Darren M Meade

I recently finished The Road to Character by David Brooks . Brooks is a great storyteller, and this book is basically filled with what one might call “portraits in character.” The contrasts between Samuel Johnson and Michel de Montaigne vacillated between subtle and chasm-like. Both giants. The final days of Johnson’s life—as he plunges scissors into his own legs in an attempt to drain the edema and chastises his own doctor for not doing so deeply enough—my new hero! I want a life-sized Johnson bust in my office as a reminder of this man’s life. The thesis of the book is, basically, that we have seen a shift in human nature from what Brooks calls the Adam II self (humble, inward-looking, “eulogy” self) to the Adam I self (ambitious, external, “resume” self).  The case he makes is that this pendulum, which began its swing in the post-WWII era, has probably gone too far. I certainly came away feeling that way, and I am now left to contemplate what else I can do a...

There are no new fundamentals. Truth is not new. It’s old. You already know all that you need to succeed. You don’t need to learn anything more. If all we needed was more information, everyone with an Internet connection would live in a mansion, have abs of steel, and be blissfully happy. Not good at dribbling with your left hand? Tie your right hand behind your back and dribble three hours a day. Behind in your math? Hunker down, hire a tutor, and work like hell all summer until you get it. No excuses. If you aren’t good at something, work harder, work smarter. Be the guy who says ‘no.’ It’s no great achievement to go along with the crowd. Small, seemingly insignificant steps completed consistently over time will create a radical difference. A great new restaurant: People started lining up to eat there and would often wait more than an hour to be seated. Then, unfortunately, the restaurant’s staff began to take its success for granted. The place was out of business within eighteen mon...

I’ve often thought that if I could bring one person back to life to spend a day with them (or better yet, go back in time to spend a day with them) it would be Abraham Lincoln or Richard Feynman. But very close on their heels would be David Foster Wallace. His famous commencement speech, “ This is Water ,” which he delivered at Kenyon College on May 21, 2005, is one I’ve listened to countless times. However, I realized this week, as I listened to it again, that only in the past two months have I finally started to understand what he’s really saying. Whether you’ve listened to this before or not, I’d encourage you to do so again today, ideally with your eyes closed. If it doesn’t resonate with you, come back to it in 6 months. It took many events in my life, and many years, for this to finally sink in.

“The War,” between Hagler and Tommy Hearns. If you’re a boxing fan (or not), watch this You won’t be disappointed. In my opinion, the first round of this fight is perhaps the best round I have ever seen in my life (another one being round 10 of the first Holyfield-Bowe fight  Holyfield-Bowe in 1992).