Hey everyone,
Happy Friday!
Starting something is easy. Keeping it going is hard.
We think big - 1M in revenue, 100K followers, 1000 paying customers - and that feels good, but the reality of making that happen is much more challenging.
Itās difficult to imagine all of the uncertainties that will arise. Itās tough to keep going when we arenāt exactly sure where weāre going or how weāll get there.
One of the challenges for creators is showing up - day after day - despite this uncertainty.
Learning to love the uncertainty is a practice. It creates space for magic.
Hereās what I have this week.
FIRST BOOK CLUB MEETING
We had our first book club meeting this past Sunday. We had a great discussion about Lies My Teacher Told Me by James Loewen.
I started a book club because I wanted an intellectual community of individuals seeking to improve themselves and their world to have open-minded conversations with. I wanted to increase my encounters with interesting individuals and ideas that expand and challenge my worldview. I also hope these individuals connect with one another.
I envision something like Ben Franklinās Junto:
It was great to witness a seedling of this idea and to have a small but committed community of individuals there to water that idea.
Thank you to those who came and participated. I am grateful for your time and for you graciously sharing your thoughts.
SEPTEMBER BOOK
We will be reading How Emotions Are Made: The Secret Life of the Brain by Lisa Barrett.
Here is a quick summary of the book:
The science of emotion is in the midst of a revolution on par with the discovery of relativity in physics and natural selection in biology. Leading the charge is psychologist and neuroscientist Lisa Feldman Barrett, whose research overturns the long-standing belief that emotions are automatic, universal, and hardwired in different brain regions. Instead, Barrett shows, we construct each instance of emotion through a unique interplay of brain, body, and culture. A lucid report from the cutting edge of emotion science,Ā How Emotions Are MadeĀ reveals the profound real-world consequences of this breakthrough for everything from neuroscience and medicine to the legal system and even national security, laying bare the immense implications of our latest and most intimate scientific revolution.
You can order the book through Bookshop: CLICK HERE
It is also available through Scribd. Scribd is a digital platform for eBooks and audiobooks. It has an eBook and audiobook version of How Emotions Are Made. This is great. Iāll be using both in conjunction, reading when I can and listening when itās more convenient.
I have been using it for a few weeks now and love it. The note-taking is inelegant (if youāre into that sort of thing) but itās workable. It doesnāt have many current bestsellers but itās got a lot of interesting and compelling titles (enough to justify its nominal price).
You can 60 days free by signing up using this link: CLICK HERE
ON THINKING BIG
Abundant thinking is a competitive advantage.
Thatās what Katia Verresen, advisor and consultant to organizations like Facebook, Stanford, AirBnb, and Twitter, believes.
Abundant thinking puts us in the driverās seat of our lives. We shift from being reactive to being creative. It allows us to recognize and create opportunities and possibilities for ourselves where previously there were none.
Here is an interview with Katia Verresen where she outlines six practical tools to practice abundant thinking your life.
TOP TWEET
There is a great discussion in the comments. Check it out.
Thatās it for this week.
Thank you for being here. Iāll talk to you next Friday.