A Bully Is Playing A Game, One That He Or She Enjoys And Needs. You're Welcome To Play This Game If It Makes You Happy, But For Most People, It Will Make You Miserable.

-Seth Godin

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A Bully Is Playing

Seth Godin

A Bully Is Playing A Game, One That He Or She Enjoys And Needs. You're Welcome To Play This Game If It Makes You Happy, But For Most People, It Will Make You Miserable.

Topic

Bullying

Games

Play

More From Seth Godin

The Best Marketing Strategy Is To Destroy Your Industry Before Your Competition Does.

Competition

Marketing

Doe

An Artist Is Someone Who Uses Bravery, Insight, Creativity, And Boldness To Challenge The Status Quo. And An Artist Takes It Personally.

Art

Business

Creativity

People Are Not Afraid Of Failure, They're Afraid Of Blame.

Leadership

People

Engagement

Here's The Fascinating Part, Call It The Golden Shoulder: We Have No Idea In Advance Who The Great Contributors Are Going To Be. We Know That There's A Huge Cohort Of People Struggling Outside The Boundaries Of The Curated, Selected Few, But We Don't Know Who They Are.

Struggle

Ideas

People

Laptop Computers Dramatically Increased The Time People Spend Doing Work. (the Internet Dramatically Decreased It, So We're Even).

People

Laptops

Computer

Your Biggest Failure Is The Thing You Dreamed Of Contributing But Didn't Find The Guts To Do.

Guts

Contributing

If You Demand That Everything That Happens Be Something You Are Adequately Prepared For, I Wonder If You’ve Chosen Never To Leap In Ways That We Need You To Leap. Once We Embrace This Chasm, Then For The Things For Which We Can Never Be Prepared, We Are Of Course, Always Prepared.

Needs

Demand

Way

The Easier It Is To Quantify, The Less It's Worth.

Easier

If You're Not Upsetting Anyone, You're Not Changing The Status Quo.

Upset

Status Quo

Ifs

The Problem With Competition Is That It Takes Away The Requirement To Set Your Own Path, To Invent Your Own Method, To Find A New Way.

Competition

Requirements

Way

It's Easy To Pretend Expertise When There's No Data To Contradict You.

Data

Easy

Expertise

If It's Work, We Try To Figure Out How To Do Less, If It's Art, We Try To Figure Out How To Do More

Art

Trying

Figures

We Fail When We Give Up Too Soon.

Giving Up

Giving

Failing

The Art Of Good Decision Making Is Looking Forward To And Celebrating The Tradeoffs, Not Pretending They Don't Exist.

Art

Decision

Looking Forward

What People Want Is The Extra, The Emotional Bonus They Get When They Buy Something They Love.

Emotional

People

Marketing

It's Never Too Late To Start Heading In The Right Direction.

Too Late

Heading In The Right Direction

Headings

Self Sufficiency Appears To Be A Worthy Goal, But It's Now Impossible If You Want To Actually Get Anything Done. All Our Productivity, Leverage And Insight Comes From Being Part Of A Community, Not Apart From It. The Goal, I Think, Is To Figure Out How To Become More Dependent, Not Less.

Thinking

Self

Goal

As Long As You Want To Please Everyone, You Won't Please Anyone.

Long

Want

Please

Surprise Comes From Defying Expectations.

Expectations

Surprise

Defying

If There Isn't A Good Reason, Go Home. If There Is, Then Do Something ... Loud, Now, And Memorable.

Home

Memorable

Greatness

Art Is The Work Of A Human, An Individual Seeking To Make A Statement, To Cause A Reaction, To Connect. Art Is Something New, Every Time, And Art Might Not Work, Precisely Because It's New, Because It's Human And Because It Seeks To Connect.

Art

Might

Causes

Instead Of Focusing On Arguing With People Who Say No, It Might Be Easier To Get Near The People Who Like To Say Yes.

People

Might

Arguing

The Challenge Is Simple: Quitting When You Hit The Dip Is A Bad Idea. If The Journey You Started Was Worth Doing, Then Quitting When You Hit The Dip Just Wastes The Time You’ve Already Invested. Quit In The Dip Often Enough And You’ll Find Yourself Becoming A Serial Quitter, Starting Many Things But Accomplishing Little. Simple: If You Can’t Make It Through The Dip, Don’t Start. If You Can Embrace That Simple Rule, You’ll Be A Lot Choosier About Which Journeys You Start.

Journey

Simple

Ideas

The Weird Set An Example For The Rest Of Us. They Raise The Bar. They Show Us Through Their Actions That In Fact We're Wired To Do The New, Not To Comply With Someone A Thousand Miles Away.

Example

Bars

Facts

A Brand Is The Set Of Expectations, Memories, Stores And Relationships That, Taken Together, Account For A Consumer's Decision To Choose One Product Or Service Over Another.

