#154 Charles Schulz (Charlie Brown)

**David Senra** (0:00)
I want to tell you about a one-time only limited event that I don't think you're going to want to miss. I am doing a live show with Patrick O'Shaughnessy from the Invest Like the Best podcast in New York City on October 19th. Patrick has interviewed over 300 of the world's best investors and founders for his podcast. I've read over 300 biographies of history's greatest entrepreneurs for my podcast. We'll be talking about what we learned from seven years of podcasting, sharing our favorite ideas and stories, and doing a live Q&A. There will also be special event-only swag. If you live in New York City, I think it's a no-brainer. But if not, I think it's a great excuse to fly in. I've already heard from a bunch of people that bought tickets. They're flying in from other cities. Some people are flying in from other countries. That's setting the bar really high. So I will have at least four shots of espresso or four energy drinks before or during the show so we can make it a night that you'll never forget. If you're interested in attending this unique live event, I will leave a link down below. I highly recommend you get your tickets today. And I hope I get to see you in New York on October 19th. Charles Schulz was 20th Century America's favorite and most highly respected cartoonist. His comic strip, Peanuts, appeared daily in over 2,000 newspapers. Compilations of the strip sold in the millions of copies.
Thousands of toys and gift items continue to bear the likeness of Charlie Brown, Lucy, Snoopy, and other characters who populate their world. Beginning with the first strip published on October 2nd, 1950, until the last published on Sunday, February 13th, 2000, the day after his death, Schulz wrote, penciled, inked, and lettered by hand every single one of the daily and Sunday strips to leave his studio. 17,897 in all for an almost 50-year run.
Charlie Brown and his friends were preoccupied with what is possessed and continued to obsess us all, the relationship of the self to society, the need to establish our separate identities, anxiety over our neurotic behavior, and an overwhelming desire to gain control of our destinies.
Charlie Brown appeals to us because of his resilience, his ability to confront and humanize the impersonal forces around him, and his unwavering faith in his ability to improve himself and his options in life.
In his insecurities and defeats, his affirmations and small victories, Charlie is someone with whom we can identify.
This has been Charles Schulz amazing gift to the world through his small drawings appearing daily in the buried pages of the comic section of the newspaper.
Schulz major writings have been gathered in this volume. Here, the reader will learn directly from the man himself, the facts of his early life, and the development of his career. Here, he talks about a wide variety of topics, the sources of his creativity and inspiration, how peanuts came to be, the meaning of each character in the strip, his daily routine, how to achieve a career in cartooning, the importance of his work in animation and television, and his work ethic.
The intent of this collection of Schulz essays is to round out the portrait of the man as he saw himself. He speaks entirely for himself in these pieces, and the reader can experience directly the greatness of his mind and soul. And that was the excerpt from the introduction of the book I'm gonna talk to you about today, which is The Autobiography of Charles M. Schulz, and it's titled My Life with Charlie Brown. And I just love that last sentence right there, and I think it's a great way to quickly demonstrate why learning from biographies and autobiographies is such a valuable activity. The reader can experience directly the greatness of his mind and soul. I wanna go back to what I feel is the most remarkable, one of the most remarkable paragraphs in any book that I've ever read for the podcast so far. And that's this idea that beginning with the first strip, published in 1950, and the end, the last strip in 2000, so it's almost 50 years, it's off by about six months. And that one obviously appeared the day after his death. The fact that Schulz wrote, penciled, inked, and lettered by hand every single one of the daily and Sunday strips to leave his studio, 17,897 in all. And I think that reason that that paragraph is so important to me is because I think it could act like a North Star. You can find, if you think about all the information that's conveyed in just a few sentences there, it's really telling us find work that you love to do that you never want to quit. And in doing your work, make the lives of the people that enjoy your work a little better. I think that's a fantastic, just a fantastic achievement. Okay, so let's jump into the rest of the book. As the introduction said, it's a collection of essays that are gonna function as an autobiography. A lot of what I'm gonna share with you today is random. I feel it's just me and you listening directly and learning directly from Charles Schulz. So let's go into his first piece of advice. This is his advice to young people. He says, if there were but one bit of advice I could give to a young person, it would be to learn to do at least one task well. Following that, I would also say, don't sell out to the baser elements of your profession. Do what you do on a high plane. If God has given you a talent, do not use it ungratefully.