Motivational Quotes from Robert Greene’s “The 33 Strategies of War”

September 30, 2012

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Here’s a few of my favorite quotes from “The 33 Strategies of War”. I may do a full summary in addition to this if and when I ever finish the entire book, and not just the few chapters I thought (correctly) would be motivational.
 

A sense of urgency comes from a powerful connection to the present.

 

Leaving the past for unknown terrain is like death, and feeling this finality will snap you back to life.

 

Life has more meaning in the face of death. The risks you keep taking, the challenges you keep overcoming, are like symbolic deaths that sharpen your appreciation of life.

 

The more you want the prize, the more you must compensate by examining what it will take.

 

In order to avoid wasted effort and failed battles, start every mission by examining your real means rather than simply your desired ends.

 

If your opponents are never sure what messing with you will cost, they will not want to find out.

 

Instead of trying to dominate the other side’s every move, work to define the nature of the relationship itself.

The Pinnacle of Motivation

April 25, 2012

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I am a diehard Vancouver Canucks fan.

Last year, we made a run to the Stanley Cup finals behind mercurial goaltender Roberto Luongo. As legend has it, Luongo would take walks down the Vancouver seawall with a hoodie and headphones before all home playoff games.

After cleaning out his locker following a first-round upset this year, Luongo revealed that he during these walks he listens to two main tracks: “Believe” by Eminem and a motivational speech titled “I am a Champion.” Intrigued, I decided to look up the latter and I was absolutely blown away. I watched it on Youtube about 15 minutes ago (11:30pm), and now I’m way too pumped up to go to sleep anytime soon.

I’d be doing you a disservice if I didn’t share this with you.

Enjoy.
 

Linchpin – Seth Godin (Chapter 6: The Resistance)

March 17, 2012

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In order to be an artist, you have to ship. The only point of starting something is to eventually finish it; as Godin puts it: “Shipping is the collision between your work and the outside world.” (103)

“Thrashing” – brainstorming and adjusting; amateurs do this near the end of a project, professionals do it early. Have the discipline to get your thrashing done early and then be stubborn near the end when it’s time to ship.

Our creativity, what the Greeks called the Daemon and the Romans called “the genius”, stems from the neocortex – the newest part of the brain.

The part of us that just wants to survive, even at the expense of our art, is our lizard brain.

The lizard brain is newer and stronger than our neocortex; when both are fully activated and pitted against each other, the lizard brain usually wins.

“The challenge, then, is to create an environment where the lizard snoozes. You can’t beat it, so you must seduce it. One part of your brain worries about survival and anger and lust. The rest of it creates civilization.” (109)

“If we go down the list of behaviors that are highly valued because of their scarcity, almost all of them are related to bringing a conscious and generous mind to the work, instead of indulging our lizard brain’s reflexes of fear, revenge, and conquest.” (112)

(After explaining how even just simple eye contact can cause gorillas to go crazy at the zoo) “Eye contact, all by itself, is enough to throw your lizard brain into a tizzy. Imagine how scary it must be to set out to do something that will get you noticed, or perhaps even criticized.”

The lizard brain loves school – he can postpone putting himself on the line in the real world, and he’s fine obeying authority figures as long as they help him survive.

“A well-defined backup plan is sabotage waiting to happen. Why push through the dip, why take the risk, why blow it all when there’s the comfortable alternative instead? The people who break through usually have nothing to lose, and they almost never have a backup plan.” (116)

In order to be creative and come up with good ideas, you need to be willing to have terrible, and even dangerously bad ideas.

Your lizard brain hates the prospect of coming up with an idea so bad that others will laugh at it. But realize that this is an inevitable part of the idea-generating process, and that this process is the only way that you can ever come up with brilliant ideas.

A sub-title Godin uses in Chapter 6: “You Don’t Need More Genius. You Need Less Resistance.”

Your resistance is always comfortable with low expectations.

The less freedom you have in a given field, the less resistance you face. This is why it’s feels so natural to do a job where all you have to do is follow instructions.

“Our economy has reached a logical conclusion. The race to make average stuff for average people in huge quantities is almost over. We’re hitting an asymptote, a natural ceiling for how cheaply and how fast we can deliver uninspired work.” (123)

As a society, we’ve tried to establish an entire economic system where one can go through the motions, give in to their resistance (by doing menial jobs), and still be supported – but it’s just not working anymore.

