Learn to Sprint
Tuesday Musings Vol. 2 | No. 27
We've all heard the expression, "Life is a marathon, not a sprint." As someone who appreciates a good long-range goal, I love the idea of settling into the routine and discipline of the long game.
But in our attention-deficit world where distractions can trip us up like so many potholes on the track, the whole concept of modeling our behavior on marathon runners assumes we're already world-class athletes.
I don't know about you, but I am not a world-class athlete.
Some friends are very kind and say to me: you are super high-functioning. You get so much done!
It's hard. And I struggle.
It takes a lot of perseverance to run that long and that far; not everyone can do it. But almost everyone has the ability to sprint, to run as fast as you can for as long as you can, even if only a minute.
Think about that: almost everyone has the ability to sprint.
This is what I want you to do today. Put a half hour on your calendar, only 30 minutes. And when this time comes up, hit it hard. No social media breaks, no email, no phone calls. Work and work hard and work fast. Try to do the task that should take you 4 hours in 30 minutes. Don't think, DO. Sprint.
If you watch The Bear you know that every second counts, and some folks can sprint like this their whole shift. Don't worry about that now. Worry about your 30 minutes. Do this, to start, only once a week. Afterwards, think about how it felt, and next week, do it again.
Pretty soon, you'll be ready for a marathon.
love,
jpp
Cool Stuff
Guys! YOU GUYS! So this new gadget FRIEND is about the craziest thing I’ve seen in a long while — not because the tech is particularly crazy, but the trailer is a total Black Mirror dystopian nightmare. I mean the girl has to fight off choosing her robot friend over a new boyfriend! WTF! Hat tip to my D.P. Carlos who texted me first thing in the morning about this.
Got to hand it to Nike, this ad is INCREDIBLE. A client sent it to me and I can’t stop watching it. Whether you agree with the message or not, it’s so bold and badass.
I’ve seen a lot of these novelty vinyl records filled with liquid — red splatter blood, green alien blood — but the new SALTBURN soundtrack album takes the cake, with a record designed like the bath drain from the film. Wild.
Here’s a wild show that we loved working on — Netflix’s The Decameron. We did a couple crazy pieces, but I particularly like this funny pronunciation video that has very Refinery graphics in it. Our editor Mace knocked it out of the park.
Do YOU have a cool project you would like me to share with my readers? Hit me up and maybe we’ll see you in an upcoming Musing.