Background Image
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.
-Seth Godin
Please Wait....
Translating....

Leadership Is Scarce Because

Seth Godin
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.
Views: 6
Topic
Ideas
People
Leader
More From Seth Godin
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
Gifts Are Not Favors. If You Expect Something In Return, It's Not A Gift.
Favors
Return
Ifs
You Dont Need To Convince Everyone. All You Need To Do Is Motivate People Who Choose To Follow You.
People
Needs
Convince
All Motivation Is Self-motivation. Your Family, Your Boss, Or Your Co-workers Can Try To Get Your Engine Going, But Until You Decide What To Accomplish, Nothing Will Happen.
Motivational
Accomplish Nothing
Self
Perhaps Your Challenge Isn't Finding A Better Project Or A Better Boss. Perhaps You Need To Get In Touch With What It Means To Feel Passionate. People With Passion Look For Ways To Make Things Happen.
Passion
Mean
People
Effort Is Its Own Reward If You Allow It To Be.
Effort
Rewards
Ifs
The Goal Of A Marketing Interaction Isn't To Close The Sale, Any More Than The Goal Of A First Date Is To Get Married. No, The Opportunity Is To Move Forward, To Earn Attention And Trust And Curiosity And Conversation.
Moving
Opportunity
Goal
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
You Can Listen To What People Say, Sure. But You Will Be Far More Effective If You Listen To What People Do.
Success
Effectiveness
People
Choose Your Customers, Choose Your Future.
Business
Your Future
Our Future
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
If You Want To Dig A Big Hole, You Need To Stay In One Place.
Change
Needs
Want
We Don't Become Mediocre All At Once, And We Rarely Do It On Purpose.
Entrepreneur
Purpose
Mediocre
The Reason They Want You To Fit In... Is That Once You Do, Then They Can Ignore You.
Mediocrity
Want
Fit
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
Emotional Labor Is Available To All Of Us, But It Is Rarely Exploited As A Competitive Advantage.
Inspirational
Emotional
Advantage
You Can Win With Consistent Benefits, Delivered Over Time. You Win By Incrementally Earning Share, Attention And Trust.
Winning
Marketing
Attention
Laptop Computers Dramatically Increased The Time People Spend Doing Work. (the Internet Dramatically Decreased It, So We're Even).
People
Laptops
Computer
The First Rule Of Doing Work That Matters: Go To Work On A Regular Basis.
Matter
Firsts
Bases
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
Go Ahead, Do Something Impossible.
Greatness
Impossible
It's Not About You, It's About The Next Person. The Single Best Use Of A Business Book Is To Help Someone Else. Sharing What You Read, Handing The Book To A Person Who Needs It... Pushing Those Around You To Get In Sync And To Take Action-that's The Main Reason It's A Book, Not A Video Or A Seminar. A Book Is A Souvenir And A Container And A Motivator And An Easily Leveraged Tool. Hoarding Books Makes Them Worth Less, Not More.
Business
Book
Next
Deadlines Have A Lousy Name. Call Them Live-lines Instead. That´t What They Are.
Names
Lines
Deadline
The Secret To Being Wrong Isn't To Avoid Being Wrong! The Secret Is Being Willing To Be Wrong. The Secret Is Realizing That Wrong Isn't Fatal.
Failure
Secret
Realizing
No One Ever Gets Talker's Block. No One Wakes Up In The Morning, Discovers He Has Nothing To Say, And Sits Quietly, For Days Or Weeks, Until The Muse Hits, Until The Moment Is Right, Until All The Craziness In His Life Has Died Down.
Morning
Block
Wake Up
Anticipated, Personal, And Relevant Advertising Always Does Better Than Unsolicited Junk.
Marketing
Junk
Doe
If You Can Influence The Outcome, Do The Work. If You Can't Influence The Outcome, Ignore The Possibility. It's Merely A Distraction.
Outcomes
Influence
Distraction
Studying Entrepreneurshi P Without Doing It... Is Like Studying The Appreciation Of Music Without Listening To It.
Appreciation
Listening
Study
If You Take Action, You Will Be Judged. There's No Way Around It. The Alternative, Of Course, Is Much Safer. To Be Ignored. Up To You.
Alternatives
Up To You
Way
The Problem With Holding A Grudge Is That Your Hands Are Then Too Full To Hold Onto Anything Else. It Might Be The Competition Or A Technology Or The Lousy Things That Someone Did A Decade Ago. None Of It Is Going To Get Better As A Result Of Revisiting The Grudge.
