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I recently re-read Tim Ferris' Tribe of Mentors for the second time.

The following ideas reflect the points that really stood out to me this time and the ideas that I'm trying to internalize.

What would this look like if it were easy?

Craft better questions - Life punishes the vague and rewards the clear.  Ask uncommonly clear questions

Real satisfaction comes from the opposite of what the web provides.  It comes from going deep into something the book your writing, the album, the movie and staying there for a long long time - Stephen Pressfield

Innovation is saying no to 1000 things - Steve Jobs

Busy is a decision 

Love for reading is a superpower - Naval

Do everything you were going to do with less angst, less suffering, less emotion.  

Ignore the news, complainers, angry people, high conflict people. 

Make sure you have something you look forward to every day- it could be work, could be a date, a writing group, something.

Whenever there is any doubt there is no doubt.

Full attention is where you do your best work, and everyone is going to be looking to rip it from you.  Protect and preserve it.

I can add more value by going deep on a few things rather than engaging with a broad set of activities.

Say no to all external meeting requests as a rule of thumb.  External meetings should be initiated by me.

Say no to all outside involvements - such as being an advisor, etc,  there is only one job I can think about.

In creative fields I think networking actually hurts you.  Don’t waste your time with people who you think can help you.  Just get better, and opportunities will present themselves once you deserve them.  Don’t network, just work.

Free yourself to try anything.  The best ideas are revolutionary.

Every week I show employees the current week within the year visually just to remind them that every week matters

Optimism is important to communicate to the team, instead of focusing solely on problems.  If you only engage people about problems, pretty soon, you’ll become the problem for them.  (I'm very guilty of this one)