish for to carry on experimental work in privacy.” DM

The first full-sized glider they would ship to Kitty Hawk and reassemble cost $15 and had a wingspan of 18 feet. 

They were relentless in their work ethic, never sat still. During times that they were in Dayton working at their bicycle shop during the day, they would work every single night on their scientific investigations into human flight. Built a wind tunnel in the back of the bicycle shop. 

Calculated risks: 
“The man who wishes to keep at the problem long enough to really learn anything positively must not take dangerous risks. Carelessness and overconfidence are usually more dangerous than deliberately accepted risks.” Wilbur Wright

Never flew together for this reason. They knew how dangerous it was to fly. If one was killed, the other would have to be on the ground to carry on the work. 

Competition:
Samuel Langley, eminent astronomer and head of the Smithsonian. One of the most well-respected scientists in the nation. “His efforts in recent years, backed by substantial Smithsonian funding, had resulted in a strange-looking, steam-powered, pilotless ‘aerodrome,’ as he called it, with V-shaped wings in front and back that gave it the look of a monstrous dragonfly. Launched by catapult from the roof of a houseboat on the Potomac River in 1896, the year of Lilienthal’s death, it flew more than half a mile before plunging into the water.” DM

Langley maintained extreme secrecy about his efforts. Cost $70,000 to build an airship called “The Great Aerodome.” $50,000 was public money—Smithsonian resources and grants from the US War Department. Langley, Graham Bell, and other friends contributed $20,000 of their own money. Could only fly in perfectly calm weather. When it came time to launch a public demonstration it was launched 1,000 feet then came crashing into the Potomac River. On his next attempt, its wings crumbled, it flipped backward, and plunged into the river 20 feet from where it was launched on a houseboat. The experiment had covered more than 8 years, was a complete failure, and didn’t advance human flight in the slightest. 

“Neither brother was ever to make critical or belittling comments about Langley. Rather, they expressed respect and gratitude for the part he had played in their efforts. Just knowing that the head of the Smithsonian, the most prominent scientific institution in America, believed in the possibility of human flight was one of the influences that led them to proceed with their work.” DM

Dozens of other engineers, scientists, and thinkers had tried to tackle the problem of controlled flight: Sir George Cayley, Sir Hiram Maxim (machine gun), Alexander Graham Bell, and Thomas Edison. None had succeeded. “Hiram Maxim had reportedly spent $100,000 of his own money on a giant, steam-powered, pilotless flying machine only to see it crash in attempting to take off.” DM

As outsiders, the Wright brothers faced less pressure, had less to lose than some of the aforementioned figures. 

What the Wright brothers learned in their early experiments was that so many of the long-established, supposedly reliable calculations and tables prepared by early authorities in aviation were blatantly wrong and couldn’t be trusted. 

Later expeditions to Kitty Hawk:
Fall of 1902, had a third iteration of their glider. In two months, made nearly a thousand glides and resolved the last major control problem. “All the time and effort given to the wind tunnel tests, the work designing and building their third machine, and the latest modifications made at Kill Devil Hills had proven entirely successful. They knew exactly the importance of what they had accomplished. They knew they had solved the problem of flight and more. They had acquired the knowledge and the skill to fly. They could soar, they could float, they could dive and rise, circle and glide and land, all with assurance. Now they had only to build a motor.” DM

In December of 1903, Wilbur made the first successful powered flight and flew a quarter mile through the air in 59 seconds.

“It had taken four years. They had endured violent storms, accidents, one disappointment after another, public indifference or ridicule, and clouds of demon mosquitoes. To get to and from their remote sand dune testing ground, they had made five round-trips from Dayton (counting Orville’s return home to see about stronger propeller shafts), a total of seven thousand miles by train, all to fly a little more than half a mile. No matter. They had done it.” DM

Resourcefulness + Scrappiness:
“The Langley project had cost nearly $70,000, the greater part of it public money, whereas the brothers’ total expenses for everything from 1900 to 1903, including materials and travel to and from Kitty Hawk, came to a little less than $1,000, a sum paid entirely from the modest profits of their bicycle business.” DM

“It wasn’t luck that made them fly; it was hard work and common sense; they put their whole heart and soul and all their energy into an idea and they had the faith.” John T. Daniels 

“No bird soars in a calm.” Wilbur Wright

“All the money anyone needs is just enough to prevent one from being a burden to others.” Bishop Wright

Reception:
At first, no one believed they had actually flown in their machine or they were completely disinterested—the public, the US press, and the US government. “Few took any interest in the matter or in the two brothers who were to become Dayton’s greatest heroes ever. Even those riding the interurban line (past Huffman Prairie) seem to have paid little or no attention to what could occasionally be seen in passing, or to the brothers themselves as they traveled back and forth from town on the same trolley looking little different from other commuters.” DM

Dayton papers didn’t break the story or report on successful flights, but a local beekeeper, Amos Root, who ran a trade journal, Gleanings in Bee Culture, was the first to report the story and recognize the genius of what they had done. Root sent a copy to the editor of the Scientific American saying it could be reprinted at no cost—they ignored it. 