Technology
Hands
Competition
The Most Successful Givers Aren’t Doing It Because They’re Being Told To. They Do It Because Doing It Is Fun. It Gives Them Joy.
Fun
Successful
Giving
Marketing Isn't Done By Computers, It's Done By People. And People Who Sense Opportunity And Have The Confidence To Be Remarkable Will Always Defeat Defensive Actions By People Who Have Given Up.
Opportunity
People
Marketing
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
Ideas In Secret Die. They Need Light And Air Or They Starve To Death.
Business
Light
Air
Ideas That Spread Win.
Winning
Ideas
Ironic
The Only Reason To Build A Website Is To Change Someone. If You Can't Tell Me The Change And You Can't Tell Me The Someone, Then You're Wasting Your Time.
Reason
Wasting Your Time
Website
Just Saying Yes Because You Can't Bear The Short-term Pain Of Saying No Is Not Going To Help You Do The Work.
Pain
Choices
Saying Yes
Learning Is Not Done To You, It Is Something You Choose To Do.
Done
You Choose
People Are Not Afraid Of Failure, They're Afraid Of Blame.
Leadership
People
Engagement
Be Relentlessly Generous, Without Focusing On When It Will Come Back To You.
Generous
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
I Learned That A Long Walk And Calm Conversation Are An Incredible Combination If You Want To Build A Bridge.
Long Walks
Bridges
Want
Why Waste A Sentence Saying Nothing?
Successful
Inspire
Marketing
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.
Blow
Years
Wind
It's Human Nature To Quit When It Hurts. But It's That Reflex That Creates Scarcity.
Hurt
Scarcity
Quitting
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
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. For Now.
Running
Path
Where You Are
Our Job Is Obvious: We Need To Get Out Of The Way, Shine A Light, And Empower A New Generation To Teach Itself And To Go Further And Faster Than Any Generation Ever Has.
Jobs
Learning
Light
Who Gets To Decide What You Want?
Choices
Want
What You Want
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
If There Isn't A Good Reason, Go Home. If There Is, Then Do Something ... Loud, Now, And Memorable.
Home
Memorable
Greatness
And In A World Where We Have Too Many Choices And Too Little Time, The Obvious Thing To Do Is Just Ignore Stuff. And My Parable Here Is, You're Driving Down The Road And You See A Cow, And You Keep Driving 'cause You've Seen Cows Before. Cows Are Invisible. Cows Are Boring. Who's Going To Stop And Pull Over And Say, Oh, Look, A Cow? Nobody.
Obvious Things
Choices
Littles
If You Are Afraid To Write Or Edit Or Assemble Or Disassemble, You Are Merely A Spectator. And You Are Trapped, Trapped By The Instructions Of Those You've Chosen To Follow. Twenty People In The Field And Eighty Thousand In The Stands. The Spectators Are The Ones Who Paid To Watch, But It's The Player On The Field Who Are Truly Alive.
Motivational
Writing
Player
When You Can Swim, Who Cares How Deep The Water Is?
Water
Swim
Who Cares
A Tribe Is A Group Of People Connected To One Another, Connected To A Leader, And Connected To An Idea. For Millions Of Years, Human Beings Have Been Part Of One Tribe Or Another. A Group Needs Only Two Things To Be A Tribe: A Shared Interest And A Way To Communicate.
Years
Ideas
Two
Marketing Is The Way Your People Answer The Phone, The Typesetting On Your Bills And Your Return Policy.
Phones
People
Marketing
Social Networking That Matters Is Helping People Archive Their Goals. Doing It Reliably And Repeatability So That Over Time People Have An Interest In Helping You Achieve Your Goals.
People
Goal
Archives
New Fashions (of All Sorts) Come From Unexpected Places, Not From The Arbiters Of What's Correct.
Fashion
Unexpected
Unexpected Places
Just Because The Tide Is Out, Doesn't Mean There Is Less Water In The Ocean.
Wise
Wisdom
Clever
Without A Specific Reason For The Consumer To Behave, Without A Reward Or Benefit, The Overwhelmed Consumer Will Refuse.
Benefits
Rewards
Social Media
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
Competition And The Market Are Like Water, They Go Where They Want
Water
Competition
Want
Average Feels Safe But It's Not. It's Invisible.
Average
Safe
Invisible
No Niche Is Too Small If It's Yours.
