Things that get me juiced up

My creative jet fuel (Stew's Letter #95)

Howdy, happy Tuesday.

I’ve had a busy past couple of weeks, which means I didn’t write much.

I don’t love moments like this. I feel a mental fog when I let my writing habit slip too long. On top of that, it always seems to take extra energy to pick things back up after a prolonged break.

In moments like this, I have a secret weapon. I’ve compiled a backlog of videos that can transform me from the mental equivalent of Jabba the Hut to a higher, aspirational version of myself.

I thought I’d share some of my favorites in today’s email.

I’m always looking to grow this collection, so reply with anything that fires you up. I’d love some more women in my rotation, as the list below is admittedly dude-heavy.

Let’s get to it!

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Things that get me incredibly juiced up to create things

These videos cover a wide range of topics, so hopefully you’ll find at least one that also gets you juiced:

On genius:

• Pharrell discovering Maggie Rogers

On the soul of creativity:

• My interview with Bill Grundfest (listen on Spotify or Apple Podcasts)

On raw talent:

• Mike Masse mix (listen to Africa)

On creative partnerships:

• The story of Dr. Dre discovering Eminem. The missing context here is that Dre’s career was at an all-time low just before this happened.

On urgency:

• Rep. Elijah Cumming’s first house floor speech (60 seconds)

On human potential:

• The Falcon has landed

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Photo of the week:

The best time to see the New York skyline is just after sunset. The buildings in midtown are lit up even though there’s still some light in the sky.

It’s so beautiful that you can take a photo of somebody taking a photo of somebody taking a photo of somebody taking a photo of the skyline and it will still turn out great:

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See ya in a couple weeks,
Stew