Canoeing Was Hard And Scary, And The Wind Could Blow You Across The Lake If You Did It Wrong. After A Year Of Not Doing It Right, I Could Talk To People And Get Them To Sit Up Straight, Take Different Kinds Of Chances, To Breathe Differently, To Engage In The Moment In The Boat. And I Changed Them, And I Changed Me In The Process.

-Seth Godin

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Canoeing Was Hard And

Seth Godin

Topic

Art Is Never Defect-free. Things That Are Remarkable Never Meet Spec, Because That Would Make Them Standardized, Not Worth Talking About.

Art

Talking

Free Things

How Was Your Day? If Your Answer Was "fine," Then I Don't Think You Were Leading.

Thinking

Answers

Fine

The Devil Doesn't Need An Advocate. The Brave Need Supporters, Not Critics

Brave

Devil

Needs

Finding New Ways, More Clever Ways To Interrupt People Doesn't Work.

Clever

People

Marketing

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

Opposites

Overcoming

Helping

The Purpose Of An Elevator Pitch Is To Describe A Situation Or Solution So Compelling That The Person You're With Wants To Hear More Even After The Elevator Ride Is Over.

Purpose

Want

Elevators

Your Success Is No Longer About Your Ability To Do What You Are Told, And Do It Well.

Ability

Wells

Don't Find Customers For Your Products, Find Products For Your Customers.

Motivational

Business

Loyal Customers

Figure Out The People Part And The Technology Gets A Whole Lot Simpler.

Technology

People

Figures

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

You Cannot Buy Your Way To Share Of Voice Today; You Cannot Buy Attention Anymore.

Voice

Attention

Today

It's Uncomfortable To Resist The Urge To Settle.

Mediocrity

Settling

Status Quo

The Only Purpose Of Starting Is To Finish

Inspirational

Purpose

Starting

If You Use Your Money To Create Exceptional Products And Services, You Won't Need To Spend It On Advertising.

Needs

Use

Advertising

It's Human Nature To Quit When It Hurts. But It's That Reflex That Creates Scarcity.

Hurt

Scarcity

Quitting

Playing The Game Is A Form Of Winning The Game. In Those Competitions, We Win By Being Resilient.

Winning

Games

Competition

Make Something Happen Today, Before You Go Home, Before The End Of The Week. Launch That Idea, Post That Post, Run That Ad, Call That Customer. Go The Edge, That Edge You've Been Holding Back From... And Do It Today. Without Waiting For The Committee Or Your Boss Or The Market. Just Go.

Running

Home

Ideas

The Reason Business Writing Is Horrible Is That People Are Afraid. Afraid To Say What They Mean, Because They Might Be Criticized For It. Afraid To Be Misunderstood, To Be Accused Of Saying What They Didn't Mean, Because They Might Be Criticized For It.

Writing

Mean

People

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

Stuff

Quitting

Winner

Things That Look Like Shortcuts Are Actually Detours (disguised As Less Work).

Looks

Detours

Shortcuts

In A Battle Between Two Ideas, The Best One Doesn't Necessarily Win. No, The Idea That Wins Is The One With The Most Fearless Heretic Behind It.

Motivational

Inspiring

Leadership

I See Things Differently When I'm Focused On Opening Doors For Other People, And More Often Than Not, My Doors Are Opened As Well.

Doors

People

Wells

There's No Life-work Balance. I Think You Have To Have The Discipline To Have The Life You Want To Have. And If You Are Stealing From One Part Of Your Life In Order To Make The Other Part Work, You Are Going To Pay For It.

Thinking

Order

Discipline

Art Is When We Do Work That Matters In A Creative Way, In A Way That Touches (people) And Changes Them For The Better.

Art

People

Creative

After You Produce You Can Select. You Can Curate. You Can Censor. But For Now, Have Bad Ideas, Lots And Lots Of Bad Ideas.

Ideas

Select

Produce

Dreams Are Difficult To Build And Easy To Destroy.