Memories

Taken

Expectations

Our Best Work Can't Possibly Appeal To The Average Masses, Only Our Average Work Can. Finding The Humility To Happily Walk Away From Those That Don't Get It Unlocks Our Ability To Do Great Work.

Humility

Average

Great Work

As Soon As You Are Willing To Say 'it's Not For You', You're Freed Up To Make Art.

Art

Willing

Just Because Something Is Easy To Measure Doesn't Mean It's Important.

Motivational

Christian

Mean

Fear Is The Workout We Give Ourselves Imagining What Will Happen If Things Don't Work Out. . . . Worry Is Our Effort To Imagine Every Possible Way To Avoid The Outcome That Is Causing Us Fear, And Failing That, To Survive The Thing That We Fear If It Comes To Fruition.

Workout

Giving

Work Out

If You're Not Uncomfortable In Your Work As A Leader, It's Almost Certain You're Not Reaching Your Potential As A Leader.

Leadership

Management

Reaching

You Market When You Hire And When You Fire. You Market When You Call Tech Support, And You Market Every Time You Send A Memo.

Fire

Support

Marketing

It Turns Out That The People Who Like Their Jobs The Most Are Also The Ones Who Are Doing The Best Work, Making The Greatest Impact, And Changing The Most.

Motivational

Jobs

Work

The Only Thing Leaders Have In Common Is The Shared Decision To Lead.

Motivational

Leadership

Decision

If I Fail More Than You Do, I Win.

Winning

Failing

Ifs

Criticism Comes To Those Who Stand Out.

Criticism

Standing Out

Creating Art Is A Habit, One That We Practice Daily Or Hourly Until We Get Good At It

Art

Practice

Creating

Great Leaders Don't Try To Please Everyone. Great Leaders Don't Water Down Their Message In Order To Make The Tribe A Bit Bigger. Instead, They Realize That A Motivated, Connected Tribe In The Midst Of A Movement Is Far More Powerful Than A Larger Group Could Ever Be.

Powerful

Order

Water

I Think Art Is The Ability To Change People With Your Work, To See Things As They Are And Then Create Stories, Images, And Interactions That Change The Marketplace.

Art

Thinking

People

If You Believe That A Given Situation Should Make You Unhappy, Then It Will, And The Unhappiness Will Then Reinforce The Condition.

Believe

Unhappy

Unhappiness

No Organization Ever Created An Innovation. People Innovate, Not Companies.

Organization

Ideas

People

I Don't Think We Have Any Choice. I Think We Have An Obligation To Change The Rules, To Raise The Bar, To Play A Different Game, And To Play It Better Than Anyone Has Any Right To Believe Is Possible.

Believe

Thinking

Games

The Art, The New, The Ability To Connect The Dots And To Make An Impact - Sooner Or Later, That Can Only Come From One Who Creates, Not From A Teacher And Not From A Book.

Teacher

Art

Book

Marketing Used To Be What You Say Now, Marketing Is What You Do. What You Make. How You Act. The Choices You Make When You Are Sure No One Is Looking.

Choices

Marketing

Used

If You Want Customers To Hear About You, Make Something Worth Talking About.

Talking

Want

Customers

Just As We Don't Spend A Lot Of Time Worrying About How All Those Poets Out There Are Going To Monetize Their Poetry, The Same Is True For Most Bloggers.

Funny

Thoughtful

Worry

The Future Of Marketing Is Leadership

Marketing

The Rules Are Now Clear: No One Is Going To Inform You, But It's Easier Than Ever To Inform Yourself.

Mature

Easier

Clear

Seizing New Ground, Making Connections Between People Or Ideas, Working Without A Map-these Are Works Of Art, And If You Do Them, You Are An Artist, Regardless Of Whether You Wear A Smock, Use A Computer, Or Work With Others All Day Long.

Art

Inspirational Life

Ideas

The Fatigue Was There, But Some People Understood That Putting It Aside Was The Single Most Important Factor In Succeeding.

Perseverance

Determination

People

Every Single Important Thing We Do Is Something We Didn't Use To Be Good At, And In Fact, Might Be Something We Used To Fear.

Important

Use

Might

The Key To Success Is To Find A Way To Stand Out--to Be The Purple Cow In A Field Of Monochrome Holsteins.

Keys

Purple

Cows

I Made A Decision To Write For My Readers, Not To Try To Find More Readers For My Writing.

Writing

Decision

Trying

The Challenge Of Our Time Is To Find A Journey Worthy Of Your Heart And Your Soul.

Heart

Journey

Challenges

The Cost Of Being Wrong Is Less Than The Cost Of Doing Nothing.

Inspiring

Insightful

Marketing

Developing Expertise Or Assets That Are Not Easily Copied Is Essential; Otherwise You’re Just A Middleman. “ “don’t Try To Be The ‘next’. Instead, Try To Be The Other, The Changer, The New. “ “everyone Is Not Your Customer. “ “fire The Committee. No Great Website In History Has Been Conceived Of By More Than Three People. Not One. This Is A Deal Breaker.

