In this article, I wanted to share some of the many lessons I’ve learned from George over the years and in the process of working on the book with him. His wisdom and example have influenced my life in ways I never could have imagined—I hope these 21 lessons impact you as much as they have impacted me…
~ Ryan Holiday, from 21 Powerful Life Lessons From My Mentor (George Raveling)
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I’m not even quoting a single one, because you should go read them all.
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The greater the artist, the greater the doubt. Perfect confidence is granted to the less talented as a consolation prize.
~ Robert Hughes
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Has it ever struck you that life is all memory, except for the one present moment that goes by you so quick you hardly catch it going?
~ Tenessee Williams
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… excellence is not a law of physics. Excellence is a moral act.
~ Huch MacLeod
You create excellence by deciding to do so, nothing more. It doesn’t matter if you went to the wrong school, or were born on the wrong side of the tracks, or working the wrong job.
You go into the situation and you go the extra mile. Your decision. You own it. You own the potential downsides as well.
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Stone isn’t naturally malleable, and yet, Japanese artist Hirotoshi Ito (previously) carves his sculptures to make the material appear as if it can be unzipped or sliced with a butter knife.
~ Grace Ebert from, Deceptive Stone Sculptures by Hirotoshi Ito Unzip to Reveal Surreal Scenes in Miniature — Colossal
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I’ve only just recently learned of This is Colossal. Only a few weeks into following them—RSS for the win!—and they are definitely living up to their self-assessment.
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For many, the first step on a spiritual journey is to become lost. The final step is losing one’s self.
~ Wu Hsin
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As I elaborated in last week’s episode of my podcast, Neil Postman argues that it was the introduction of mass-produced longform writing that really unleashed human potential — ushering in the modes of critical, analytical understanding that birthed both the enlightenment and the scientific revolution, the foundations of modernity. It allowed us to efficiently capture complex thought in all its nuance, then build on it, layer after layer, nudging forward human intellectual endeavor.
~ Cal Newport from, On the Exceptionalism of Books in an Age of Tweets – Cal Newport
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I’ve often ranted against lack of attention-span, and wasted time. But Newport, and in particular some things he’s quoting and talking about from another article, make the point that all of human history is encoded in written form. Why is that so? Because it works, and it works really well.
There is a place for visual and auditory information, of course. Those tools of communication are power tools compared to writing—well, almost all writing. As I’ve said many times here though: One can have the power tools after demonstrating mastery with the manual hand-tools.
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A man who does not think for himself does not think at all.
~ Oscar Wilde
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The road to success is through commitment, and through the strength to drive through that commitment when it gets hard. And it is gonna get hard and you’re gonna wanna quit sometimes, but it’ll be colored by who you are, and more who you want to be.
~ Will Smith
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run run run run …. *gasp* … run run run. *stop look at phone* omg, thats pathetic :P
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I surrendered yesterday with a heavy heart.
Since July 20th, 2015, it has been a long year of ups and downs. I’ve made some massive improvements in strength, and form, for the activities I’d chosen. But I still have much work left to do — both in terms of the number of reps left before the 10,000 goal, and in terms of the quality of the activities I had hoped to reach along the way.
A few weeks ago, I started a sprint to the finish. In an attempt to make the 10,000 goal within the dwindling days, I would need to do approximately 200 reps of everything every-other-day for several weeks. I started using a resistance band to ease the strain on my shoulder during the pull-ups, but even that was not enough to preserve my shoulder. This past weekend, at a Parkour event in Boston, it became painfully(!) clear that my shoulder injury was returning.
I have a Parkour trip planned in August, and I must begin that with my shoulder at 100%. I am forced to choose between a good shoulder for my trip, or the remaining 2770 pull-ups. I am choosing my shoulder.
Now, I find I have to write the “wrap this series up” post sooner than expected. So, what have I learned?
Anyone can put a challenge in front of themselves that they are unable to do. How well do you know what you are capable of? How well do you know how to make yourself capable of more. I train to know who I am and how I can improve.
~ Jesse Danger
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This 10k project is the largest challenge that I can ever recall attempting. It is the only thing I’ve ever tried to accomplish which spanned the course of one entire year. It was ambitious, huge and has taught me a lot about my ability to stay motivated over a long time frame. (Pro tip: I suck at staying motivated.) I learned (or refined) several new skills involving daily and weekly planning of workouts, planning for road-blocks (winter weather, holidays, trips) and recovering from injury.
It is certainly not the first thing at which I’ve failed. It is certainly not the last thing at which I’ll fail.
Perhaps one day I will do it again and make the goal. But for now, I have other things to do.
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Change is neither good nor bad. It simply is.
~ Don Draper, in Mad Men (“Love Among the Ruins”), (s3e2, 2009 TV series)
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To argue with a person who has renounced the use of reason is like administering medicine to the dead.
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Rested, packed, and ready to set out for PA. Thanks Anton, PKGen and all our parkour friends old and new! #swirlsOnTheMove #chezAnton
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The question isn’t who is going to let me;
It’s who is going to stop me.~ Ayn Rand
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