Here are some quotes I came across as I flew halfway across the world last week. "Air Quotes" for the win!
- "The best way to win an argument is not be in it." — Dale Carnegie. In his book, How to Win Friends and Influence People from 1936, Dale Carnegie takes quite a bit of time on explaining how arguments are supposed to be made to reach a consensus through different points of view. However, in most cases, we end up digging holes to one another and make things worse. As a person who used to love arguing for some reason, I have learnt the hard way that most arguments take us nowhere productive.
- “That’s all any of us are: amateurs. We don’t live long enough to be anything else.” — Charlie Chaplin.
- “Build a good name. Keep your name clean. Don’t make compromises. Don’t worry about making a bunch of money or being successful. Be concerned with doing good work . . . and if you can build a good name, eventually that name will be its own currency.” — William Burroughs. In his book, Show your Work, Austin Kleon quotes this and talks about how building a good name is crucial for success, especially in the creative world. It builds credibility and leverage. A few examples of people whose names are brands by themselves — Oprah Winfrey, Warren Buffett, Michael Jackson, Kim Kardashian, etc. Many people who have a business or a portfolio online are building it under their own names, which puts them fully accountable and responsible for what they are building. It's a high risk, high reward situation.
- “I am the wisest man alive, for I know one thing and that is that I know nothing.” — Socrates.
- “People who can put themselves in the place of other people, who can understand the workings of their minds, need never worry about what the future has in store for them. If out of reading this book you get just one thing—an increased tendency to think always in terms of other people’s point of view, and see things from their angle—if you get that one thing out of this book, it may easily prove to be one of the building blocks of your career.” — Dale Carnegie. This is difficult for lot of us to do, but striving to do this will make us more empathetic and compassionate.
- “Self Esteem is the reputation that you have with yourself. It’s not ego. Self-esteem and ego are different things. Because ego can be undeserved, but self-esteem — at least you feel like you lived up to your own internal moral code of ethics.” — Naval Ravikant.
- “Imitate, then innovate.” — David Perell, in his blog, explains how the key to unlocking our unique style is to start imitating our inspirations and fail at it. When we fail, we'll know what doesn't work for us and that might help us to narrow down what does.
- “Estimate competition through authenticity.” — Naval Ravikant, in his podcast talks about this in the context of entrepreneurship. Everyone is different and unique. That’s one way to think about when starting a business. What’s something unique that you have got to offer the world? Start with that. Nobody can compete with you in being yourself.
- "He who is everywhere is nowhere." — Seneca. You can't be everywhere doing everything. You need to decide where you want to be and focus on that. Say no to non-essential things.
- "It's better to be hated for who you are than to be loved for who you are not." — Mark Manson.
Keeping this one short to compensate for the mammoth last week. Thanks for reading. Peace out!
