First Friday Fun Flier!
Here's to a beautiful journey.
Hello everyone!
Running a newsletter is a brand new experience for me, and I wanted to take a moment to thank everyone who signed up! I'm thrilled to have a place to share my insights, and grow together with a bunch of amazing people!
Hopefully, y'all are safe and healthy.
This newsletter is going to take different forms, depending on what I'm writing about, what I've most recently experienced, and what has captured my attention.
There will definitely not be a set theme. That's not who I am. Look, a squirrel!
No, I want this to be a community, not a cult with a leader. My personal email is AaronJNichols77@gmail.com. If you're curious about something I've said, or just want to chat, shoot me a message!
Now, let's get onto the first newsletter!
Quote of the week:
“Hard choices, easy life. Easy choices, hard life.”
-Jerzy Gregorek.
Books I’m reading (and re-reading):
Perennial Seller by Ryan Holiday.
This wonderful book by Ryan Holiday is an in-depth look at what makes something a masterpiece, and a guide to creatives who are trying to create something that lasts.
“People claim to want to do something that matters, yet they measure themselves against things that don't, and track their progress not in years but in microseconds. They want to make something timeless, but they focus instead on immediate payoffs and instant gratification.”
There are so many things competing for our attention in the modern world that don’t matter.
Timeless books and movies are about timeless themes, like the human struggle. What is in the news ultimately fades away, but what is important lives on.
Timely stories, on the other hand, simply disappear. To me, one of the ultimate examples of timely writing that faded away was Michael Wolff's book Fire and Fury. I wrote about this in one of my articles this week:
“Last weekend, in my favorite book store, I saw seven copies of Fire and Fury sitting there with $5 stickers on them, collecting dust.
Remember that mess? That barely-fact-checked expensive hardcover piece of garbage? As I sat there looking at all those unbought copies selling for a pittance, I couldn’t believe that I had considered buying it when it first came out. What was I going to do, highlight as I read along? Lovingly reread it every year? No! I would have read it and discarded it, as it was meant to be used. It wouldn’t have added one good piece of lasting wisdom to my life.
Fire and fury is timely, not timeless. It sold a few million copies in a giant cash-grab, then faded away.”
What is important to you? What do you see as timeless? Hold on to those things, and let the rest disappear.
The book I’m re-reading (for the fourth time).
John Steinbeck’s East of Eden.
I have a very intimate connection with this book, because, in a weird way, it chose me. When I was traveling in Southeast Asia in 2019, I went to a used bookstore in Ho Chi Minh City, and this was the only English book they had. I was looking for Moby Dick (which I still haven’t read).
This book follows three generations of two California families, and
East of Eden absolutely captured me. Not before or since have I written so many quotes down from a book. I’ll share three of my favorites:
“And now that you don't have to be perfect, you can be good.”
“It seems to me that if you or I must choose between two courses of thought or action, we should remember our dying and try so to live that our death brings no pleasure to the world.”
“We have only one story. All novels, all poetry, are built on the NeverEnding contest in ourselves of Good and Evil. And it occurs to me that evil must constantly respawn, while good, while virtue, is immortal.”
In his journal, Steinbeck called this his “first book.” He believed this to be his masterwork, and he left it all on the table. Every time I return to it I find something new. My copy is dog-eared and underlined like very few other books on my shelf.
If you do buy it, promise me that you'll give it 50 pages. It's a slow start, but no novel I've ever read has been more worth my time!
Music to “listen while you work”:
I've been experimenting with music to get into flow states while I write, and I found two amazing playlists that increase my concentration:
Haruki Murakami's Vinyl Collection- International bestseller Haruki Murakami is one of my literary Heroes, and he famously rights listening to Jazz. Someone took the time to list his entire known vinyl collection on Spotify, and it is absolute gold. If you need something playing in the background to help you focus, this playlist is perfect!
Bachata Mix 2021- I fell in love with Bachata when I went to Colombia in 2018 and heard Shakira and Prince Royce’s song “Deja Vu” for the first time. The songs follow the same basic tempo, so there is a nice steady beat going in your head that makes it easy to focus!
That's all I've got for today! Thank you all for subscribing, and I look forward to interacting further! I'll leave you with one of my favorite jokes:
Q) What do you get when you cross a dyslexic, an agnostic, and an insomniac?
A) Someone who lies awake at night wondering if there really is a dog.
Stay awesome my friends, go crush your goals this week!
-Aaron Nichols.