Life

You have no competition

We feel lousy when we think other people are doing better than us. We feel superior when we think we are doing better than other people. Basically, as Ryan Holiday put it, there are only two ways that comparing yourself to others can make you feel: crappy or egotistical.

Comparing ourselves to others is the gateway to competing with them. And if we’re not careful, we end up competing for the sake of competing. Instead of a means to an end, it becomes an end in itself. We end up playing a game we don’t actually care about—and dulling our shine to stay in it.

Lamborghini’s Refusal To Compete

Before becoming one of the world’s best carmakers, mechanic Ferruccio Lamborghini built tractors. He also drove and modified Ferraris. Souping up his red Ferrari 250 GTE Pinin Farina Coupe, he would speed past the best drivers in the world—Ferrari test drivers—and leave them in disbelief. But, as Luke Burgis writes in Wanting, Lamborghini had been having mechanical problems with his Ferrari. One of those problems was the clutch. It didn’t feel right. Upon inspection, he realized the clutch in his $87,000 luxury car was the same clutch he used in his $650 tractors. When he brought this to the attention of Ferrari founder, Enzo Ferrari, he would hear nothing of it. So, Lamborghini decided he would make his own luxury car.

He founded Automobili Lamborghini in 1963 and made his first car in 1964. Four years later, in 1968, he released the Miura P400s—an iconic car that both Frank Sinatra and Miles Davis bought. With the success of the Miura, Lamborghini’s engineers pleaded with him to make a car that could hold its own in a race against a Ferrari. But Lamborghini refused. While he knew that, to a point, competition could be good (after all, Lamborghini used Ferrari’s inadequate clutch as fuel to start his own company), he also knew the dangers of rivalries and how quickly competition could devolve into one. So he didn’t give in. (Future leaders of Automobili Lamborghini were eventually lured into the race car business, but not while Lamborghini was still alive and running things.) Rivalries, he knew, had no end. Lamborghini invested his energy into opportunities and craftsmanship. The result was that he built not only a successful business but also, on his property, a barn that he filled with his favorite models of Lamborghini automobiles. And he was able to spend the last twenty years of his life in peace, giving fun tours of his favorite cars to visitors.

How To Have a Good Shot at Building the Best

Builder of the world’s best racing shells for crew teams, George Pocock was “all but born with an oar in his hand.” Both his paternal and maternal grandfathers were competitive boatbuilders. His father built competitive racing shells for Eton College. George followed in his family’s footsteps by combining his boat knowledge with his peerless love of craftsmanship. At the height of his career, he was building and supplying racing shells to almost every top crew university in the country (including Washington University, whose crew team won a stunning victory at the 1936 Berlin Olympics). His racing shells were superior to others. Each shell was built with care and patience—possibly because of the advice his father had given him when he was younger: “No one will ask you how long it took to build; they will only ask who built it.”

Pocock, like Lamborghini, would not compromise his craftsmanship for competition. When a crew coach all but demanded Pocock reduce his $1,150 per-shell price, arguing that other racing shells weren’t nearly as expensive, Pocock wouldn’t budge. He flatly refused to lower his price to compete with other suppliers. “I cannot build all of them,” he said, “but I can still have a good shot at building the best.”

Pocock, like Lamborghini, would not compromise his craftsmanship for competition. When a crew coach all but demanded Pocock reduce his $1,150 per-shell price, arguing that other racing shells weren’t nearly as expensive, Pocock wouldn’t budge. He flatly refused to lower his price to compete with other suppliers. “I cannot build all of them,” he said, “but I can still have a good shot at building the best.”

False Desires are Limitless

Seneca said that natural desires are limited, but false ones are limitless. Vanity, pleasure-seeking, rivalries—all these are limitless. How, then, are nature’s desires satisfied? By sticking to your own reasoned principles. “When you would know whether that which you seek is based upon a natural or upon a misleading desire, consider whether it can stop at any definite point,” Seneca said. “If you find, after having traveled far, that there is a more distant goal always in view, you may be sure that this condition is contrary to nature.”

Just that you help others with your weird little thing

One of my favorite reads this year has been Oliver Burkeman’s Four Thousand Weeks. And I’ve thought a lot about this passage:

“The only definitive measure of what it means to have used your weeks well: Not how many people you helped, or how much you got done; but that working within the limits of your moment in history, and your finite time and talents, you actually got to doing—and made life more luminous for the rest of us by doing—whatever magnificent task or weird little thing it was that you came here for.”

Isn’t that beautiful? For some reason, it reminded me of a couple of stories in Shoe Dog, another book I love.

