Build Your Inner Citadel - Two Z's Two T's

Today's Fit as a Fiddle Friday is brought to you by two z's, two t's Kyle Cazzetta and his father, Vinny. One of many stories I love Kyle to tell starts with an explanation of what is a kicking block. 

One summer, when Kyle was in high school excelling on the soccer pitch, Vinny went to the local sporting goods store to pick up what I imagine was a one-inch kicking block. He brought it home and suggested to Kyle that his soccer skills, while quite strong, might need to improve to get him into the best schools. He suggested trying to kick a few field goals. Kyle nailed his first kick from some 35 yards! A short while later, after a call to the high school football coach, the rest is history.

Gen. Stanley McChrystal hanging with Kyle at Yale.

This came to mind when reading the chapter, Build Your Inner Citadel (p. 134), in Ryan Holiday's The Obstacle is the Way. The chapter starts with a story about Theodore Roosevelt and his father visiting the young, frail Theodore's room. "Theodore, you have the mind but haven't got the body. I'm giving you the tools to make your body. It's going to be hard drudgery, and I think you have the determination to go through with it." Theodore's response: "I'll make my body."

A couple of good stories below on how Vinny's suggestion set Kyle on the path to an outstanding college career at Yale.

Chip Malafronte: Kyle Cazzetta a military mind in a Yale helmet

FOOTBALL: Close ties bind Cazzetta and Cadets

'Foot' note from Vinny: 

Wow, that takes me back to some great memories. The other fun part was Kyle playing in a soccer match on Friday afternoon and a football game on Friday night. One, in particular, comes to mind when we had to drive Kyle one hour to an away football game after the completion of a soccer match. On the way, the football coach kept in contact with Kyle to see how much longer we had to drive so he could make a decision on whether to kick off or not if we won the toss. We dropped Kyle off, he ran through some woods to the 40-yard line and did the kickoff.

See: Proud of Kyle - Inducted into his high school Hall of Fame! 

World Surf League on Anything Goes Thursday

Hey Peeps,

I noticed this building on a walk last night from my hotel in Santa Monica to a Yoga Studio down by the Pacific Ocean. It made me think of Lucy and Surfing the Nations. She will be with some of her teammates from STN in a couple of weeks in North Carolina!

Go here to learn a bit more about the World Surf League. Very cool website and a lot of interesting stuff.

Love ya,

Dad

In Praise of Shadows - Jun'ichirō Tanizaki

Sally and all my talented designer-types,

This strange little book (less than 80 pages) would seem to be a must-read for anyone in a design field, especially interior design. First heard mention of it from Tony Fadell on this excellent Tim Ferris interview. I have a couple of copies of the book ready to share with my girls. Here's the time point in the Fadell podcast:

(We share our impressions of a little-known (and very short) book called In Praise of Shadows — and Tony explains why he gifts it so often. [1:41:41])

Now it pops up again in this New York Times opinion piece: What We Get Wrong About Minimalism

"So often minimalism portends to be permanent, a fixed end state, instead of flux and change. Minimalism is a process that has to be kept up and refreshed day to day. I’m always inspired by this quote from a 1933 essay called “In Praise of Shadows,” by the Japanese novelist Junichiro Tanizaki: “We find beauty not in the thing itself but in the patterns of shadows, the light and the darkness, that one thing against another creates.”

Lastly, this paragraph in the NY Times article connects well to Sunday's Nugget and the article Charlie sent from The Atlantic. See corpse meditation, and how not to make the mistake of trying to maintain peak performance indefinitely. A little weird, to say the least (no pun intended) but makes a great point!

"My ideal concept comes from Japan, which has developed its philosophy of absence for more than a millennium, via Japanese Buddhism. “Mono-no-aware” is a term that means something like “the beauty of things passing”; it can be found in thousand-year-old texts like Murasaki Shikibu’s “The Tale of Genji,” in which characters take particular pleasure in everything that is transient: blooming flowers, decrepit wooden mansions, fire embers on a cold night."

Life is an ocean, love is a boat - Stay whole our crew!

Lucy,

As your mom and I get more serious about planning our time in Ireland this summer, we have been listening to Pandora's The Irish Tenors Radio and other similar channels. There are several songs that we love to hear over and over, such as Amazing Grace, which always makes me think of Papa (Pop's father) and how one of your mom's cousins sang at the memorial service.

One of our other favorites is called The Voyage. I have posted a YouTube version of that song above and the words below. 

