At Least Three Time Per Day At Scheduled Times, He Had To Ask Himself The Following Question: Am I Being Productive Or Just Active? Charney Captured The Essence Of This With Less-abstract Wording: Am I Inventing Things To Do To Avoid The Important? He Eliminated All Of The Activities He Used As Crutches And Began To Focus On Demonstrating Results Instead Of Showing Dedication. Dedication Is Often Just Meaningless Work In Disguise. Be Ruthless And Cut The Fat.

-Tim Ferriss

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Tim Ferriss

Topic

Inspirational

Cutting

Dedication

More From Tim Ferriss

Every Time I Find Myself Stressed Out, It's Because I Do Things Primarily Driven By Growth.

Growth

Stressed

Stressed Out

Money Doesn't Change You; It Reveals Who You Are When You No Longer Have To Be Nice.

Nice

Being Nice

Who You Are

The Benefits Of Becoming Fluent In A Foreign Tongue Are As Underestimated As The Difficulty Is Overestimated. Thousands Of Theoretical Linguists Will Disagree, But I Know From Research And Personal Experimentation With More Than A Dozen Languages That (1) Adults Can Learn Languages Much Faster Than Children When Constant 9-5 Work Is Removed And That (2) It Is Possible To Become Conversationally Fluent In Any Language In Six Months Or Less. At Four Hours Per Day, Six Months Can Be Whittled Down To Less Than Three Months.

Children

Work

Research

Most People Are Good At A Handful Of Things And Utterly Miserable At Most.

Inspirational

People

Miserable

Excitement Is The More Practical Synonym For Happiness, And It Is Precisely What You Should Strive To Chase. It Is The Cure-all.

Inspirational

Excitement

Strive

What I Don't Like Is Snark For Snark's Sake. If You Are Going To Make Fun Of Me, At Least Be Witty While Doing It.

Witty

Fun

Sake

What We Fear Doing Most Is Usually What We Most Need To Do. As I Have Heard Said, A Person's Success In Life Can Usually Be Measured By The Number Of Uncomfortable Conversations He Or She Is Willing To Have. Resolve To Do One Thing Every Day That You Fear. I Got Into This Habit By Attempting To Contact Celebrities And Famous Businesspeople For Advice.

Numbers

Advice

Needs

I'm Prepared To Do Battle For A Dream That Is Worth Dreaming.

Dream

Battle

Prepared

Language Learning Deserves Special Mention. It Is, Bar None, The Best Thing You Can Do To Hone Clear Thinking.

Thinking

Special

Bars

Simplicity Requires Ruthlessness.

Simplicity

Ruthlessness

There Is A Direct Correlation Between Am Increased Sphere Of Comfort And Getting What You Want.

Work

Comfort

Getting What You Want

If Someone's Criticism Is Completely Unfounded On Data, Then I Don't Want To Hear It. It Doesn't Hold Up To Scrutiny.

Data

Criticism

Want

When You Elevate The Heels More So Than You Elevate The Sole Of The Foot, You Trigger A Cascade Of Compensations In The Knees And Hips That Cause Tight Hip Flexors, And Then Those Hip Flexors Cause Lower-back Pain.

Pain

Feet

Knees

There Are Two Synergistic Approaches For Increasing Productivity That Are Inversions Of Each Other: 1. Limit Tasks To The Important To Shorten Work Time (80/20). 2. Shorten Work Time To Limit Tasks To The Important (parkinson's Law). The Best Solution Is To Use Both Together: Identify The Few Critical Tasks That Contribute Most To Income And Schedule Them With Very Short And Clear Deadlines.

Law

Two

Important

It's Very Easy To Confuse Confident Motion With Being Productive - And They're Not The Same Thing. Productive To Me Means Measurable Outcomes That Apply To My Most Important To-dos That Positively Affect My Life. That's It.

Mean

Important

Outcomes

I'll Repeat Something You Might Consider Tattooing On Your Forehead: What We Fear Doing Most Is Usually What We Most Need To Do.

The Best Entrepreneurs I've Ever Met Are All Good Communicators. It's Perhaps One Of The Very Few Unifying Factors.

Entrepreneur

Mets

Unifying

The Most Important Actions Are Never Comfortable.

Motivational

Business

Important

Most People Can Do Absolutely Awe-inspiring Things. Sometimes They Just Need A Little Nudge.

Motivational

Leadership

Inspiration

Ninety-nine Percent Of People Believe They Can't Do Great Things, So They Aim For Mediocrity.

