“The Only Three Things You Need to Know to Succeed”

Today’s post from James Altucher. Very useful.

And it connects with today’s post from Seth Godin: “Why Isn’t It Better?“. Outstanding.

* Seth is really, really good at the hard work of brevity.

Did we intend to separate teens from adults?

I have thought about this before.

We ask teens to spend all their time playing:

Playing a sport, playing a musical instrument, playing school, playing at relationships.

Adults spend a staggering, insane amount of time and money on the things we ask our teens to play. Adults spend so much time and money and emotion on these things that it looks like the adults are doing it for themselves. Surely the adults know that no one (percentage-wise) plays football or marches in a band after high school. At least, the adults should know.

I find myself hoping that the adults maniacally push these activities on their teens because every other adult pushes these activities on their teen, and not because the adult is madly trying to re-live their own teen years or have some powerful, residual emotions that they are driven to try to resolve.

So what should a teen do with their time, if not play?

1. Leadership.
2. Goal-setting.
3. Doing stuff.
4. Real relationships. Relationships that produce. Here is a tiny list of such relationships:

Jobs & Wozniak, Lewis & Tolkien, Hanna & Barbara, Sears & Roebuck,  Ben & Jerry, Black & Decker, Masters &Johnson, Currier & Ives, Gilbert & Sullivan, Rogers & Hammerstein, Lennon & McCartney, Lewis & Clark, Mercedes & Benz, Hewlett & Packard, …

Prolonging childhood, via adolescence, is a recent invention. Let’s say that humans have been around for 1 million years. Well, for 999,900 years, adolescence did not exist. A case can be made at this point that prolonging childhood does more harm than good.

A ton has been written questioning the invention of adolescence. We carry on only because it is easier to carry on. To re-invent adolescence on a national scale would simply(!) require changing the beliefs of the majority of the population.

Wake up. And live.

I don’t want my class to be a waste. The only way to keep it from being that is if my class helps young people Find Themselves.

Wake up. Wake them up. We must awake from our sleep. And start living.

“Tell me…do you not feel a spirit stirring within you that longs to know, to do, and to dare, to hold converse with the great world of thought, and hold before you some high and noble object to which the vigor of your mind and the strength of your arm may be given? Do you not have longings like these, which you breathe to no one, and which you feel must be heeded, or you will pass through life unsatisfied and regretful? I am sure you have them, and they will forever cling round your heart till you obey their mandate. They are the voices of that nature which God has given you, and which, when obeyed, will bless you and your fellow men.” ― James A. Garfield, in a letter to a friend

“Go where your body and soul want to go. When you have the feeling, then stay with it, and don’t let anyone throw you off.” ― Joseph Campbell

“The infinite possibilities each day holds should stagger the mind. The sheer number of experiences I could have is uncountable, breathtaking, and I’m sitting here refreshing my inbox. We live trapped in loops, reliving a few days over and over, and we envision only a handful of paths laid out ahead of us. We see the same things each day, we respond in the same way, we think the same thoughts, each day a slight variation on the last, every moment smoothly following the gentle curves of social norms. We act like if we just get through today, tomorrow our dreams will come back to us.
And no, I don’t have all the answers. I don’t know how to jolt myself into seeing what each moment could become. But I do know one thing: the solution doesn’t involve tempering my life to better fit someone’s expectations. It doesn’t involve constantly holding back for fear of shaking things up.
This is very important, so I want to say it as clearly as I can:
F—. That. S—.” ― xkcd

“Man’s main task in life is to give birth to himself, to become what he potentially is.” ― Erich Fromm

“Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.” ― Howard Thurman

“There is something in every one of you that waits and listens for the sound of the genuine in yourself. It is the only true guide you will ever have. And if you cannot hear it, you will all of your life spend your days on the ends of strings that somebody else pulls.” ― Howard Thurman

“Go confidently in the direction of your dreams! Live the life you have imagined.” ― Thoreau

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did. So throw off the bow lines. Sail away from the harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover!” ― Mark Twain

