Falling on your face isn't fatal

Our reluctance to face discomfort composes the hidden shape of our lives.

Author

Enda Mac Nally
September 11, 2024 • Read it in: 4 minutes

PREVIEW;

  • Great FT piece below on the film director Pasolini- including the exceptional line “Italy in the 1970s was a hotbed of political murder”

  • Fail, fail again and stop minding.

  • Smart and lazy go together well.

Writing a weekly newsletter is great.

It’s license to live a more interesting life.

For me, it’s put order on thinking and reading, and has helped me to see if what I'm learning is actually worth learning… 🤔

Thanks for being along for the ride.

Here are 3 things that have been on my mind this week:

Falling on your face isn’t fatal.

Failure is a necessary element of success. In any walk of life, it's the uncomfortable cost of doing business.

You’ve probably heard the question “what would you do if you knew you couldn’t fail?” which is intended to help people identify their calling in life.

But it’s not a helpful question.

Now when failure (large or small) is inevitable.

Seth Godin puts a great twist on it, asking instead:

This version refuses to ignore the reality of failure.

The truth is, our reluctance to face discomfort is the hidden shape of our lives.

Tim Ferriss echoing Tara Brach, asks “What are you unwilling to feel?”

David Bowie made 26 studio albums.

He’s remembered for the good ones.

Pieter Levels has launched 70+ projects.

Only 1% have ever made money.

But that's all you need.

That’s what working despite failure looks like.

And if you resist it, you’re resisting what success there might be too.

Prussian generals knew where to put the right people.

Hat-tip to my cousin John for this one:

“I divide my officers into four classes as follows:

The clever, the industrious, the lazy, and the stupid.

Each officer always possesses two of these qualities.

Those who are clever and industrious I appoint to the General Staff. Use can under certain circumstances be made of those who are stupid and lazy.

The man who is clever and lazy qualifies for the highest leadership posts.

He has the requisite nerves and the mental clarity for difficult decisions.

But whoever is stupid and industrious must be got rid of, for he is too dangerous.”

Heritage often begins as heresy.

The accepted was once unacceptable. The original context has long been forgotten, and only the idioms remain.

Here are some other things:

🕶️ ‘Who really murdered Pier Paolo Pasolini?’ [Article]
Fantastic in-depth look at the Pasolini murder case in the FT.

🔫 ‘The Mask of Dmitrios’ by Eric Amble [Novel]
Really great proto-spy thriller novel from 1939.

🎥 ’The Sustained Two-Shot’ [Video]
Tony Zhou is back! If you don’t know his ‘Every Frame a Painting’ channel on Youtube, it’s well worth checking out.

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