Believe

Learning

Ninety Nine

The Truth Is That Since The First Book, I Have Wanted To Emulate Benjamin Franklin And Put Together A Healthy, Wealthy And Wise Trilogy And So Healthy Was 'the 4-hour Body,' Wealthy Was 'the 4-hour Workweek' And Then Wise Is 'the 4-hour Chef.'

Wise

Book

Healthy

Food Became For Me A Way Of Becoming Self-sufficient With My Hands, To Regain Manual Literacy, Which I Think Has Been Lost On Our Generation And Certainly Younger Generations. Very Few People Can Actually Make Things With Their Hands And Do Things With Their Hands.

Thinking

Our Generation

Self

Information Is Useless If It Is Not Applied To Something Important Or If You Will Forget It Before You Have A Chance To Apply It.

Inspirational

Important

Useless

If You Look At The Purported Dangers Of Salt Or Fat, There Is No Consensus Of Support In Scientific Literature. So I Would Ask First: 'is It Possible To Have An Informed Government That Actually Follows The Science?' From What I've Seen, It's Not Likely.

Government

Support

Salt

There Are Two Components That Are Fundamental To Enjoy Life And Feel Good About Yourself: Continual Learning And Service.

Live Life

Two

Enjoy Life

For The Employee, The Goal Is To Have Full Access To Necessary Information And As Much Independent Decision-making Ability As Possible. For The Entrepreneur, The Goal Is To Grant As Much Information And Independent Decision-making Ability To Employees Or Contractors As Possible.

Independent

Goal

Entrepreneur

Everything That Works In Sales Has Been Done Already. Just Keep Track Of The Crap That You Buy, Or The Awesome Stuff That You Buy, And Decide What Was The Trigger, And Then Just Sell To People Like You. It's Really That Easy - And That's What I Do.

People

Track

Done

Don’t Follow A Model That Doesn't Work. If The Recipe Sucks, It Doesn't Matter How Good A Cook You Are.

Just A Few Words On Time Management: Forget All About It.

Time

Work

Few Words

Life Is Too Short To Be Small.

Inspirational

Life

Motivational

Doing Something Unimportant Well Does Not Make It Important.

Important

Doe

Wells

Sometimes You Need To Go On A Low-information Diet.

Organization

Needs

Goes On

I'm Not A Big Believer In Long-term Planning And Far-off Goals. In Fact, I Generally Set 3-month And 6-month Dreamlines. The Variables Change Too Much And In-the-future Distance Becomes An Excuse For Postponing Action.

Dream

Distance

Long

Being Efficient Without Regard To Effectiveness Is The Default Mode Of The Universe.

Effectiveness

Efficiency

Default

I Think Time Management As A Label Encourages People To View Each 24-hour Period As A Slot In Which They Should Pack As Much As Possible.

Thinking

Views

People

Sports Just Happen To Be Excellent For Avoiding Foreign-language Stage Fright And Developing Lasting Friendships While Still Sounding Like Tarzan.

Sports

Language

Excellent

Changing The World Doesn't Require Much Money. Again, Think In Terms Of Empowerment And Not Charity. How Much Were Gandhi's Teachers Paid? How Much Did It Cost To Give Dr. Martin Luther King The Books That Catalyzed His Mind And Actions?

Teacher

Kings

Book

World Barista Champions Use The Aeropress To Make Coffee On The Folding Tray Tables Of Airplanes.

Coffee

Airplane

Champion

For Uncommon Solutions, You Have To Look In Uncommon Places.

Looks

Uncommon

Solutions

Perfection Is An Impossible Destination

Perfection

Impossible

Destination

Be Bold And Don't Worry About What People Think. They Don't Do It That Often Anyway.

Thinking

People

Worry

It Is Predicated On The Assumption That You Dislike What You Are Doing During The Most Physically Capable Years Of Your Life. This Is A Nonstarter—nothing Can Justify That Sacrifice.

Inspirational

Sacrifice

Years

If We Define Risk As 'the Likelihood Of An Irreversible Negative Outcome,' Inaction Is The Greatest Risk Of All.

Risk

Negative

Outcomes

I Think Willpower Is Very Valuable.

Thinking

Willpower

Valuable

For All Their Bitching About What’s Holding Them Back, Most People Have A Lot Of Trouble Coming Up With The Defined Dreams They’re Being Held From.

Dream

People

Trouble

When You Try To Do Something Big Its Hard To Fail Completely.

Success

Marketing

Trying

Converting Your Own Passions Into A Job Is The Fastest Method For Eliminating Any Passion You Once Had.

Jobs

Passion

Method

Emphasize Strengths, Don't Fix Weaknesses.