Dream

Easy

Difficult

Good Advice Is Priceless. Not What You Want To Hear, But What You Need To Hear. Not Imaginary, But Practical. Not Based On Fear, But On Possibility. Not Designed To Make You Feel Better, Designed To Make You Better. Seek It Out And Embrace The True Friends That Care Enough To Risk Sharing It. I'm Not Sure What Takes More Guts-giving It Or Getting It.

True Friend

Feel Better

Giving

Every Day I Meet People Who Have So Much To Give But Have Been...frighten Ed Enough To Hold It Back. It's Time To Stop Complying With The System And Draw Your Own Map. You Have Brilliance In You, Your Contribution Is Essential, And The Art You Create Is Precious. Only You Can Do It, And You Must.

Art

People

Giving

Art Is The Act Of Navigating Without A Map.

Art

Maps

Art Is

The Object Isn't To Be Perfect. The Goal Isn't To Hold Back Until You've Created Something Beyond Reproach. I Believe The Opposite Is True. Our Birthright Is To Fail And To Fail Often, But To Fail In Search Of Something Bigger Than We Can Imagine. To Do Anything Else Is To Waste It All.

Believe

Opposites

Perfect

Everyone Picks The Best One When Given A Choice.

Choices

Given

Picks

Before You Promise To Change The World, It Makes Sense To Do The Hard Work Of Changing Your Neighborhood.

Hard Work

Promise

World

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

Good Ideas Come From Bad Ideas, But Only If There Are Enough Of Them.

Ideas

Motivational Business

Enough

Marketing Begins Before The Product Is Launched.

Inspiring

Business

Marketing

The Enemy Of Creativity... Is Fear. We're All Born Creative, It Takes A Little While To Become Afraid. A Surprising Insight: An Enemy Of Fear Is Creativity. Acting In A Creative Way Generates Action, And Action Persuades The Fear To Lighten Up.

Creativity

Creative

Enemy

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

Marketing

Junk

Doe

The Largest Enemy Of Change Isn't 'no', It's 'not Yet' - That Is The Easiest Way To Forestall Change.

Enemy

Way

If You Don't Like Your Definition Of 'good Enough', Then Feel Free To Change That, But The Goal Before Shipping Is Merely That. Not Perfect.

Perfect

Goal

Definitions

If Your Project Or Organization Depends On Knowing Things That Other People Don't Know (but Could Find Out If They Wanted To), Your Days Are Probably Numbered. Ask A Travel Agent The Alternative, While Difficult, Is Obvious. Provide Enough Non-commodity Service And Customization That It Doesn't Matter If The Ideas Spread. In Fact, It Will Help You When They Do.

Organization

Ideas

Knowing

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

If You Can't Sell To 1 In 1000, Why Market To A Million?

Marketing

Ifs

Millions

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

Coal

Canaries

Mines

You're Competing Against People In A State Of Flow, People Who Are Truly Committed, People Who Care Deeply About The Outcome.

People

Entrepreneur

Who Cares

If You Are Wiling To Do Something That Might Not Work, You Are Closer To Being An Artist.

Creativity

Artist

Might

A Well-defined Backup Plan Is Sabotage Waiting To Happen. Why Push Through The Dip, Why Take The Risk, Why Blow It All When There's The Comfortable Alternative Instead? The People Who Break Through Usually Have Nothing To Lose, And They Almost Never Have A Backup Plan.

Motivational

Success

Blow

The Only People Who Get Paid What They're Worth Are People Who Don't Follow The Instruction Book, Who Create Art, Who Are Innovative, Who Work Without A Map.

Art

Book

People

Marketing Is No Longer About The Stuff That You Male, But About The Stories You Tell.

Marketing

Stuff

Males

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

Unique

Opportunity

Way

Surprise And Differentiation Have Far More Impact Than Noise Does.

Impact

Doe

Differentiation

Marketing Tells A Story That Spreads. Sales Overcomes The Natural Resistance To Say Yes.

Marketing

Overcoming

Stories

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

People

Needs

Convince

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

In General, Organizations Are Afraid To Fire Customers, No Matter How Unreasonable. This Is A Mistake. It's Good For You.

Mistake

Fire

Organization

The Future Isn't So Much About Absorbing Or Tolerating Change, It's About Making Change.