Transition to Huffman Prairie:
Practice field near Dayton, decided since they had the concept down for their flying machine, they would reduce costs of travel and shipment by staying closer to home to continue to master the art of launching themselves safely into the air, banking, turning a motor-propelled machine, and landing safely. 

The brothers finally generated interest as people began to witness demonstrations of the machine firsthand. Only after this did the Dayton press finally catch on. 

“By the time the experiments ended, the brothers had made 105 ‘starts’ at Huffman Prairie and thought it time now to put their creation, Flyer III on the market.” DM

By the end of their time at Huffman Prairie, they were making controlled flights of 25 miles or more. 

Seek meaning over influence:
When Wilbur was in France, preparing to demonstrate the flying machine, and getting pressure from the reporters to fly before he was ready: “I did not ask you to come here. I shall go out when I’m ready. No, I shall not try to mislead you newspaper men, but if you are not here I shall not wait for you.” DM

After his first successful flight (2 miles, 2 minutes in the air): “Then, very calmly, his face beaming with a smile, he put his hands in his pockets and walked off whistling. That night, while the normally sleepy town of Le Mans celebrated, the hero retired early to his shed.” DM

“That summer Saturday in Le Mans, France, not quite eight years into the new twentieth century, one American. Pioneer had at last presented to the world the miracle he and his brother had created on their own and in less than two minutes demonstrated for all who were present and to an extent no one yet had on anywhere on earth, that a new age had begun.” DM

On Wilbur’s strength of character: “In spite of the sarcastic remarks and the mockery, in spite of the traps set up from everywhere all these years, he has not faltered. He is sure of himself, of his genius, and he kept his secret. He had the desire to participate today to prove to the world he had not lied.” Léon Delagrange

“He went his way always in his own way, never showing off, never ever playing to the crowd. ‘The impatience of a hundred thousand persons would not accelerate the rhythm of his stride.’” DM

The Anthropocene Reviewed – John Greene

The Anthropocene Reviewed: Essays on a Human-Centered Planet by John Greene
Date read: 5/7/23. Recommendation: 8/10.

Huge fan of John Greene’s writing—he’s hilarious, witty, and I wish I could write half as well as he’s able to. In The Anthropocene Reviewed, he reviews different aspects of contemporary humanity, from Halley’s Comet and Diet Dr. Pepper to the Indianapolis 500 and the Internet, on a five-star scale. Each chapter is insightful and entertaining, I loved his perspective on purpose, excess, belonging, and perception.

Check out my notes below or Amazon for details and reviews.

My Notes:

Finding meaning:
“Pay attention to what you pay attention to. That’s pretty much all the info you need.” Amy Krouse Rosenthal

Excess:
“Gatsby is a critique of the American Dream. The only people who end up rich or successful in the novel are the ones who start out that way. Almost everyone else ends up dead or destitute. And it’s a critique of the kind of vapid capitalism that can’t find anything more interesting to do with money than try to make more of it. The book lays bare the carelessness of the entitled rich—the kind of people who buy puppies but won’t take care of dogs, or who purchase vast libraries of books but never read any of them.” John Greene

“Like ice on a hot stove, we must ride on a melting Earth, all the while knowing who is melting it. A species that has only ever found its way to more must now find its way to less.” John Greene

Belonging:
Home is not a place, but a moment: “Home wasn't a set house, or a single town on a map. It was wherever the people who loved you were, whenever you were together. Not a place, but a moment, and then another, building on each other like bricks to create a solid shelter that you take with you for your entire life, wherever you may go.” Sarah Dessen

Evolving: “One of the strange things about adulthood is that you are your current self, but you are also all the selves you used to be, the ones you grew out of but can’t ever quite get rid of.” John Greene

Perception:
“I honestly believe it is better to know nothing than to know what ain’t so.” Josh Billings

“We do not see things as they are, we see them as we are.” Anais Nin

Focus on your work:
Embrace the quiet: “Being busy is a way of being loud.” John Greene

“I’ve often wished—especially when I was younger—that my work was better, that it rose to the level of genius, that I could write well enough to make something worth remembering. But I think that way of imagining art might make individuals too important. Maybe in the end art and life are more like the world’s largest ball of paint. You carefully choose your colors, and then you add your layer as best you can. In time, it gets painted over. The ball gets painted and painted again until there is no visible remnant of your paint. And eventually, maybe nobody knows about it except for you. But that doesn’t mean your layer of paint is irrelevant or a failure. You have permanently, if slightly, changed the larger sphere. You’ve made it more beautiful and more interesting.” John Greene

Showdown: Thurgood Marshall and the Supreme Court Nomination That Changed America – Wil Haygood

Showdown: Thurgood Marshall and the Supreme Court Nomination That Changed America by Wil Haygood
Date read: 5/4/23. Recommendation: 9/10.

