Tag Archives: Work

You’re Always Allowed to do Big Work

No matter what position you’re in, whether it’s janitor or CEO, a huge part of your day is spent doing “small work”.  This includes the clerical stuff, the scheduling, the filing, the organizing, and all the other things that just … Continue reading

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Death of the Hobby

Hobbies used to exist as a way to entertain ourselves.  If you had some extra time, you collected stamps, or watched birds, or built ships in a bottle.  You sought out activities to stimulate your mind.  Hobbies were an essential … Continue reading

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Hard Work Is Never Wasted

In school, a lot of kids ask “When will I ever need to know this?”  Why do I need to know how to solve for x?  Who cares whether Amenhotep or Ramesses ruled Egypt first?  When will I ever need … Continue reading

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How To Make Work Miserable

From The Progress Principle: Over the past 15 years, we have studied what makes people happy and engaged at work. In discovering the answer, we also learned a lot about misery at work. … What we discovered is that the … Continue reading

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It’s Hard And I’m Just Not Passionate About It…

“It’s hard, and I’m just not passionate about it, and I’m thinking of giving up – will you tell me it’s OK to give up, so I’ll feel better about it in the morning?” It’s rarely about difficulty or enthusiasm. … Continue reading

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Make Yourself Redundant

There’s a lot of career advice out there that implores you to make yourself indispensable.  Taken the right way, this is clearly good advice.  But I’ve seen this misinterpreted any number of times.  Making yourself indispensable or irreplaceable in terms … Continue reading

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Ordinary People

You asked me if an ordinary person, by studing hard, could get to be able to imagine things like I imagine things.  Of course.  I was an ordinary person who studied hard.  There’s no miracle people.  It just happens they … Continue reading

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Make The Secret A Lot More Trouble Than The Trick Seems Worth

Good advice for magic, and life: Make the secret a lot more trouble than the trick seems worth. You will be fooled by a trick if it involves more time, money and practice than you (or any other sane onlooker) would … Continue reading

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How Do I Improve?

Someone wrote to me today asking how to improve their photography.  I wrote back a short reply, and realized it is in no way limited to photography: Hi S., Thanks very much! My advice to you would be to look … Continue reading

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The Tim Ferriss Falacy

We’re now deep into the fourth generation of the self-help guru.  This generation shares much with its predecessors, including fondness for the shortcut.  People like Tim Ferriss have  made their name on finding and exploiting these shortcuts, or “hacks” as … Continue reading

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It’s Never Easy, Even For The Great Ones

David Ogilvy was the “Father of Advertising”.  In 1962,  Time magazine called him “the most sought-after wizard in today’s advertising industry”.  He, and his eponymous advertising firm, were responsible for some of the world’s most iconic advertising campaigns, like “Don’t leave … Continue reading

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Nobody Cares About Your Happiness

If you’re lucky, 10 people might care about your happiness.  That’s it. Some other people might care whether you show up for work.  They might care whether you perform, which means they care that you’re just happy enough not to … Continue reading

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Everyone Else Is Smarter Than Me

If you’ve ever watched the Olympics, or professional football or basketball, you know what sheer talent looks like.  Right?  You know what god-given ability looks like: Usain Bolt demolishing runners in every race he enters; Michael Phelps beating the world’s … Continue reading

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Life Is Always About Starting At The Bottom

Remember when you were in 8th or 9th grade?  King of middle school?  Big man on campus?  Remember what happened just a short year later? Back to the bottom of the totem pole. You were no longer bigger than all … Continue reading

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If It’s Not Hard, You’re Doing Something Wrong

A lot of people complain about how hard their work is.  Recognize that this isn’t a bad thing.  In fact, not only is doing really hard work an incredibly good problem to have, it’s necessary to success. It’s hard, but … Continue reading

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