Love you,

Dad

"The Voyage"

I am a sailor, you're my first mate
We signed on together, we coupled our fate
We hauled up our anchor, determined not to fail
For the hearts treasure, together we set sail

With no maps to guide us we steered our own course
We rode out the storms when the winds were gale force
We sat out the doldrums in patience, and hope
Working together, we learned how to cope

Life is an ocean, love is a boat
In troubled waters, it keeps us afloat
When we started the voyage, there was just me and you
Now gathered round us, we have our own crew

Together we're in this relationship
We built it with care, to last the whole trip
Our true destination's not marked on any charts
We're navigating for the shores of the heart

Life is an ocean and love is a boat
In troubled waters, it keeps us afloat
When we started the voyage, there was just me and you
Now gathered round us, we have our own crew

Teach a man to fish

Hey fam,

Kicking off the week with the above quote, pecked by Kyle during a recent visit to my office. I love the ROYAL and the messages I occasionally get from Kyle.

As to the origin of this one:

Give a Man a Fish, and You Feed Him for a Day. Teach a Man To Fish, and You Feed Him for a Lifetime

The article concludes:

". . . this article presents a snapshot of the incomplete knowledge available. Based on current evidence Anne Isabella Thackeray Ritchie deserves credit for formulating a striking adage that used fishing as a paradigmatic task enabling self-sufficiency. The saying evolved over time and became more memorable by mentioning the ability to eat for a lifetime. The claim that the adage was an old proverb from China, Italy, India or somewhere else has only weak support at this time."

Lastly, Jesus was a fisherman,

Dad

Sunday Nugget: When does 'relevance' start to matter most?

Happy Sunday my dear Lucy,

I am writing this Nugget for myself and friends closer to my age, but knowing you as I do, you will also find this 'relevant.' Uncle Charlie shared this article from The Atlantic: Your Professional Decline Is Coming (Much) Sooner Than You Think.

It is long but quite good. If you stick with it, you will learn about a Hindu guru named Sri Ramanacharanatirtha Nochur Venkataraman, known as Acharya (teacher) to his followers. You will learn about ancient Hindu teachings and the five stages of life. The first is Brahmacharya, the period of youth and young adulthood dedicated to learning. You are now in the Brahmacharya stage of life!

When I read the article, my first thought was of the above envelope prayer. For those who don't know the story, one of my best friends in Austin, Rodger Anderson, is my exact age, 60. Rodger and Tracy (Cathy’s best buddy) have four daughters, all similar in age to our girls. We connected immediately after moving to Austin 19 years ago. When we turned 50, Rodger shared a prayer he wrote and would often say with his family. He annotated it on the back of an envelope for me. The prayer consist of five things:

• Forgive me - for what I have done wrong and for when I have failed to do right
• Heal me - my mind, body, and soul
• Strengthen my faith each day
• Make me not afraid
• May I have mercy on those less fortunate

A few years after 'Rodge' shared what I now call the ‘envelope prayer,' he sold his real estate business to CBRE and signed on to run their retail business in Austin. He quickly found out working for a large cooperation was different than being his own boss. It was then that he added a sixth line to the prayer: relevance - help me stay relevant.

I knew what Rodge was feeling. I grabbled with that word quite a bit over the past decade, especially after divesting from day-to-day work at Salient and moving into an enterprise-sales role with a global technology company. I have written the word ‘relevance’ on the top left corner of my daily planner everyday sense. Fortunately, for both Rodge and me, in our profession of sales, 'crystallized' intelligence is far more beneficial than 'fluid' intelligence. These terms are in the article, explaining why we are both still very much on top of our games.

In closing, I'll leave you with one more teaser from the article. Read it and find out why after age 50, we should all strive to "be more like Johann Sebastian Bach, not Charles Darwin."

Love,

Dad

P.S. The photo of Rodge below is after he bowled his personal best 221 this past Christmas during our annual excursion to Dart Bowl. His previous best (180) set 47 years earlier when he was just 12 years old. Now that is staying relevant!

Covid-19 casualty (July 14, 2020): Austin institution Dart Bowl will reset the pins for the final time Friday night and close its doors forever, ending a 62-year run for the business and a 24-year roll at its current Grover Lane address.

Fit as a Fiddle (Your brain) - David Allen

Hey Lu boo,

I started a new Tim Ferris Podcast this morning, David Allen — The Art of Getting Things Done (GTD) (#384). I've found that my drive time from the house to the gym and back gets me through about one podcast every week. 

Here's a good quote from David Allen on productivity:

"Your brain is for creating ideas, not for holding them!"

Think about it!

Happy Friday.