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Are you doin’ this work to facilitate growth or to become famous? Which is more important? Getting or letting go? #LewisStreet…#Walk good. 28all. Eya. *JO, TS, NM* The Warm-Up: “But here’s the thing. Here’s my final thing. To all my Black girls out there…If you remember one thing from this letter, remember this. You don’t have to be a WNBA player or a politician or a celebrity to have an impact on someone else...P.S. This is my last contribution to The Talk. If somebody asks you, ‘Can I touch your hair?’ The answer is no. Helllllll no.’” ~A’ja Wilson, Dear Black Girls The Core: “My ideal man is faithful, honest, and a gentleman who knows how to treat a woman.” ~Irina Shayk “You are not smart when you disagree, you are smart when you understand the perspective of others.” ~Orange Book “I’ve never met a deck that tells a better story than a well written page of text. Write it up, don’t deck it out.” ~Jason Fried “Anyone who loves in the expectation of being loved in return is wasting their time.” ~Paulo Coelho, The Devil and Miss Prym “I thought 2020 would be the year I get everything I want. Now I know 2020 is the year I appreciate everything I have.” ~Tavares Bussey “Live below your means. Invest, diversified, with a 10+ year horizon. Expect and accept volatility. That’s 90% of finance. 90%.” ~Morgan Housel “If you get fired today and they brought in someone exceptional to replace you, what do you think they would do? Why aren’t you doing that?” ~Shane Parrish “Maybe when I’m retired. Maybe when I’m done. Maybe when I’m gone, y’all will understand.” ~James Harden, on receiving criticism for his play style (via Rebook/Youtube) “It is not always physical bravery that counts. One must have the courage to face life as it is, to go through sorrows and always sacrifice oneself for the sake of others.” ~Kipsigis “People think that if they consume enough information, they’ll eventually know enough to write well, but nobody has ever eaten their way to becoming a Michelin Star chef. You have to actually cook.” ~David Perell “[Jesus] understood that popularity and purpose don’t often work together. I was telling [the young people] not to confuse fame with fruitfulness, not to confuse being noticed with being known.” ~Steven Furtick, Lonely Places “What the pupil must learn, if he learns anything at all, is that the world will do most of the work for you, provided you cooperate with it by identifying how it really works and aligning with those realities. If we do not let the world teach us, it teaches us a lesson.” ~Joseph Tussman “But you know what it take to be poppin’ this long/ Dedication on another level [playas] never seen in they life/ Celebratin’ all your first downs like they touchdowns, bring a price/ Young Simba had a buss down, yeah, the Lion King on ice/ [playas] wanted me to look the part, had to stop takin’ advice/ Put the jewelry to the side, had to find me, had to find God/ Half the time, we be pacifyin’, what they expect from us?/ But that’s treacherous, that shows less of us/ I need y’all to see every part of me, every scar and every artery/ Every story that I can recall, then I can fall.” ~J. Cole, Lion King on Ice “But now, at 31, I became an artist who barely cared for punchlines, wittiness, or for the standard measurements of what determines a rapper’s fitness. I was much more concerned with story, emotion, and message. And while these elements led to a lot of fulfilling moments for me, I couldn’t deny that the competitive edge was missing. The desire to prove something to myself and to the world was on its deathbed. While that sounds liberating, for me it was worrying. Trying to prove something was all I had ever really known, and truly I loved the pursuit. I wondered if this was the very spot on this long journey that all my favorites — the ones that lived long enough — had reached before. The moment where the blessing of success places a curse on the very same drive that brought it to you in the first place, and the words you write moving forward never surpass the ones you wrote in the past. I had to have an honest talk with myself.” ~J. Cole, The Audacity Last Set: “We are part of a larger ecosystem of companies and organizations, and it will take all of us to shift the industry as a whole towards greater diversity, equity, and inclusion. As true progress comes from collective action, we must all expect – and insist on – more. More action from our leaders, more support for our communities, and more willingness to change from ourselves…How we choose to respond now and in the coming months has the power to change our collective stories and leave the world better, and more equitable, than when we joined it.” ~Ryan Williams, Cadre CEO, Creating Systemic Change: Cadre’s Commitment to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Food for Thought: The below quote has been in the MML eight times: 8/3/15—5/20/16—7/18/16—4/14/17—10/30/17—1/1/19—2/24/20. This makes eight, Kobe. I grappled with the thought of whether or not to put it in this edition. I didn’t want it to be at the end, cause I feel like someone needs to read this. Maybe it’s me. Some of the conversations I’ve had this week with people I’ve never met before, to friends reading my words and helping a brother out (looking at you Lizzy) ... I don’t know. Maybe there’s something more, something bigger than me. For those of you that’ve seen this before, a friendly reminder. For those of you that are new to the MML, welcome: “God found Gideon in a hole. He found Joseph in a prison. He found Daniel in a lion’s den. He has a curious habit of showing up in the midst of trouble, not the absence. Where the world sees failure, God sees future. Next time you feel unqualified to be used by God remember this, He tends to recruit from the pit, not the pedestal.” ~Jon Acuff Buy Black Fridays: I’m hyped to connect with Ryan Wilson next week. And as he and The Gathering Spot promote #buyblackfridays, I want to help out, showing some love to NM & TO and their site: Black Chip Co.
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