Work

Weakness

The Manifesto Of The Dealmaker Is Simple: Reality Is Negotiable.

Business

Simple

Reality

Personally, I Now Aim For One Month Of Overseas Relocation Or High-intensity Learning (tango, Fighting, Whatever) For Every Two Months Of Work Projects.

Work

Learning

Fighting

Having A Size 9 Foot Is Fantastic Because Almost All Of The Shoe Companies Do Their Prototyping In Size 9, So If You Visit A Place Like Nike Headquarters, You Can Try Every Sort Of Wacky, Out-there Model.

Nike

Feet

Shoes

If You Spend Your Time, Worth $20-25 Per Hour, Doing Something That Someone Else Will Do For $10 Per Hour, It's Simply A Poor Use Of Resources.

Inspirational

Use

Hours

Doing The Unrealistic Is Easier Than Doing The Realistic.

Inspirational

Life

Motivational

Writing Is Thought Crystalized On A Piece Of Paper, Which Can Then Be Reviewed.

Writing

Pieces

Paper

Slowing Down Doesn't Mean Accomplishing Less; It Means Cutting Out Counterproductive Distractions And The Perception Of Being Rushed.

Motivational

Mean

Cutting

Personal Branding Is About Managing Your Name - Even If You Don't Own A Business - In A World Of Misinformation, Disinformation, And Semi-permanent Google Records. Going On A Date? Chances Are That Your "blind" Date Has Googled Your Name. Going To A Job Interview? Ditto.

Jobs

Names

Google

The Golden Years Become Lower-middle-class Life Revisited. That's A Bittersweet Ending.

Inspirational

Years

Class

I Encourage Active Skepticism - When People Are Being Skeptical Because They're Trying To Identify The Best Course Of Action. They're Trying To Identify The Next Step For Themselves Or Other People.

People

Trying

Steps

Different Is Better When It Is More Effective Or More Fun.

Fun

Different

People Don't Want To Be Millionaires - They Want To Experience What They Believe Only Millions Can Buy.

Believe

People

Want

Alternating Periods Of Activity And Rest Is Necessary To Survive, Let Alone Thrive. Capacity, Interest, And Mental Endurance All Wax And Wane. Plan Accordingly.

Inspirational

Endurance

Capacity

You Can Enjoy Stargazing Just By Going Out And Learning A Couple Constellations With Your Kids.

Couple

Kids

Going Out

Awareness, Even At A Subconscious Level, Beats Fancy Checklists Without It, Track Or You Will Fail.

Track

Levels

Fancy

Being Selective-doing Less-is The Path Of The Productive. Focus On The Important Few And Ignore The Rest.

Inspiring

Focus

Important

Most People Are Fast To Stop You Before You Get Started But Hesitate To Get In The Way If You're Moving.

Inspirational

Moving

People

As Far As Income Goes, There Are Three Currencies In The World; Most People Ignore Two. The Three Currencies Are Time, Income And Mobility, In Descending Order Of Importance. Most People Focus Exclusively On Income.

Order

Two

People

Learn To Be Difficult When It Counts

Inspirational

Difficult

One Of The Bigger Misconceptions Of Learning Is That Many Skills Take A Lifetime To Get World-class At, Or 10,000 Hours To Become World-class At.

Class

Skills

World

There Is Always More Information Than Attention

Attention

Information

Productivity

Happiness Can Be Bought With A Bottle Of Wine And Has Become Ambiguous Through Overuse.

Wine

Bottles Of Wine

Bottles

You And Your Friends Could Plan The Trip Of A Lifetime In 6-18 Months To Visit The Completed School, Teeming With Dozens Or Hundreds Of Students Who Greet You With Smiles And Thank You Letters. You'll Know It's Your School Because Your Names Will Be On The Door.

School

Doors

Names

Pacifists Become Militants. Freedom Fighters Become Tyrants. Blessings Become Curses. Help Becomes Hindrance. More Becomes Less.

Blessing

Tyrants

Helping

If Everyone Is Defining A Problem Or Solving It One Way And The Results Are Subpar, This Is The Time To Ask, What If I Did The Opposite? Don't Follow A Model That Doesn't Work. If The Recipe Sucks, It Doesn't Matter How Good A Cook You Are.

Opposites

What If

Defining

A Friend Of Mine, Derek Simmons, Who's Been On The Podcast, Said, "if More Information Were The Answer, We'd All Be Billionaires With Perfect Dads." It Comes Down To Motivation And Incentives. If It Isn't A Punishment Or A Reward, Then It's Just Talk.

