Jimmy V: Life is About Laughter, Thought, and Crying

Posted inSports10 Comments on Jimmy V: Life is About Laughter, Thought, and Crying

Legendary basketball coach Jim Valvano delivered a nine minute speech (YouTube) at the ESPN sports awards in 1993 just two months before dying of cancer. It’s very inspirational. He says:

To me, there are three things we all should do every day. We should do this every day of our lives. No. 1 is laugh. You should laugh every day. No. 2 is think. You should spend some time in thought. And No. 3 is, you should have your emotions moved to tears, could be happiness or joy. But think about it. If you laugh, you think, and you cry, that’s a full day. That’s a heck of a day. You do that seven days a week, you’re going to have something special.

When the producers say he has only 30 seconds left, he says, "Like I care about that screen. I got tumors all over my body and I’m supposed to be worried about some screen flashing 30 seconds."

Well worth a watch.

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Are You an Ambitious Person Who Isn’t Big on Goals?

Posted inPhilosophy17 Comments on Are You an Ambitious Person Who Isn’t Big on Goals?

80% of ambitious people are goal oriented, 20% of ambitious people are not goal oriented. This ratio came from a friend. It strikes me as about right.

I’m not a goal person. I set a few short and medium term goals, but no long term goals.

I think long term goals are dangerous. When you are singularly focused on a long term goal or plan you become blind to the opportunities which exist on the periphery of everyday life. In other words, you blind yourself from the random events which can change your life.

But I’m still ambitious. I’m in the 20% minority.

So what drives me, if not goals? I’m not exactly sure. I want to have impact. That drives me. I want to change the world and make it better. That drives me. What drives me more than anything is an internal beating drum which I can’t verbalize.

I’m curious to hear from driven, ambitious people who don’t follow the textbook approach of elaborate goal-setting, new year’s resolutions, and life plans. From where do you derive your ambition? Is it just the way you are or can you point to explanatory factors?

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An Obsession with the Amazon Number

Posted inMy Book4 Comments on An Obsession with the Amazon Number

Author Kevin Sessums‘ has been blogging about his book tour. He writes:

I am exhausted and frustrated and close to tears. I sold three books tonight at the store. I paid for this trip myself. My Amazon number is for shit. I feel like I’ve sort of reached my limit in sales – I pray I’m wrong about that – and I’m just treading marketing water now. I hate to sound so down but that’s the way I’m feeling. I live a pretty solitary life but this life-on-the-road has taken the loneliness I often feel and encased it with a meta-loneliness that is becoming increasingly difficult to cope with on a night like this.

My book‘s not even out but I still feel for him. The obsession within the publishing industry on the Amazon rank of your book is unbelievable (and stupid, since it’s only one very opaque metric).

With the pub date of my book a few weeks away, I’m beginning to feel the full range of emotions: genuine excitement for the platform my ideas will now have and for the people I will likely meet, and intense nervousness about whether people will like and buy the book.

(hat tip: Andrew Sullivan)

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Upping Your Cultural Institutions Per Capita

Posted inUSA (Road Trip)Leave a comment on Upping Your Cultural Institutions Per Capita

Driving through Iowa and Nebraska I’ve seen many weird museum signs off the freeway. “The African-American Museum” or the “Dutch Immigrant Museum”. Dozens like these — totally random and general.

I have no idea what these museums are like but I suspect they are attempts by the state to increase the museums-per-capita ranking.

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