How to Make Trees Sing
This decision – between raising the floor to limit the worst consequences, in exchange for lowering the ceiling of best possible outcomes – shows up everywhere in our lives.
Productivity
Working smarter, not harder, to get more done.
Mise en Place
French novelist Gustave Flaubert said, "Be regular and orderly in your life, so that you may be violent and original in your work."
Persistence
When a reporter asked Edison how it felt to fail so many times, it elicited Edison's famous response: "I have not failed 10,000 times. I have successfully found 10,000 ways that will not work."
You Are Not a Computer
If you're doing a job that a computer or robot cannot, then you are more than the sum of your mechanical parts.
Lacking in Substance
I'll never forget the feedback I received on a paper from one of my college professors: "Beautifully written as always, John, but lacking in substance."
Working Harder vs. Smarter
Ditch digging is pretty repetitive work. It's the kind of work that requires you to just put in the time. Maybe you can dig a little faster, but there aren't really any hacks to pushing your shovel into the dirt and moving another scoop.