Dad

Motivation

Perfect

After Decades Of Hauling Telescopes Around In The Back Of Vans And Going Up To High Altitude Locations And So Forth, I Did Finally Build An Observatory, Here On Sonoma Mountain.

Mountain

Telescopes

Location

One Can Steal Ideas, But No One Can Steal Execution Or Passion.

Inspirational

Passion

Black And White

I Value Self-discipline, But Creating Systems That Make It Next To Impossible To Misbehave Is More Reliable Than Self-control.

Self

Creating

Discipline

Get Good At Being A Troublemaker And Saying Sorry When You Really Screw Up

Sorry

Screw Ups

Troublemaker

Requiring A Lot Of Time Does Not Make A Task Important.

Important

Doe

Tasks

The Best Results I Have Had In My Life; The Most Enjoyable Times, Have All Come From Asking The Simple Question: 'what Is The Worst That Could Happen?'

Simple

Asking

Results

Do Not Overestimate The Competition And Underestimate Yourself. You Are Better Than You Think.

Self Esteem

Self Confidence

Insecure

What You Do Is Infinitely More Important Than How You Do It.

Work

Important

4 Hour Work Week

Just Because You Are Embarrassed To Admit That You're Still Living The Consequences Of Bad Decisions Made 5, 10, 20 Years Ago Shouldn't Stop You From Making Good Decisions Now. If You Let Pride Stop You, You Will Hate Life 5, 10, And 20 Years From Now For The Same Reasons.

Change

Hate

Pride

Three Ingredients Of Luxury Lifestyle Design Are Time, Income, And Mobility.

Motivational

Luxury

Design

Avoid Results-by Volume Approach, Instead Focus On Few Critically Important But Uncomfortable Actions.

Focus

Important

Action

Relative Income Uses Two Variables: The Dollar And Time, Usually Hours.

Two

Dollars

Income

I Have Scary Eyes. I Look Like The Guy In 'american History X,' Yes. I Remember Coming Home From School And Asking My Mum If I Could Get An Eye Transplant, And Of Course She Declined.

Eye

Home

School

Never Check Email First Thing In The Morning. Instead, Complete Your Most Important Task Before 11:00 A.m. To Avoid Using Lunch Or Reading Email As A Postponement Excuse.

Morning

Reading

Lunch

Focus On Being Productive Instead Of Busy.

Productive Work

Focus

Kick Ass

To Do The Impossible, You Need To Ignore The Popular.

Success

Needs

Impossible

Nothing Can Match The Wonderment That Comes From Staring Up Into The Star-filled Canopy Above And Realizing That You Are A Part Of That Creation.

Stars

Realizing

Creation

People Will Choose Unhappiness Over Uncertainty.

Inspirational

Life

People

Compile Your To-do List For Tomorrow No Later Than This Evening.

Work

Lists

Evening

By Using Money As The Scapegoat And Work As Our All-consuming Routine, We Are Able To Conveniently Disallow Ourselves To Do Otherwise: 'john, I'd Love To Talk About The Gaping Void I Feel In My Life, The Hopelessness That Hits Me Like A Punch In The Eye Every Time I Start My Computer In The Morning, But I Have So Much Work To Do! I've Got At Least Three Hours Of Unimportant Email To Reply To Before Calling Prospects Who Said 'no' Yesterday. Gotta Run!

Running

Morning

Eye

At Its Core, I Don't View Facebook As A Social Network. I Think It Could Become The Driver's License Of The Internet. And Beyond That, It Can Become The Pipes And The Plumbing Upon What Most Of The Internet Is Built. I Think It's Very Well Positioned.

Thinking

Views

Internet

I Started Using Twitter About Year After Its Very Early Adoption And Ended Up Investing In It Around That Same Time. I'm Involved With The Tech Scene And Companies Ranging From Facebook, Stumbleupon And Twitter.

Years

Adoption

Investing

The Brain Is Where Most People Really Screw Up.

People

Brain

Just As Modern Man Consumes Both Too Many Calories And Calories Of No Nutritional Value, Information Workers Eat Data Both In Excess And From The Wrong Sources.

Men

Data

Excess

A Goal Without Real Consequences Is Wishful Thinking. Good Follow-through Doesn't Depend On The Right Intentions. It Depends On The Right Incentives.

Real

Thinking

Goal

Resveratrol Is Fascinating Stuff. One Of The Best Sources Of Information About It Is The Immortality Institute. They Have A Forum Where Some People Are In The 500 Club, As They Call It. They've Been Taking 500 Milligrams For Years. It's A Really Great Source Of Data.

