• If they really wanted to do it, they would have done it.

  • Only speak in the present tense about what you’re actually doing.

  • Old opinions shouldn’t define who we are in the future.

  • Every business wants to get you addicted to their infinite updates, pings, chats, messages, and news. But if what you want out of life is to create, then those are your obstacles.

  • People often ask me what they can do to be more successful. I say disconnect. Even if just for a few hours. Unplug. Turn off your phone and Wi+Fi. Focus. Write. Practice. Create. That’s what’s rare and valuable these days.

  • You get no competitive edge from consuming the same stuff everyone else is consuming. It’s rare, now, to focus. And it gives such better rewards.

  • Conventional wisdom tells us to do the important and difficult thing first. But doing this boring work moves me from a state of doing nothing to doing something. It makes me feel like doing something important again.

  • To assume you’re below average is to admit you’re still learning. You focus on what you need to improve, not your past accomplishments.

  • Everybody’s ideas seem obvious to them. So maybe what’s obvious to me is amazing to someone else? Are you holding back something that seems too obvious to share?

  • We don’t get wise just by adding and adding. We also need to subtract.

  • More people die from eating too much than from eating too little. Most of us have too much baggage, too many commitments, and too many priorities.

  • But the act of reading a book is really about you and what you get from it. All that matters is what you do with the ideas, no matter the source. Apply them to your own life in your own way.

  • A black cat crosses your path as you walk under a ladder on Friday the 13th. What does it mean? Nothing at all. Nothing has inherent meaning. It is what it is and that’s it. We just choose to project meaning onto things. It feels good to make stories.

  • Inspiration is not receiving information. Inspiration is applying what you’ve received.

  • People think that if they keep reading articles, browsing books, listening to talks, or meeting people, they’re going to suddenly get inspired. But constantly seeking inspiration is anti+inspiring. You have to pause the input and focus on your output.

  • For every bit of inspiration you take in, use it and amplify it by applying it to your work. Then you’ll finally feel the inspiration you’ve been looking for.

  • Best of all, once you do something that scared you, you’re not scared of it anymore! As you go through life, doing everything that scares you, you fear less and less in the world.