Die Empty: Unleash Your Best Work Every Day

by Todd Henry

Life is no ‘brief candle’ to me. It is sort of a splendid torch which I have got hold of for the moment, and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations.”

Humans, it seems, are wired to find satisfaction by adding value through toil.

Cultivating a love of the process is the key to making a lasting contribution.

work as any instance where you make an effort to create value where it didn’t previously exist.

With a lack of clear purpose to drive your work, efficiency often supplants effectiveness, and it’s possible to move ever faster without any sense of direction.

your diligence about engaging in behavior that has a longer-arc payoff often correlates directly with your long-term success. Continued, disciplined growth prevents stasis.

Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can

It is action that creates impact, not knowledge alone.

There is little personal gratification in unintentional success.

Over time, we learn the art of compromise. The problem is we often compromise the most valuable thing: the fire that drives our best work.

people sell their souls by running away from the battles they know they should be fighting. Instead, they become mercenaries. Guns for hire. They don’t care which battle they’re fighting as long as the checks clear.

Instead of asking “What would bring me enjoyment?” which is how many people think about following their passion, we should instead ask “What work am I willing to suffer for today?”

they were willing to address certain problems, even at great personal cost.

This is why some people fall into aimlessness: they don’t like the discomfort of having to say no to very good things that aren’t the most important things.

Action defines reality, and “potential” is nothing but unproven, hypothetical value.

there are two kinds of blocks—conceptual and executional—and each requires a unique remedy.

because in making rules to govern group behavior we often unwittingly remove the need for personal accountability.

the only way to ensure that you’re on the right path is to make sure that you’re solving the right problems.

he argued that the greatest source of the hopelessness, despair, and apathy that define the lives of many is what he dubbed the “existential vacuum.”

sense of void that people experience when they don’t understand the deeper purpose of their

purpose and meaning are discovered not through excessive contemplation, but through action

Our definition of failure defines us more than we may realize, because fear of failure is one of the most frequent sources of paralysis.