Years

Data

People

To Make A Bestseller, There Are More Customers Than Just Your Customers: Selling To The End-user Is Just One Piece Of The Puzzle. In My Case, I Needed To First Sell Myself To The Publisher To Get Marketing Support And National Retail Distribution.

Support

Marketing

Retail

I Work Hard, But In Spurts.

Hard Work

Hard

Do Not Expect Work To Fill A Void That Non-work Relationships And Activities Should Work Is Not All Of Life. Your Co-workers Shouldn't Be Your Only Friends. Schedule Life And Defend It Just As You Would An Important Business Meeting. Never Tell Yourself "i'll Just Get It Done This Weekend."

Work

Weekend

Important

People Frequently Fail When They Try To Do Everything At Once. They Approach A Massive Project And Quickly Get Discouraged. Taking Small, But High-value Steps Takes Less Time, And You Learn More In The Long Run.

Running

Life Changing

Long

A Person's Success In Life Can Usually Be Measured By The Number Of Uncomfortable Conversations He Or She Is Willing To Have.

Inspirational

Life

Numbers

What We Fear Doing Most Is Usually What We Most Need To Do.

Inspirational

Positive

Inspiring

The Fishing Is Best Where The Fewest Go And The Collective Insecurity Of The World Makes It Easy For People To Hit Home Runs While Everyone Is Aiming For Base Hits.

Running

Home

Fishing

Being Called A Huckster And A Charlatan Started Several Years Ago, So That's Something I'm Accustomed To. In Most Cases, It Doesn't Bother Me.

Years

Cases

Bother

I Discourage Passive Skepticism, Which Is The Armchair Variety Where People Sit Back And Criticize Without Ever Subjecting Their Theories Or Themselves To Real Field Testing.

Real

People

Fields

I've Seen The Promised Land, And There Is Good News. You Can Have It All.

Hope

Work

Land

The Universe Doesn't Conspire Against You, But It Doesn't Go Out Of Its Way To Line Up The Pins Either. Conditions Are Never Perfect.

Perfect

Lines

Way

Money Is Multiplied In Practical Value Depending On The Number Of W's You Control In Your Life: What You Do, When You Do It, Where You Do It, And With Whom You Do It.

Freedom

Numbers

4 Hour Work Week

For All Of The Most Important Things, The Timing Always Sucks. Waiting For A Good Time To Quit Your Job? The Stars Will Never Align And The Traffic Lights Of Life Will Never All Be Green At The Same Time. The Universe Doesn't Conspire Against You, But It Doesn't Go Out Of Its Way To Line Up The Pins Either. Conditions Are Never Perfect. "someday" Is A Disease That Will Take Your Dreams To The Grave With You. Pro And Con Lists Are Just As Bad. If It's Important To You And You Want To Do It "eventually," Just Do It And Correct Course Along The Way.

Inspirational

Dream

Stars

Work Is An Activity That Is Financially-driven Or One That You'd Like To Do Less Of.

Driven

Activity

To Have An Uncommon Lifestyle, You Need To Develop The Uncommon Habit Of Making Decisions, Both For Yourself And For Others.

Decision

Needs

Lifestyle

If You Let Pride Stop You, You Will Hate Life

Hate

Pride

Hate Life

Resolve To Do One Thing Every Day That You Fear.

Fear

Resolve

One Thing

Companies That Start By Redesigning The Economics Of An Industry Often Finish By Redesigning The Whole Industry-and Owning It.

Economics

Company

Whole

Think Big And Don't Listen To People Who Tell You It Can't Be Done. Life's Too Short To Think Small.

Inspirational

Life

Successful

The Way That You Become World-class Is... By Asking Good Questions.

Class

Good Questions

Asking

I Have Plenty Of Money To Do What I Want To Do, And I Have The Relationships.

Want

Plenty

There Are No Statues Erected To Critics.

Critics

Statues

If You See Distraction Externally, You End Up Creating An Internally Distracted State.

Creating

Distraction

Ends

Short, Sweet, And To The Point. Clear Writing, And Therefore Clear Commands, Comes From Clear Thinking. Think Simple.

Sweet

Writing

Simple

I Take Notes Like Some People Take Drugs.

People

Drug

Notes

Role Models Who Push Us To Exceed Our Limits, Physical Training That Removes Our Spare Tires, And Risks That Expand Our Sphere Of Comfortable Action Are All Examples Of Eustress—stress That Is Healthful And The Stimulus For Growth.

