“When you talk crap about a rival, you’re reinforcing a sense of identity. You’re reinforcing who we are and who they are.” 

We hear perfectionism described a hundred different ways. Rarely do we hear it described as dangerous.

To own a business that generates you many millions of dollars, you have to become a certain type of person. Is that worth it?

“If your sense of taste is lower than that of the customers how will you impress them?”

“Reading is supposed to be an educational tool, and most people use it like sleeping pills.”

Of course there are days that are not enjoyable. Of course life presents hardship. Unavoidable, painful hardship. But who is the gatekeeper of your own enjoyment?

For a laugh (and some condolence) Google search “actors in commercials before they were famous.” My query just brought up a young Brad Pitt chomping Pringles on the beach.

“I suffer as always from the fear of putting down the first line. It is amazing the terrors, the magics, the prayers, the straightening shyness that assails one...”

Your mind will only allow you to create bad work for so long. Either it will force you to quit, or it will force you to make the work better. 

“I don’t think it has anything to do with the amount of work you are doing.”

When you look for a certain kind of car on the road, you start seeing it everywhere. This explains manifestation.

If rich people can feel poor, and poor people can feel rich, this tells me that feeling rich is relative. It’s malleable. It all depends.

Every time I start cleaning, ever since I was 15 years old, I start humming a funny song called One Little Corner. It’s ostensibly a cleaning song for grown-ups. The accidental genius? It’s spot-on with habit research. 

“We expend effort. We create value. It’s easy to get confused about which one we’re going to ultimately be compensated for.”

If it seems like someone has everything figured out, go look under their bed. If it looks like someone has their life all together, look at their inbox

“The people with the best self-control are typically the ones who need to use it the least.”

“One of the privileges given to those who've avoided dying young is the blessed right to grow old.”

Sometimes I catch myself daydreaming about the perfect career. I imagine a time in my life when I’m only doing exactly what I want to be doing; a time when projects filter in for just the right rates at precisely the ideal times.

Behind every “how do I” question is a deeper question. Anytime someone asks “how do I…” and then follows it with something practical, like “find more clients?” or “grow my audience?” or “generate more profit?” there is one deeper question behind all of that. 

It’s whiny to complain about having to sell our art. It comes from an entitled place, where we think we must be such geniuses that other people would be lucky to sell our work for us.