Fire

People

Trying

Anticipated, Personal, And Relevant Advertising Always Does Better Than Unsolicited Junk.

Marketing

Junk

Doe

That's Your Opportunity - To Approach Your Work In A Way That Generates Unique Learning And Interactions That Are Worth Sharing.

Unique

Opportunity

Way

...treasure What It Means To Do A Day's Work. It's Our One And Only Chance To Do Something Productive Today, And It's Certainly Not Available To Someone Merely Because He Is The High Bidder. A Day's Work Is Your Chance To Do Art, To Create A Gift, To Do Something That Matters. As Your Work Gets Better And Your Art Becomes More Important, Competition For Your Gifts Will Increase And You'll Discover That You Can Be Choosier About Whom You Give Them To.

Motivational

Art

Business

Pain S The Truth Of Art. Art Is Not A Hobby Or A Pastime. It Is The Result Of An Internal Battle Royal, One Between The Quest For Safety And The Desire To Matter.

Art

Pain

Safety

What You Do For A Living Is Not Be Creative, What You Do For A Living Is Ship.

Motivational

Creative

Ships

Do You Believe In What You Do? Every Day? It Turns Out That Belief Happens To Be A Brilliant Strategy.

Believe

Belief

Brilliant

If It Scares You, It Might Be A Good Thing To Try.

Inspirational

Philosophical

Bravery

I Look At Starbucks, Howard Schultz Has Made Many Brilliant Decisions, And One Of The Things That They Did Was They Invented The Third Space. It's Not Work, It's Not Home. That's One Of The Engines Of Its Spread. But At The Same Time He Was Doing That, He Bet The Farm To Open More And More Stores In Any Given Town, And Making It Ubiquitous Made It Much Easier To Say To Your Friend, I'll Meet You At Starbucks.

Home

Space

Decision

Seek Out Habits That Help You Overcome Fear Or Inertia. Destroy Those That Do The Opposite.

Opposites

Overcoming

Helping

If You're Not Willing To Get Your 'worst One Ever' Out Of The Way, How Will You Possibly Do Better Than That?

Way

Worst

Willing

Copy, Not From Your Industry, From Others. You Have To Go Where There Is No Competition.

Competition

Copies

Industry

What We Most Need In Our Lives, Though, Is Something Worth Doing, Worth It Because We Care.

Needs

Care

Our Lives

In Contemporary Art Or Movies, It Makes Perfect Sense To Be Focused On The Bleeding Edge, On The New Idea That's Never Been Previously Contemplated. But When We're Discussing Our Goals, Our Passion And The Way We Interact With The Culture, It Seems To Me That What Works Is Significantly More Important Than What's New.

Art

Passion

Ideas

Remember The Bob Dylan Rule: It's Not Just A Record, It's A Movement.

Music

Powerful

Records

The Secret Of Getting On The Shortlist Is Doing Your Best Work Fearlessly For A Long Time Before You Get On The List.

Long

Secret

Lists

The Question Is Not Will You Succeed? But Rather, Will You Matter?

Matter

Succeed

My Problem With The Search For The Badge Of Real Is That It Trades Your Goals And Your Happiness For Someone Else's.

Real

Goal

Problem

We're Often In A Hurry To Finish. Or In A Hurry To Close A Sale. What Happens When We Adopt The Posture Of Being In A Hurry To Be Generous? With Resources Or Insight Or Access Or Kindness... It's An Interesting Sort Of Impatience.

Kindness

Interesting

Impatience

The Problem With Holding A Grudge Is That Your Hands Are Then Too Full To Hold Onto Anything Else.

Hands

Problem

Grudge

Your Drudgery Is Another Person's Delight. It's Only A Job If You Treat It That Way. The Privilege To Do Our Work, To Be In Control Of The Promises We Make And The Things We Build, Is Something Worth Cherishing.

Jobs

Promise

Delight

It's Far Easier To Put Your Future Into Someone Else's Hands Than It Is To Slog Your Way Forward, Owning The Results As You Go.

Hands

Way Forward

Easier

Human Nature Is To Need A Map. If You’re Brave Enough To Draw One, People Will Follow.

People

Brave

Needs

My New Favorite Word Is 'awkward.'...th E Reason We Need To Be In Search Of Awkward Is That Awkward Is The Barrier Between Us And Excellence, Between Where We Are And The Remarkable. If It Were Easy, Everyone Would Have Done It Already, And It Wouldn't Be Worth The Effort.

Inspiration

Favorite Words

Effort

Connect, Create Meaning, Make A Difference, Matter, Be Missed.

Differences

Marketing

Making A Difference

The World Is Begging For You To Lead.

