“If people knew how hard I worked to achieve my mastery, it wouldn’t seem so wonderful after all.” – Michelangelo

Commentary: One common thing about people who master a skill is that though they may make it look easy, nobody sees the thousands of hours practicing, refining, studying and hard work.

“Don’t worry, be crappy. Revolutionary means you ship and then test… Lots of things made the first Mac in 1984 a piece of crap – but it was a revolutionary piece of crap.” ~ Guy Kawasaki  

Commentary:

I think it is a myth that a new product that will solve problems or fill a need (especially a technology product) must be perfect before you launch it. Modern experience is showing that may not be true – lots of great products were buggy at first, incomplete when first launced: MySpace.com, Google, Xbox 360, etc. The key is to launch but then improve based on user-feedback.

1. A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new.

2. Education is what remains after one has forgotten what one has learned in school.

3. I am enough of an artist to draw freely upon my imagination. Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.

4. The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources.

5. The value of a man should be seen in what he gives and not in what he is able to receive. Try not to become a man of success, but rather try to become a man of value.

6. There are two ways to live: you can live as if nothing is a miracle; you can live as if everything is a miracle.

7. When I examine myself and my methods of thought, I come to the conclusion that the gift of fantasy has meant more to me than any talent for abstract, positive thinking.

8. In order to be an immaculate member of a flock of sheep, one must above all be a sheep oneself.

9. You have to learn the rules of the game. And then you have to play better than anyone else.

10. The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing.

~Albert Einstein

Boldwords has a great post listing the top 100 Motivational Quotes. Great quotes to get you started for the coming New Year!

Some good ones:

Vision without action is daydream. Action without vision is nightmare.
- Japanese Proverb

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.
- Mark Twain

If you want to test your memory, try to recall what you were worrying about one year ago today.
- E. Joseph Cossman

“People who don’t take risks generally make about two big mistakes a year. People who do take risks generally make about two big mistakes a year.” – Peter F. Drucker

Commentary: Taking risks is part of business. If you’re not taking risks than you probably aren’t accomplishing much. This quote from the Legendary Peter F. Drucker shows that the big mistakes are going to happen anyway, so you might as well be taking calculated risks to move your business (or your life) to the next level.

“Eliminate the time between the idea and the act and your dreams become your realities.” – Dr. Edward Kramer

Commentary: As we harp about constantly on this blog, business ideas are only worthwhile if executed properly or executed at all. Part of executing the idea is getting beyond the idea phase and getting down to work. Take your ideas and execute on them. If they don’t work, then learn from the experience, move on, don’t beat yourself up and try another one. Eventually this process will pay off dramatically.

As Mark Cuban has said “you only have to be successful in business once”. If you start one successful business, you could be set for life. Yet, most people don’t take the plunge and make the attempt or if they do, they quit after only one attempt.

“The successful person has the habit of doing the things failures don’t like to do. They don’t like doing them either necessarily. But their disliking is subordinated to the strength of their purpose.” – E.M. Gray

Commentary: This comment speaks to the small business owner or entrepreneur especially. Few small business owners look forward to making cold calls, doing the books, disaster planning, updating the marketing plan, etc.

In your personal life, few people like exercising, paying bills, maintaining your property, sending thank you cards, etc. – but it all has to be done.

The ones that get these mundane things done know that the reason they are doing so is to serve a higher purpose. They know the benefits of doing these things that most people don’t realize.

“Optimism is a force multiplier.” – Colin Powell

Commentary: When you have an optimistic viewpoint, you tend to filter out the negatives that would otherwise cause you not to pursue a goal in the first place. In addition, optimism lessens the sting of failure by saying “that didn’t work – let’s try something else” instead of wallowing in or overanalyzing the failure.

Not only that, but the Mayo Clinic has found that optimists live longer! I don’t think there’s better evidence than that to justify the optimistic viewpoint on life. I also recommend the book Learned Optimism by Martin Seligman which is a classic in this field of work.

