Friday Fun Flier VII
How to get up after you fall, a great book, and other goodies.
Before the motivational piece, I’d like to say thank you. In less than two months, without a dime being spent on advertising, The Well-Lived Life passed 1000 subscribers last Tuesday! It’s grown purely by word-of-mouth. I’m excited to grow together as this journey continues.
Quote of the week:
“The wanting was a wilderness and I had to find my own way out of the woods.”
-Cheryl Strayed
On April 28th, 1967, Muhammad Ali's application to opt-out of the Vietnam War draft as a conscientious objector was denied. He still refused to go fight in Vietnam, saying:
“I have said it once and I will say it again. The real enemy of my people is right here. I will not disgrace my religion, my people or myself by becoming a tool to enslave those who are fighting for their own justice, freedom and equality…
If I thought the war was going to bring freedom and equality to 22 million of my people they wouldn’t have to draft me, I’d join tomorrow.”
His heavyweight champion of the world belt was stripped from him. From the ages of 25 to 28, he wasn't allowed to compete professionally as a boxer. During these lean years, he traveled around to colleges across the US, taking speaking engagements to pay his bills.
3 years later, Ali got his license back, set up a fight that was supposed to be his triumphant return to the heights of boxing, and lost to Joe Frazier by unanimous decision.
So what did he do? He went to the woods to get his hunger back.
Ali bought a cabin outside of Deer Lake, Pennsylvania, where he slept on a rough bed and went without electricity to recapture his drive (this is where last week’s clip of Ali chopping trees was filmed).
There’s tremendous power in returning to simplicity. Cheryl Strayed and Henry David Thoreau both went to the woods to write their masterpieces. Thoreau was fed up with society:
“I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. I did not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear; nor did I wish to practise resignation, unless it was quite necessary.”
Cheryl Strayed’s life was out of control, struggling with grief and a borderline drug habit. She went to the woods believing that they could:
“make me into the woman I knew I could become and turn me back into the girl I’d once been.”
They went to the woods to recapture essential human truths, Thoreau in a cabin, and Strayed with a backpack.
My favorite fictional example of this return to simplicity is in the deliciously over-the-top 1985 film Rocky 4. When Rocky has to defeat Ivan Drago (and all of the USSR, metaphorically), he goes to a tiny shack in the Russian wilderness where he trains by lifting rocks (and a wagon full of his friends). While his competitor trains in state-of-the-art gyms, Rocky chops wood and runs up mountains in the snow. (If you've got a few minutes to spare, this is the greatest training montage in the series).
Of course, Rocky wins the fight.
Muhammad Ali won his fight too, coming back in 1974 to defeat George Foreman in “The Rumble in the Jungle.” He’d been training at his cabin, chopping down trees, running through the surrounding woods, eating home-cooked meals, and praying five times a day in his on-property Mosque. How could he not have won? He returned to simplicity to “get his mind right,” and then came to claim what was rightfully his.
When we fail or feel overwhelmed, we must simplify, simplify, simplify. Pare away what's not important until we can hear that still, small voice that we've covered up with noise.
It's not necessary to go to the woods (though nature has a bajillion proven benefits). Simplification can be as easy as unplugging your TV and putting it in the garage for a week. Cleaning out that closet you're terrified of and donating that crap you don’t need. Turning off your phone's newsfeed and logging out of all social media for a few days. As Mr. Money Moustache says, Seek Not to Be Entertained.
Last summer, when I was first starting to write, I got caught up in the feeling that I needed to promote myself. I spent hours designing a website that I didn't end up using. I researched the best ways to promote my writing on social media, then went down internet rabbit holes for further hours doing “research” for articles without actually writing.
Knowing that I was spinning out of control and overwhelming myself, I went to the woods.
I rented a friend's Airbnb cabin in the mountains and drove up without a phone or a laptop. Over the next 3 days, I wrote eight of my best articles. I wrote from what I knew to be true, knowing that research could be done to disprove myself later if necessary.
What’s important, what we know to be true, waits for us in the quiet spaces that our culture is terrified of.
Simplify, simplify, simplify.
What I’m reading this week:
Ego Is The Enemy By Ryan Holiday
This book is Ryan Holiday’s attempt to wrestle with his own ego as a successful author, and show us the ego-driven pitfalls that have crippled people throughout history.
We travel from ancient Greece to the 2000s, following examples from ancient generals and modern CEOs as we learn how to live with our own egos.
This book shook me. Ever since I was lucky enough to have an article I wrote go viral, I've been struggling with how best to retain a sincere and honest message. Reading Ego is The Enemy helped me on that journey. It reminded me that at the end of the day, I'm just a guy who reads books and scribbles things down in notebooks.
I recommend Ego Is The Enemy for anyone at any stage of a creative journey.
Two mind-expanding podcast episodes:
This was an insightful conversation between two of my authorial heroes, Robert Greene (author of The 48 Laws of Power) and Ryan Holiday (whose books I keep recommending) about the state of the world today, and what can be done about it. An absolute powerhouse of wisdom, with two of the modern world’s top minds.
My favorite quote from the episode:
“Whenever I hold a belief or I’m writing a book, I start with the premise that I’m probably wrong, that my idea is stupid. And I look at the evidence on the other side and I examine it and I try to convince myself that my original idea was right, and if it isn’t then I change it.”
-Robert Greene.
What a concept! Seriously, this interview is pure gold.
2. Martin Luther King and The Art of Speaking-Cautionary Tales
Did you know that “I Have a Dream” was originally called “Normalcy Never Again?” Martin Luther King was known for going through draft after draft of his speeches, perfecting every line. We have the most iconic American speech of the twentieth century because, at a critical moment in an overthought speech, MLK paused. In the ensuing silence, Mahalia Jackson, a gospel singer from New Orleans, shouted “tell em’ about the dream Martin!”
Rather than delivering the next planned line, Martin Luther King improvised the most quoted speech of the 20th century.
That tidbit is only a small piece in this episode, which zooms in on public speaking on two continents.
Something New:
I’m going to start including a feel-good news story every week! This first one comes to us from Cambodia, and it happened in September of last year. You may have missed it in the run-up to that fruit-storm of an election.
There are still millions of unexploded landmines in Cambodia, and one of the best ways they have found to locate them is to train bomb-sniffing rats.
One rat (named Magawa) is so good at sniffing out landmines that they gave him a rat-sized gold medal. Look at how happy he is:
Here is the full story, if you’d like to read it.
Thank you for reading this week. If you enjoyed what you read, and you have a few friends who might appreciate The Well-Lived Life, please share! We only grow by word-of-mouth, so your reference carries a lot of weight.
Other than that, bon voyage. May you simplify in the weeks ahead!
Yes! I’ve wanted to go snowshoeing since I was a kid watching Wild America (you watched it?) and this February, with the crush of Covid, family issues and draining work schedules, I drove nearly 3 hours to an AirBnB in Sullivan County....and snowshoed! A surprise bonus - couldn’t connect to Wifi and so was forced to scale back on phone and internet and TV. It was beautiful.