The incredible story of one of the great Civil Rights leaders who worked within the law to fight for equal rights by battling discrimination and legal segregation in America’s courtrooms. Haygood is a brilliant writer and biographer, breathing life into the reality of atrocities that Thurgood Marshall faced—both in his nomination to the Supreme Court and subsequent hearings, as well as his decades traveling across courtrooms in the American South. Marshall is an incredible example of how to work within a system that’s built against you to drive lasting change. He was dignified when others tried to humiliate him and always kept himself steady, rising above attacks on his character and fighting for the right and moral side of history. Cannot recommend this book enough, one of my favorite biographies that I’ve ever read.

Check out my notes below or Amazon for details and reviews.

My Notes:

NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund:
“In 1940, Thurgood Marshall—who had joined the NAACP as a lawyer four years earlier after working at a barely-making-it law practice in his native Baltimore—came up with an idea to form a permanent legal arm of the NAACP. It was known as the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, and its mission was clear: to assault discrimination and legal segregation in America’s courtrooms.” Wil Haygood

Landmark court victories:

• Smith v. Allwright: 1944 case that outlawed the all-white Democratic primary in Texas.

• Shelley v. Kraemer: 1948 case that ruled it was illegal to bar minorities from purchasing property even if the homeowner had written it into the clause of the deed.

• Sweatt v. Painter: 1950 case that ordered the University of Texas to admit a black man it had previously barred from its law school.

• Brown v. Board of Education: 1954 case that outlawed the separate-but-equal doctrine that had been the law of the land and ordered the desegregation of public schools.

“There was not another lawyer in America whose constitutional victories could match Thurgood Marshall’s in the arena of equal rights.” Wil Haygood

As an advocate, Marshall won in the Supreme Court on 29 out of 34 occasions. 

Supreme Court nomination:
President Lyndon B. Johnson nominated Marshall as the first black man to sit on the U.S. Supreme Court on June 13, 1967. Marshall had been a federal appeals court judge and was the current solicitor general. LBJ “aimed to emancipate the nation’s legal system by aiming for the very top of it.” Wil Haygood

“Thurgood Marshall had been considered Public Enemy No. 1 in the South because of his court victories upending many of the laws of segregation. With Johnson’s looming nomination of Marshall, it was as if the president were hammering the final nail into the coffin of white supremacy.” Wil Haygood

Nomination hearings:
Nomination hearings in front of of the Senate Judiciary Committee began on July 13th, 1967 in room 2228 of the New Senate Office Building. 

Senators from the South went on the attack…John McClellan, Arkansas Senator, was hellbent on destroying Marshall, since Marshall was responsible for Brown v. Board of Education which embarrassed McClellan’s state. During hearings, McClellan referred to black Americans as an ‘enemy of our security.’ McClellan had privately told his constituents that he would do all he could to stop Marshall from reaching the high court. 

Southern Senators aimed to put Thurgood Marshall “in crosshairs of the civil unrest taking place on American streets and at city halls and on all those college campuses.”

James Eastland, Mississippi Senator and chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, was also committed to doing everything in his power to keep Marshall from taking his seat on the US Supreme Court. He waited until the last minute to tell the White House when the hearings would begin, hoping to limit their preparation time. Eastland had another senator look for links between Marshall and the Communist Party. Eastland had once stood on the floor of the US Senator and thundered that “the Negro race is an inferior race.” He also once said that Mississippians would “protect and maintain white supremacy throughout eternity.” He also said that “If it came to fighting, I’d fight for Mississippi against the United States, even if it meant going out into the street and shooting Negroes.” Eastland was committed to stopping the pursuit of equality. And earlier in his career, he assailed black soldiers serving in WWII as failures in combat. 

By the time the third day of confirmation hearings began, Marshall had been subjected to more hours of questioning than any other nominee in history. Eastland did not provide a timeline of when they might end, attempting to rattle Marshall. 

On the fourth day, Strom Thurmond, the Senator from South Carolina, went on the attack. Thurmond had launched his Senate campaign in response to the Brown decision. Later he helped launched a weeks-long filibuster against the 1964 Civil Rights Act. And at one point in time, he was the presidential candidate for the whites-only Dixiecrat party. “And now in 1967, Strom Thurmond had to endure the 1960s having streamrolled his life and his beloved South.” Thurmond lit into Marshall about the thirteenth amendment, as well as interracial relationships. Later, it was revealed, that when Thurmond was 62 he had carried on an affair with a black woman, Carrie Butler, who worked for his family and was only 16 years old.