World

Begging

Change Almost Never Fails Because It's Too Early. It Almost Always Fails Because It's Too Late.

Inspirational

Change

Too Late

If You Set Your Bar At 'amazing' It's Awfully Difficult To Start. Your First Paragraph, Sketch, Formula, Sample Or Concept Isn't Going To Be Amazing. Your Tenth One Might Not Be Either. Confronted With The Gap Between Your Vision Of Perfect And The Reality Of What You've Created, The Easiest Path Is No Path. Shrug. Admit Defeat. Hit Delete. One More Reason To Follow Someone Else And Wait For Instructions. Of Course, The Only Path To Amazing Runs Directly Through Not-yet-amazing. But Not-yet-amazing Is A Great Place To Start, Because That's Where You Are.

Running

Reality

Perfect

You Have Brilliance In You, Your Contribution Is Valuable, And The Art You Create Is Precious. Only You Can Do, And You Must.

Art

Marketing

Brilliance

Do You Know What People Want More Than Anything? They Want To Be Missed. They Want To Be Missed The Day They Don't Show Up. They Want To Be Missed When They're Gone.

People

Want

Gone

Leadership Is Scarce Because Few People Are Willing To Go Through The Discomfort Required To Lead. This Scarcity Makes Leadership Valuable...it's Uncomfortable To Stand Up In Front Of Strangers. It's Uncomfortable To Propose An Idea That Might Fail. It's Uncomfortable To Challenge The Status Quo. It's Uncomfortable To Resist The Urge To Settle...if You're Not Uncomfortable In Your Work As A Leader, It's Almost Certain You're Not Reaching Your Potential As A Leader.

Ideas

People

Leader

If You Need To Conceal Your True Nature To Get In The Door, Understand That You'll Probably Have To Conceal Your True Nature To Keep That Job.

Jobs

Doors

Needs

If You're Different Somehow And Have Made Yourself Unique, People Will Find You And Pay You More.

Unique

People

Different

I Do Not Think You Can Get Rid Of The Fear... But You Can Dance With It.

Thinking

It's Not An Accident That Successful People Read More Books.

Motivational

Success

Reading

Art Isn't Only A Painting. Art Is Anything That Is Creative, Passionate And Personal. Art Is The Unique Work Of A Human Being Created To Touch Another. Art Is Created To Have An Impact, To Change Someone Else.

Art

Unique

Impact

Repeating Easy Tasks Again And Again Gets You Not Very Far. Attacking Only Steep Cliffs Where No Progress Is Made Isn’t Particularly Effective Either. No, The Best Path Is An Endless Series Of Difficult (but Achievable) Hills.

Progress

Tasks

Path

If You Wait Until You Are Ready, It Is Almost Certainly Too Late.

Waiting

Too Late

Ready

If You Have A Book To Write, Write It. If You Want To Record An Album, Record It. No Need To Wait For Someone In A Cubicle Halfway Across The Country To Decide If You're Worthy.

Country

Book

Writing

But What If I Fail? You Will. A Better Question Might Be, ‘after I Fail, What Then?’ If You’ve Chosen Well, After You Fail You Will Be One Step Closer To Succeeding, You Will Be Wiser And Stronger And You Almost Certainly Will Be More Respected By All Of Those That Are Afraid To Try.

What If

Stronger

Trying

Products That Are Remarkable Get Talked About.

Marketing

Remarkable

Products

We Are Too Focused On Avoiding Criticism And Not Enough On Making A Difference.

Differences

Criticism

Making A Difference

The Sound Of A Small Bell During A Dark Night, Is Louder Than The Din Of Traffic Outside Your Window During Rush Hour. Surprise And Differentiation Have Far More Impact Than Noise Does.

Dark

Night

Impact

If Your Organization Requires Success Before Commitment, It Will Never Have Either.

Business

Commitment

Organization

Don't Save The Canary. Fix The Coal Mine.

Coal

Canaries

Mines

We Don't Need More Stuff, We Need More Humanity.

Motivational

Humanity

Needs

Marketing Yourself To A New Person Often Involves Being Charismatic, Clever And Quick-but Most Jobs And Most Relationships Are About Being Consistent, Persistent And Brave.

Jobs

Clever

Brave

The Job Isn't To Catch Up To The Status Quo; The Job Is To Invent The Status Quo.

Jobs

Positivity

Status Quo

The Secret Of Leadership Is Simple: Do What You Believe In. Paint A Picture Of The Future. Go There. People Will Follow.

Leadership

Believe

Simple

What If Getting Bigger Isn't The Point? What If You Merely Got Better?

What If

Bigger

Ifs

Authenticy In Marketing Is Telling A Story People Want To Hear.

