Rootz's Blog

The first step is to recognize the absurdity of art. I’m sure everyone, on some level, can see how strange it is that humans attach so much meaning and value to things that seem useless and, sometimes, easily re-creatable. But after noticing how temporal and relativistic art is, recognize how it also permeates everything in our lives. It lives with us as furniture and paintings, it simmers within us as poetry and songs, it comes out of us in the form of writing and words. It surrounds us. Everything is art. And if everything is art, then art is everything. Next, don’t censor yourself. Don’t throw away the thoughts that pop into your head. The difference between the normal and the extraordinary is the same as the difference between the normal and the neurotic: a dash of crazy. Take yourself seriously. Don’t throw away even the ideas and questions that seem ordinary or inevitable. Figure out why things happen. Why you have those thoughts. What those thoughts mean. How you can expan...

Being a tutor isn’t as much about answering questions as it is about helping people ask questions. Figuring out the question is usually more difficult than finding the answer. Answers permeate our world, online and offline, and you will rarely come across a question that hasn’t been answered and documented at least once in the history of the human race. But questions? Everyone views the world differently. Everyone’s understanding has holes in different areas. So while most answers are pretty consistent across the world, questions vary almost infinitely. Knowing how to ask good questions is one of the most important life-skills you can acquire. If you don’t know how to ask questions, you’ll never get answers. And the more questions you ask, the more answers you get. The more answers you get, the more emboldened you are to ask even more questions. Questions lead to knowledge. Knowledge leads to wisdom. Wisdom leads to a good life. The quality of your life is determined by the q...

You have a list of a million things to do. Maybe it’s your to-do list. Maybe the tasks it takes you to start your business. Maybe the things you need to get done before going on vacation. But no matter what, when given a list of tasks——unless it’s all perfectly sequential——the first question you’ll be asking yourself is, “Which do I do first?” There are two basic strategies that you can pick from: You can either start with the most difficult tasks or the easier ones. And depending on who you ask, you’ll get different answers. Mark Zuckerberg, for example, said that if you do the easy things in business first, the rest will follow and the business will be successful. Tim Ferriss says the opposite: Do “either the thing that makes you most uncomfortable . . . or ask: Which one of these, if done, will make all the rest irrelevant or easier?” So there are two camps, two strategies, and it all comes down to personal preference. Are you the type that can jump out of bed and dive st...

Neil Gaiman: "Make good art." And all you can do if you want to make good art is to simply make art——any art——and, if you work hard enough for long enough, it will end up being good art. The only qualifier on Gaiman’s command is that we make the art “good”. Don’t make the art half-heartedly. Make it to the best of your ability. Otherwise, to have overcome the obstacles of distraction and disappointment around you, and then to only make mediocre art, is a waste of your energy.

Tony Robbins: Ep. 217 of The James Altucher Show Don’t talk or think or write about how you’re going to do it. Think about the Why. Talk about the Why. The Why is going to carry you through all those times that the How doesn’t seem possible. The Why is what will drive you til the end. Not the How, not the When, not the Where, not even the What. All of those questions will be answered when they need to be answered, don't try to answer them beforehand. The first step is to recognize the Why and to let it drive you forward into doing and making.

Seth Godin: “The most difficult part might be in choosing whether you want to make art at all. . .” That goes for anything you can choose to do. The most difficult part is deciding to do it. The second most difficult part is actually doing it. That’s the part that stumps most people. Don’t let it stump you. You know you want and you know what it takes to get it.

Adam Grant: The surprising habits of original thinkers Remember, he says, that “the first few drafts are always crap.” Don’t doubt yourself and your potential. You simply cannot know your own potential, and you’ll never know whether you’ve reached it. All you can do is keep reaching further. Successful people understand that there are two versions of failure. One version is where you try and fail. The other, the one you should fear more, is where you don’t try at all. The ones who fail the most are the ones who tried the most, and the ones who try the most will inevitably be the successful ones.

James Murphy: “The best way to complain is to make things.” Don’t tell us what the problem is. Tell us how you’re going to fix it. Value is created when you create, not when you talk about what hasn’t happened, hasn’t been created, hasn’t been working.

Chase Jarvis: “Stop planning. Start doing” A plan is worth nothing. Only results are. Being a great, hard-working person with great ideas is only valuable if you follow through on those ideas. So go do. And you will become good. You will develop good habits. You will be recognized for your work.

This series will be made up of 6 short posts, each one covering one creator, entrepreneur or generally smart person and what they have to say about becoming successful. What does it really take to become successful in any field? Is there one simple piece of advice that totally trumps all other advice? The answer to the second question: Yes. The answer to the first question: You'll have to wait and see!