🏴 On instincts, competition, and surrendering. Ten Bullets.

To the obsessed,

Here are your weekly Ten Bullets.

Ten ideas to help you build companies, make art, and fuel your obsession.

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From me:

1. On Obsession Hours:

I’m entering my Night Era™.

I woke up early for a while. ~6am. It’s great to run, and get a lot done.

But, right now, I need the creative intensity that comes from night.

There's something about NYC after the sun goes down. You’re surrounded by darkness, drowning in street lights, and filled with energy. The city is silent, and all yours. You walk, and walk, and don't want to stop. The world is off and anything feels possible.

Obsession Hours are either 4am-10am, or 10pm-4am.

Which side are you on?

2. On insecurity:

I just uploaded a video ranting on this idea, check it out:

(From 6:45 on- on acts of agency/how my life changed in 6 months- is the best part of the video)

3. On good vs. bad obsessions:

A bad obsession is an act of consumption.

A good obsession is an act of creation.

Find something that feels selfish, but serves others, and the world is yours.

From The Obsessed:

4. On instincts:

“Mozart wrote over 200 hours of recorded music and never edited his work once (Don Giovanni’s overture was written the night before it was to be performed, he handed it to the copyists while hungover before 7am). Sometimes the less you edit the better. Trust your instincts. Inspiration comes fast, so if you’re taking too long to write something, chances are it’s not divine.”

— Sherry @schrodingrsbrat

5. On competition:

"I always aimed to kill the opposition. The mindset wasn't about seeking comfort but about pushing myself to the absolute limit, not allowing myself to settle for anything less than my best effort."

— Kobe Bryant, The Mamba Mentality: How I Play

"If you're not obsessed with what you do, we don't speak the same language."

— Kobe Bryant

6. On surrendering:

7. On torment:

“Color is my daylong obsession, joy, and torment.”

— Claude Monet (h/t Cosmos)

8. On creating:

9. On creating yourself:

“Misfits are not born or made. They make themselves.”

— James Dyson (via Founders Podcast #300 - James Dyson)

10. On normal:

“He felt I wasn't normal. And of course he was right. With my desire and my drive, I definitely wasn't normal. Normal people can be happy with a regular life. I was different. I felt there was more to life than just plodding through an average existence. I'd always been impressed by stories of greatness and power. Caesar, Charlemagne, Napoleon were names I knew and remembered. I wanted to do something special, to be recognized as the best. I saw bodybuilding as the vehicle that would take me to the top, and I put all my energy into it.”

— Arnold Schwarzenegger, Arnold: Education of a Bodybuilder

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