September Commonplace
COMMONPLACE
"Opportunities shrink or expand in proportion to your enthusiasm." — James Clear
"Something I try to remind myself: someone who is writing three hours a day, five days a week... it's shocking how much you can produce. Add those weeks together, and 40 weeks later, you have a book. The difference between the prolific writer and the self-loathing person who doesn't write anything is one writes 15 hours a week out of their 112 waking hours a week and the other does zero out of 112 waking hours. So 1/7th versus 0/7ths. 6/7ths of those two people's lives are the same! People who can't put something together have this daunting assumption that the prolific writer is fundamentally different, they're working constantly all the time. It doesn't have to be that way. It's consistency." - Tim Urban, Writer
"I train like I've never won, and I compete like I've never lost." — Eileen Gu
"You can't start last week, but you can start now. Stop dwelling on what you should have done or ruminating on the mistakes you made. Channel that energy into the next good choice. You have today and you can try again." — James Clear
"Concentration produces wealth. Diversification protects wealth." — James Clear
BOOK REPORTS
BOOK: The Boys in the Light by Nina Willner
I loved this book and couldn’t put it down. It is the true story of boys whose lives intersect during World War II and the impact they have on each other. It tells the story of a lasting bond forged in brotherhood. The author creates intimate portraits of each character, and I was rooting for them the entire time. You don’t even have to be a WWII nut like me to appreciate this sincere story of crisis bonding and friendship.
AUDIOBOOK: The Diamond Eye by Kate Quinn
I was pleasantly surprised to discover (at the end) that this book is based on a true story about a Russian history student who becomes a highly decorated sniper in World War II. The Soviet government then used her for propaganda purposes and sent her to the US to help gain support for the US to open a second front to ease the Nazi advance on Russia, and she ends up befriending Eleanor Roosevelt. I thought the story was fascinating, and I loved it.