Eastland later called up a witness opposed to Marshall. Michael D. Jaffe, counsel to a company known as Liberty Lobby which was formed in the shadow of McCarthyism and was accused of anti-Semitism and a fascination with the teachings of Hitler. Its two biggest supporters were Senator Strom Thurmond and Mississippi Supreme Court Justice Tom Brady. Jaffe claimed Marshall had associations with organizations of subversive nature. 

After day five, Eastland announced he would call no more hearings. He ended them before giving a chance for Marshall’s allies on the committee to speak on his behalf. “In the nation’s history, a Supreme Court nominee had never appeared in person before a committee as long as Thurgood Marshall.” Wil Haygood

August 11—Eastland announced the committee had completed its hearing process and was ready to issue its report on Marshall’s nomination. Now it was up to the full Senate. The majority report (senators favoring Marshall) issued 3.5 pages emphasizing how he had been at the forefront of assisting black citizens in asserting their right to vote and share in constitutional rights, and how he had shown that progress can be achieved within the framework of American democracy and law. The minority report was 6x longer and scathing, ripping Marshall for judicial activism, the subjugation of federal powers, and compromising the sacredness of the Constitution.

On August 30th, 1967, more than a month after the Marshall hearings had ended, the Senate conned to vote on the nomination of Marshall to the Supreme Court. There was just a single black, male senator—Edward Brooke—and a single female senator—Margaret Chase Smith—in the entire Senate. 

The final tally stood at 69-11. Marshall was going to join the U.S. Supreme Court. LBJ had convinced twenty segregationists to refrain from voting so it was closer than it looked. 

“Let me take this opportunity to affirm my deep faith in this Nation and its people, and to pledge that I shall be ever mindful of my obligation to the Constitution and to the goal of equal justice under the law.” Thurgood Marshall

Marshall had been put through an ordeal by committee. Fred P. Graham wrote that “the present procedures serve only as punishment to a future justice by political enemies.” “Marshall was the first nominee to undergo such an extensive grilling face-to-face, and his hearings created a new level of senatorial inquiry. And once those senators smelled blood, it only pushed them deeper and deeper. A year after the Marshall hearing, the Senate blocked Justice Abe Fortas from ascending to the position of chief justice.” Wil Haygood

Confirmation hearings became partisan battles that were televised and played on repeat across news outlets across the world. 

Civil Rights Movement:
In 1964, more than 20,000 citizens had been arrested in the South following protests for racial equality. In 1965, more than 36 churches had been firebombed by segregationists in Mississippi. 

“Charlie Houston, the dean (at Howard University Law School), had studied the plight of the Negro lawyer in America, studied it and gathered statistics, and those statistics were stark and indisputable. He would constantly remind his students of the crisis confronting the Negro lawyer. Houston discovered ‘there are not more than 100 Negro lawyers in the South devoting full-time to practice: 100 Negro layers to care for the rights and interests of 9,000,000 Southern Negroes or approximately one Negro lawyer to every 90,000 Negroes.’” Wil Haygood

“Thurgood Marshall lived in a realistic and gritty world. And he had gone into dangerous southern towns at night. And lived to tell about it. Negroes would tell you Thurgood Marshall was Atticus Finch before Atticus Finch.” Wil Haygood

Brown v. Board of Education:
Fall of 1957, nine black schoolchildren tried to desegregate Little Rock Central High School and were stopped by a mob of angry whites yelling profanities, spitting, and throwing rocks. “Reporters on the scene to cover the story were chased and bloodied by the mobs. This forced President Dwight Eisenhower to go into military mode and dispatch troops to protect the children. The troops had to remain at path school watching over the black children for an entire year. Little Rock was thus seared into the nation’s psyche as mean and bigoted. 

Smith v. Allwright:
Lonnie Smith tried to vote in Houston. He was denied a ballot by the Houston election Judge S.E. Allwright. Marshall met with Smith and filed a complaint on his behalf. The case made its way to the Supreme Court. “Thurgood Marshall had never appeared before the justices of the US Supreme Court of any case approaching this magnitude. And in reality, if he were to reach that hallowed courtroom to take on Texas, he’d be taking on all the states below the Mason-Dixon Line, because they had punishing white primary systems of their own.” Wil Haygood

“Marshall opened by telling the justices what he had been saying all along: that the Texas primary simply undermined Negro voting no matter how state officials argued otherwise.” Wil Haygood

“The Texas attorney general, Gerald Mann, as expected, argued that the earlier ruling supporting Texas did not violate any of the constitutional amendments being debated. The justices, at the conclusion of the arguments, had to ponder a question: Does the constitution embrace ‘private’ discrimination?” Wil Haygood

Landmark 8-1 decision ruled on behalf of Smith and was a profound voting rights victory for the NAACP. The court wrote, “The United States is a constitutional democracy. Its organic law grants to all citizens a right to participate in the choice of elected officials without restriction by any state because of race. This grant to the people of the opportunity for choice is not to be nullified by a state through casting its electoral process in a form which permits a private organization to practice racial discrimination in the election.”

