The Art of Doing

Philippe Petit On Why Doing the Dirty Work Matters

In prehistoric times almost everyone did what we now consider the “dirty work.” But ever since the Sumerians developed an agricultural system (circa 5000 BC) most people have been angling to get out of doing the most menial, repetitive, mindless grunt work. But is there an advantage to doing the thankless and lowly task? High wire master Philippe Petit says, “Yes.”

dirty-workIn prehistoric times almost everyone did what we now consider the “dirty work.” But ever since the Sumerians developed an agricultural system (circa 5000 BC)—which created a stable supply of food allowing the population to grow, settle down and develop a division of labor that included skilled and unskilled work—most people have been angling to get out of doing the most menial, repetitive, mindless grunt work.

But is there an advantage to doing the thankless and lowly task?

In an intervew for our book, Philippe Petit, the greatest living high wire master (whose spectacular feats include his walk between the World Trade Center Towers 110 stories in the air) proselytizes for dirty work: Continue reading “Philippe Petit On Why Doing the Dirty Work Matters”

What a Teenage Sailor Taught Me About Dealing with Stress

Jessica Watson on her 2010 voyage around the world

I’ve fantasized about being an author since I was five years old so selling a book was a dream come true. But the process of actually writing a book made me feel like I was living in a submarine. After months of researching, wrangling, interviewing, transcribing, writing, editing and endless decision-making, I wondered, “Will I ever get through this?”  I fretted about everything from the tape recorder malfunctioning to the distinct possibility that we were producing something that no one would ever want to read.

Watson’s boat, Ella’s Pink Lady

It was the youngest participant in our book, the Australian Jessica Watson, who told me something that helped me deal with my stress. When Watson was just 11, she heard the tale of a young circumnavigator from her mother, and set a goal to do the same—sail around the world, non-stop, alone. Over the next five years, Watson underwent intensive self-directed research, training and planning. At 16, when most kids are still preoccupied with whatever version of popularity their peer group participates in, Watson set off on a 34-foot boat on a journey to become the youngest person ever to sail around the world alone. When we interviewed her about her voyage she told us,

“The success of your trip is as dependent on your mood as it is on your rigging. You’re down there in the middle of the ocean weeks from land or help. You can’t just say, ‘Okay, I’ve had enough.’ …. If you start thinking, ‘Ohh, it’s wet and it’s cold,’ that little thing turns into a bigger thing. And then you get more upset about that. And that makes you more upset about the next thing. And it snowballs. And soon you’re saying ‘There’s a whole ocean to go.’”

[EXPAND ]When I was in the midst of an authorial panic I’d sometimes think of what Watson had told me about how she’d dealt with all she’d gone through—the storms, a capsized boat, system failures, the boredom, the loneliness and the months and months at sea:

“One of the big tricks when you’re out there is to say, ‘Hey, it’s cold and I’m in a bad mood, but I’m going to get through the day, and eventually I’m going to warm up and feel better.’”

What I learned from her was simple. Breathe, focus on one task at a time and keep a cool head. Or as Watson put it,

“You can’t change the conditions but you can change the way that you deal with them.”

Although some might associate success with a raging Steve Jobs or a disdainful Donald Trump, we were surprised how often the people in our book spoke about their emotions and how managing them was critical to accomplishing their goals. Their emotional struggles were as varied as the people themselves. But like Watson, what they shared, was an awareness of the powerful emotions they felt. And when those emotions compromised their goals, they had the commitment and the skills to examine them and figure out how to cope with them.

Homecoming: On May 15, 2010, 16-year-old Watson sails into Sydney Harbor after 210 days at sea. While a customs officer stamps her passport, she devours whip cream from its nozzle just before joining the Australian Prime Minister in a ceremony. Watson’s first wish back: to get her driver’s license.
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Sometimes It Pays to Waste Time Or How We Got Into the New Yorker

People’s relationship to time and its effect on their work has become a buzz-topic for everyone from Malcolm Gladwell advocating for the 10,000 hours to Frank Partnoy exploring the art and science of delay to Tim Kreider in his hugely popular story in the New York Times about people’s obsession with how “busy” they are. Continue reading “Sometimes It Pays to Waste Time Or How We Got Into the New Yorker”

Hello, World

In the year 2012, with an estimated 180 million blogs online (more than the combined populations of France, Italy and Spain), and 40,000 blogs started daily you can’t help but ask yourself, “Does the world really need another blog?”

Well, as of today, it’s getting one more.

Luckily for us, we had already interviewed Mark Frauenfelder of the blog BoingBoing on “How to Create One of the World’s Most Popular Blogs,” for our book. BoingBoing, for anyone who’s been hiding under a rock for the last 17 years, has been on the Web since the mid-90’s, now with 2.5 million unique visitors a month.

One Mark’s best pieces of advice to wannabe bloggers like ourselves is

“Make the blog that doesn’t exist yet, but that you’d want to read.”

We hope that our blog—born of curiosity and obsession—about how successful people do what they do, will not only be something we’d like to read, but will appeal to all kinds of other people.

At the risk of being ouroborosian, we’ll leave off by quoting ourselves from our own book:

“Reading about how to produce a smash hit on Broadway, write a runaway bestseller or start a startup you may feel inspired and think: I’m going to get off this couch and go do one of these things!

Or, you may think: Actually, I’m not likely to do any of these things, but I can use some of these strategies in my own work.

Or, you may simply be delighted to be entertained by the achievements of others.

Whatever your motivation, whether you are college student, middle manager, entrepreneur or retiree we hope you enjoy the opportunity as much as we did of hearing directly from these extraordinary people and peeling back the layers of their vocational and life experiences to discover their Art of Doing.”