Better's Today

Matthew Teague on the truth about dying

vutran | April 18, 2021, 4:48 p.m.

"We don't tell each other the truth about dying, as a people. Not real dying. Real dying, regular and mundane dying, is so hard and so ugly that it becomes the worst thing of all: It's grotesque. It's undignified. No one ever told me the truth about it, not once. When it happened to my beloved, I lost my footing in more than one way. The tiled floor of life—morals, ethics, even laws—became a shifting and relative thing. I smuggled drugs. Lied. Hid money from the IRS."

— Matthew Teague

Albert Einstein on developing instinct for what one can barely achieve

vutran | April 17, 2021, 12:23 p.m.

“One must develop an instinct for what one can just barely achieve through one’s greatest efforts.”

— Albert Einstein

Jack London on playing a poor hand well

vutran | April 17, 2021, 12:19 p.m.

“Life is not always a matter of holding good cards, but sometimes, playing a poor hand well.”

— Jack London

Farnam Street on Deliberate Practice

vutran | April 17, 2021, 12:17 p.m.

"Deliberate practice means practicing with a clear awareness of the specific components of a skill we’re aiming to improve and exactly how to improve them. Unlike regular practice, in which we work on a skill by repeating it again and again until it becomes almost mindless, deliberate practice is a laser-focused activity. It requires us to pay unwavering attention to what we’re doing at any given moment and whether it’s an improvement or not."

— Farnam Street on Deliberate Practice

Percy Bysshe Shelley on history and memories of man

vutran | April 15, 2021, 7:04 a.m.

“History is a cyclic poem written by time upon the memories of man.”

— Percy Bysshe Shelley

Emem Uko on the journey that matters

vutran | April 12, 2021, 8:30 p.m.

“It's the journey that matters, soak it in. Learn lessons out of it. Impact positively so that if you never get to your destination, at least you'd leave a legacy to be remembered.”

— Emem Uko