Southern states continued to impose poll taxes, literacy tests, harassment, and physical brutality to deter black Americans from voting. 

30k black votes were registered in 1940. In 1947, three years after the case, there were 100k. “Before 1964, only 22 percent of Negroes were registered to tote throughout the American South. Yes, there was the Smith decision, but fear remained; voting rights activists still fell dead from gunfire.” Wil Haygood

Supreme Court:
“During his twenty-four years on the Supreme Court, Thurgood Marshall remained unerringly true to his principles. His concurring opinions and dissents echoed his beliefs about the First Amendment and equality.” Wil Haygood

“Thurgood Marshall wrote 322 majority opinions while on the high court. They delved from freedom of speech to the death penalty, from issues of segregation and discrimination to housing. There were also 363 dissents, giving evidence of a justice who would not bend when he felt the law was against the aggrieved and dispossessed. No justice had come to the high court with the background he possessed in traveling the land and fighting from courthouse to courthouse and devising national strategies that would alter American law.” Wil Haygood

“His were the eyes that had seen, up close, men and women grasping for freedom. He had seen shack-like structures masquerading as Negro schoolhouses. He had heard the wails of Negro mothers crying for their sons who had been sentenced on suspicious rape charges. He had seen how poverty could scar both Negro and white alike. His were eyes that had seen what very few Ivy League-trained lawyers had seen and he knew it, and he wanted them to know he knew it.” Wil Haygood

The Road to Character – David Brooks

The Road to Character by David Brooks
Date read: 4/28/23. Recommendation: 8/10.

Brooks examines the generational shift from humility to the “Big Me”—where everyone’s now encouraged to see themselves as the center of the universe. As part of the “Big Me,” we’ve become obsessed with resume virtues—wealth, fame, status—things that exist beyond our control and don’t necessarily correspond to living a meaningful life. When in fact, we should be focused on eulogy virtues—kindness, bravery, honesty. But to get here, we must get out of our own heads, stop asking ourselves what we want out of life, and instead ask ourselves what our lives and circumstances want out of us. Brooks cites examples of those throughout history who faced crucible moments and used the struggle against their limitations to develop more enduring virtues.

Check out my notes below or Amazon for details and reviews.

My Notes:

Resume virtues versus eulogy virtues:
Resume virtues: Skills you bring to the job market that contribute to external success.

Eulogy virtues: Exist at the core of your being, whether you are kind, brave, honest, or faithful; what kind of relationships you formed. 

One book that helped him think about these two sets of virtues was Lonely Man of Faith by Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik who observes two accounts of creation in Genesis and argues these represent two opposing sides of our nature, Adam I and Adam II.

“If you are only Adam I, you turn into a shrewd animal, a crafty, self-preserving creature who is adept at playing the game and who turns everything into a game. If that’s all you have, you spend a lot of time cultivating professional skills, but you don’t have a clear idea of the sources of meaning in life, so you don’t know where you should devote your skills, which career path will be highest and best.” DB

“This book is about Adam II. It’s about how some people have cultivated strong character. It’s about one mindset that people through the centuries have adopted to put iron in their core and cultivate a wise heart. I wrote it, to be honest, to save my own soul.” DB

“Good, wise hearts are obtained through lifetimes of diligent effort to dig deeply within and heal lifetimes of scars. You can’t teach it or email it or tweet it. It has to be discovered within the depths of one’s own heart when a person is fairly ready to go looking for it, and not before.” Dave Jolly

Adam II: “Occasionally, even today, you come across certain people who seem to possess an impressive inner cohesion. They are not leading fragmented, scattershot lives. They have achieved inner integration. They are calm, settled, and rooted. They are not blown off course by storms. They don’t crumble in adversity. Their minds are consistent and their hearts are dependable.” DB

“They possess the self-effacing virtues of people who are inclined to be useful but don’t need to prove anything to the world: humility, restraint, reticence, temperance, respect, and soft self-discipline.” DB

“These are the people who have built strong inner character, who have achieved certain depth. In these people, at the end of this struggle, the climb to success has surrendered to deepen the soul.” DB

Rites of Passage:
“The road to character often involves moments of moral crisis, confrontation, and recovery. When they were in crucible moments, they suddenly had a greater ability to see their own nature. The everyday self-deceptions and illusions of self-mastery were shattered.” DB

“Only the one who descends into the underworld rescues the beloved.” Kierkegaard

“Such people don’t come out healed; they come out different. They find a vocation or calling. They commit themselves to some long obedience and dedicate themselves to some desperate lark that gives life purpose.” DB

Resist self-promotion:
When George H.W. Bush was running for president, if a speechwriter put “I” in one of his speeches, he would cross it out. In speeches he didn’t, his mother would call the next day and tell him he was talking too much about himself again. 

Shift from a culture of humility to a culture of “Big Me” where everyone’s encouraged to see themselves as the center of the universe. 

