Admiral James Stockdale spent seven years as a POW in North Vietnam.

He was tortured physically and psychologically (the details are horrifying), but he survived, returning to active military duty upon his release in 1976. He spent the rest of his working years in public service, his career culminating in a run for vice-president in 1992 on Ross Perot’s ticket.

Author Jim Collins interviewed Stockdale for the now-classic 2001 business book Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap and Others Don’t, and the former POW laid out the philosophy that carried him through a seven-year waking nightmare.

Who was John Perry Barlow? He was a lot of things: a writer, a political activist, a rancher, and a lyricist for the Grateful Dead. Quite a résumé.

Barlow died last month at the age of 70. Forty years ago, on the eve of his 30th birthday, he sat down and penned a list of “principles of adult behavior.”¹ These principles address a central question of life:

What’s the best way to live?

Easter is a little over a month away, and I am gig-less.

As a trumpet player, I’ve played an Easter morning service at one church or another nearly every year for 15 years. This year, I have no plans. My phone hasn’t rung, and I haven’t asked around. The trumpet is on the back burner right now, because I’m finally internalizing a valuable life lesson after years of trying:

Success rewards focus.

There’s a lot of great advice out there about how to get ahead at work.

Learn new skills, grow your network, come up with bold new ideas—I have no beef with any of these. They’re all time-tested strategies. But there’s a simpler option, too:

Look for others’ pain points and alleviate them.

Start with your boss. What’s stressing her out? What ruins her day? Make a list of 2-3 things she hates to do.

You’re supposed to go for a run, and it’s raining.

You’re cleaning up your diet, and there are donuts in the break room.

You’re planning to practice your instrument, but you can’t seem to get started.

Excellence is largely about consistency—we all know this. But how do we face the inevitable hard days? What do we do when we just don’t feel up to doing that thing we’re supposed to do?