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The dishwasher I bought that was supposed to be delivered last week isn’t here yet. I called the delivery company and they aren’t even sure where it is. The quote I requested from a fence company to fix my fence (a project worth a couple grand) still hasn’t come through. I was told I’d hear about that last week too.

There are countless books, bloggers and thought leaders that will tell you that the key ingredient to a happy, meaningful life is to find the courage to follow your passion.

Maybe the next time you take a photo and post it you’ll question your motivations as well. Or maybe you’ll think differently when you see a well-curated, edited shot from someone online and remember that their life is likely not all that or perfect. Better yet, maybe you’ll see some whales, jump up and down a little and be like, “FUCK YES, WHALES”. And forget you even have a camera or social media feed at all.

Why is there such a double standard with creativity and commerce?

Minimalism is a mindset rather than a blind purge. If something is useful or pleasurable, you keep it. If it’s not, then you consider scrapping it.

You can technically be profitable with a single sale of a service, if you charge more than it costs you to develop it. That’s why services are easier to push into the black than products – they take less work to set up and start doing.

Belief is only the first step to succeeding at something, action must follow.

Word length, grammar, typeface, first person, who cares? It’s like debating shades of white in a paint store: it really doesn’t matter at the end of the day. White paint is white paint. Good is good. Writing good simply means that you can clearly share valuable ideas with someone else. And I’ll take that over dense or flowery language any day.

A doctor doesn’t wait until she’s inspired to do surgery to save a patient's life. A lawyer doesn’t wait for circumstances to be absolutely perfect before she tries a case for her client. They have work to do, so they do it. There’s no mental hacks or habits or tricks required.