Thanksgiving 2020 - holidays are here and 2021 not far behind

 
Happy Turkey Day, family and friends,

I know the holidays are here when we start talking Christmas trees. It seems like yesterday when Lucy was making that face on our annual tree pilgrimage. 

Looking back at last Thanksgiving's Nugget, I am again appreciative of the many special people in our lives. Here's a beautiful prayer my buddy Todd Parker sent our way this morning:

"Bless our home, that we may cherish the bread before there is none, discover each other before we leave, and enjoy each other for what we are while we have time."

Here's to a Happy Thanksgiving, a joyful holiday season ahead, and a pandemic in remission in 2021.

Love,

Dad

Check out Cam Fuller's website on WPW

 

Good morning Lucy,

Happy Woman Power Wednesday. 

I'm celebrating our cousin Cam Fuller and her work in advertising and branding. Seems right up your alley. Have you seen Cam's website? Some great stuff, including a fascination with the number 5! Be sure to check out some of her branding work with companies like Weber and KFC. 

And speaking of the magic time of day, check this out . . .

It sounds like things are moving in a good direction for your sister Sally and the job search in London.

Love,

Dad

Seth Godin: The Practice

 

Lucy,

I'm nuggin' about in Seth Godin's new book, The Practice, Shipping Creative Work. Here is how Seth describes the book on this recent Tim Ferris podcast, with a nod to London (hello Sally and Taylor) and a story about the word hack.

Tim Ferriss: I thought we would start where all good things start, and that is the etymology of the word hack, which you introduced me to. What is this word hack, and what context would you like to provide?

Seth Godin: When London was smaller, on the outskirts of London was a borough called Hackney, and Hackney was a place where they would raise horses. They didn’t raise thoroughbreds, they didn’t raise extraordinary show horses. They raised just average horses, average horses at an average price. If you got a Hackney horse, you probably did it because you were, I don’t know, a hansom cab driver and that’s where your nickname came as being a hack, in that you didn’t have a special horse. You simply had a horse. There’s nothing wrong with raising a hack. There’s nothing wrong with buying a hack. Being a hack is about giving the customer exactly what they want at a decent price.

However, it is important to distinguish it from the magic/fraught topic of our art, of that thing that lights us up, the work that we actually want to do. My book The Practice is about that gap between being a hack, selling as if you’re a hack, and the other thing which is the generous act of doing something magic. It really bothers some people to hear their work described as hack work, but I think there’s nothing wrong with it. You should own it because you need to distinguish it from that other work you can do.

I love this idea of owning your 'hack' work but finding inspiration to do this other 'thing' - something original, something creative, something we feel called to do. We all have this ability, and Godin's book appears to be a guide to help us find it.

Stay whole Lucy,

Dad

Seth Godin's throw back question: Which are you?

 
Lucy,

Good to know you made it safely home last night. Send along some pics from your trip.

Above photos from a beautiful weekend in Austin. Emily on the lake with Kyle and his Yale friends. Kevin hanging on Belmont Park Drive #A. Mom and I all smiles in our first couples tournament yesterday. And my four-ball on Saturday with Brett Denton, Jon Cook (a guest from San Francisco), and Barry Senterfitt.

For today's Make it a Great Monday, I'm going back to this nugget in October of 2011: Which are you?

Be something bigger than just competent!

Love,

Dad

P.S. Tomorrow, I'll give a short review of Seth Godin's new book, The Practice. Check out this podcast to hear Godin discuss with Tim Ferris.

Dear Harvey: "Up against a kid" by Bo Links (slightly modified for gender)

 

Dear Harvey,

Last Saturday,
I met a kid.
She said, "Let's putt."
And so we did.

"Dime a hole,"

Said the kid.

Cleaned me out

Is what she did.

Her hands were soft,

Her eyes were brown.

When she took a stroke,

Her ball went down.

She rolled each putt,

So slow and sure.

Each putt was hit,

So dad gum pure.

At every hole,

Her ball went "plop."

The kid could putt,

And make it drop.

Just a dime,

The offer came

I tried my best,

To win the game.

Twenty bucks,

She took from me.

That kid could putt,

It was plain to see.

The kid, she didn't

Play a trick.

But man, oh man!

It was over quick.

I thought a while,

About that kid.

And gave some thought,

To what she did.