 

“The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now.” – Chinese Proverb

Commentary: Yes, someone may have beat you to the punch for that great new product or service. But the key is getting the next new product or service out there. The market tends to favor first-movers.

Even if you are not creating something new, getting started on it today is going to almost always be better than waiting until tomorrow.

Start a company, create a new product, work on your book — now!

“Progress isn’t made by early risers. It’s made by lazy men trying to find easier ways to do something.”  – Robert Heinlein

Commentary: This is a recurring theme in business – many lazy people have had great impact on progress because they were simply, well, lazy. They didn’t like the old way of doing things so they made it easier, faster, cheaper. This is nearly the definition of an entrepreneur.

Note there is a big difference between laziness and apathy. The latter will get you nowhere and the former will only get you somewhere if you have the will to implement your ideas.

On a similar note is the story of the lazy officer:

There are only four types of officer. First, there are the lazy, stupid ones. Leave them alone, they do no harm…Second, there are the hard- working, intelligent ones. They make excellent staff officers, ensuring that every detail is properly considered. Third, there are the hard- working, stupid ones. These people are a menace and must be fired at once. They create irrelevant work for everybody. Finally, there are the intelligent, lazy ones. They are suited for the highest office.

 - General Erich Von Manstein (1887-1973) on the German Officer Corps

“It’s not that I’m so smart, it’s just that I stay with problems longer.” – Albert Einstein

Commentary: There is something to be said about sustained thinking and obsessing over a problem. Einstein spent years thinking about some of his theories and problems. Others usually give up after their problems seem insurmountable.

I don’t think years are required to solve most problems, you just have to do the thinking and stick with it until the solution presents itself.

Here’s a bonus quote along the same lines:

“No problem can stand the assault of sustained thinking” – Voltaire

“If you are patient in one moment of anger, you will escape a hundred days of sorrow.”  -Chinese proverb

Commentary:

This quote applies to your life as well as your business. Is it really worth it to be right or to get angry at your client even if they are being unreasonable? Sometimes, if you just “suck it up”, apologize and move on, you could prevent many disasters: chargebacks, compliants to the BBB and FTC, even lawsuits.

We believe it is always best to a) apologize and sympathize b) immediately resolve the issue and c) give the client their money back (if the mistake was our fault) and in some cases, even if it is the client’s fault. Your reputation is worth more than arguing over money, especially if the value is under say $100.

“There is no correlation at all between success and hours worked.”  – Seth Godin

Commentary: A common theme among business and personal development information is that a focus on hard work only will only make you a hard worker, not necessarily successful. There are billions of hard workers in the world – 3rd world farmers, 18/hour day wage slaves, people who hold 2 jobs at minimum wage, etc.

Successful people work hard on the right things, or better yet, have others work hard for them. The right things are those things that generate the highest return: education, improvement of a product, finding solutions, family, relationships, etc. Everyone knows what the right thing is for their particular situation. The key is focussing on that right thing and putting your efforts towards that. Finally, most successful people turn their passion into their business or career – therefore they don’t consider any time spent doing it “hard work” at all.

“Simple, clear purpose and principles give rise to complex and intelligent behavior. Complex rules and regulations give rise to simple and stupid behavior.”

- Dee Hock, CEO Emeritus VISA International

Commentary: Complex rules and regulations are most apparent in government and you’ve seen first hand how efficiently government is run at your local DMV. On the other side of the equation, look at Wal-Mart, a huge organization with a simple purpose and simple principles (low prices, large selection, efficient operations) that is the model of efficiency for an organization that employs 800,000 + people.

“Life is really simple as far as I’m concerned. There is no luck, you work hard and study things intently. If you do that for long and hard enough you’re successful.” – Jason Calacanis

Commentary: Jason Calacanis basically started from nowhere, to starting an obscure tech magazine in New York City, to starting Weblogs, Inc. (which he sold to AOL for $30 million) and now as the founder of Mahalo with $20 million in Venture Capital. He didn’t whine along the way about not having the right education, the right opportunities, the right location, he just did as he says above: work hard, study, repeat – you’re successful.