“The genius is the one most like himself.”
— Thelonious Monk —
Hello, and my very best to you and yours.
Here are 3 things I've been thinking about over the last few days that I'm excited to share with you.
***
on turning weaknesses into strengths
When my youngest began playing soccer, it was clear his right foot was stronger than the average duck, regularly ripping rippers from a distance I can only describe as far.
But rather than bet on his strengths, over the past year, he made it his mission to make his left just as strong as his right. It paid off. During the Girona FC summer camp, he won the shooting competitions with ease each week. Some kids would be close, but as soon as the coaches made them switch feet, Little Luc cruised. Today, on his team, he’s the only one comfortable playing with both feet.
We’re told a lot to bet on our strengths. And don’t get me wrong, it has its place. But if you’re not careful, it can make you lopsided. It can also hold you back from new experiences and growth opportunities because you’ve tied your identity too closely to what you’re good at.
Kobe Bryant used to say that what separates great players from all-time greats is their ability to “self-assess, diagnose weaknesses, and turn those flaws into strengths.”
He lived that truth. During every off-season, he’d pick apart his game piece by piece — his left hand, his footwork, his post moves — and rebuild them until they became second nature. “If I wanted to implement something new into my game,” he said, “I’d see it and try incorporating it immediately. I wasn’t scared of missing, looking bad, or being embarrassed.” That’s the Mamba Mentality in a nutshell — the courage to face your weak spots until they don’t look like a weakness at all.
If you have a knack for something, lean into it. Just don’t let it become a hiding place. If I’ve learned anything in life, it’s that growth lives by learning to kick with your weaker foot.
***
on seeing the world
I just finished watching Mr. Scorsese, the series on Apple TV about the famed director.
As a kid, Martin was stricken with asthma. While his friends created havoc late into the summer nights, he stayed inside, watching from his Little Italy apartment window. The laughter. The arguments. The flirting and the fighting. He saw it all from a distance.
In the series, he talks about how that experience shaped his style. “Because of my asthma,” Scorsese said, “I sat in the window and saw life pass me by like I was creating a movie.”
Unable to join in, he learned to observe the pacing of conversation, the flicker of light on wet pavement, the speed of chaos that would later define his work.
It’s fascinating how sometimes the things we view as a punishment as a kid can become our career propellant. The experience trained his eye. It tuned his empathy. It taught him to see the humanity in every gesture.
That outsider’s vantage point never left him. You can feel it in Taxi Driver, as Travis Bickle prowls the city from behind the wheel, always watching, never quite belonging. You can see it in Mean Streets, Raging Bull, and Silence — the tension between distance and desire, wanting to be part of the world yet always standing just outside it.
Scorsese’s asthma may have kept him from running, but it gave him something rarer: stillness.
And stillness, when met with curiosity, becomes seeing.
Maybe the very thing that sidelines us can also sharpen our sight. What if the view from your window, whatever form that takes, is exactly the perspective your art, your work, or your life needs?
Sometimes you don’t have to run the streets to tell their stories.
Sometimes it’s enough to watch, to remember, and most of all, to feel deeply.
***
on listening to yourself
I can’t tell you how many times I got stuck when I was writing my book. And each time I did, it was for the same reason. I wasn’t listening to myself. Rather than bet on myself, I’d drift just slightly toward what I thought I was supposed to say. Or how I thought a section should sound. Or what a “real book” might include.
And like clockwork, the words would run dry.
What made it even more ironic is that the entire book was about this exact tension: learning to trust your internal signal in a world that constantly tries to mold you into someone else.
However, somewhere in the middle of the process, I came across a thought from Ethan Hawke that set me straight:
“If you do not listen to your own being, you will have betrayed yourself.”
Betrayal.
What a word.
And it doesn’t take much. You make one compromise, then another, and suddenly you’ve allowed yourself to shift, and the thing you’re making doesn’t reflect who you are anymore.
Today’s world makes it incredibly easy to stray from your voice. There are templates for everything. Tools that can generate an “authentic” post in your tone with the click of a button. It’s never been easier to sound like someone else. And never been more tempting to do so.
But what that quote reinforced for me is that the work only feels right when it is right. When I’m being honest. When I’m paying attention. When I’m not just listening to myself, but acting truly in line with myself.
There’s a lot of talk today about the importance of finding your voice. The longer I’m at this, I feel the real work is having the discipline to protect it.
... and if Hawke's words don't cut it as a reminder to not betray yourself, maybe Shel Silverstein's in his poem The Voice will.
There is a voice inside of you
That whispers all day long,
‘I feel this is right for me,
I know that this is wrong.’
No teacher, preacher, parent, friend
… can decide
What’s right for you—just listen to
The voice that speaks inside.
***
That’s it for today. I hope you have a great weekend, and until next time, own your pace, do the work, and be there for the people around you.
Onwards.
—Michael
PS: If you haven't grabbed a copy of my book, the Kindle price on Amazon has been cut in half. Picking up a copy is the best way to help me keep the lights on and keep newsletters like this one free. And if you have read it, I'd greatly appreciate an honest review as it helps to keep it ticking along.
Shy by Design: 12 Timeless Principles to Quietly Stand Out
“In a world that lionizes loudness, it's actually the quiet and shy among us who are best set up to thrive. Thompson provides an important new way of understanding what it really takes to stand out!”
―Cal Newport, NYTimes bestselling author of Deep Work and Slow Productivity
It makes for a great gift for any of your shy or reserved friends, colleagues, and family members who have something to say but struggle to bet on themselves.
PS2: If you're new here and like what you read, you can cruise over all past installments by clicking the link below.
Complete 'Memorable' Catalog