Purpose:
Don’t ask what you want from life, instead ask: “What does life want from me? What are my circumstances calling me to do?” DB

You have been thrown into a specific place with specific problems and needs. “Your job is to figure certain things out: What does this environment need in order to be made whole?” DB

“We don’t create our lives; we are summoned by life.” DB

“The true self is what you have built from your nature, not just what your nature started out with.” DB

Putting lower loves above higher ones:
“If someone tells you something in confidence and then you blab it as good gossip at a dinner party, you are putting your love of popularity above your love of friendship. If you talk more at a meeting than you listen, you may be putting your ardor to outshine above learning and companionship.” DB

“Out of the crooked timber of humanity, no straight thing was ever made.” Immanuel Kant

“The most important thing is whether you are willing to engage in moral struggle against yourself.” DB

Inner scorecard:
“Adam I achieves success by winning victories over others. But Adam II builds character by winning victories over the weaknesses in himself.” DB

“Self-respect is produced by inner triumph, not external ones.” DB

“The central fallacy of modern life is the belief that accomplishments of the Adam I realm can produce deep satisfaction. That’s false. Adam I’s desires are infinite and always leap out ahead of whatever has just been achieved. Only Adam II can experience deep satisfaction.” DB

“Life is essentially a moral drama, not a hedonistic one.” 

Legacy:
“The message is the person, perfected over lifetimes of effort that was set in motion by yet another wise person now hidden from the recipient by dim mists of time.” DB

“But if you serve work that is intrinsically compelling and focus on just being excellent at that, you will wind up serving yourself and the community obliquely.” DB

Maturity:
“Maturity does not glitter. It is not built on the traits that make people celebrities. A mature person has moved from fragmentation to centeredness, has achieved a state in which the restlessness is over, the confusion about the meaning and purpose of life is calmed.” DB

Flaws:
“We are all stumblers, and the beauty and meaning of life are in the stumbling—in recognizing the stumbling and trying to become more graceful as the years go by.” DB

Outlive: The Science and Art of Longevity – Peter Attia

Outlive: The Science and Art of Longevity by Peter Attia
Date read: 4/23/23. Recommendation: 9/10.

Incredibly useful and detailed book on longevity. Attia emphasizes the importance of focusing not just on lifespan—how long you live—but healthspan—the quality of your years. He details how Medicine 2.0 has missed the boat and treats medical conditions on the wrong end of the timescale after they’ve already taken hold. In Medicine 3.0, the focus is on prevention, and this demands that you take responsibility for your own health. Attia frames up the tactics in Medicine 3.0—exercise, nutrition, sleep, emotional health, and exogenous molecules—and adds scientific rigor, as well as recommendations so you can begin applying them to your own life.

Check out my notes below or Amazon for details and reviews.

My Notes:

Longevity has two components:

1. Lifespan: How long you live

2. Healthspan: The quality of your years

Medicine 3.0:
Nearly all the insurance money flows to treatment rather than prevention: “Medicine’s biggest failing is in attempting to treat all these conditions at the wrong end of the timescale—after they are entrenched—rather than before they take root.” PA

Medicine 3.0 places greater emphasis on prevention rather than treatment, considers the patient a unique individual, focuses on an honest assessment of risk versus reward versus cost, and pays more attention to maintaining healthspan, the quality of life. 

“In Medicine 2.0, you are a passenger on the ship, being carried along somewhat passively. Medicine 3.0 demands much more from you, the patient: You must be well informed, medically literate to a reasonable degree, clear-eyed about your goals, and cognizant of the true nature of risk.” PA

“I never won a fight in the ring; I always won in preparation.” Muhammad Ali

Tactics:
“Changing how we exercise, what we eat, and how we sleep (see Part III) can completely turn the tables in our favor. The bad news is that these things require effort to escape the default modern environment that has conspired against our ancient (and formerly helpful) fat-storing genes, by overfeeding, undermining, and undersleeping us all.” PA

“There is some risk involved in action, there always is. But there is far more risk in failure to act.” Harry S. Truman

“Absorb what’s useful, discard what is useless, and add what is specifically your own.” Bruce Lee

Neurodegenerative diseases:
Exercise is the single most powerful item in our neurodegeneration prevention tool kit. Sleep is also a very powerful tool against Alzheimer’s. Studies have shown regular exercisers live as much as a decade longer than sedentary people. 

Strategy is based on the following principles:

1. What’s good for the heart is good for the brain: vascular health is crucial to brain health.

2. What’s good for the liver (and pancreas) is good for the brain: metabolic health is crucial to brain health.

3. Time is key: Think about prevention and play the very long game.

4. Our most powerful tool for preventing cognitive decline is exercise: lots of it.

Exercise:
Peak aerobic cardiorespiratory fitness (V02 Max) is the most powerful marker for longevity. 

