Monday memo #77

Turn up the good.

The Monday memo is food for thought to fuel your week.

Hi everyone,

Thomas Edison once said, “I have gotten a lot of results. I know several thousand things that won’t work.”

There’s a lot to learn from failure. If you don’t ever fail, you’re probably not taking enough risks. So if you’re really experimenting and trying new things, you’re probably going to fail, a lot. Frequent failure is a good indicator that you’re experimenting.

But the purpose of experimenting is not to fail. It’s to try enough things that you eventually stumble on something that does work. That’s the treasure: things that work.

In my experience, the 80/20 rule applies: 80 percent of the things you try don’t work, and 20 percent either work or sorta-work in some fashion. That 20 percent is the thing to pay attention to.

And you don’t have to do a ton of experimentation to find things that work. They are all around you. I expect there are at least a thousand things in your life that do work, in one way or another.

When something’s working—really working—the natural instinct is often to move on to the next problem. But there’s a different approach that can be just as powerful, and often overlooked: turn up the good.

What’s bringing energy, joy, momentum?
What’s lighting you up, flowing easily, connecting dots?
Instead of solving problems this week, amplify what’s already humming.

In music, this is called finding the groove—that sweet spot where everything syncs and the sound feels alive. In creativity and life, it works the same way.

If you’ve found something that feels good, gives energy, or sparks a little magic, give it more time, more space, more volume. Turn it up. Turn it up again.

Exercise.

Here’s your exercise for the week. Turn up the good. Notice what’s working and do more of it. Make it louder. Brighter. Bigger.

Double down on things that are working. Then double down again. See what happens.

More information for members is below the fold.👇