# Bookmarks

By James R. Stewart · Published October 26, 2026
Source: https://jamesstew.art/notes/bookmarks/

Influential works I've bookmarked and come back to often.

## Personal Renewal ([John W. Gardner](https://jamesclear.com/great-speeches/personal-renewal-by-john-w-gardner)) {#personal-renewal}

Gardner gave this talk to a room of McKinsey consultants in 1990, when he was in his late seventies. It's about how people stop growing. Somewhere in the middle of their careers, they stop learning, get comfortable, and coast. His cure is to stay curious and keep taking risks at any age. The line I will always remember: "Everyone wants to be interesting, but the vitalizing thing is to be interested."

## Taste ([Ira Glass](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91FQKciKfHI)) {#taste}

Ira Glass's two-minute talk is the best thing I know about being a beginner. You get into creative work because you have good taste. For the first few years, your work isn't as good as your taste, and you can tell. Most people quit there. The only way through is volume. Make a lot of work, on deadlines, until it catches up to your taste. I wish I'd seen this earlier in my career. It would have helped me frame those first years, and it would have made me more confident. ([More on it here.](https://jamesclear.com/ira-glass-failure))

## Systems vs. goals ([Scott Adams](https://web.archive.org/web/20140115060534/http://dilbert.com/blog/entry/goals_vs_systems/)) {#systems-vs-goals}

Adams says goals are for losers. It's only half a joke. A goal leaves you failing every day until you hit it, if you ever do. A system is something you do every day, and you succeed each time you do it. Losing ten pounds is a goal. Eating right is a system. It's the same idea as the process principle in my [Principles](https://jamesstew.art/notes/principles/#chop-wood-carry-water), from the guy who drew Dilbert.

## Cargo cult software engineering ([Steve McConnell](https://stevemcconnell.com/articles/cargo-cult-software-engineering/)) {#cargo-cult}

After World War II, islanders in the South Pacific built runways and wooden control towers, hoping the cargo planes would come back. They copied the form and missed the substance. McConnell's point is that software teams do the same thing. They copy the rituals of successful companies, the long hours or the heavy process, without the competence that made those rituals work. It's the best warning I know against copying what winners do instead of understanding why it works.

## "I guess we'll never know" ([Kanye West](https://youtu.be/c7mSI1Tf4Cg)) {#i-guess-well-never-know}

In 2005, Kanye won Best Rap Album for The College Dropout. His speech runs from gratitude to jokes to pure bravado in a few minutes, and none of it feels rehearsed. He said everyone had wondered what he'd do if he didn't win. Then: "I guess we'll never know." I love the range, the spontaneity, and the self-confidence. Most acceptance speeches are a list of names. This one is a person.