David Kadavy is author of Mind Management, Not Time Management, The Heart to Start & Design for Hackers.
There’s a story I think of every time I’m in the throes of a difficult project. It’s from the movie, Catch Me if You Can, about the infamous con artist, Frank Abignale, Jr. Frank’s Father, Frank Senior, tells him a story:
When Michelangelo was painting the Sistine Chapel ceiling, he designed and built his own scaffolding. But, it only covered half of the ceiling. So he painted the first half of the ceiling, then removed the scaffolding. When he finally got to view his work from the floor, seventy feet below, it was as if he were seeing it with new eyes.
After two years work, he didn’t like what he saw.
An audio version of this income report is available to Patreon backers of certain levels »
September’s revenues were $8,327, down from August’s $9,115. Profits were $5,585, up from August’s $5,459.
On October 10th, 1901 – 120 years ago, almost to the day – the grandstand was full at the horse track in Grosse Pointe, Michigan. But not to see horses. There was a parade of more than 100 of these new things called automobiles, and several other events, including races of automobiles with electric engines and with steam engines.
Leonardo da Vinci is easily the most-accomplished procrastinator who ever lived. He finished hardly any projects at all. He was great at many things, but he wasn’t great at shipping. The world would have been better off if Leonardo da Vinci had treated shipping as a skill.
An audio version of this income report is available to Patreon backers of certain levels »
August’s revenues were $9,115, down from July’s $9,891. Profits were $5,459, up from July’s $2,877.
This month isn’t record-breaking in its revenue or profit, but it was strong enough to bring record-breaking revenue and profit, averaged over the long term. keep on reading »
When Vincent van Gogh began his career as an artist, he had already failed at everything else. He even got fired from his own family’s business in the process.
1920s, London. Radclyffe Hall was pacing around her study. She wore close-cropped hair, a tweed skirt, and a man’s silk smoking jacket and tie. Her partner, Uma Troubridge, sat in a nearby chair, reading the writing of Radclyffe – or “John,” as she preferred to be called. But just as Uma’s voice wavered a bit, John grabbed the papers from her hand, and threw them in the fire. keep on reading »
An audio version of this income report is available to Patreon backers of certain levels »
July’s revenues were $9,891, down from June’s $10,301. Profits were $2,877, down from June’s $8,453.
It’s 1997, and Tiger Woods is in a sudden death playoff, against Tom Lehman.
Lehman shoots first, on a par three, and hits his ball into the water.
Now Tiger’s up, and this is Tiger’s tournament to lose. All he has to do is hit a safe shot, far away from the hole, and far away from the water.
But that’s not what he does. keep on reading »
