Matthew Lang

Steven Pressfield offers a top tip for making a lasting impression.

Say thank you

As in, on a card.

No cold, white, computer paper.

In your own handwriting.

With a pen that isn’t running out of ink.

Sharpies are nice. I like thin and medium tipped.

It’s a good way to connect. They’ll remember you.

— The Most Important Tool In Your Arsenal by Steven Pressfield

As a kid, I remember my father at the dining room table in the morning jotting down his to-do list for the day on his mini legal pad as he sipped coffee and took in the busy goings on in our household. I remember his orange or brown or red Paper Mate felt tip pens scratching out instructions to himself in perfect architect block script. My father could make a grocery list look like a precise set of life specifications. But he made lists or, as he told me more than once, it was gone.

— Lists by Kurt Harden

I hope one day my kids make the same observation when they're older, especially that last sentence. Lists are better at remembering to do things than we are.