Making Changes

Absorbing

A Brilliant Author Or Businesswoman Or Senator Or Software Engineer Is Brilliant Only In Tiny Bursts. The Rest Of The Time, They’re Doing Work That Most Any Trained Person Could Do.

Tiny

Brilliant

Software

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

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

Needs

Care

Our Lives

The Way You Make Something Happen Is To Do Something That A Fool Could Screw Up.

Screw Ups

Way

Fool

I Was Amplifying The Negative At The Expense Of The Positive, Not To Serve Any Useful Function, Not To Make My Writing Better, But To Destroy It. The Lizard Brain, So Attuned To People Laughing Behind Our Backs, Was On High Alert For This Sort Of Criticism And Would Do Anything It Could To Stop Me From Writing Again. I Haven't Sought Out And Read A Review Or A Tweet Since.

Life

Work

Writing

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

The Best Creative Solutions Don't Come From Finding Good Answers To The Questions That Are Presented... They Come From Inventing New Questions!

Creative

Answers

Findings

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

Differences

Marketing

Making A Difference

Saying 'no' Or Even 'stop' Is The Hallmark Of The Professional You Want On Your Team.

Team

Want

Saying No

Play A New Game, Not The Older Game But Faster.

Games

Play

Faster

Fear For A Linchpin Is A Clue That You're Getting Close To Doing Something Important.

Important

Clue

I Don't Like Offending People, And It's Easy To Offend People When You Don't Know As Much As They Do. This Group Knows More About What It Takes To Lead In This Way Than I Ever Will. My Goal Is To Push People, But I Need To Do It From A Place Of Respect.

Humility

Offending

People

It's Almost Impossible To Have Fun Playing Ping Pong With Someone Who Doesn't Care, Won't Try Or Isn't Any Good.

Fun

Trying

Ping Pong

When Your Art Fails, Make Better Art.

Art

Deception

Failing

Permission Marketing Turns Strangers Into Friends And Friends Into Loyal Customers. It's Not Just About Entertainment - It's About Education. Permission Marketing Is Curriculum Marketing.

Educational

Loyal Customers

Marketing

I Learned That A Long Walk And Calm Conversation Are An Incredible Combination If You Want To Build A Bridge.

Long Walks

Bridges

Want

Don't Try To Be The 'next'. Instead, Try To Be The Other, The Changer, The New.

Business

Trying

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

I'll Confess That I Don't Watch The Olympics, But You'd Have To Be Living Under A Rock To Be Unaware Of The Corruption And The Expense. An Amorphous Organization With No Transparency, Unclear Lines Of Responsibility, Huge Amounts Of Politics And A Great Deal Of Unearned Power.

Responsibility

Rocks

Organization

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

Inspirational

Change

Too Late

Lack Of Resources (payroll), Time And Competing Priorities Are Why So Many Nonprofits Haven't Done Well. It's That Simple.

Business

Simple

Priorities

The Second Person To Write A Story About A Young Boy And An Escaped Slave On The Mississippi Wasn't A Novelist, He Was A Typist.

Writing

Boys

Novelists

A Book Is A Souvenir Of An Idea.

Book

Ideas

Souvenirs

If You Can’t State Your Position In Eight Words, You Don’t Have A Position.

Eight

States

Position

Set A Goal, And In Small, Consistent Steps, Work To Reach It. Get Support From Your Peers When You Start Flagging. Repeat. You Will Change.

Inspirational

Goal

Support

So By Giving People A Tool That They Can Share And Benefit From, It's A Form Of Media That Isn't Controlled By Rupert Murdoch Or The Guys At Viacom. It Is A Form Of Media That Is Earned Every Single Time It Spreads.

Media

Giving

People

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

I Hope I'm Better Looking Than Yoda, But - I'm Really Interested In People Who Have Something To Say, A Change They Want To Make And Can't Figure Out Why They Can't Make It Spread.

People

Want

Figures

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

Take The Long Way. Do The Hard Work, Consistently And With Generosity And Transparency. And Then You Won't Waste Time Doing It Over.