Stress

Role Models

Risk

I Do My Best Writing Between 10 P.m. And 5 A.m.. Almost Every Friend I Have Who Is A Consistently Productive Writer, Does Their Best Writing Between 10 P.m. And 8 A.m. My Quota Is Two Crappy Pages Per Day. I Keep It Really Low So I'm Not So Intimidated That I Never Get Started. I Will Do The Gathering Of Interviews And Research Throughout The Day. I'll Get All My Notes And Materials Together And Then I'll Do The Synthesis Between 10 P.m. To Bed, Which Is Usually 4 Or 5 A.m.

Writing

Two

Together

I Open Each Class With An Explanation Of The Singular Importance Of Being A "dealmaker." The Manifesto Of The Dealmaker Is Simple: Reality Is Negotiable.

Simple

Reality

Class

Slow Down And Remember This: Most Things Make No Difference. Being Busy Is A Form Of Mental Laziness-lazy Thinking And Indiscriminate Action.

Thinking

Differences

Lazy

Effectiveness Is Doing The Things That Get You Closer To Your Goals. Efficiency Is Performing A Given Task (whether Important Or Not) In The Most Economical Manner Possible. Being Efficient Without Regard To Effectiveness Is The Default Mode Of The Universe.

Effectiveness

Goal

Important

Exercise Is Overrated.

Exercise

Overrated

Being Able To Quit Things That Don't Work Is Integral To Being A Winner

Inspirational

Motivational

Marketing

The Least-crowded Channel For Meeting High Profile Bloggers Is In Person. Email Is The Most Difficult, The Most Crowded... I'm A Top 1,000 Blogger, Not A Top 100 Blogger, And I Get Hundreds Of Pitches By Email Every Week. Most Of Them I Don't Even See Because My Assistant Declines Them.

Assistants

Top 100

There Are Certain Things I Will Automate, But When It Comes To Quality Control, I Want To Keep A Very Close Eye.

Eye

Quality

Want

Fear Is Your Friend. It Is An Indicator. Sometimes It Shows You What You Shouldn't Do, More Often Than Not It Shows You What You Should Do.

Fear

Sometimes

Should

It's Lonely At The Top. Ninety-nine Percent Of People In The World Are Convinced They Are Incapable Of Achieving Great Things, So They Aim For The Mediocre. The Level Of Competition Is Thus Fiercest For "realistic" Goals, Paradoxically Making Them The Most Time-consuming And Energy Consuming. It Is Easier To Raise $10,000,000 Than It Is $1,000,000. It Is Easier To Pick Up The One Perfect 10 In The Bar Than The Five 8s.

Lonely

Ninety Nine

People

What's The Worst That Could Happen?

Entrepreneur

Worst

Fantastic Four

Age Doesn't Matter. An Open Mind Does.

Learning

Mind

Age

You Can Lose Money And Make It Back, You Can't Do That With Time.

Loses

If Only I Had More Money Is The Easiest Way To Postpone The Intense Self-examination And Decision-making Necessary To Create A Life Of Enjoyment - Now And Not Later.

Self

Decision

Examination

Don't Suffer Fools Or You'll Become One.

Work

Suffering

Fool

An Entrepreneur Isn't Someone Who Owns A Business, It's Someone Who Makes Things Happen.

Entrepreneur

Make Things Happen

Happens

This Is Not My Phrase, But If You're Stuck In The Past, Then You're Depressed. If You're Stuck In The Future, Then You're Anxious.

Past

Anxious

Stuck

The Best Way To Improve Mental Performance, Is To Improve Physical Performance

Way

Performances

Best Way

Rather Than Spend My Life On Data Entry And Typing, I Also Take Photos On My Iphone Of Business Cards, Wine Labels, Menus, Or Anything I Want To Have Searchable On-the-run.

Running

Wine

Data

That's Precisely The Question Everyone Should Be Asking-why The Hell Not? - Why Not You, Why Not Now.

Inspirational

Giving Up

Positivity

If You Are Insecure, Guess What? The Rest Of The World Is, Too.

Self Esteem

Self Confidence

Insecure

A Recession Is Very Bad For Publicly Traded Companies, But It's The Best Time For Startups. When You Have Massive Layoffs, There's More Competition For Available Jobs, Which Means That An Entrepreneur Can Hire Freelancers At A Lower Cost.

Jobs

Mean

Entrepreneur

The Fishing Is Best Where The Fewest Go. There Is Just Less Competition For Bigger Goals.

Fishing

Goal

Competition

To Enjoy Life, You Don't Need Fancy Nonsense, But You Do Need To Control Your Time And Realize That Most Things Just Aren't As Serious As You Make Them Out To Be.

