3-2-1: What top performers do, and how to deal with critics and detractors

Happy 3-2-1 Thursday!

Earlier this week, a fabulous new podcast launched. It's called Good Work by Barrett Brooks. The show has long-form interviews with people who are using their career to make the world a better place. If you're curious, you can listen to my episode here. The current lineup of guests is excellent. (I don't get anything from saying this. Barrett is just a friend and I think this is going to be a great show.)

And now, here are 3 ideas, 2 quotes, and 1 question to consider this week.

I.

"You don't need to worry about progressing slowly. You need to worry about climbing the wrong mountain."

(Share this on Twitter)

​II.

"If you already live a comfortable life, then choosing to make more money but live a worse daily life is a bad trade.

And yet, we talk ourselves into it all the time. We take promotions that pay more, but swallow our free time. We already have a successful business, but we break ourselves trying to make it even more successful.

Too much focus on wealth, not enough focus on lifestyle."

III.

"Mastery is not only about getting better at your craft, but also about finding ways to eliminate the obstacles, distractions, and other annoyances that prevent you from working on your craft.

Top performers find ways to spend as much time as possible on what matters and as little time as possible on what doesn't. It is not someone else's responsibility to create the conditions for success.

You have to actively work to eliminate the things that don't matter from your workload. If you haven't figured out how to do that, you haven't mastered your craft."

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I.

The anonymous poet, Atticus, on how to live:

"Whatever seed you are, bloom."

Source: Instagram
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​II.

Poet and writer Joseph Brodsky on how to deal with the critics, detractors, and negative influences in your life:

"Try not to pay attention to those who will try to make life miserable for you. There will be a lot of those — in the official capacity as well as the self-appointed. Suffer them if you can't escape them, but once you have steered clear of them, give them the shortest shrift possible. Above all, try to avoid telling stories about the unjust treatment you received at their hands; avoid it no matter how receptive your audience may be. Tales of this sort extend the existence of your antagonists; most likely they are counting on your being talkative and relating your experience to others.

By himself, no individual is worth an exercise in injustice (or for that matter, in justice). The ratio of one-to-one doesn't justify the effort: it's the echo that counts. That's the main principle of any oppressor, whether state-sponsored or autodidact. Therefore, steal, or still, the echo, so that you don't allow an event, however unpleasant or momentous, to claim any more time than it took for it to occur.
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What your foes do derives its significance or consequence from the way you react. Therefore, rush through or past them as though they were yellow and not red lights. Don't linger on them mentally or verbally; don't pride yourself on forgiving or forgetting them — worse come to worse, do the forgetting first. This way you'll spare your brain cells a lot of useless agitation; this way, perhaps, you may even save those pigheads from themselves, since the prospect of being forgotten is shorter than that of being forgiven. So flip the channel: you can't put this network out of circulation, but at least you can reduce its ratings."

Source: On Grief and Reason​

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Is the situation actually complicated or is it really quite straightforward, but you're making it complicated because it requires a lot of courage to make the straightforward decision?

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https://jamesclear.com/3-2-1/april-11-2024

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Until next week,

James Clear
​Author of Atomic Habits, the #1 best-selling book
Creator of Atoms, the official Atomic Habits app
Writer of the 3-2-1 newsletter with 3 million subscribers

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p.s. The only way to browse the internet.