Hard Work

Long

Generosity

If You're Going To Invest A Valuable Asset (like Time), Go Ahead And Make It Productive. Use A Postit Or Two, Or Some Index Cards Or A Highlighter. Not To Write Down Stuff So You Can Forget It Later, But To Create Marching Orders. It's Simple: If Three Weeks Go By And You Haven't Taken Action On What You've Written Down, You Wasted Your Time.

Business

Taken

Writing

Change Isn't Made By Asking Permission. Change Is Made By Asking Forgiveness, Later.

Change

Asking Permission

Asking For Forgiveness

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

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.

Successful

Caring

Thinking

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

People

Laptops

Computer

What Tribes Are, Is A Very Simple Concept That Goes Back 50 Million Years. It's About Leading And Connecting People And Ideas. And It's Something That People Have Wanted Forever.

Simple

Ideas

Years

Great Stories Agree With Our Worldview. The Best Stories Don't Teach People Anything New. Instead The Best Stories Agree With What The Audience Already Believes And Makes The Members Of The Audience Feel Smart And Secure When Reminded How Right They Were In The Thirst Place.

Smart

Believe

People

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

Ignorance

Two Sides

Coins

For Most Modern Marketers, Quantity Isn't The Point. What Matters Is To Matter. Lives Changed. Work That Made An Actual Difference. Connection.

Life Changing

What Matters

Differences

Seeing, Despite The Name, Isn’t Merely Visual.

Names

Visuals

Despite

When You Think About Uber And Airbnb And The Other Companies That Are Turning Things Upside Down, Uber Isn't Big 'cause They Ran A Lot Of Ads. They're Big Because Someone Took Out Their Iphone And Said To Their Friend, Watch This, And Pressed A Button And A Car Pulled Up.

Thinking

Iphone

Uber

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

Guts

Contributing

If You Think Cat Food Is For Cats, How Come It Doesn't Come In Mouse Flavor?

Cat

Thinking

Flavor

Anything Worth Achieving In Life Has A Dip

Dip

Achieve

Emotions Are Far More Contagious Than Any Disease. A Smile Or A Panic Will Spread Through A Group Of People Far Faster Than Any Virus Ever Could. When You Walk Into The Office Or A Negotiation, Then, Wash Your Bad Mood Away Before You See Us. Don't Cough On Us, Don't Sneeze On Us, Sure, But Don't Bring Your Grouchiness, Your Skepticism Or Your Fear In Here Either. It Might Spread.

Motivational

Office

People

If You Can't Be Remarkable, Perhaps You Should Consider Doing Nothing Until You Can.

Doing Nothing

Should

Remarkable

If You Hesitate To Map Out Your Future, To Make A Big Plan Or To Set A Goal, You've Just Gone Ahead And Mapped Your Future Anyway.

Goal

Gone

Maps

Turn Strangers Into Friends. Turn Friends Into Donors. And Then Do The Most Important Job: Turn Your Donors Into Fundraisers.

Jobs

Important

Stranger

Fear Is The Dream Killer, The Silent Voice That Pushes Us To Lose Our Passion In A Vain Attempt To Seek Safety.

Dream

Passion

Voice

Remarkable Visions And Genuine Insight Are Always Met With Resistance. And When You Start To Make Progress, Your Efforts Are Met With Even More Resistance. Products, Services, Career Paths... Whatever It Is, The Forces For Mediocrity Will Align To Stop You, Forgiving No Errors And Never Backing Down Until It's Over

Careers

Errors

Effort

People Who Can Spread Ideas Regardless Of What Those Ideas Are, Win.

Winning

Ideas

People

Ideas Aren't A Sideshow That Make Our Factory A Little More Valuable. Our Factory Is A Sideshow That Makes Our Ideas A Little More Valuable!

Ideas

Littles

Factories

Today, Not Starting Is Far, Far Worse Than Being Wrong. If You Start, You've Got A Shot At Evolving And Adjusting To Turn Your Wrong Into A Right. But If You Don't Start, You Never Get A Chance.

Adjusting

Today

Chance

Just About Anything Worth Doing Is Worth Doing Better.