Emotional health:
“Every man is a bridge, spanning the legacy he inherited and the legacy he passes on.” Terrence Real

“Family pathology rolls from generation to generation like a fire in the woods taking down everything in its path until one person, in one generation, has the courage to turn and face the flames. That person brings peace to his ancestors and spares the children that follow.” Terrence Real

“Who cares how well you perform if you’re so utterly miserable?” PA

“Maybe the journey isn’t so much about becoming anything. Maybe it’s about unbecoming everything that isn’t really you, so you can be who you were meant to be in the first place.” Paulo Coelho

Showboat: The Life of Kobe Bryant – Roland Lazenby

Showboat: The Life of Kobe Bryant by Roland Lazenby
Date read: 4/11/23. Recommendation: 8/10.

The definitive Kobe Bryant biography. Lazenby details Kobe’s upbringing, his struggles, his triumphs, and his coming to terms with how to balance basketball alongside family—often learning the hard way. Throughout the book, Lazenby explores Kobe’s impenetrable, unshakable self-belief, his singular focus, and his ability to punch above his weight. No one understood the power of visualization, preparation, and seeking world-class mentors as well as Kobe. Well worth your time and one of the most powerful sports biographies I’ve read.

Check out my notes below or Amazon for details and reviews.

My Notes:

Preparation:
Gained a reputation for being a master of study and intense preparation with a singular focus on the details. 

Even as a kid, would pour over footage of players: “Soon Joe was subscribing to a service that delivered video of games directly. Joe and Kobe would pour over them together, taking note of all the key subtleties, the footwork, a primer of drop steps and jab steps and V-cuts, the various offensive and defensive styles of NBA teams and their stars. ‘I used to watch everybody from Magic to Bird to Michael to Dominique Wilkins,’ Bryant recalled. ‘I used to watch their moves and add them to my game.’ It was the beginning of a career-long focus on studying game recordings, normally the domain of the Xs and Os wonks, who serve as assistant coaches.” Roland Lazenby

“By the time he was an NBA player, he would invest long hours each day breaking down his performances and those of opponents, far more than what any other NBA player would ever contemplate undertaking.” Roland Lazenby

By the time Phil Jackson joined the Lakers, Kobe had already mastered the triangle offense because of how much he studied the Bulls growing up. He knew the right spots on the floor, the right actions, etc.

“It began with his immaculate footwork—an array of pivots, reverse pivots, jab steps, and feints that allowed him to create the room to rise up in a tight space, often pinned in against the side-line; to elevate over the defender and make seemingly impossible shots under impossible circumstances. This unique skill was the perfectly formed product of his study of untold hours of videotape of every single one of the game’s great scorers. It also involved conversations and more film study with Tex Winter about footwork, and time spent with Jerry West talking about a million important details, such as the angle of his elbow in relation to his forehead for the perfect shot.” Roland Lazenby

On flights after games, while teammates were sleeping, Bryant would watch the game he just played to review and critique his performance, then watch the scouting video for the next opponent, all before allowing himself to sleep. 

Impenetrable, unshakable self-belief:
“At every turn, his declarations of future greatness have been met with head shaking and raised eyebrows because such dreams as ludicrous, impossible to fulfill. ‘Kobe’s crazy,’ the people around him concluded time and time again with a laugh.” Roland Lazenby

“Bryant’s existence has been a singular, almost inhuman, pursuit of greatness.” Roland Lazenby

“A lot of guys his age didn’t really believe in themselves yet. It’s not enough to be good; you’ve got to know you are good. Kobe, he believed it.” Gary Charles

Willpower: “He was always trying to get better, to the point that he cut everything and everyone off. It was just, he had a vision. He had a goal in mind, and that was it, that was the end-all, be-all. He played like every game was his last, every workout was going to be his last. He would outwit people, man. His will was just unmatched.” Donnie Carr

Visualization:
Kobe would play alone when he didn’t have anyone else to play against while his family was living in Italy. He called it ‘shadow basketball.’ “That, of course, involved intense visualization of the NBA stars he had stored in his imagination from the video screen.” Roland Lazenby

As a young teen playing in a Philadelphia summer league, Kobe’s counselor cautioned him against his fixation on playing in the NBA and urged him to consider more realistic plans. Kobe was focused on being one in a million and had an extreme sense of purpose paired with an elevated skill level to do it. 

“Kobe Bryant had a clear destination in mind, and if you weren’t one board, he had clearly conveyed the idea that he was the sort who wouldn’t hesitate to grab you by the collar and throw you right off the train.” Roland Lazenby

After his rookie season: “For the next six years young Bryant had lived his life as if on a mythical quest. The only way he could keep the whole dream going was to work harder and harder and harder, to spin his fantasies around and around until they wrapped him tight in a new reality. Visualization was immense for that. It drove his many hours of solitary practice time. In America, as in Italy, he took to playing entire games along on the court in his own personal practice right before he played them for real in front of audiences.” Roland Lazenby

Kobe’s focus entering the league was to be an All-Star, to be a starter, and to average 20 points per game. 

