“Keep sketching until the pixel dam is ready to burst.” — Me on Design Process
“He has made me wary of chronological snobbery. That is, he showed me that newness is no virtue and oldness is no vice. Truth and beauty and goodness are not determined by when they exist. Nothing is inferior for being old, and nothing is valuable for being modern. This had freed me from the tyranny of novelty and opened for me the wisdom of the ages. To this day I get most of my soul-food from centuries ago.” — John Piper on C.S. Lewis, in Don’t Waste Your Life
I just finished reading Warren Buffet’s 2011 letter to his company’s shareholders, and I must say this guy is awesome. I loved the way he wrote his letter, because it’s full of anecdotes and metaphors to help people understand a difficult topic.
He’s even staging a newspaper throwing contest at the annual shareholders meeting, where challengers will win a dilly bar — I had to look up to see what this was — if they beat him! It’s great to know that a guy at his level still has humility and an amazing sense of humor.
The wife sent this to me and says it was me. I think it’s dead on.
“The call of the church has never been to be political analysts. We’re called to be cultural catalysts [who will act as] salt and light. But there are dangers. Salt, if you use too much, becomes embittering. If you sprinkle it, it flavors. Light is annoying if it glares in your face. In fact, you try to push it away. But if you let the warm glow of the light show, people will come to it.” — Jay Hayford, in Religion Report. I love the amount analogy in his quote.
“Doing right matters more than being right.” — @johnmaeda
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It seems to me that Facebook and Twitter and Youtube — and just so you don’t think this is a generational thing, TV and radio and magazines and even newspaper too — are all ultimately just an elaborate excuse to run away from yourself. To avoid the difficult and troubling questions that being human throws your way.
Am I doing the right thing with my life? Do I believe the things I was taught as a child? Am I happy?
” — William Deresiewicz“There’s another kind of courage, moral courage, the courage to stand up for what you believe in.” — William Deresiewicz
In a conversation I had with RG yesterday, we discussed the differences between big companies and startups. The attribute the stood out most for me was that people in startups were typically in “survival” mode. They are there to make history, to create something new, to give it all they’ve got, and to beat anybody else to it. It’s the hustle to survive, every minute every day.
The is something to be said about that. Hustling excites me. Maybe because there’s something inherit about feeling like you only have a limited amount of time on Earth to do anything worthwhile. And as I said this to my wife during my wedding vows, nothing worthwhile in life is ever easy. Easy just doesn’t cut it. Don’t look for shortcuts. Give it all you got, no matter the situation or the outcome. Go find something that will let you do just that. It saddens me to see employees in lots of bigger companies loose their hunger, their sense of urgency, their hustle. People play it safe because it is safe.
There, hustle as much as you can. Everyday. Or else you’ll be doing yourself a disservice in the long run. Hustle to survive. Hustle to influence your environment positively. As Steve Jobs once said (something similar):
Go make a dent in this universe.
“We can change skill levels through training, but we can’t change attitude.” — Herb Kelleher, former Southwest Airlines CEO