People

Marketing

Stories

That's Why There's Lots And Lots Of Kinds Of Hot Sauces, And Not So Many Kinds Of Mustard. Not Because It's Hard To Make Interesting Mustard - You Could Make Interesting Mustard - But People Don't, Because No One's Obsessed With It, And Thus No One Tells Their Friends.

Interesting

People

Hot Sauce

The Problem With Requiring People To Be Loud And Angry To Get Things Done Is That You're Now Surrounded By People Who Are Loud And Angry.

People

Done

Problem

Choices Lead To Habits. Habits Become Talents. Talents Are Labeled Gifts. You’re Not Born This Way, You Get This Way.

Choices

Way

Talent

You Don't Launch A Popular Blog, You Build One.

Blogs

Art Isn't Only A Painting; It's Anything That Changes Someone For The Better, Any Nonanonymous Interaction That Leads To A Human (not Simply A Commercial) Conclusion.

Art

Painting

Conclusion

Design Is The Last Great Competitive Advantage.

Design

Lasts

Advantage

While You May Have Made Money Doing Something A Certain Way Yesterday, There's No Reason To Believe You'll Succeed At It Tomorrow.

Believe

Yesterday

May

Anxiety Is Experiencing Failure In Advance. Tell Yourself Enough Vivid Stories About The Worst Possible Outcome Of Your Work And You'll Soon Come To Believe Them. Worry Is Not Preparation, And Anxiety Doesn't Make You Better.

Believe

Worry

Anxiety

All Good Ideas Are Terrible... Until People Realize They Are Obvious. If You're Not Willing To Live Through The Terrible Stage, You'll Never Get To The Obvious Part.

Ideas

People

Realizing

Bullhorns Are Overrated: Having Ten Times As Many Twitter Followers Generates Approximately Zero Times As Much Value.

Zero

Marketing

Followers

It Takes Confidence And Guts To Intentionally Create Tension.

Tension

Guts

Not Adding Value Is The Same As Taking It Away.

Adding Value

Values

If You're Going To Buy A Real Book, A Paper Book, There Better Be A Good Reason. Perhaps Scarcity Is One Of Those Reasons.

Real

Book

Scarcity

The Mirror We Hold Up To The Person Next To Us Is One Of The Most Important Pictures She Will Ever See.

Mirrors

Important

Viewing The Web As A Platform For Generosity Is Very Different Than Seeing An Opportunity To Turn It Into An Atm Machine.

Opportunity

Generosity

Different

Basically You Create Your Experience Through Your Beliefs About Yourself And The Nature Of Reality. Another Way To Understand This Is To Realize That You Create Your Experiences Through Your Expectations.

Nature

Reality

Expectations

As The Amount Of Inputs Go Up, As The Number Of People And Ideas That Clamor For Attention Continue To Increase, We Do What People Always Do: We Rely On The Familiar, The Trusted And The Personal. The Incredible Surplus Of Digital Data Means That Human Actions, Generosity And Sacrifice Are More Important Than They Ever Were Before.

Inspirational

Mean

Sacrifice

You Can Win With Consistent Benefits, Delivered Over Time. You Win By Incrementally Earning Share, Attention And Trust.

Winning

Marketing

Attention

Marketing Begins Before The Product Is Launched.

Inspiring

Business

Marketing

A Symptom Of The Revolution: When We State Something Is Impossible In Theory, But Then Change Our Minds When We Discover That It Is Possible In Practice.

Impossible Things

Possible And Impossible

Practice

Following The Well-lit Path, Offers Little In The Way Of Magic.

Magic

Littles

Way

Either You Defend The Status Quo, Or You Invent The Future.

Status Quo

Networking That Matters Is Helping People Achieve Their Goals.

People

Goal

Networking

Winners Quit All The Time. They Just Quit The Right Stuff At The Right Time.

Stuff

Quitting

Winner

If You Can Raise Money, You're Never Going To Have Trouble Getting A Job.

Jobs

Trouble

Raises

Our Job Is To Make Change. Our Job Is To Connect To People, To Interact With Them In A Way That Leaves Them Better Than We Found Them, More Able To Get Where They'd Like To Go. Every Time We Waste That Opportunity, Every Page Or Sentence That Doesn't Do Enough To Advance The Cause Is Waste.

Jobs

Opportunity

People

Initiative Is The Privilege Of Picking Yourself.

Privilege

Initiative

The World Doesn't Owe You A Living, But Just When You Needed It, A Door Was Opened For You To Make A Difference.

Doors

Differences

Making A Difference

The Way You Feel About Giving Money To Good Causes Has A Lot To Do With The Way You Feel About Money.

Giving Money

Way

Causes

Great Projects, Like Great Careers And Relationships That Last, Are Gardens. They Are Tended, They Shift, They Grow. They Endure Over Time, Gaining A Personality And Reflecting Their Environment. When Something Dies Or Fades Away, We Prune, Replant And Grow Again.

