Every Saturday, I send out 10 ideas I can't stop thinking about. To help you build companies, make content, and follow your obsession.
🏴 On madness, running, and the dark place. Ten Bullets.
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To the obsessed, Here are your weekly Ten Bullets. A list of ideas I can't stop thinking about- to help you build companies, make art, and find your obsession. 1. On running: "There are two kinds of people in this world. Those who run. And everyone else. Running is an addiction (if you're doing it right). Like any decent addiction, you have to get your fix. A day without is always a bad day. A day with..well, that's just another day. Running is; a time for thinking. Running is; where ideas are born. Running is; when dreams are dreamt. Running is; when I plan my future. Running is; when I see the future." - Casey Neistat, my addiction [YouTube] "A lot of people run a race to see who is the fastest. I run to see who has the most guts." - Steve Prefontaine "Don't let fatigue make a coward out of you." - Steve Prefontaine Good luck to anyone running the NYC marathon. Give everything. In many ways, nothing in life matters more than moments like this. (I've been consumed by running lately- my first marathon is December 2nd in Memphis.) 2. On madness and sanity: "Well now really when we go back into falling in love. And say, it’s crazy. Falling. You see? We don’t say 'rising into love'. There is in it, the idea of the fall.
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And it goes back, as a matter of fact, to extremely fundamental things. That there is always a curious tie at some point between the fall and the creation. Taking this ghastly risk is the condition of there being life.
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You see, for all life is an act of faith and an act of gamble. The moment you take a step, you do so on an act of faith because you don’t really know that the floor’s not going to give under your feet. The moment you take a journey, what an act of faith. The moment that you enter into any kind of human undertaking in relationship, what an act of faith.
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See, you’ve given yourself up. But this is the most powerful thing that can be done: surrender. See. And love is an act of surrender to another person. Total abandonment. I give myself to you. Take me. Do anything you like with me. See.
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So, that’s quite mad because you see, it’s letting things get out of control. All sensible people keep things in control. Watch it, watch it, watch it. Security? Vigilance? Watch it. Police? Watch it. Guards? Watch it. Who’s going to watch the guards?
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So, actually, therefore, the course of wisdom, what is really sensible, is to let go, is to commit oneself, to give oneself up and that’s quite mad.
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So we come to the strange conclusion that in madness lies sanity."
- Alan Watts [via Tom McCallum] 3. On purpose: "Purpose for me- is the strongest form of any currency or feeling." - William Goodge [The Run Across America I Episode 2] Will is an absolute savage. Highly recommend the entire series- 55 days of running dedicated to his late mom, and cancer research. 4. On noise: "Remember - praise and applause are just the clacking of tongues and hands." - Marcus Aurelius (s/o Shaan Puri) 5. On AI: "AI is turning an entire generation into artists and will turn the artists of this generation into Disneys and the Disneys into gods it's a shift like when everyone learned to read after the printing press." - @RonenV​ Check out some of my AI art here and here on Insta. I think we're about to enter a period of 1-2 years, with a 'cringe gap' around AI. Most generated content will look the same. The same styles. The same prompts. But a small group of creators will figure out their own unique format, and scale it to infinity. Taste and vision have never been more valuable. 6. On copying: "Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else's opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation." - Oscar Wilde Don't spend your whole life quoting others- and never build something for others to quote you. (Yes- I know the paradox here, and am actively fighting against it.) 7. On podcast ideas: "You’ll know you have a good idea for a podcast if you are already doing it and just not recording. Strike Force Five was already meeting by zoom. All-in guys were already bantering over poker. David Senra was already reading bios If you do it for free already, turn the mic on." The best ideas are right in front of you. Take what you're already obsessed with, and capture it in a new vehicle that can compound. If there is an infinite, endlessly intoxicating world stuck inside your head- share it with the world. 8. On dopamine: "Dopamine is not about the pursuit of happiness, it is about the happiness of pursuit." - Dr. Robert Sapolsky (via Andrew Huberman) 9. On The Dark Place: The Dark Place is where obsession begins. You're alone- with nothing but a true, relentless, consuming love for something. A craft. A medium. A mission. You haven't done anything. Your friends and family don't get you. Your new friends haven't found you. This time can be unbelievably painful, and unbelievably magical. There's purity and beauty- in the work, the iteration, the endless hours that no one ever sees. All The Obsessed went through this place. Arnold lifting in small gyms in Austria. Walt drawing and sketching in the shed behind his childhood home. The only way out of The Dark Place..is through. Follow obsession, like a light that never dims, and it will take you where you need to go.
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10. On your alter-ego: There's you. And, there's the Obsessed version of you. Define them. Visualize them. Create them. Then, enter The Dark Place, to become them. 🏴 If you enjoyed this, forward it to an obsessed friend. 🏴 If you were sent this, click here to subscribe. To read the Ten Bullets archive, click here. Stay obsessed, Zach 🏴 |
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​Ten Bullets - For The Obsessed 🏴
Every Saturday, I send out 10 ideas I can't stop thinking about. To help you build companies, make content, and follow your obsession.
To the obsessed, Here are your weekly Ten Bullets. A list of ideas I can't stop thinking about- to help you build companies, make art, and find your obsession. 1. On fear: "If you’re not scared, you’re not pushing: In the summer of 2020, in the midst of some pillow talk with my wife, I confronted the existential dread I had towards the leap of faith I was about to take by starting Varda [his company]. I thought, why would I do this to myself, starting a company is a miserable experience....
To the obsessed, Here are your weekly Ten Bullets. A list of ideas I can't stop thinking about- to help you build companies, make art, and find your obsession. I ran my first marathon on Saturday, in Memphis. It was one of the best experiences of my life. I entered a new level of The Dark Place, and saw a new version of myself, that will be here forever. I'll write more on the experience, the journey, and what's next with running. But all I know is, I haven't been obsessed with something like...
To the obsessed, Here are your weekly Ten Bullets. A list of ideas I can't stop thinking about- to help you build companies, make art, and find your obsession. 1. On creating for yourself: "I think it's terribly dangerous for an artist to fulfill other people's expectations. They generally produce their worst work when they do that. Never work for other people at what you do. Always remember the reason you initially started was that there was something inside yourself- that you felt- that if...