“None will ever accomplish anything excellent except when he listens to this whisper which is heard by him alone.” ― Ralph Waldo Emerson

“When we treat man as he is, we make him worse than he is; when we treat him as if he already were what he potentially could be, we make him what he should be.” ― Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

“If you’re going to try, go all the way. Otherwise, don’t even start. This could mean losing girlfriends, wives, relatives and maybe even your mind. It could mean not eating for three or four days. It could mean freezing on a park bench. It could mean jail. It could mean derision. It could mean mockery–isolation. Isolation is the gift. All the others are a test of your endurance, of how much you really want to do it. And, you’ll do it, despite rejection and the worst odds. And it will be better than anything else you can imagine. If you’re going to try, go all the way. There is no other feeling like that. You will be alone with the gods, and the nights will flame with fire. You will ride life straight to perfect laughter. It’s the only good fight there is.” ― Charles Bukowski, Factotum

“As you’re reading this, your life’s getting shorter. Its ticking away. I’m not saying this to frighten you. Or even scare you. Though it may. I’m saying this to awaken you. To inspire you. To rise you out of your deep slumber. To really know you wont live forever. To share your unique gifts. To ignite your great inner fire. To ignite your great inner strength. To ignite your great inner light. To shine. Brightly shine. To awaken your great inner beauty. To motivate. Yourself and others. To love. Yourself and others. To paint. To write. To teach. To innovate. To sing. To dance. To care. To feel. To listen. To learn. To laugh. The clocks ticking. The world needs you. Make your move.” ― Mike Litman

“Deep within man dwell those slumbering powers; powers that would astonish him, that he never dreamed of possessing; forces that would revolutionize his life if aroused and put into action.” ― Orison Swett Marden

Possessions vs Purpose

Possessions only, only, only, only get in the way of finding your purpose. Every teen I know (and most honest adults I know) want to find their purpose. It is worth knowing and noting that accumulating and thinking about possessions get in the way of that.

(originally posted in May of this year)

What I’ve read the past seven years

Here’s what I’ve read the past seven years. An asterisk means I was blown away.

2012
The DaVinci Code
Angels and Demons

2011
* The War of Art
The Snowman (Jo Nesbø and Don Bartlett)
* The Power of Now
* The Contrarian’s Guide to Leadership
* Logicomix
* Hyperion
Having Everything Right
Going After Cacciato
Long Way Gone
The Hot Zone
Alive

2010
Into the Wild
Go Ask Alice
* The Great Divorce
* The Screwtape Letters
* Breaking the Rules
* This is Water
Trout Fishing in America
The Rape of Nanking
The Great Gatsby

2009
* The Enlightened Mind
* The Enlightened Heart
The Ten Principle Upanishads
* The Art of Dramatic Writing
* Outliers
The Doors of Perception

2008
* The Perennial Philosophy
* The Road
The Way of the Bow
* The Four Agreements
Rage
* Macbeth
* Siddartha

2007
Freakonomics
Slaughterhouse Five
* Cat’s Cradle
In the Lake of the Woods
War Trash

2006
Fierce Invalids Home From Hot Climates
* Skinny Legs and All
Discipline Without Stress, Punishments, or Rewards
* Hamlet
A Prayer for Owen Meany
The Chosen
The Laramie Project
Oleanna

2005
‘Tis
* Angela’s Ashes
* All Over But the Shoutin’
The Freedom Writer’s Diary
There are No Shortcuts
* The Sparrow
* Fermet’s Enigma

2004
* Ender’s Game
Lord of the Flies
* 1984
Understanding Comics
Setting Up Your Shots
The Greatest Salesman in the World

The greatest things ever spoken.

Here they are.

The three greatest things ever spoken (and subsequently written). I identified these three after searching for them for most of my 42 years, particularly the last seven. I am comfortable saying these are the greatest. This is the order I put them in:

1. “Follow your bliss.” Joseph Campbell (1940)
2. Accept the “isness” of things. Lao Tzu (~550 BC)
3. Be fully present. Buddha (~500 BC)