Garden

Careers

Personality

You Don't Become Indispensable Merely Because You Are Different. But The Only Way To Become Indispensable Is To Be Different. That's Because If You're The Same, So Are Plenty Of Other People.

People

Different

Way

If You're A Marketer Who Doesn't Know How To Invent, Design, Influence, Adapt, And Ultimately Discard Products, Then You're No Longer A Marketer. You're Deadwood.

Design

Marketing

Influence

Our Cultural Instinct Is To Wait To Get Pickedno One Is Going To Pick You. Pick Yourself.

Waiting

Instinct

Picks

The Combination Of Fear And Ignorance (two Sides Of The Same Coin) Can Be Paralyzing.

Ignorance

Two Sides

Coins

If Failure Is Not An Option, Then Neither Is Success.

Failure Is Not An Option

Ifs

Great Work Is Always Shunned At First.

Firsts

Great Work

You Can't Shrink Your Way To Greatness!

Greatness

Way

Shrinks

I Think It's Fascinating To Note That Some Of The Most Successful Organizations Of Our Time Got There By Focusing Obsessively On Service, Viewing Compensation As An Afterthought Or A Side Effect. As Marketing Gets More And More Expensive, It Turns Out That Caring For People Is A Useful Shortcut To Trust, Which Leads To All The Other Things That A Growing Organization Seeks.

In Fact, Most Of The Time, People With Similar Information, Similar Beliefs And Similar Apparent Choices Will Choose Similar Actions. So If You Want To Know Why Someone Does What They Do, Start With What They Know, What They Believe And Where They Came From. Dismissing Actions We Don't Admire Merely Because We Don't Care Enough To Have Empathy Is Rarely Going To Help Us Make The Change We Seek. It Doesn't Help Us Understand, And It Creates A Gulf That Drives Us Apart.

Believe

People

Choices

Your Peer Group Are People With Similar Dreams, Goals And Worldviews. They Are People Who Will Push You In Exchange For Being Pushed, Who Will Raise The Bar And Tell You The Truth. They're Not In Your Business, But They're In Your Shoes. Finding A Peer Group And Working With Them, Intentionally And On A Regular Schedule, Might Be The Single Biggest Boost Your Career Can Experience.

Dream

Careers

Shoes

The Enemy Of Creativity Is Fear.

Creativity

Enemy

Leadership, On The Other Hand, Is About Creating Change You Believe In.

Leadership

Believe

Hands

Marketing Is The Art Of Seeing (and Then Creating) What Might Be Interesting To More Than Our Friends

Art

Creating

Interesting

Fundamentalist Is A Person Who Considers Whether A Fact Is Acceptable To Their Faith Before They Explore It. As Opposed To A Curious Person Who Explores First And Then Considers Whether Or Not They Want To Accept The Ramifications.

Curiosity

Firsts

Facts

Nine Years Of Experience Is Very Different From One Year Of Experience, Nine Times.

Years

Different

Nine

Why Do We Value Leadership, Connection And Grace? Because It's Scarce, And That Scacity Creates Value.

Grace

Connections

Scarce

Initiating Is Really And Truly Difficult, And That's What Leaders Do. They See Something Others Are Ignoring And They Jump On It.

Motivational

Leadership

Initiative

There's No Map For Being An Artist.

Artist

Maps

Being An Artist

Decide, Before You Start, That You're Going To Change Three Things About What You Do All Day At Work. Then, As You're Reading, Find The Three Things And Do It. The Goal Of The Reading, Then, Isn't To Persuade You To Change, It's To Help You Choose What To Change.

Business

Reading

Goal

Great Leaders Create Movements By Empowering The Tribe To Communicate. They Establish The Foundation For People To Make Connections, As Opposed To Commanding People To Follow Them.

People

Empowering

Leader

At The Age Of Four, You Were An Artist. And At Seven, You Were A Poet.

Artist

Age

Four

That The Horrible Zika Virus Or Hiv, We Can Look At What It Means To Be Patient Zero, What It Means To Need Not Much Contact To Spread, And All Of Those Things Follow Into The Way Ideas Spread.

Zero

Mean

Ideas

It's Uncomfortable To Resist The Urge To Settle.

Mediocrity

Settling

Status Quo

It’s Okay. Let Your Ego Push You To Be The Initiator. But Tell Your Ego That The Best Way To Get Something Shipped Is To Let Other People Take The Credit. The Real Win For You (and Your Ego) Is Seeing Something Get Shipped, Not In Getting The Credit When It Does.

Real

Winning

People

And The Reason Is That Until Wonder Came Along And Figured Out How To Spread The Idea Of Sliced Bread, No One Wanted It. That The Success Of Sliced Bread... Is Not Always About What The Patent Is Like, Or What The Factory Is Like - It's About Can You Get Your Idea To Spread, Or Not.