I decided then,

Though I was hurt,

To learn just why

I'd lost my shirt.

And so I went

To see a pro,

Who said there's something

I should know.

After listening to

My tale of woe,

He told me, "Partner,

Let it go."

"Don't you bend

Your mind a crack.

That twenty bucks

Ain't coming back."

I'll never forget,

What last he said:

"Watch them kids.

They'll beat you dead."

"Son, don't you let

Your skills be bid,

Against the skills

Of a kid!"

"For if you hit it

Long and true,

That ain't enough

To pull you through."

 "It's all about

The old flat stick,

It's the club that makes

The money stick."

"And, Partner,

Just remember this,

One final truth

No man should miss."

"It's split up families,

And broken hearts.

And it ain't the end,

It's just the start."

"For when a family

Hits the green,

Love gets buried

In between."

"There's an ancient rule

I'll relate to you,

Learn it well,

And know it's true."

"Legend says no father

Has ever won

A putting contest

Against his son (or daughter)."

It sounded strange

So I asked again:

"Why do kids

Putt to win?"

I asked him why

Kids lay it dead:

He looked at me

And shook his head.

"It's like this,"

He whispered back,

His squint grew narrow,

His eyes were black.

He looked to see

We were alone,

Then he spoke to me

In measured tones.

"Fear's a thing

We old men know,

While them young ones

only seem to grow."

"And fear will eat you

Inch by inch.

It's what makes

an old man flinch."

"Them kids ain't lived

Like you and me.

Partner, they don't know

How things can be."

"Them kids, they've lived,

And maybe played,

But not enough

to be afraid."

I've thought about

What that old pro said.

And one thought keeps ringing

In my head.

Oh, to know,

There is no fear.

No danger lurking,

Far or near.

I reakon' that's why

Youth is such a bliss.

And it's why them kids

Don't ever miss.

Maria Popova's Top Ten Learnings

Great pic of Lucy and Pierce Fuller. We are looking forward to finally meeting Pierce and Nell at a Texas Family Thanksgiving (Famsgiving) event in Dallas!

Last week, on WPW, I shared about Maria Popova's essential life-learnings. Please read the ten below and then take time to read the expanded version here.

1. Allow yourself the uncomfortable luxury of changing your mind. Cultivate that capacity for “negative capability.”

2. Do nothing for prestige or status or money or approval alone. 

3. Be generous. Be generous with your time and your resources and with giving credit and, especially, with your words. 

4. Build pockets of stillness into your life. Meditate. Go for walks. Ride your bike going nowhere in particular.

5. When people tell you who they are, Maya Angelou famously advised, believe them. Just as important, however, when people try to tell you who you are, don’t believe them. 

6. Presence is far more intricate and rewarding an art than productivity.

7. Expect anything worthwhile to take a long time.

8. Seek out what magnifies your spirit. 

9. Don’t be afraid to be an idealist. 

10. Don’t just resist cynicism — fight it actively. 

Egotistical Utilitarianism: "Where the I meets the we"

 
Lucy,

A good week on Cape San Blas, but also nice to be back in Austin. Above photo with Uncle Chip in Apalachicola.

Taylor and I exchanged emails this morning, and the topic of Egotistical Utilitarianism came up from the Matthew McConaughey podcast last week. Here's how McConaughey explains it:

That’s what Jesus was up to. Making decisions. That’s the honey hole of when we can succeed or have satisfaction or live life the most truest.

Where the decisions we make for the I, for ourselves, the selfish decisions, are actually what’s best for the most amount of people, utilitarian. Where the I meets the we. Where the selfish is the selfless, where what I need is what I want. And what I want is the ego. What I need is the utilitarian. What I want is freedom. What I need is the responsibility and the interplay of those things. Where the I is the ego and utilitarian is the objective, utilitarian we. 

But I was like, “Oh, that’s the ultimate human, the egotistical utilitarian,” where the decision one makes for themselves, most selfishly, happened to be the most selfless decisions as well at the same time. And where those two overlap and are one, that’s the ultimate human, that was the pursuit. 

Is this kin to my favorite quote from Covey?

“When you engage in a work that taps your talent and fuels your passion -- that rises out of a great need in the world that you feel drawn by conscience to meet -- therein lies your voice, your calling, your soul's code."

What do you think?

Dad