“Don’t Break The Chain”
Creative Sparks: #15
I took the dive into a year-long subscription to Calm to help with falling asleep at night. Just 10 minutes a day to hit pause on the endless playback of your life and just… be.
But wow, those 10 minutes feel like forever.
Today, I’m on my 15th day of meditation and I’m getting a kick out of not breaking the streak.
Maybe that’s the secret behind building a habit right? Start small, keep it consistent and don’t break the chain.
Onto the 7 things I found worth sharing this week.
1. Man Is Working to Interview Every Remaining WWII Veteran
We rush to see fantasy superheroes battle it out on the big screen, but have we thought about the unsung heroes in our own backyard?
20 year old Rishi Sharma is on a mission to interview the remaining veterans of World War 2 before they pass away. He founded a non-profit organisation to dedicate himself to this cause.
The only reason I am alive today is because of these heroic men. They went in as ordinary boys in extraordinary circumstances which churned them out as men.
2. This is 18 around the world, The New York Times
Amazing how different cultures work, yet how similar people are around the world. This beautifully formatted photo essay takes you on a trip around the world and made me marvel at all the different distinctions we try to place people into; race, ethnicity, class, gender, etc.
For a moment, this story made me feel like these invisible fault lines didn’t exist.
3. If you’re trying to make something, you don’t need to have it all figured out. Just start. Drew Coffman
4. Lola from Kinky Boots show us that drag queens can teach us a thing or two about what it means to be a man
5. Can we be start being honest about what success looks like? by Martyn Puddephatt
We often define success as climbing the corporate ladder, building a business that makes X dollars a year or achieving something tangible like running a marathon.
But are those the only definitions of success? And if you have a different definition of what success means to you, should you be shamed for it?
There should be nothing wrong with saying to your manager:“If I’m honest, my family is the most important thing to me and this is just a job that pays the bills”.
Also see Not Leadership Material? Good. The World Needs Followers.
6. I just finished reading A Motherland’s Daughter, A Fatherland’s Son by Ellie Midwood
A Romeo and Juliet romance story set in World War 2 between the Russians and the Germans? Sounds sketchy, but Midwood makes it exquisite.
She can use an ugly part of human history as the backdrop for timeless human tales about love, the horrors of war and the long-lasting psychological impact of being on the front-lines.
I expected a book rift with cliches, but I was so wrong. She has an uncanny ability to humanise the horrors of the past in a beautiful, yet sensitive manner.
7. When Brevity in Writing Sucks … by Henneke
One of my favourite writers on the art of writing itself gave me one of those *mind-blown* moments in her latest blog posts.
Her lesson this time? How to write long copy that doesn’t ramble, takes your readers on a journey that leaves them wanting more
I’ve always enjoyed how Henneke distills writing lessons alongside examples from popular business copy and non-fiction (and fiction sometimes!), and this post is no exception.
Each week, I share 7 articles, videos or books I’m reading and write out my thoughts on them. Want to get them as they’re released? Follow the publication! You can have a look at the previous editions here.
