A Legendary Samurai's 21 Rules for Life, Essentialism, Mentorship, and More

Bring Ambition Newsletter - July 1, 2021

Hi folks and welcome aboard new subscribers!

In the Bring Ambition Newsletter, I share 3-5+ things that are fascinating me lately in the world of professional and personal development, peak performance psychology, meta-learning, side hustles, and more. You'll receive unconventional resources, cool gadgets, practical advice, and other inspiring content.

As always, if you enjoy the newsletter please share with a friend!

1.) A Legendary Samurai's 21 Rules for Life

What can we learn from history's most famous samurai?

We'll explore just that in my recently published article: "The Dokkodo: Miyamoto Musashi's 21 Rules for Life."

Miyamoto Musashi was antiquity's most legendary rōnin, a vagabonding samurai who traveled across the country dueling the most elite warriors he could find. It was a vehicle to pursue mastery of his craft, and by extension, mastery of himself. He became famous for his unique double-bladed swordsmanship and inconceivable undefeated record across 60+ duels. He went on to become a respected artist, philosopher, teacher, and writer.

On his deathbed, Musashi summoned his closest pupil and handed over a short, esoteric scroll he penned just a few days prior: the "Dokkōdō."

The Dokkōdō, or "The Way of Walking Alone," distills Musashi's philosophy and way of living into 21 precepts. In this article, I draw from multiple sources to present a comprehensible translation of his "rules for life," and discuss what we can take away and apply to our own endeavors and ambitions (even if you're not a roving samurai).

2.) Essentialism (Recent Read)

This week I finished Essentialism by Greg McKeown. I’m still digesting the content, but I can say this one scores an easy 9/10.

I’ll share my detailed takeaways soon, but high level, the book explores the idea of doing “less but better.” It’s about analyzing, in a disciplined way, whether you’re investing your time in the right activities - your point(s) of highest contribution - and thoughtfully eliminating the nonessentials. It shares the type of sentiments and tactics that made books like The Four Hour Workweek famous, and similarly encourages readers to “[live] by design, not be default.”

The fact of the matter is the world is more distracting and complicated than ever before. Barriers between work and home have all but vanished, and we're consistently asked to do more with less. It can feel like we’re being pulled in countless different directions, wasting our energy, diluting our efforts, “making a millimeter of progress in a million directions.”

While this book isn’t a guaranteed fix, it certainly offers some valuable food for thought, anecdotes, and insights. I would have appreciated a little less conceptual “mindset” discussion and a bit more tactical advice, but I think with this topic, it’s about creating your own tactics from the broader lessons. However, there were still chapters of the book that I found almost jaw-droppingly insightful and thought-provoking (e.g. “minimum viable progress/preparation,” the role of routine, the planning fallacy, how to become an “editor” for your own life, zero-based budgeting, etc.). I’ve found that I am definitely thinking in a clearer, more nuanced way about what is essential, both on a micro and macro scale. If any of this resonates with you, then Essentialism is a must-read. You can check it out here.

3.) Mentorship vs Sponsorship — What's the difference?

A leader wears many hats and oscillates so quickly between them that they might not even be conscious of the change. One minute they're teaching an employee (Trainer), the next they're having a developmental conversation (Coach), then later they're overseeing progress toward a deliverable (Supervisor).

A manager is also responsible for being both a Mentor and a Sponsor — both similar in concept, but with critical distinctions.

This article does a good job unpacking and comparing both roles, plus offers some specific tips and advice. But if you're short on time, here's an excerpt that perfectly summarizes the differences:

"A mentor advises the mentee; sponsors advocate for their protégés… Mentors help build a career vision. Sponsors drive their protégé’s career vision. Mentors suggest ways to expand the mentee’s network. Sponsors give protégés their active network connections and make new connections for them. Sponsors are personally vested in the upward movement and professional development of their protégé. They champion their protégé’s visibility."

And I would be remiss if I didn't include this great snippet, too:

“Your sponsor is the person who will speak on your behalf when you are not in the room. He or she will put your name forward for opportunities that you have no way of knowing about.”