Make it all matter

Yesterday, one of my favorite girl geeks had a spread on Lifehacker about how she worked. I'm talking about Felicia Day, one of the forces behind The Guild and Geek & Sundry. She's an actress, a writer, a producer, a reader, and so much more. Yes, I'll freely admit to having a major crush on her. I mean, who wouldn't? She's smart and adorable.

One of the things she said really hit home for me. When asked what the best advice she'd ever received was, she had this to say:

"The way you do one thing, is the way you do everything." I heard that in an acting class and it resonates with me every day. Especially when I'm feeling tempted to half-ass something.

I think that might be some of the smartest advice I've ever heard, the kind I'm definitely going to pass on to my kids. I mean, it's applicable across the board. Creative pursuits. Relationships. Education. Apply the same levels of respect and diligence to everything that matters in your life, and your odds for benefiting from them grow exponentially.

For writing, that can mean not cobbling a story together just for the sake of doing so. Invest in the characters and emotions in all of your work. Make every word matter.

Make everything matter.