Inspirational

Enjoy Life

Needs

Uncertainty And The Prospect Of Failure Can Be Very Scary Noises In The Shadows. Most People Will Choose Unhappiness Over Uncertainty.

Inspirational

Life

People

It Isn't Enough To Think Outside The Box. Thinking Is Passive. Get Used To Acting Outside The Box.

Inspirational

Motivational

Thinking

It Is Far More Lucrative And Fun To Leverage Your Strengths Instead Of Attempting To Fix All The Chinks In Your Armor. The Choice Is Between Multiplication Of Results Using Strenths Or Incremental Improvement Fixing Weaknesses That Will, At Best, Become Mediocre. Focus On Better Use Of Your Best Weapons Instead Of Constant Repair.

Motivational

Fun

Choices

Poisonous People Do Not Deserve Your Time. To Think Otherwise Is Masochistic.

Thinking

People

Masochistic

If The Challenge We Face Doesn't Scare Us, Then It's Probably Not That Important.

Fear

Challenges

Important

Many A False Step Was Made By Standing Still.

Inspirational

Steps

Made

I Really Feel Like Knife Skills - Not Just In The Kitchen, But In Life - Are Really Critical.

Knives

Skills

Kitchen

Slow Down And Remember This: Most Things Make No Difference.

Life

Motivational

Differences

But If It's Tolerable Mediocrity, And You're Like, 'well, You Know It Could Be Worse. At Least I'm Getting Paid.' Then You Wind Up In A Job That Is Slowly Killing Your Soul And You're Allowing That To Happen. Comfort Can Be A Very, Very Dangerous Thing.

Jobs

Wind

Soul

Unbeknownst To Most Fun-loving Bipeds, Not All Stress Is Bad. Indeed, The New Rich Don't Aim To Eliminate All Stress. Not In The Least.

Fun

Stress

Rich

The Goal Is Not To Simply Eliminate The Bad, Which Does Nothing More Than Leave You With A Vacuum, But To Pursue And Experience The Best In The World.

Inspirational

Goal

Vacuums

The Biggest Misconception About Work Is That You Need To Spend The Majority Of Your Time Doing It.

Majority

Needs

Misconception

I Always Point People To The Article '1,000 True Fans' By Kevin Kelly. If You Choose Your Thousand Ideal Customers Or Readers Properly And Find The Single Author Blog That Targets That Audience, You Never Have To Do Any More Marketing. You're Done. That Is A Lesson That Very Few Product Developers And Marketers Have Learned, And It's Unfortunate.

People

Marketing

Fans

People Are Fond Of Using The Its Not What You Know, Its Who You Know Adage As An Excuse For Inaction, As If All Successful People Are Born With Powerful Friends. Nonsense.

Powerful

Successful

People

The Key To Having More Time Is Doing Less, And There Are Two Paths To Get There, Both Of Which Should Be Used Together: (1) Define A Short To-do List And (2) Define A Not-to-do List.

Keys

Two

Together

I Was An All-american In Wrestling In High School, Was National Champion In Chinese Kickboxing In 1999 And Have Spent A Lot Of Time Around Professional Athletes, Which Includes My Eight-plus Years As Ceo Of A Sports Nutrition Company.

Sports

Wrestling

Athlete

There Are Two Types Of Mistakes: Mistakes Of Ambition And Mistakes Of Sloth.

Mistake

Ambition

Two

Reality Is Negotiable.

Life

Adventure

Reality

It's Not Enough To Have The Right Answers. You Have To Have The Right Questions.

Answers

Enough

Right Answers

The Decent Method You Follow Is Better Than The Perfect Method You Quit.

Perfect

Quitting

Method

Learn To Ask, "if This Is The Only Thing I Accomplish Today, Will I Be Satisfied With My Day?"

Work

Today

Accomplish

The Reason I Was Successful In Launching My First Book With Bloggers Is This: I Assumed That I Should Spend As Much Time On A Blogger With A Million-person Readership As I Would Pitching An Editor Of A Publication With A Million Person Subscription-base.

Book

Successful

Editors

Luxury Is Feeling Unrushed. It Is Designing A Life That Allows You To Do What You Want With High Leverage, With Many Options, All While Feeling Unrushed.

Luxury

Design

Feelings

With A Decrease In The Number Of Pirates, There Has Been An Increase In Global Warming Over The Same Period. Therefore, Global Warming Is Caused By A Lack Of Pirates. Even More Compelling: Somalia Has The Highest Number Of Pirates And The Lowest Carbon Emissions Of Any Country. Coincidence?