Niche
Ifs
If You Don't Get It Built, The Work Doesn't Matter.
Matter
Built
Ifs
Now For The First Time, You Can Choose Yourself. You Can Be Responsible For What You Do And How You Do It. You Have To Do The Hard Work Of Finding And Pleasing An Audience.
Hard Work
Firsts
Responsible
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
If It's Worth Doing, It's Worth Doing Well.
Best Effort
Worth Waiting For
Chinese Proverb
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
The Competitive Advantages The Marketplace Demands Is Someone More Human, Connected, And Mature. Someone With Passion And Energy, Capable Of Seeing Things As They Are And Negotiating Multiple Priorities As She Makes Useful Decisions Without Angst. Flexible In The Face Of Change, Resilient In The Face Of Confusion. All Of These Attributes Are Choices, Not Talents, And All Of Them Are Available To You.
Passion
Confusion
Choices
Habits Are Where Our Lives And Careers And Bodies Are Made.
Careers
Body
Habit
You Can't Have Good Ideas Unless You're Willing To Generate A Lot Of Bad Ones.
Fear
Failure
Ideas
The Joy Of Art Is Particularly Sweet, Though, Because It Carries With It The Threat Of Rejection, Of Failure, And Of Missed Connections. It's Precisely The High-wire Act Of "this Might Not Work" That Makes Original Art Worth Doing.
Life
Sweet
Art
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
Communication Is The Transfer Of Emotion.
Communication
Emotion
Transfers
Play A New Game, Not The Older Game But Faster.
Games
Play
Faster
Don't Waste Time Looking For A Better Pencil: Learn To Write Better.
Writing
Waste
Wasting Time
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
Excellence Isn’t About Meeting The Spec, It’s About Setting The Spec. It Defines What The Consumer Sees As Quality Right This Minute, And Tomorrow, If You’re Good, You’ll Reset That Expectation Again
Expectations
Excellence
Quality
Set Up A Life You Don't Need To Escape From.
Inspirational
Work
Needs
Sometimes, We're So Focused On Being Consistent That We Also Lower The Bar On Amazing. After All, The Thinking Goes, If We Can't Be Amazing All The Time, Better To Reset The Expectation To Merely Good. Which Robs Us Of The Ability To (sometimes) Be Amazing.
Thinking
Expectations
Bars
Earn Trust, Earn Trust, Earn Trust. Then You Can Worry About The Rest.
Worry
Earning Trust
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
Are You Copying Others? People Won't Pay Extra For That. You Won't Be Followed For That.
People
Copying
Pay
Art Is A Human Act, A Generous Contribution, Something That Might Not Work, And It Is Intended To Change The Recipient For The Better, Often Causing A Connection To Happen.
Art
Connections
Might
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
Many People Believe That Great Designers Get Great Clients. It's The Other Way Around.
Believe
People
Way
Human Nature Is To Need A Map. If You’re Brave Enough To Draw One, People Will Follow.
People
Brave
Needs
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
Most Of The Time, Creative Entrepreneurs Lose Interest Long Before Their Marketing Message Loses Its Power.
Long
Entrepreneur
Creative
'good Enough' Stopped Being Good Enough A Long Time Ago. So Why Not Be Great?
Long
Why Not
Mediocrity
The Enemy Of Fear Is Creativity.
Creativity
Enemy
It's Pretty Easy To Decide To Roll With The Punches, To Look At The Enormity Of Natural Disaster And Choose To Hunker Down And Do Less. It's More Important Than Ever, I Think, To Persist And Make A Dent In The Universe Instead. We've All Been Offered Access To So Many Tools, So Many Valuable Connections, So Many Committed People. What An Opportunity.
Opportunity
Thinking
People
The Problem With Words Is That They Easily Lose Their Meaning. Say Something Often Enough And It Becomes A Tic, Not An Expression Of How You Actually Feel. Not Only That, But Words Rarely Change Things. Actions Do.
Expression
Action
Problem
How Dare You Settle For Less When The World Has Made It So Easy For You To Be Remarkable?
Entrepreneur
World
Social Media
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
Dreamers Don't Have Special Genes. They Find Circumstances That Amplify Their Dreams.
Dream
Special
Amplify
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
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
Marketing Is The Art Of Seeing (and Then Creating) What Might Be Interesting To More Than Our Friends
Art
Creating
Interesting
The Future Isn't So Much About Absorbing Or Tolerating Change, It's About Making Change.