“Don’t listen to the cynics. They’re cynics for a reason. For them, the resistance won a long time ago.” (126)

The resistance/the lizard brain exists “to make you safe, which means invisible and unchanged.” (127)

Signs that the lizard brain is at work:
-Procrastination
-You excessively criticize the work of your peers, thus unrealistically raising the bar for your work
-You criticize anyone who is doing something differently. If they succeed, it means you’ll have to do something differently too.
-Having an emotional attachment to the status quo
-Inventing anxiety about the side effects of a new approach
-Believing that it’s about gifts and talents, not skill
-Announcing that you have neither
 

A great tactic to combat resistance is to announce it out loud: “I’m doing this because of the resistance.” The lizard brain will retreat in shame.

 
“The difference between a successful artist and a failed one happens after the idea is hatched. The difference is the race to completion. Did you finish?” (136)

Anxiety is just a pointless form of fear, it’s fear about fear. The resistance is really anxiety; real fear is a response to actual threats and it’s a perfectly healthy response.

Reality is the best antidote for anxiety.

“You can’t make a useful map when you’re busy exaggerating the downside of every option.” (139)
 

The best way to overcome your fear of creativity, brainstorming, intelligent risk-taking, or navigating a tricky situation might be to sprint. When we sprint, all the internal dialogue falls away and we focus on going as fast as we possibly can.

You can’t sprint forever. That’s what makes it sprinting. The brevity of the event is a key part of why it works. (143-144)

 
It’s easier to work downhill than uphill. So take the time to build a better platform for you to launch your ideas from – this seperates the hard work of preparation from the sometimes scary work of creativity.

Linchpin – Seth Godin (Chapter 5: Is It Possible to Do Hard Work in a Cubicle?)

March 16, 2012

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“An artist is someone who uses bravery, insight, creativity, and boldness to challenge the status quo.” (83)

Seth Godin hates the idea of “a day’s work for a day’s pay.” He thinks it cheapens us.
 

Are you really willing to sell yourself out so cheap? Do you mortgage an entire (irreplaceable) day of your life for a few bucks? The moment you are willing to sell your time for money is the moment you cease to be the artist you’re capable of being.

The alternative is to treasure what it means to do a day’s work. It’s our one and only chance to do something productive today, and it’s certainly not available to someone merely because he is the high bidder. A day’s work is your chance to do art, to create a gift, to do something that matters. As your work gets better and your art becomes more important, competition for your gifts will increase and you’ll discover that you can be choosier about whom you give them to. (87)

 

“It’s impossible to make art for everyone. There are too many conflicting goals and there’s far too much noise. Art for everyone is mediocre, bland, and ineffective.” (94)

“An artist’s job is to change us. When you have a boss, your job is to please the boss, not to change her.” (95)

“The job is not the work” – The job is what you do because you are told to do it. There will always be someone who can do your job more cost-efficiently than you. Your art can only be done when no one can tell you exactly how to do it. It is, as Godin puts it, “the act of taking personal responsibility, challenging the status quo, and changing people.” (97)

Ask yourself, are you indispensible with your family and friends? Now what about at work? Why are you so expendible in one setting and not the other?

Most people are afraid of expressing their art, which stems from their indoctrinated fear of standing out.

“Now, though, the economy is forcing us to confront this fear. The economy is ruthlessly punishing the fearful, and increasing the benefits to the few who are brave enough to create art” (100)

Linchpin – Seth Godin (Chapter 4: Becoming the Linchpin)

March 15, 2012

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Types of organizations that don’t need Linchpins: “Organizations that are centralized, monopolistic, static, safe, cost-sensitive” (55)

In fact, these companies should look for the cheapest drones possible. But they shouldn’t expect to grow or have much customer loyalty.

“Today, if all you have to offer is that you know a lot of reference book information, you lose, because the Internet knows more than you do.”

However, Godin emphasizes the following point: “Depth of knowledge combined with good judgment is worth a lot.”

“Expertise gives you enough insight to reinvent what everyone else assumes is the truth.” (56)

Degrees of freedom – you have very few choices on a bus (get on or get off), a few more when you’re driving (which road to take), and infinitely more when you’re walking.

“In the face of an infinite sea of choices, it’s natural to put blinders on, to ask for a map, to beg for instructions, or failing that, to do exactly what you did last time, even if it didn’t work. Linchpins are able to embrace the lack of structure and find a new path, one that works.” (58)

Our society values being error-free (“Get nothing wrong and you get an A, right?”). The flaw in this approach is that art is never defect-free.

The problem with bowling is that it’s an asymptotic sport – the best you can ever do is get 300.

