Wednesday, May 6, 2026
If you ever want significance, go underground. Lock yourself in a room and learn. Get a coach if need be. Read. Practice. Refine. Repeat. Polish and hone. Technique!
There are too many antsy people and not enough artsy ones. Refinement—the passageway to mind-blowing success—is tedious. I call it heavenly detail. It’s like that Shaker hymn: “And when we find ourselves in the place just right, ’twill be in the valley of love and delight.”
I used to be unable to sit still. I couldn’t maintain high quality. I ate my food like a vacuum. I talked to myself in the shower, never luxuriating, never feeling, never loving. I lived and moved in a fury of urgency. My dad would call that doing a “bum job.”
Back then, sex was mediocre. Experiences were “blah.” Even my home was “so-so.” My musical performances were average to bleh. Quality was cheapened by a part of me that overlooked everything in a rush to get to the next “bum job.” There was no savoriness. No delectability. No sensuality. No success.
But if you pick one thing—just one—and refine it, you can apply a principle few ever truly grasp: expertise. One skill, deeply honed, can sharpen your entire awareness. How do you get there? Start small, get refined, and stay with it. Watch it grow. Nothing could be finer than refining the creative flow of heavenly detail.
Whittling down a skill and sharpening your focus is a surefire path to success. It has been called a narrow passage; it’s been compared to the eye of a needle. It is a New Jerusalem where no one is denied. This valley of love will only be understood once you sense the quality you’ve overlooked your entire life—by finally slowing down and refining.
Your very own heaven opens for you in a narrow refinement of depth. It is full of love and delight, yet tiny. Rush? Never again. No more “bum jobs.” Be a different kind of bum: one nestled in the valley of focus. In that narrow refinement, success rushes in like love on fire.