Making Changes
Absorbing
If Not Enough People Doubt You, You're Not Making A Difference.
Differences
People
Doubt
One Key To Learning And Success Is The Willingness To Try Something New, And Feel Momentarily Incompetent.
Keys
Trying
Something New
Stop Trying To Find The Formula That Will Instantly Make Your Idea Into A Winner. Instead Of Being Scientists, The Best Marketers Are Artists. They Realize That Whatever Is Being Sold Is Being Purchased, Because It Creates An Emotional Want, Not Because It Fills A Simple Need.
Artist
Simple
Emotional
No One Can Be Responsible For Where Or How We Each Begin. No One Has The Freedom To Do Anything Or Everything, And All Choices Bring Consequences. What We Choose To Do Next, Though, How To Spend Our Resources Or Attention Or Effort, This Is What Defines Us.
Motivational
Choices
Effort
There's No Shortage Of Great Ideas. There's A Shortage Of Execution.
Ideas
Execution
Great Idea
When The Room Brightens When You Walk In, You Matter.
Greatness
Matter
Rooms
People Who Can Spread Ideas Regardless Of What Those Ideas Are, Win.
Winning
Ideas
People
Art Is What We Call...the Thing An Artist Does. It's Not The Medium Or The Oil Or The Price Or Whether It Hangs On A Wall Or You Eat It. What Matters, What Makes It Art, Is That The Person Who Made It Overcame The Resistance, Ignored The Voice Of Doubt And Made Something Worth Making. Something Risky. Something Human. Art Is Not In The ...eye Of The Beholder. It's In The Soul Of The Artist.
Photography
Art
Wall
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
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
Real Content Marketing Isn’t Repurposed Advertising, It Is Making Something Worth Talking About.
Real
Talking
Marketing
A Book Is A Souvenir Of An Idea.
Book
Ideas
Souvenirs
The Definition Of A Revolution: It Destroys The Perfect And Enables The Impossible.
Perfect
Definitions
Revolution
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
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
Transferring Your Passion To Your Job Is Far Easier Than Finding A Job That Happens To Match Your Passion.
Peace
Jobs
Passion
Persistent People Are Able To Visualize The Idea Of Light At The End Of The Tunnel When Others Can't See It
Tunnels
Light
Ideas
If You Speak Up Online And Your Ideas Have Currency, People Are Going To Show Up And Want To Connect With You. What We Need More Of Are People With The Guts And Emotional Labour To Do This. The Greatest Shortage In Today's Society Is An Instinct To Produce.
Emotional
Ideas
People
The Status Quo Is Persistent And Resistant. It Exists Because Everyone Wants It To. Everyone Believes That What They've Got Is Probably Better Than The Risk And Fear That Come With Change.
Believe
Risk
Want
In Other Words, If You Don't Take Action, You Won't Get Any Results You Are Not Your Resume, You Are Your Work
Mind Blowing
Action
Resumes
If You Can’t State Your Position In Eight Words, You Don’t Have A Position.
Eight
States
Position
Courage Doesn't Always Involve Physical Heroism In The Face Of Death. It Doesn't Always Require Giant Leaps Worthy Of Celebration. Sometimes, Courage Is The Willingness To Speak The Truth About What You See And To Own What You Say.
Life
Motivational
Work
The Best Marketing Strategy Is To Destroy Your Industry Before Your Competition Does.
Competition
Marketing
Doe
The First Step To Getting Good Is Admitting That You Aren't (yet).
Admitting
Firsts
Steps
If You're Not Proud Of Where You Work, Go Work Somewhere Else.
Somewhere Else
Choices
Proud
What I Mean By Art Is The Human Act Of Doing Something That Connects Us To Someone Else
Art
Mean
Art Is
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
The Easiest Way To Thrive As An Outlier Is To Avoid Being One. At Least Among Your Most Treasured Peers. Surround Yourself With People In At Least As Much Of A Hurry, At Least As Inquisitive, At Least As Focused As You Are.
People
Peers
Way
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
We Do Not Need To Teach Students To Embrace The Status Quo.
Needs
Students
Embrace
In General, Organizations Are Afraid To Fire Customers, No Matter How Unreasonable. This Is A Mistake. It's Good For You.
Mistake
Fire
Organization
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
As You've Probably Discovered, Great Work Makes Us Uncomfortable.