“Organizations that earn dramatic success always do it in markets where asymptotes don’t exist, or where they can be shattered. If you could figure out how to bowl 320, that would be amazing. Until that happens, pick a different sport if you want to be a linchpin.” (69)

“The only way to prove (as opposed to assert) that you are an indispensable linchpin–someone worth recruiting, moving to the top of the pile, and hiring–is to show, not tell. Projects are the new resumes.” (73)

Even if you are a linchpin, you often won’t be able to convince the standard HR establishments to make an exception for you. That’s fine. Your goal should be to look for companies that understand the value of a linchpin – companies that hire people, not just resumes.

“If you need to conceal your true nature to get in the door, understand that you’ll probably have to conceal your true nature to keep that job.” (79)
 

Groucho Marx famously said, “I don’t care to belong to any club that would have me as a member.”

The linchpin says, “I don’t want a job that a non-linchpin could get.”

Linchpin – Seth Godin (Chapter 3: Indoctrination – How We Got Here)

March 14, 2012

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“We’ve been trained to believe that mediocre obedience is a genetic fact for most of the population, but it’s interesting to note that this trait doesn’t show up until after a few years of schooling.” (40)

“The launch of universal (public and free) education was a profound change in the way our society works, and it was a deliberate attempt to transform our culture. And it worked. We trained millions of factory workers.” (41)

Godin believes that our consumer culture is a by-product of the network effect that came from universal education.

If your local public school had a description underneath its sign, Godin thinks it would read:

WE TRAIN THE FACTORY WORKERS OF TOMORROW. OUR GRADUATES ARE VERY GOOD AT FOLLOWING INSTRUCTIONS. AND WE TEACH THE POWER OF CONSUMPTION AS AN AID FOR SOCIAL APPROVAL.

At least today, it’s much more difficult to imagine a sign that reads:

We teach people to take initiative and become remarkable artists, to question the status quo, and to interact with transparency. And our graduates understand that consumption is not the answer to social problems. (42)

 
“We teach people to stick within a tiny range. We don’t want the lows to be too low, so we limit the highs as well.” (44)

It’s been shown things we learn in frightening situations tend to stick with us, so schools create a culture of fear (of getting a failing grade, of not obeying arbitrary procedures, of not fitting in, etc.) in order to teach compliance.

Godin argues that while we need school and we need teachers, they need to teach us to believe and reward us for doing our best work, not just our most predictable work.

School are teaching children to do the following (some more successfully than others):
-Fit in
-Follow instructions
-Use #2 pencils
-Don’t challenge authority
-Do the minimum amount required so you’ll have time to work on another subject
-Have a good resume
-Don’t fail
-Don’t say anything that might embarrass you
-Be a generalist
-Try not to have the other kids talk about you
-Once you learn a topic, move on (45-46)

“The problem lies with the system that punishes artists and rewards bureaucrats instead.” (46)
 

The model is simple. Capitalists need compliant workers, workers who will be productive and willing to work for less than the value that their productivity creates. The gap between what they are paid and what the capitalist receives is profit.

The best way to increase profit was to increase both the productivity and the compliance of factory workers. And as (Andrew) Carnegie saw, the best way to do that was to build a huge educational-industrial complex designed to teach workers just enough to get them to cooperate.

It’s not an accident that school is like a job, not an accident that there are supervisors and rules and tests and quality control.

 
Godin ends the chapter by arguing that schools should only teach children how to do two things:
1. Solve interesting problems
2. Lead

“While schools provide outlets for natural-born leaders, they don’t teach it. And leadership is now worth far more than compliance is.” (48)

Linchpin – Seth Godin (Chapter 2: Thinking About Your Choice)

March 13, 2012

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“If you want a job where it’s okay to follow the rules, don’t be surprised if you get a job where following the rules is all you get to do.” (29)

“If you want a job where you get to do more than follow instructions, don’t be surprised if you get asked to do things they never taught you in school.” (30)

One of the main themes of the book is: unskilled laborers are not being rewarded in the same way that they used to, therefore, you must become indispensible so that people have no choice but to reward you.

The three words that can kill an entire organization: “Not my job.”

“In a factory, doing a job that’s not yours is dangerous. Now, if you’re a linchpin, doing a job that’s not getting done is essential.” (34)
 

Would your organization be more successful if your employees were more obeidient?

“Or, consider for a second: would you be more successful if your employees were more artistic, motivated, connected, aware, passionate, and genuine?

You can’t have both, of course.

 
“When you’re not a cog in a machine, an easily replaceable commodity, you’ll get paid what you’re worth. Which is more.” (35)

“When customers have the choice between faceless options, they pick the cheapest, fastest, more direct option.”