Ideas

Patents

Bread

The Cul-de-sac ( French For "dead End" ) ... Is A Situation Where You Work And Work And Work And Nothing Much Changes

Dead Ends

Ends

Situation

I've Found That Giving Gifts Is Transformative. It Makes Me Better. It Clarifies My Thinking And Allows Me To Do Better Work.

Thinking

Giving

Found

We're Going To Spend Our Entire Future Living In Tomorrow-investing Now, When It's Difficult, Is The Single Best Moment.

Investing

Tomorrow

Moments

Listen To Your Fear But Don't Obey It.

Fans, True Fans, Are Hard To Find And Precious. Just A Few Can Change Everything. What They Demand, Though, Is Generosity And Bravery.

Generosity

Bravery

Fans

The Best Time To Start Promoting Your Book Is Three Years Before It Comes Out. Three Years To Build A Reputation, Build A Permission Asset, Build A Blog, Build A Following, Build Credibility And Build The Connections You'll Need Later.

Book

Writing

Years

Mostly, The Best Way To Be The Next Mark Zuckerberg Is To Make Difficult Choices.

Zuckerberg

Difficult Choices

Way

If You're Not The Best In The World At What You Do, Then You Have To Get Better.

Get Better

World

Ifs

Now, Before Sliced Bread Was Invented In The 1910s I Wonder What They Said? Like The Greatest Invention Since The Telegraph Or Something. But... The Thing About The Invention Of Sliced Bread Is This - That For The First 15 Years After Sliced Bread Was Available No One Bought It; No One Knew About It; It Was A Complete And Total Failure.

Years

Bread

Firsts

If You Do A Job Where Someone Tells You Exactly What To Do, They Will Find Someone Cheaper Than You To Do It. And Yet Our Schools Are Churning Out Kids Who Are Stuck Looking For Jobs Where The Boss Tells Them Exactly What To Do.

Jobs

School

Kids

It's Time To Stop Complying With The System And Draw Your Own Map. Stop Settling For What's Good Enough And Start Creating Art That Matters.

Art

Creating

Maps

I Wonder If Real Art Comes When You Build The Thing That They Don't Have A Prize For Yet.

Art

Real

Wonder

One Bad Review Doesn't Ruin My Day Because I Realize What A Badge Of Honor It Is To Get A Bit Of Criticism At All.

Honor

Criticism

Ruins

Ideas Don't Get Smaller When They're Shared, They Get Bigger.

Ideas

Bigger

When You Can Swim, Who Cares How Deep The Water Is?

Water

Swim

Who Cares

If You Try To Delight The Undelightable, You've Made Yourself Miserable For No Reason.

Trying

Delight

Miserable

Remarkable Visions And Genuine Insights Are Always Met With Resistance.

Vision

Resistance

Genuine

New Fashions (of All Sorts) Come From Unexpected Places, Not From The Arbiters Of What's Correct.

Fashion

Unexpected

Unexpected Places

The Less People Know, The More They Yell.

Communication

People

Knows

Transformation Al Leaders Don't Start By Denying The World Around Them. Instead, They Describe A Future They'd Like To Create Instead.

Leader

World

Als

Caring, It Turns Out, Is A Competitive Advantage, And One That Takes Effort, Not Money.

Caring

Effort

Advantage

Who Gets To Decide What You Want?

Choices

Want

What You Want

Fitting In Is A Short-term Strategy That Gets You Nowhere. Standing Out Is A Long-term Strategy That Takes Guts And Produces Results.

Positivity

Long

Strategy

Effort Is Its Own Reward If You Allow It To Be.

Effort

Rewards

Ifs

The Only Purpose Of Starting Is To Finish

Inspirational

Purpose

Starting

The Edge Is A Great Place To Be. Inside The Box Is Too Dark. Outside The Box, There's No Leverage. But On The Edge Of The Box, You Can Get Things Done!

Dark

Done

Boxes

To Make A Product, To Market An Idea, To Come Up With Any Problem You Want To Solve That Doesn't Have A Constituency With An Otaku, Is Almost Impossible... There's A Hot Sauce Otaku, But There's No Mustard Otaku.

Ideas

Hot Sauce

Want

Perfect Can't Possibly Be The Goal, We're Left With Generous, Important And Human Instead.

Perfect

Goal

Important

The Sooner We Realize That The World Has Changed, The Sooner We Can Accept It And Make Something Of What We've Got. Whining Isn't A Scalable Solution.

Mind Your Own Business

World

Realizing

Living And Breathing An Authentic Story Is The Best Way To Survive In A Conversation-rich World.

Teamwork

Breathing

Stories

Studying Entrepreneurshi P Without Doing It... Is Like Studying The Appreciation Of Music Without Listening To It.

Appreciation

Listening

Study

A Dialogue Leads To Connection, Which Leads To Trust Which Leads To Engagement

Connections

Engagement

Dialogue

Soon Is Not As Good As Now.