Country

Numbers

Carbon Emissions

Happiness Has A Very Short Half-life.

Most Inputs Are Useless And Time Is Wasted In Proportion To The Amount That Is Available.

Work

Useless

Input

I Gauge Success In Years, Not Weeks. The Weekend Box-office Approach To Book Launches Is Short Sighted And Encourages Crappy Books.

Book

Weekend

Years

There Are Tons Of Things In Your Home And Life That You Don't Use, Need, Or Even Particularly Want. They Just Came Into Your Life As Impulsive Flotsam And Jetsam And Never Found A Good Exit. Whether You're Aware Of It Or Not, This Clutter Creates Indecision And Distractions.

Home

Exit

Needs

Everyone Is Going To Binge On A Diet, For Instance, So Plan For It, Schedule It, And Contain The Damage.

Damage Is Done

Schedules

Plans

Someday Is A Dis-ease That Will Take Your Dreams To The Grave With You.

Dream

Entrepreneur

Ease

Doing Less Is Not Being Lazy. Don't Give In To A Culture That Values Personal Sacrifice Over Personal Productivity.

Sacrifice

Giving

Lazy

There Is An Infinite Selection Of Things That I Could Test In Life, So I Generally Will Look For A Critical Mass Of Word That Comes Back To Me. At This Point I Have Hundreds Of Friends Who Are The Best At What They Do, Arguably Number One In The Country Or In The World. I Will Oftentimes Just Kind Of Throw A Volley Out To People, Ask Them What They're Obsessing On Or What They Find Interesting That's On The Fringe. If The Same Answer Comes Back A Few Times, I'm Like, "okay."

Country

Interesting

People

People Really Do Think They Have To Choose Between High Stress And High Reward Jobs, And Low Stress And Low Reward Jobs.

Jobs

Stress

Thinking

People Feel Personally Slighted If You Don't Respond To Them In 30 Seconds And Treat Email As Instant Messenger.

People

Instant

Slighted

Massive Elimination Is The Most Important Step And The Most Neglected Step For Entrepreneurs.

Entrepreneur

Important

Steps

Dreamlining Is So Named Because It Applies Timelines To What Most Would Consider Dreams.

Dream

Timelines

Becoming A Member Of The Nr Is Not Just About Working Smarter. It's About Building A System To Replace Yourself.

Inspirational

Becoming

Building

It's Amazing How Someone's Iq Seems To Double As Soon As You Give Them Responsibility And Indicate That You Trust Them.

Responsibility

Giving

Seems

The Way We Measure Productivity Is Flawed. People Checking Their Blackberry Over Dinner Is Not The Measure Of Productivity.

People

Dinner

Way

In All Cases Where Doubt Crops Up, Ask Yourself, "if I Had A Gun To My Head And Had To Do It, How Would I Do It?" It's Not As Hard As You Think.

Gun

Thinking

Doubt

$1,000,000 In The Bank Isn't The Fantasy. The Fantasy Is The Lifestyle Of Complete Freedom It Supposedly Allows.

Inspirational

Fantasy

Lifestyle

The Bottom Line Is That You Only Have The Rights You Fight For.

Inspirational

Fighting

Rights

The Problem With New Year's Resolutions - And Resolutions To 'get In Better Shape' In General, Which Are Very Amorphous - Is That People Try To Adopt Too Many Behavioral Changes At Once. It Doesn't Work. I Don't Care If You're A World-class Ceo - You'll Quit.

New Year

Class

Years

Fun Things Happen When You Earn Dollars, Live On Pesos, And Compensate In Rupees.

Fun

Work

Dollars

The Downstream Effects Are Unknown. Do Your Best And Hope For The Best. If You're Improving The World-however You Define That-consider Your Job Well Done.

Jobs

Done

World

Creating Demand Is Hard. Filling Demand Is Easier. Don't Create A Product, Then Seek Someone To Sell It To. Find A Market - Define Your Customers - Then Find Or Develop A Product For Them.

Creating

Demand

Easier

I Still Feel There Are Much Smarter Self-promoters Out There Than Me. I Am Very Methodical About My Messaging, And I Know How To Gain Attention Very Quickly.

Self

Gains

Attention

I'm Often Asked How I Define "success." It's An Overused Term, But I Fundamentally View This Elusive Beast As A Combination Of Two Things - Achievement And Appreciation. One Isn't Enough: Achievement Without Appreciation Makes You Ambitious But Miserable. Appreciation Without Achievement Makes You Unambitious But Happy.

Appreciation

Views

Two

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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Stephen Vincent Benet