- Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.
- I think if you do something and it turns out pretty good, then you should go do something else wonderful, not dwell on it for too long. Just figure out what’s next.
- When you’re a carpenter making a beautiful chest of drawers, you’re not going to use a piece of
plywood on the back, even though it faces the wall and nobody will see it. You’ll know it’s there, so you’re going to use a beautiful piece of wood on the back. For you to sleep well at night, the aesthetic, the quality, has to be carried all the way through. - You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something – your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.
- That’s been one of my mantras — focus and simplicity. Simple can be harder than complex. You have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple. But it’s worth it in the end because once you get there, you can move mountains.
- If you don’t love something, you’re not going to go the extra mile, work the extra weekend,
challenge the status quo as much. - You’ve baked a really lovely cake, but then you’ve used dog shit for frosting.
- The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again — less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life.
- Sometimes life is going to hit you in the head with a brick. Don’t lose faith.
- If you keep your eye on the profit, you’re going to skimp on the product. But if you focus on making really great products, then the profits will follow.
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By Ermias Solomon
- Tuesday, December 5, 2023