Jeff Johnson’s Thing

Before Nike founder Phil Knight hired Jeff Johnson as Nike’s first full-time employee, Johnson worked as a social worker for Los Angeles County. On the weekends he sold Tigers—the Japanese running shoe made by Onitsuka. Johnson loved running and had a romantic view of it. It was almost like a religion to him. He believed that, done right, runners could run themselves into a spiritual, meditative state. One day in April 1965, his supervisor said that he didn’t think Johnson cared about his job as a county social worker. Johnson realized he was right—he didn’t care. So he quit. That day he realized his destiny—and it wasn’t social work. His destiny was to help runners reach their nirvana. “He wasn’t put here on this earth to fix people’s problems,” said Knight. “He preferred to focus on their feet.”

Belief

Before founding Nike, Knight was a salesman—a terrible one. Selling encyclopedias door to door had been a bust. He was only slightly more successful selling mutual funds. He resigned himself to the idea that he just wasn’t a salesman. But when Knight, a lifelong runner, received his first big delivery of Tigers (he had worked out a deal with Onitsuka who was seeking expansion in America), things changed. With a trunk full of Tigers, he drove around to different track events and showed them off to players, coaches, and spectators. He couldn’t write orders fast enough. 

He wondered why he was able to sell shoes but not encyclopedias. Was the difference in his selling ability really a matter of product? Then he realized: it wasn’t a matter of selling at all. It was a matter of belief. He believed in running. He believed the world would be a better place if people ran a few miles every day, and he believed that the shoes he was selling were better to run in. “People, sensing my belief, wanted some belief for themselves,” he said. “Belief, I decided. Belief is irresistible.” 

Stay the Course

Seneca used the Greek word euthymia for “believing in yourself and trusting you are on the right path, and not being in doubt by following the myriad footpaths of those wandering in every direction.” He said we should make this a constant reminder—to stay the course and not give in to distraction. Marcus Aurelius reminded himself to stay focused on doing his duty. “Concentrate every minute like a Roman . . . . on doing what’s in front of you with precise and genuine seriousness, tenderly, willingly, with justice.” With justice. With what’s fair, what’s right, and what’s useful for the common good.

Just that we do our duty, our magnificent task or weird little thing, and that we do it with justice, to make life more luminous for others.

These are two metrics that can guide us each day, and always.

15 short strategies for getting the right things done

A few years ago, this quote from Marcus Aurelius gave me a kick in the ass: “Get busy with life’s purpose, toss aside empty hopes, get active in your own rescue—if you care for yourself at all—and do it while you can.”

Since then, I’ve been on the lookout for ways to build my days around getting the right things done while enjoying life in the process.

Below are some of the best strategies I’ve found and used.


Plan, Plan, Plan

If we want to get things done, it’s good advice to start by jumping in. But if we want to get the right things done, it’s good advice to start by planning.

Brian Tracey said, “Every minute you spend in planning saves 10 minutes in execution; this gives you a 1000 percent Return on Energy!”

Robert Greene’s 29th Law of Power is “Plan All the Way To the End”.

Stephen Covey’s 2nd Habit in The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People is “Begin With the End in Mind.”

There are variations, but the message is the same: Planning saves time. Planning creates success.

Be Humble

It’s arrogant to think we can put things off until retirement. Who’s to say we’ll make it there? Who knows if we’ll still have the ability?

Our lifespan is insultingly short. We quite literally don’t have time to put things off. We have to start now. 

Eliminate Ego

Speaking of humility, The Office actor and producer B.J Novak said anytime he found himself in a career just for the money, he knew it was time to get out.

In my own life, only once I stopped letting my ego run the show (chasing bigger checks, sucking up to my boss), was I able to get anything of value accomplished.

Don’t Stress

If thinking about an activity causes you stress, stop yourself. There’s no need to stress. Just make the smallest amount of progress and call it a day. The next day, do the same. Then the day after that, and so on. It all adds up.

Tackle the Hardest Thing First

It’s been said that an hour in the morning is worth two.

Get up at a decent time each day and do the hardest thing first. Not only does this give you a better chance of getting that thing done, it also makes the rest of the day seem like a breeze.

Forget About the Outcome

Steven Pressfield said it best: “The amateur and the addict focus exclusively on the product and the payoff.”

If It’s Not a Clear Yes, It’s a Clear No

For decades, the furniture company Vitsoe has made the 606 Universal Shelving System—and nothing else. Why? Because the 606 Universal Shelving System was the only product that met their high standards.

Eliminate the inessential

Use Strategic Procrastination

Ever notice how once you complete your to-do list it fills right back up?

This is a law of life: we can’t get it all done. When we accept our limits, we free ourselves to pursue what’s most important to us.

It’s not how much but what you get done that matters.

Take One Step Today

“Don’t let your imagination be crushed by life as a whole,” Marcus Aurelius told himself. “Don’t try to picture everything bad that could possibly happen. Stick with the situation at hand, and ask, ‘Why is this so unbearable? Why can’t I endure it?’ You’ll be embarrassed to answer.”

