Sterling Terrell

smart ideas from books (mostly)

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Austin Kleon, A Note To Graduates

Austin Kleon,   A Note To Graduates

I enjoyed this word from Austin Kleon to graduates.

My three favorite takeaways?

  • Experiment
  • Do things for the fun of it
  • Enjoy the freedom

I would also add that graduates need to savor the days and enjoy their youth.

To be young and have countless possibilities in front of you seems like a dream…

Gosh, the time goes by fast, doesn’t it?

A message for graduates:

The classroom is a wonderful, if artificial, place: Your professor gets paid to pay attention to your ideas, and your classmates are paying to pay attention to your ideas. Never again in your life will you have such a captive audience.

Soon after, you learn that most of the world doesn’t necessarily care about what you think. It sounds harsh, but it’s true. As the writer Steven Pressfield says, “It’s not that people are mean or cruel, they’re just busy.”

This is actually a good thing, because you want attention only after you’re doing really good work. There’s no pressure when you’re unknown. You can do what you want. Experiment. Do things just for the fun of it. When you’re unknown, there’s nothing to distract you from getting better. No public image to manage. No huge paycheck on the line. No stockholders. No e-mails from your agent. No hangers-on.

You’ll never get that freedom back again once people start paying you attention, and especially not once they start paying you money.

Enjoy your obscurity while it lasts.

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Filed Under: Not BooksTagged With: #Advice, #College

Part Of Life’s Routine

Part Of Life’s Routine

There are soooo many things that become part of life’s routine, aren’t there?

We sleep. Drive to work. Take kids to school. Watch TV.

Of course, eating is a big part too.

We take road trips, we go to weddings, and we watch people graduate.

Some of it is awful though.

People get sick. Friends move away. Companies declare bankruptcy. And people get divorced.

Reminds me of how we adjust to these little changes and keep moving forward (#22).

Understand: A successful life can be found in these simple routines.

At the print shop I learned my first life lesson. One day I was particularly gloomy, and Jim asked me what the matter was. I told him my high school girlfriend (for all of two weeks) had broken up with me. He said, “Oh, that’ll happen a lot.” The knowledge that this horrid grief was simply a part of life’s routine cheered me up almost instantly.

-Steve Martin, Born Standing Up (Amazon)

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Filed Under: PotpourriTagged With: #Advice, #Relationships

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