Great Work
Uncomfortable
It Takes Three Years To Be An Overnight Success, Sometimes More.
Years
Three
Sometimes
The Habit Of Doing More Than Is Necessary Can Only Be Earned Through Practice.
Practice
Habit
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
When You Walk Around Braced For Impact, You're Dramatically Decreasing Your Chances. Your Chances To Avoid The Outcome You Fear, Your Chances To Make A Difference, And Your Chances To Breathe And Connect.
Impact
Differences
Making A Difference
Finding New Ways, More Clever Ways To Interrupt People Doesn't Work.
Clever
People
Marketing
I'm Not A Psychopath-i'm Wearing A Tie!
Ties
Psychopath
Positive Thinking Is Hard. Worth It, Though.
Positive
Attitude
Greatness
Keep Starting Until You Finish.
Starting
The Opposite Of Coherent Is Interesting.
Opposites
Interesting
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
Habits Are More Powerful Than Fears.
Powerful
Habit
You Can't Fool All The People, Not Even Most Of The Time. And People, Once Unfooled, Talk About The Experience.
Business
People
Marketing
What Evidence Would You Need To See To Change Your Mind About This?
Mind
Needs
Evidence
Making An Average Pitch To Average People, Or Having An Average Gala For Average People Isn't Going To Scale Anymore. You've Got To Find The People Who Care. Those People Are Worth All Of Your Time.
Average
People
Who Cares
The Market ... Demands A Signal From You That You're Serious, Powerful, Accepted, And Safe.
Powerful
Demand
Safe
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
Every Voice Doesn't Matter--only The Voices That Move Your Idea Forward, That Make It Better, That Make You Better, That Make It More Likely You Will Ship Work That Benefits Your Tribe.
Moving
Ideas
Voice
If You've Got The Platform And The Ability To Make A Difference, Then This Goes Beyond 'should' And Reaches The Level Of 'must.' You Must Make A Difference Or You Squander The Opportunity. Wasting The Opportunity Both Degrades Your Own Ability To Contribute And, More Urgently, Takes Something Away From The Rest Of Us.
Opportunity
Differences
Making A Difference
Soon Is Not As Good As Now.
Time Management
Art Isn't Only A Painting. Art Is Anything That's Creative, Passionate, And Personal. And Great Art Resonates With The Viewer, Not Only With The Creator... Art Is A Personal Gift That Changes The Recipient. The Medium Doesn't Matter. The Intent Does. Art Is A Personal Act Of Courage, Something One Human Does That Creates Change In Another.
Art
Creative
Doe
Cheap Is The Last Refuge Of A Product Developer Or Marketer Who Is Out Of Great Ideas.
Ideas
Lasts
Great Idea
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
If You're Remarkable It's Likely That Some People Won't Like You.
People
Like You
Remarkable
In A Race, Sooner Or Later There's A Moment That Separates The Winner From Those Who Don't Win. That Instant Is Your Chance, The Moment You've Been Waiting For.
Motivational
Sports
Winning
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.
Bullying
Games
Play
One Way To Think About Running A Successful Business Is To Figure Out What The Least You Can Do Is, And Do That.
Running
Business
Successful
...the Greatest Shortage In Our Society Is An Instinct To Produce. To Create Solutions And Hustle Them Out The Door. To Touch The Humanity Inside And Connect To The Humans In The Marketplace.
Doors
Humanity
Hustle
Being Charismatic Doesn't Make You A Leader. Being A Leader Makes You Charismatic.
Leader
Charismatic
Being A Leader
No One Can Force You To Stand Up, Speak Up And Make A Difference. But If You Back Off And Play Along, Please Understand That Whatever Happens Happened, At Least In Part, Because You Acquiesced.
Play
Differences
Making A Difference
Even Good Excuses, Really Good Ones, Don't Help Very Much. Explanations, On The Other Hand, Are Both Scarce And Useful. And Accurate Forecasts And Insightful Intuition Are Priceless.
Hands
Insightful
Intuition
You Can Game The Social Media In The Short Run, But Not For Long.
Running
Media
Games
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
You Don't Win An Olympic Gold Medal With A Few Weeks Of Intensive Training. There's No Such Thing As An Overnight Opera Sensation. Great Law Firms Or Design Companies Don't Spring Up Overnight... Every Great Company, Every Great Brand, And Every Great Career Has Been Built In Exactly The Same Way: Bit By Bit, Step By Step, Little By Little.