Anything Worth Doing

But If The Cow Is Purple, You'd Notice It, Ok? The Thing That's Going To Decide What Gets Talked About, What Gets Done, What Gets Changed, What Gets Purchased, What Gets Built Is, Is It Remarkable? And Remarkable's A Really Cool Word 'cause We Think It Just Means Neat, But It Also Means Worth Making A Remark About, And That Is The Essence Of Where Idea Diffusion Is Going.

Mean

Thinking

Essence

Which Are You?...competen T, Inspiring, Passionate, Obsessed, Provocative, Impatient, Hungry, Driven, Adoring, Inspired, An Artist, A Genius, Someone Who Cares...? With All These Remarkable, Powerful, Important Options Available To Each Of Us, Why Do So Many Of Us Default To Competent?

Powerful

Artist

Important

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

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

Go Ahead And Act As If Your Decisions Are Temporary. Because They Are. Be Bold, Make Mistakes, Learn A Lesson, And Fix What Doesn't Work. No Sweat, No Need To Hyperventilate.

Mistake

Sweat

Decision

Being Aware Of Your Fear Is Smart. Overcoming It Is The Mark Of A Successful Person.

Inspirational

Fear

Smart

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

Art

Decision

Looking Forward

Who Gets To Decide What You Want?

Choices

Want

What You Want

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

Do The Emotional Labor Of Working On Things That Others Fear.

Emotional

Labor

Facts Are Irrelevant. What Matters Is What The Consumer Believes.

Believe

What Matters

Facts

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

Years

Different

Nine

The Problem With Putting It All On The Line Is That It Might Not Work Out. The Problem With Not Putting It All On The Line Is That It Will Never (ever) Change Things For The Better. Not Much Of A Choice, I Think.

Thinking

Work Out

Choices

Those That Spend The Most Effort In Search Of Shortcuts Are Often The Most Disappointed And The Least Successful.

Successful

Effort

Shortcuts

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 Think The Most Productive Thing To Do During Times Of Change Is To Be Your Best Self, Not The Best Version Of Someone Else.

Thinking

Self

Things To Do

Teaching Young People To Sell Is A Priceless Gift.

Teaching

People

Priceless

Soon Is Not As Good As Now.

Time Management

Your Positions On Everything Are Based On The Story You Tell Yourself And Not Some Universal Fact From The Universal Fact Database.

Stories

Databases

Facts

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

Differences

Criticism

Making A Difference

Great Work Is Always Shunned At First.

Firsts

Great Work

You Have To Find A Group That Really Desperately Cares About What It Is You Have To Say. Talk To Them. They Have Something I Call Otaku. It's A Great Japanese Word. It Describes The Desire Of Someone Who's Obsessed To, Say, Drive Across Tokyo To Try A New Ramen Noodle Place 'cause That's What They Do, They Get Obsessed With It.

Desire

Trying

Care

If You're Passionate, Be Passionate Enough To Fail. Fail Small, Accept Responsibility, Repeat. The People Who Make Change Are The Survivors Of Serial Failure.

Responsibility

People

Survivor

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

The People Who Are The Best In The World Specialize At Getting Really Good At The Questions They Don't Know.

People

World

Knows

The Resistance Is Not Something To Be Avoided, It's Something To Seek Out.

Resistance

Avoided

Go Do Something Interesting. Ask If You Need Help.

Interesting

Needs

Helping

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

Connections

Engagement

Dialogue

We Long To Connect, All Of Us. We Long To Be Noticed, To Be Cared For, To Matter. Generosity Is The Invisible Salve On Our Wound Of Loneliness, One That Benefits Both Sides, Over And Over Again.

Loneliness

Long

Generosity

Art Changes Posture And Posture Changes Innocent Bystanders.

Art

Bystanders

Innocent

One Reason People Who Spend A Lot Of Time Thinking About And Working On A Problem Or A Craft Seem To Find Breakthroughs More Often Than Everyone Else Is That They've Failed More Often Than Everyone Else.

Thinking

People

Crafts

Art Is Frightening. Art Isn't Pretty. Art Isn't Painting. Art Isn't Something You Hang On The Wall. Art Is What We Do When We're Truly Alive. An Artist Is Someone Who Uses Bravery, Insight, Creativity, And Boldness To Challenge The Status Quo. And An Artist Takes It (all Of It, The Work, The Process, The Feedback From Those We Seek To Connect With) Personally.

