Sterling Terrell - I write and share smart ideas I find in books.

You Have To Make Stuff?

By SterlingFiled Under: PotpourriTagged With: #Art, #Career

Kids: You have to make stuff.

Everyone can see those non-technical degrees are increasingly worthless.

The issue is in how you are trying to differentiate yourself.

We want to see what you have done.

If you are up for a job or promotion and have built something, while everyone else hasn’t – well – there you go.

Start by copying – and then invent it yourself.

“You have to make stuff,” said journalist David Carr when he was asked if he had any advice for students. “No one is going to give a damn about your résumé; they want to see what you have made with your own little fingers.”

-Austin Kleon, Show Your Work

As A Parent, Remember To Have Fun Yourself

By SterlingFiled Under: PotpourriTagged With: #Girls, #Parenting

Hey, I know as a parent you are the role model an all, but don’t forget to have fun yourself too.

Ok?

Use this little post as your permission if you need to.

Get on the floor and tickle your daughter till she can’t contain herself.

Find the Nerf swords and have a battle.

And invite her to have tea on the living room floor.

Never run through the sprinklers with a 3-year-old? You’re missing out.

Your daughter might need a million things from you, but she needs you to relax too.

In teaching girls to have fun, you forget to have fun yourself. You lose your own sense of play in creating playful opportunities for them. It is part of your job to create and to teach, but it is also your job to rest, relax, and play.

-Melissa Trevathan and Sissy Goff, Raising Girls

How To Be Great At More Than One Thing

By SterlingFiled Under: PotpourriTagged With: #Focus, #Success

You can be good at more than one thing.

Of course, we know this.

Because we have all – at the very least – seen it in others.

You know the guy and girl I am talking about.

He is captain of the football team, has a 4.0 GPA, and is incredible at public speaking.

Wait.

He’s also on the golf team and won second place at the state championship last year?!

And her, you have seen her too.

She was your valedictorian, got a full scholarship to play volleyball, qualified for the Boston Marathon last year, plays classical piano, and just started as the Director of Communications for Congressman X.

How do they do that?

One of the secrets is this: One success can actually lead to another.

A big win, or extreme competence, in one area of life can be infectious in other areas.

A great strategy for success in life is to become good at something, anything, and let that feeling propel you to new and better victories. Success can be habit-forming.

-Scott Adams, How To Fail At Almost Everything And Still Win Big