August 4, 2024 | #588 | read on the web | Free Version

Welcome to Brain Food, a weekly newsletter full of timeless ideas and actionable insights you can use.

Insights

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“We’re less committed to choices we think we can reverse, and commitment is crucial for happiness.”

— Logan Ury

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“Courage is knowing it might hurt, and doing it anyway. Stupidity is the same. And that's why life is hard.”

— Jeremy Goldberg

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“Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; begin it well and serenely and with too high a spirit to be cumbered with your old nonsense.”

— Ralph Waldo Emerson

Tiny Thoughts

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“The price of success is paid in private. Visible triumphs are built on invisible work.”

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“Most people are interested. Few are truly committed.

Interested people act when it's convenient; committed people act no matter what. Interested people do the minimum; committed people push beyond limits. Interested people wait to be told; committed people take the initiative.

Fully committing is the key to accomplishment.”

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“The quality of a decision increases directly proportional to the degree to which the person is responsible.

If I tell you to do something, you're accountable but not responsible. Following a process makes you accountable, not responsible. Using judgment to opt out of the process makes you responsible. Completing assigned homework makes you accountable. Seeking out additional resources to deepen your understanding makes you responsible. Remembering your partner's birthday makes you accountable. Consistently finding ways to make them feel appreciated makes you responsible. Taking out the trash when told makes you accountable. Noticing it needs to be done and doing it makes you responsible.

Focusing on accountability doesn't improve decision quality. Embracing responsibility does.”

(Tiny Thoughts are written by me.)

Reading

Indra Nooyi on leaving your crown in the garage:

“I drove home. It was about 10 p.m., and the wintery roads were peaceful and dark. In those fifteen minutes behind the wheel, I let myself enjoy my accomplishment. I had worked so hard, learned so much, and earned my place. I entered our house through the kitchen door and dropped my keys and bag on the counter. I was bursting with excitement—so eager to tell everyone. Then my mother appeared. “I have the most incredible news!” I exclaimed. “The news can wait,” she said. “I need you to go out and get milk.” “Why didn’t you ask Raj to go get the milk?” I asked. “It looks like he came home a while ago.” “He looked tired, so I didn’t want to disturb him,” she said. I picked up my keys, went back to the car, drove to the Stop & Shop a mile away, and bought a gallon of whole milk. When I walked into the kitchen again, I was hopping mad. I slammed the plastic bottle on the counter. “I’ve just become president of PepsiCo, and you couldn’t just stop and listen to my news,” I said, loudly. “You just wanted me to go get the milk!” “Listen to me,” my mother replied. “You may be the president or whatever of PepsiCo, but when you come home, you are a wife and a mother and a daughter. Nobody can take your place. “So you leave that crown in the garage.”

[...]

Still, my mother’s comment that night has stuck with me—just vague enough to interpret in myriad ways. First, I think she said something deeply important about how we combine work and family. She was right, of course, that no matter who we are or what we do, nobody can take our place in our families. I was enjoying big success, but the stability of our home meant I would be equally valued and important whether or not I had been named president of PepsiCo, she indicated.

[...]

The “crown in the garage” comment also speaks to the broader relationship between power and humility. This is an incredible lesson for those who rise in their careers and end up in roles that give them real authority in the workplace and in society.”

— Source: My Life in Full: Work, Family, and Our Future (Members can access my highlights here).

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Thanks for reading,

— Shane

P.S. This voice.

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