Art

Wall

Creativity

If You Don't Know How It Works, Find Out. If You're Not Sure If It Will Work, Try It. If It Doesn't Make Sense, Play With It Until It Does. If It's Not Broken, Break It. If It Might Not Be True, Find Out.

Play

Broken

Trying

A Business Owner Is The Boss, But It's A Job, A Place That Is Stable And Profitable. An Entrepreneur Is An Artist Of Sorts, Throwing His/herself Into Impossible Situations And Seeking Out Problems That Require Heart And Guts To Solve. Both Are Fine, But Choose.

Jobs

Heart

Artist

You Want It To Be Hard. If It's Hard, Then That Means Others Can't Do It Easily And You Can Charge For That Value.

Mean

Want

Hard

The Tiny Cost Of Failure...is Dwarfed By The Huge Cost Of Not Trying.

Leadership

Trying

Cost

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

People

Brave

Needs

It's More Important That You Be Passionate About What You Do All Day Than It Is To Be Passionate About The Product That Is Being Sold.

Important

Passionate

Products

The Job Is Not The Work.

Jobs

Conformist

And It Doesn't Matter To Me Whether You're Running A Coffee Shop Or You're An Intellectual Or You're In Business Or Flying Hot Air Balloons. People Who Can Spread Ideas, Regardless Of What Those Ideas Are, Win. But Consumers, They Got Way More Choices Than They Used To And Way Less Time.

Running

Coffee

Winning

I Have Something To Say. I Know How To Do Something. I’m Doing It. If You Want Me To Do It With You, Raise Your Hand.

Hands

Want

Raises

Fire The Committee. No Great Website In History Has Been Conceived Of By More Than Three People. Not One. This Is A Deal Breaker.

Business

Fire

People

Marketing Is The Act Of Inventing The Product. The Effort Of Designing It. The Craft Of Producing It. The Art Of Pricing It. The Technique Of Selling It.

Art

Design

Effort

The Time To Look For A New Job Is When You Don't Need One. The Time To Switch Jobs Is Before It Feels Comfortable.

Jobs

New Job

Needs

Mass Marketing Means Appealing To The Masses Which Means Appealing To The Average.

Mean

Average

Marketing

All Great Programmers Learn The Same Way. They Poke The Box. They Code Something And See What The Computer Does. They Change It And See What The Computer Does. They Repeat The Process Again And Again Until They Figure Out How The Box Works.

Doe

Way

Computer

The Brand Of The Future...is Patient, Consistent, Connected, And Trusted. The New Brand Is Based On The Truth That Only Comes From Experiencing The Product, Not Just Yelling About It. Word Of Mouth Is More Important (by A Factor Of 20) Than Tv Advertising, And The Remarkability Word Of Mouth Demands Comes From What We Experience, Not From Spin Or Taglines Or A Campaign Slogan.

Yelling

Important

Campaigns

Where Do You Put The Fear When You Choose To Innovate? The Fear Is There, But You Have To Find A Place To Put It.

Perseverance

Fear

Failure

The Way The World Works Now, The Way The Rules Of Engagement Operate, You Can't Claim To Make Sense Out Of The Exterior Without Booking Voyages Into The Interior. Think About It: How Can You Understand 'it' If You Haven't Made Any Effort To Understand 'you'? Because What You're Really Doing Is Establishing A Living, Electrical, Vital, Energetic Connection Between It And You. You're Creating Both Of Them, Simultaneously. A Lot Like Quantum Physics.

Thinking

Self

Creating

You Are Not Your Resume, You Are Your Work.

Motivational

Inspiring

Business

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

Being A Leader Gives You Charisma. If You Look And Study The Leaders Who Have Succeeded, That's Where Charisma Comes From, From The Leading.

Giving

Leader

Looks

'good Enough' Stopped Being Good Enough A Long Time Ago. So Why Not Be Great?

Long

Why Not

Mediocrity

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

Fashion

Unexpected

Unexpected Places

Don’t Do It Because It’s Your Job, Do It Because You Can.

Jobs

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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