“Look at every path closely and deliberately. Try it as many times as you think necessary. Then ask yourself, and yourself alone, one question…Does this path have a heart? If it does, the path is good. If it doesn’t it is of no use.” Carlos Castaneda, The Teaching’s of Don Juan

Focus:
“Kobe on stage was probably the most focused kid I’ve ever seen on the court. No bullshit, no taking it easy. He’s not going to smile at you. He’s going to kill you from bell to bell, no mercy. He didn’t give a fuck.” Sam Rines

Pick a lane: Kobe failed to launch a successful hip-hop career—what many athletes were attempting to do at the time. He was laughed off stage at a performance during All-Star Weekend. “He put it in perspective. You need to respect the ground that everybody else walks on. He didn’t treat music the way he did basketball. It’s a different investment. You can have supreme confidence, but you can’t go in there thinking if you want to do this at a higher level, it takes less than what you put into basketball.” Scoop Jackson

Mental toughness is what set Kobe apart. Being able to accept responsibility night after night after night. 

Severed relationships:
“It’s like F. Scott Fitzgerald. Show me a hero, and I’ll show you a tragedy.” Anthony Gilbert

“In one fell swoop, in the days before the 2001 playoffs began, Bryant had simply removed his family from his life.” Roland Lazenby

“He was like the Russians with the Romanovs. He got rid of them all.” Sonny Vaccaro

Learning the value of family: “Despite all his ambition and drive, the basketball star found nothing more important than his two daughters. The children were the priority for which he would skip a workout….Bryant had long encountered self-destruction in life, and by age thirty-four, he had learned to back away and move toward centering his approach. In a life filled with focus on competitive titles and glory, he was perhaps learning once more that there were other important things to be won.” Roland Lazenby

Distance:
“Since he mostly worked out alone, his teammates rarely saw him developing his game. Between the obvious talent, the inexperience, and his reclusive nature, Bryant presented quite a mystery. Derek Fisher had come in as a rookie with Bryant, had played with him for two seasons, and still had absolutely no idea who the kid was.” Roland Lazenby

“His basic strategy for dealing with other Lakers was to talk as little as possible.” Roland Lazenby

Punch above your weight:
Summer before his senior year of high school, Kobe would scrimmage and play with pros while he was facing a decision on whether or not to go straight to the NBA or go to college first. “It remained difficult to draw too many conclusions from Bryant’s experience working out with the pros that summer except for one impression that really mattered—Bryant’s own. He came away thinking that he could do it, he could play against NBA players right away.” Roland Lazenby

Game 5 - Second Round of NBA playoffs:
Lakers down in the series with the Utah Jazz, 3-1.. Shaq fouled out with just under two minutes to go and the game was then in Kobe’s hands (it was still his rookie season, he was 18 years old). With one minute left in regulation, John Stockton blew by Kobe for a layup to tie the game. Kobe got the last shot to win it in regulation from fourteen feet and threw up an airball. “Overtime would only extend his nightmare. With O’Neal out of the game, the Lakers found themselves putting the extra period in the rookie’s hands. His three deep air balls goosed the home crowd into delight. Bryant raised his eyebrows, licked his lips, appeared almost, for a moment, to squeeze back a tear.” (page 268 for reference)

After Kobe returned to LA he was on the phone with Sonny Vaccaro who asked him how he felt about getting beat up by the press and fans for his crazy air balls. “Fuck ‘em,” Bryant replied quickly. “Nobody else wanted to shoot the ball.”

“That evening after the loss Bryant went straight to a gym at a neighborhood school as soon as he got home to L.A. ‘He went in the gym that night and shot until three or four in the morning,’ Scoop Jackson said. ‘There’s no crying, there’s no running to lay up with some woman he just met in a club. None of that shit. He went straight to the damn gym.’ ‘There’s not another teenager on the planet who could miss those shots, fail the Lakers, and recover from it,’ Vaccaro said, looking back.” Roland Lazenby

“It was an early turning point for me in being able to deal with adversity, deal with public scrutiny and self-doubt. At eighteen years old, it was gut-check time.” Kobe

“What if he didn’t have that game? What if he didn’t have that moment? What if he made one of those shots? What if he made one of those shots to win the game? Would he have turned out to be as good or better? I think that game was vital to how good he became. That level of embarrassment to happen to someone like him? The next year he came out like a fucking maniac.” Robby Schwartz

Mentorship:
“Tex Winter, the Lakers’ new assistant coach and resident offensive genius, would take the kind of grandfatherly approach that Bryant had long responded to. Winter could be harsh in his assessments of players, but he stressed early on to Bryant that when he criticized—and he would criticize often—he was aiming his comments at the player’s actions, not at the player himself.” Roland Lazenby