Do The Thing, Or Nothing

Prolific writer Raymond Chandler credited his production to “two very simple rules: a. You don’t have to write. b. You can’t do anything else.” 

He would write by making himself too bored not to.

Give 100%, 10% of the Time

Every morning at 6 am, James Patterson would lock his office door at the J. Walter Thompson ad agency and write for two hours. At 8 am, he would open his door and carry on with his role as creative director.

Even while juggling other responsibilities, we can be 100% committed.

Don’t Plan It

Here’s how I used the opposite approach to my first strategy by not planning:

I used to make plans to exercise, penciling cardio and strength training into my calendar. It looked good on paper, but I never got around to actually doing any of it. It wasn’t laziness—I just couldn’t find the time for it.

So I decided to take a different approach. I thought of the things I did each day that didn’t require planning. Things so natural and automatic that it would never occur to me not to do them. Things I’ve yet to go a day without doing. Things like eating, or sleeping, or brushing my teeth. These are the activities that all the other activities have to work around.

I mentally categorized exercise as an essential activity (which it is) and stopped planning it. It would just be part of my after-work routine, and that was that. And this strategy seems to be working. I’ve maintained the same routine since starting it in December of last year.

Set a Stop Time

When his editor joked that he should increase his daily word rate, John Steinbeck wasn’t amused. “I like to hold the word rate down because if I don’t, it will get hurried and I will get too tired one day and not work the next. The slow, controlled method is best.” He would not “permit himself the indiscipline of overwork. This is the falsest of economies.”

Let the Effort Be Enough

Perhaps the advice that’s helped me most to get my writing done is from Steven Pressfield. Detailing his daily writing routine, he answers the hypothetical, post-writing session questions:

“How many pages have I produced? I don’t care. Are they any good? I don’t even think about it. All that matters is I’ve put in my time and hit it with all I’ve got. All that counts is that, for this day, for this session, I have overcome Resistance.”

All that counts is that he did his best.

Lean Into What You’re Putting Off

Generally, the greater the urge to procrastinate, the more important the task. That’s why when it comes to taking a shower, we don’t procrastinate. 

If you find yourself procrastinating to do something, good. You’ve found something worth doing.

Assemble your life action by action: the timeless approach to doing big things and keeping your sanity

A few years ago I went back to school. Each semester, including summers, I would take a double course load. The goal was to earn my degree in two years. (At one point in 2018 I was taking eight classes simultaneously.) I also worked full-time. Stress was constant and it occasionally felt like panic. I remember thinking, at times, this is too much. I’m not going to be able to do all of this in two years. What if it’s all for nothing?

Around this time I read one of my favorite ideas from Marcus Aurelius: “You can assemble your life action by action, and no one can prevent that.” Even ants and spiders go about their day putting the world in order as best as they can, he chided himself. “And you’re not willing to do your job as a human being? Why aren’t you running to do what your nature demands?”

This floored me. Why was I working myself up by thinking about all the things I still had to do? Why was I exhausting myself with what-ifs?

“Don’t let your imagination be crushed by life as a whole,” Marcus Aurelius told himself. “Don’t try to picture everything bad that could possibly happen. Stick with the situation at hand, and ask, ‘Why is this so unbearable? Why can’t I endure it?’ You’ll be embarrassed to answer.”

It was also around this time that I learned “the process” that seven-time national champion football coach, Nick Saban, teaches his players. He found that the average football play lasts about seven seconds. Don’t think about winning a national championship, he tells his players. Don’t think about winning the game. Don’t think about what the scoreboard says. Focus on your inner scoreboard. Focus on executing the current play to the best of your ability. As long as you focus on the inner scoreboard, the outer scoreboard will take care of itself.

In other words: I didn’t have to feel overwhelmed! I didn’t have to think about all the assignments and classes I’d yet to complete. I didn’t have to think about graduating. I didn’t have to think about careers. I didn’t have to work late into the evening! I only had to do two things each day: 1.) Focus solely on the work in front of me and 2.) Complete a few key tasks. That’s it. I could let time, over the long term, do the heavy lifting. I would provide consistent, small steps. Time would turn those small steps into larger accomplishments.

Below is a page from my 2019 planner. For each class, I’d write the assignments and their due dates. My only focus was on completing assignments and submitting them. This kept me focused and gave me the satisfaction of seeing visible progress.


You can do your work as nature requires, Marcus Aurelius said, by working…     

Without frenzy or laziness

Without delving into other’s affairs

Focused like a Roman on the task at hand

While always asking, is this essential?

Calmly, steadily, and with no loose ends.


This is a great example of slow productivity.