Time Management

You Dont Need To Convince Everyone. All You Need To Do Is Motivate People Who Choose To Follow You.

People

Needs

Convince

Dreamers Don't Have Special Genes. They Find Circumstances That Amplify Their Dreams.

Dream

Special

Amplify

Emotional Labor Is Available To All Of Us, But It Is Rarely Exploited As A Competitive Advantage.

Inspirational

Emotional

Advantage

The Librarian Isn't A Clerk Who Happens To Work In A Library. A Librarian Is A Data Hound, A Guide, A Sherpa And A Teacher. The Librarian Is The Interface Between Reams Of Data And The Untrained But Motivated User.

Teacher

Data

Clerks

Surprise And Delight And Connection Are Remarkable.

Connections

Delight

Surprise

Leaders Have Followers, Managers Have Employees. Managers Make Widgets, Leaders Make Change.

Leader

Followers

Employee

Understanding Quotes: Their Essence and Application

Quotes, or quotations, are powerful tools in communication, encapsulating ideas, emotions, and wisdom in concise expressions. They serve various purposes across different contexts, from academic writing to everyday conversation.

1. Defining Quotes

A quote is a repetition of someone else's statement or thoughts. It can be a direct replication of words spoken or written by another individual, often used to support arguments, provide evidence, or convey profound insights.

2. The Importance of Quotes

2.1. Enhancing Credibility

Incorporating quotes from authoritative sources can bolster the credibility of your work. By referencing experts or primary sources, you demonstrate thorough research and a solid foundation for your arguments.

2.2. Providing Evidence

Quotes serve as concrete evidence to support claims. In academic and professional writing, they validate points made, offering readers a basis to trust the information presented.

2.3. Conveying Emotions and Perspectives

Quotes can encapsulate emotions and perspectives succinctly. They allow writers to express complex feelings or viewpoints through the words of others, often more eloquently than paraphrasing.

3. Types of Quotes

3.1. Direct Quotes

Direct quotes involve copying the exact words from a source, enclosed in quotation marks. They are used when the original wording is significant or particularly well-expressed.

3.2. Indirect Quotes (Paraphrasing)

Indirect quotes restate the original message in your own words. While not enclosed in quotation marks, they still require proper attribution to the original source.

3.3. Block Quotes

Block quotes are lengthy direct quotations, formatted as a separate block of text. They are typically used for quotes exceeding a certain length, varying by citation style. For instance, in APA style, quotes longer than 40 words are formatted as block quotes.

4. Proper Usage of Quotes

4.1. Contextual Relevance

Ensure that the quote you choose is relevant to the topic and adds value to your content. Avoid inserting quotes solely for decorative purposes.

4.2. Integration into Your Writing

Seamlessly integrate quotes into your writing. Introduce them appropriately and follow up with analysis or commentary to connect them to your main points.

4.3. Attribution and Citation

Always attribute quotes to their original authors and provide proper citations according to the required style guide (APA, MLA, Chicago, etc.).

5. Common Mistakes to Avoid

5.1. Overusing Quotes

Relying too heavily on quotes can overshadow your voice. Use them sparingly to support your arguments, not replace them.

5.2. Lack of Analysis

Presenting a quote without analysis or explanation can leave readers questioning its relevance. Always follow up with your interpretation or discussion.

5.3. Misquoting or Taking Out of Context

Ensure that quotes are accurate and not taken out of context, as this can mislead readers and undermine your credibility.

6. Quotes in Different Contexts

6.1. Academic Writing

In academic writing, quotes are used to support arguments, provide evidence, and engage with existing literature. Proper citation is crucial to avoid plagiarism.

6.2. Journalism

Journalists use quotes to provide firsthand accounts, add authenticity, and present multiple perspectives within a story.

6.3. Literature and Creative Writing

In literature, quotes can be used to convey character voices, themes, and stylistic elements. They enrich narratives and provide depth to storytelling.

7. Punctuation and Formatting

Understanding the correct punctuation and formatting of quotes is essential:

Quotation Marks: Always enclose direct quotes within quotation marks.

Punctuation Placement: In American English, periods and commas are placed inside quotation marks, while colons and semicolons are placed outside.

Block Quotes: For longer quotes, format them as block quotes without quotation marks, and indent the entire block.

8. Ethical Considerations

Ethical use of quotes involves accurate representation, proper attribution, and respect for intellectual property. Misuse can lead to plagiarism, which carries serious academic and professional consequences.

9. Tools for Managing Quotes

Utilize tools like citation generators and plagiarism checkers to manage quotes effectively. These tools help ensure proper formatting and originality in your writing.

Conclusion

Quotes are invaluable in enriching content, providing evidence, and conveying complex ideas succinctly. When used appropriately, they enhance the quality and credibility of your writing. Always ensure relevance, proper integration, and ethical usage to maximize their impact.

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