Motivational
Spring
Winning
One Key To Moving Forward Is Knowing What To Leave Behind.
Moving
Keys
Knowing
Art Is The Act Of Navigating Without A Map.
Art
Maps
Art Is
Don't Scale Because You Think There's A Pot Of Gold Over That Rainbow. Scale Because You're Ready And Eager To Do Heroic Work, Every Day, Forever.
Thinking
Rainbow
Forever
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
Remarkable Visions And Genuine Insights Are Always Met With Resistance.
Vision
Resistance
Genuine
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
Marketing Tells A Story That Spreads. Sales Overcomes The Natural Resistance To Say Yes.
Marketing
Overcoming
Stories
The Minute There's A Map, There Is No Art. Paint By Numbers Is Not Art. Paint By Numbers Is A Mechanical Activity.
Art
Numbers
Maps
The Goal In Blogging/ Business/ Inspiring Non-fiction Is To Share A Truth, Or At Least A Truth As The Writer Sees It. To Not Just Share It, But To Spread It And To Cause Change To Happen. You Can Do That In At Least Three Ways: With Research (your Own Or Reporting On Others), By Building And Describing Conceptual Structures, Or With Stories That Resonate.
Goal
Three
Fiction
We're Better In The Rearview Mirror Than We Are At Predicting - 'cause You're Never Going To Be Right Every Time. You Can Handicap It. You Can Point To Certain Elements That Make It Work, And Many Of Those Elements Come Straight Out Of Epidemiology, Right?
Mirrors
Epidemiology
Elements
Whining Isn't A Scalable Solution.
Whining
Solutions
The Instinct To Produce Great Work Doesn't Require A Fancy Notebook.
Notebook
Fancy
Instinct
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
It's Uncomfortable To Challenge The Status Quo.
Challenges
Mediocrity
Status Quo
I Think If Your Goal Is For Everything To Be Okay, That's A Mistake. To Achieve That Goal, The Only Obstacle You'd Have To Face Tomorrow Is To Eliminate All Risk ... I've Made The Decision That I'm Never Trying To Make Everything Okay. I'm Trying For There To Be More Loose Ends, Not Fewer Loose Ends.
Mistake
Thinking
Goal
Great Work Is The Result Of Seeking Out Tension, Not Avoiding It.
Great Work
Results
Tension
Make More Decisions. That's The Only Way To Get Better At It.
Decision
Get Better
Way
What If Getting Bigger Isn't The Point? What If You Merely Got Better?
What If
Bigger
Ifs
The Enemy Of Creativity Is Fear.
Creativity
Enemy
I'm Not Proposing That You Let The Crowd Dictate, Or That You Work Hard To Fit In. Far From It. I'm Proposing That You Know The Impact Your Choices Are Having And Act Accordingly.
Book
Hard Work
Impact
Catering To The Passionate Is Exactly What You Should Do.
Passionate
Should
Catering
I Intentionally Abandoned The Hard Stuff Early On Because Not Only Do I Think It's Useless, I Think It's A Distraction.
Thinking
Entrepreneur
Useless
The Internet Has Opened The Door For Millions Of Businesses To Do Things Differently, Because There Are Other Assets Now, Assets That Can Transcend Location. Your Permission To Talk To Customers, Your Reputation, Your Unique Products-you Can Build A Business Around Them Online.
Unique
Doors
Location
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
Please Stop Waiting For A Map. We Reward Those Who Draw Maps, Not Those Who Follow Them.
Funny
Waiting
Maps
Anything Worth Achieving In Life Has A Dip
Dip
Achieve
Any Customer That Walks Away, Disrespected And Defeated, Represents Tens Of Thousands Of Dollars Out The Door, In Addition To The Failure Of A Promise The Brand Made In The First Place. You Can't See It But It's Happening, Daily.
Doors
Promise
Dollars
When We Intentionally Seek Out The Difficult Tasks, We're Much More Likely To Actually Create Value.
Tasks
Difficult
Difficult Tasks
Everyone Has A Comfort Zone. Worth Considering: How Hard (and How Often) Are You Willing To Work To Get Out Of It? You Can Turn That Into A Habit If You Choose.
Comfort
Habit
Considering
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
No One Is As Smart As All Of Us.
Smart
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
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
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.


Trending Author
Thomas A Kempis
Bernard Cornwell
Iain Banks
Lillie Langtry
Robin Leach
Star Jones
Category
Information