It’s also a great example of a classical adage I love: Festina lente

Make Haste, Slowly

“By any reasonable standard, [John] McPhee is productive,” writes Cal Newport. “He’s published 29 books …. And yet, he rarely writes more than 500 words a day. When asked about this paradox, McPhee famously quipped: ‘People say to me, ‘Oh, you’re so prolific’…God, it doesn’t feel like it—nothing like it. But, you know, you put an ounce in a bucket each day, you get a quart.’”

Author Ryan Holiday is one of the most prolific writers of our generation. He’s written around a dozen books in 10 years (not to mention his countless other business and writing obligations). What’s most inspiring is that he still makes it home every day for dinner and evenings with his family. (After all, he reasons, how successful are you really if you can’t spend a lot of time with your family?)

How does he do it?

He explains that it’s a simple commitment to small, daily habits. “Two hours a day of writing may not seem like much,” he says, “but 2 hours a day for ten years adds up.” When he sits down to work on a book, his goal is not ‘finish the rough draft’, or ‘write until noon’—his goal is simply: ‘Write section 2 of chapter 3’. He doesn’t work on whims. There’s no time for toiling away in open-ended slogs. 

This idea is captured beautifully by Billy Oppenheimer, who recently wrote about Naval Ravikant’s approach: work like a lion. “The way people tend to work most effectively, especially in knowledge work,” says Naval, “is to sprint as hard as they can…and then rest.” Billy adds, “It’s like a lion hunting, [Naval] says: sit, wait for prey, sprint, eat, rest, repeat. The way to work most ineffectively is to work like a cow standing in the pasture all day, slowly grazing grass.”

Asked by his editor how he planned to write his epic novel East of Eden, John Steinbeck replied, “One foot in front of the other … Just get my two pages written every day. That’s the best and only thing I can do.” When his editor joked that he should increase his daily word rate, Steinbeck didn’t find it amusing. “I like to hold the word rate down because if I don’t, it will get hurried and I will get too tired one day and not work the next. The slow, controlled method is best.” He said he would not “permit himself the indiscipline of overwork. This is the falsest of economies.”

When the Duke of Milan questioned Leonardo da Vinci about his seeming procrastination in painting The Last Supper, Leonardo explained, “Men of lofty genius sometimes accomplish the most when they work the least, for their minds are occupied with their ideas and the perfection of their conceptions, to which they afterwards give form.” In Several Short Sentences About Writing, Verlyn Klinkenborg put it perfectly: “You can’t think all your best thoughts in advance.” Success happens when you keep showing up, keep applying pressure.

We don’t have to trade sanity for excellence. We can take it action by action. We can make haste, slowly.

Relax, you’ll never get it all done

The problem with most time management systems, says Oliver Burkeman in his amazing book, Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals, is that they don’t work. They tell you that you can get it all done, if only you manage your time just right. With enough preparation and calculation, you can have everything in perfect working order. 

But have you ever noticed how the second you complete your to-do list, it gets filled right back up? You answer an email only to receive another one. You finish vacuuming and now have time to do the dishes. “Productivity is a trap,” Oliver says. “Becoming more efficient just makes you more rushed, and trying to clear the decks simply makes them fill up again faster.”

The problem is that we think of time as something to master, something separate from ourselves—instead of what it is: the unfolding of one moment to the next, the substance of life. “Once time is a resource to be used, you start to feel pressure … and to berate yourself when you feel you’ve wasted it,” Oliver says. So we end up filling our time with activities that have some future benefit. It becomes harder to just be, to accept and love the present moment for what it is. “We labor at our daily work more ardently and thoughtlessly than is necessary to sustain our life,” said Nietzsche, “because to us it is even more necessary not to have leisure to stop and think. Haste is universal because everyone is in flight from himself.”

Oliver compares our view of time to an early medieval England peasant’s view: 

“The medieval farmer simply had no reason to adopt such a bizarre idea in the first place. … There was no need to think of time as something abstract and separate from life: you milked the cows when they needed milking and harvested the crops when it was harvest time … There was no anxious pressure to ‘get everything done,’ either, because a farmer’s work is infinite: there will always be another milking and another harvest, forever, so there’s no sense in racing toward some hypothetical moment of completion.”

There will never be some magical day in the future when you will feel completely in control, when everything will be clean and completed, when there will be nothing left to do. We can’t possibly get everything done (in fact, we have to neglect almost everything to get anything done). 

But this is great news.

It means we can stop pushing happiness and contentment into the future. We’re free to relax in the boundless joy of the present moment. “We can enjoy a lazy hour for its own sake,” says Oliver, by “first accepting the fact that this is it: that your days aren’t progressing toward a future state of perfectly invulnerable happiness, and that to approach them with such an assumption is systematically to drain [life of its] value.”

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