In The Know #55: Creativity & Courage, Unchained
Hi friends,
It’s been a few months since my last newsletter, but life has been pretty full on as of late. I’ve been working on a couple big projects at work that have been taking a lot of my time and energy (check them out here and here), and it’s been hard to make time for anything other than family with what was left. Most of you will likely know the feeling.
Our baby girl turned one a couple months ago, and it really gave K and I some time to reflect on how different our lives are now. Although it feels like it’s been a blink of an eye, I find it hard to remember what life was like before. A true one-way door, so to speak. Life is much fuller now in almost every way, except for two important areas that I’ve honestly struggled with — time with friends, and time to myself — so I’m doing my best to make a little more time for both, especially now that summer is almost upon us.
I’ve collected too many things over the past couple months to include in this edition, so I’ve slimmed it down to the top 3 or 4 and will find space for some of the others in the next one.
Glad to be back.
Jamie
🔥 Epic Novel That I Couldn’t Put Down — Gates of Fire, by Steven Pressfield
You may remember the Hollywood hit movie 300 from the mid-2000s about the stand of 300 Spartans against the Persian empire at the Battle of Thermopylae in 480 B.C. While that retelling of the epic battle was distinctly cartoonish, this book is the real deal. Told from the perspective of a lone surviving squire pulled from the battlefield and kept alive by direction of the Persian King Xerxes to tell the tale of the Spartans, the book pulled me in right away. The squire, Xeones, essentially tells his life story as a non-Spartan Greek, orphaned and driven from his home by war at a young age, who is drawn to the virtues of Sparta and immigrates there to serve their citizen warriors. It is an epic tale of courage, toughness, leadership, and love. Highly recommended.
👨🎨 Book That Re-Inspired Me To See Myself as an Artist — The Creative Act, by Rick Rubin
I mentioned that I was super excited about this book in Newsletter #50 last fall. I finished reading it shortly after it was released in January, but it didn’t have quite the effect I had hoped, so I started reading it again. On my second time through, I think this book actually works better as a daily reader than a typical self-help or non-fiction. In other words, I think it’s best consumed one chapter a day, either first thing in the morning or before bed, as a form of self-reflection. Each short chapter is like a meditation, and if you read a bunch of chapters back-to-back, the message of each wasn’t able to sink in for me. On my second time around I’ve been getting so much more value out of the wisdom in these pages. Most profound to me is his idea of the Source, a creative energy that is flowing all around us, and our biggest task it to cultivate the ability to listen and let it flow through you. It has re-inspired me to think of myself as an artist in everything I do, and try to be a better listener of what’s not always audible.
🍿 Show I’ve Been Looking Forward to For a Year — Tour de France: Unchained (Netflix)
I was super excited to hear that cycling would be receiving the Drive to Survive treatment when details were first announced in the run up to last year’s Tour de France. Produced by the same team as the famous F1 show, film crews followed 8 teams at last year’s Tour to bring this 8-episode series to life. Similar to Drive to Survive, this first season follows the stories of individual riders more than the race itself, which is a good thing especially for the average viewer. The personalities and budgets may not be as big as F1, but I thought they’ve brought some of the drama of the race to life in a compelling way. K has also been digging it despite her general eye rolls whenever I try to describe the intricacies of a bike race, so for that I applaud them.
One tip — I’d suggest listening in the original language (French) with subtitles, instead of dubbed (which seems to be the default on Netflix), especially for episode 3 which is mostly French. To be honest, the primary language choice is the aspect of the show that I like the least, in that it seems like it was created primarily for a French audience. Although it’s important to honor the race’s French heritage, if the goal was to spread cycling globally like Drive to Survive did for F1, the choice to have the primary narrator speak in French and most viewers listen to a dubbed version by default doesn’t seem like the best strategy.
PS — For those who want to dive a deeper into the story behind each episode, there’s a great podcast by Escape Collective breaking down each episode in more detail, what it revealed behind the scenes, and where the producers took a little creative license to stir up some extra drama. Worth a listen if you’re a cycling degenerate like me 🤓.
🎧 Song I’ve Been Listening To On Repeat For Deep Work — Suzuki, by Tosca
Whenever I need to focus on an important piece of work, I put on a big pair of headphones and turn on this track. I picked this up a few years ago after reading a blog post about it by Ryan Holiday — The Guilty, Crazy Secret That Helps Me Write. I find the music just starts to melt into the background and I’m able to enter a state of flow much more quickly than normal. If you’re curious check out Ryan’s post for a much more thoughtful description of why it works, or just give it a try and see how it goes. I recommend something repetitively rhythmic and instrumental, but that’s just me.
Closing Quote — “Use the talents you possess, for the woods would be very silent if no birds sang except the best.” ~Henry Van Dyke