“Some things are races, but not many.

A race is a competition in which the point is to win. You’re not supposed to enjoy the ride, learn anything or make your community better. You’re supposed to win.

At the end of a race, people congratulate the winner, and point out how well she did by winning.

The rest of the field, the losers, well, hey, you tried.

Once you see it that clearly, so many things are clearly not races. And when we treat life that way, we cheat our customers, the people we seek to serve, as well as ourselves.

We sometimes abbreviate, “he won a particular race,” to, “he’s a winner.”

They’re not the same thing.”
– Seth Godin

“If you cultivate the habit of always keeping the promises you make, you build bridges of trust that span the gaps of understanding between you and others.”
– Stephen R. Covey

“Success is more of a process than an event. Great success is achieved after a long string of small successes. Most of us earn our stripes one step at a time, and we work our way up through the ranks. When we begin our careers, we are given assignments that are commensurate with our skill and experience. As we prove our worth to the organization, we are gradually entrusted with more responsibility and increasingly larger projects. As you assume responsibility for one position, do so with an eye toward the next one. Do your absolute best every day in your job, but always plan for the future. View each day as an opportunity to learn something that will make you more valuable to the company or organization so that when the time arrives for promotions, your name will be the first one that comes to your boss’s mind.”
– Napoleon Hill

“Real Risk vs. Imagined Risk. In many instances the imagination takes us down rabbit holes that have nothing to do with reality, yet prevent us from taking action.”
– Richard Branson

“If someone offers you an amazing opportunity and you’re not sure you can do it, say yes – then learn how to do it later.”
– Richard Branson

“If you tell people where to go, but not how to get there, you’ll be amazed at the results.”
– George S. Patton

“Do not tell your friends about your nascent idea, your notion, the area you hope to explore next.

Do not seek reassurance from them.

Do not become vulnerable about your tiny new sprout of an inkling.

It will be extinguished by people who mean well. They are trying to protect you from heartache.

There is a very, very tiny group of fellow travelers who can amplify your inkling. For the rest, keep it quiet. Trot out a make-believe idea instead, a pretend Potemkin Village of a project, let them dump all over that one instead.

Keep the other one in the incubator for now. There will be plenty of time for sharing later.”
– Seth Godin

“Great organizations are filled with people who are eagerly seeking to recruit people better than they are. Not just employees, but vendors, coaches and even competitors.

Most organizations seek to hire, “people like us.” The rationale is that someone too good might not take the job, might get frustrated, might be easily lured away.

A few aim for, “so good she scares me.” A few aim for, “it’ll raise our game.”

This takes guts.

It takes guts for an employee or a group member to aggressively try to persuade people more passionate, more skilled or smarter to join in, because by raising the average, they also expose themselves to the fact that they’re not as good as they used to be (relatively).

Can we take it a little further? What happens if we read a book we not quite sure we’ll understand, or ski down a slope that’s a little too hard or sign up for a project we’re not certain we can easily do?

What happens if we go to a school where we think everyone is smarter than we are?

We are each the average of the people we hang out with and the experiences we choose.

The best way to end up mediocre is via tiny compromises.”
– Seth Godin

“You can’t have the fruits without the roots. It’s the principle of sequencing: Private Victory precedes Public Victory. Self-mastery and self-discipline are the foundation of good relationships with other.”
– Stephen R. Covey

“There are givers and there are takers. The more you give, the more you receive. The more you take, the less you get. Think in terms of ‘Who do I need to become to attract or connect with this thing I want to do?’ ”
– Richard Branson