“In a world that relentlessly races to the bottom, you lose if you also race to the bottom. The only way to win is to race to the top.”

The War of Art – Steven Pressfield (Part 1: Resistance – Defining the Enemy)

December 4, 2011

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The War of Art is one of the greatest self-help books of all-time. In it, Steven Pressfield characterizes the force within us that doesn’t want to get things done, the force that holds us back from reaching our potential, and gives it a name: Resistance. In Part One, Pressfield makes it his mission to explain just how deadly Resistance can be. Part Two elaborates on how we can defeat it. Part Three attempts to motivate us but gets far too spiritual and religious for my tastes. Nonetheless, despite my distaste for the final third of it, The War of Art’s first two parts contain so much motivational precision that it still ranks among the all-time great self-help books in my eyes.

Note: page citations are from the digital copy of the book.

_______________________________________________________________

“Most have two lives. The life we live and the unlived life within us. Between the two stands Resistance.” (16)

 

The enemy is a very good teacher.
-The Dalai Lama

 

Any act that delays immediate gratification in favour of long-term prosperity will elicit Resistance.

Resistance does not come from outside factors, it is generated and perpetrated from within.

“Resistance will tell you anything to keep you from doing your work. It will perjure, fabricate, falsify; seduce, bully, cajole. Resistance is protean. It will assume any form, it that’s what it takes to deceive you. It will reason with you like a lawyer or jam a nine-millimeter in your face like a stickup man. Resistance has no conscience. It will pledge anything to get a deal, then double-cross you as soon as your back is turned. If you take Resistance at its word, you deserve everything you get. Resistance is always lying and always full of shit.” (26)

The more important an action is to our personal progression and evolution, the more Resistance it will elicit. This is not entirely bad – we can use Resistance as a compass towards what truly matters.

Resistance obstructs movement only from a lower sphere to a higher sphere. So if you’re working with the Mother Teresa Foundation but you decide you want to become a telemarketer, Resistance will be nowhere to be found.

Resistance is most powerful at the finish line. The danger is greatest once we approach the end. Knowing that we’re about to beat it, Resistance hits the panic button and hits us with everything it has a desperate last effort.

When you start to overcome resistance, it will recruit allies – other people’s Resistances. These other people will try to sabotage you because your success becomes a reproach to them. (m3taphysics: They have no interest in being inspired because that would force them to face reality, which means facing their own shortcomings.)

“The best and only thing that one artist can do for another is to serve as an example and an inspiration.” (37)

Resistance distracts us with cheap, easy fixes like sex (sometimes manifesting as a preoccupation with sex). The barometer is how hollow you feel afterwards; the more empty you feel, the more likely it is that your real motivation was Resistance rather than love or even lust.

“Creating soap opera drama in our lives is a symptom of Resistance.” (42)

“Sometimes entire families participate unconsciously in a culture of self-dramatization. The kids fuel the tanks, the grown-ups arm the phasers. It’s more fun than a movie. And it works: Nobody gets a damn thing done.”

“Sometimes, if we’re not conscious of our Resistance, we’ll pick as a mate someone who has or is successfully overcoming Resistance.” (46)

“If it meant nothing to us, there’d be no Resistance.” (57)

“Grandiose fantasies are a symptom of Resistance. They’re the sign of an amateur. The professional has learned that success, like happiness, comes a by-product of work. The professional concentrates on the work and allows rewards to come or not come, whatever they like.” (60)

“Any support we get from persons of flesh and blood is like Monopoly money; it’s not legal tender in that sphere where we have to do our work. In fact, the more energy we spend stoking up on support from colleagues and loved ones, the weaker we become and the less capable of handling our business.” (68)

“Seeking support from friends and family is like having people gathered around your deathbed.”

“(When you have a powerful, inspiring dream or you experience any sort of motivational epiphany), don’t talk about it. Don’t dilute its power. The dream is for you. It’s between you and your muse. Shut up and use it.” (69)

Resistance’s greatest weapon is rationalization.

“But rationalization has its own sidekick. It’s the part of us that actually believes what rationalization is telling us.” (71)

 

It’s one thing to lie to ourselves. It’s another thing to believe it.

 

However, if Resistance couldn’t be beaten, there would be no great symphonies, no great plays such as Romeo and Juliet, and no great works of architecture like the Golden Gate Bridge.

Start With Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action – Simon Sinek

December 3, 2011

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There are two ways to affect the behavior of others: to manipulate and to inspire.

Price is an example of manipulation. It is a great way to stimulate demand and support in the short term but a singular focus on it has devastating effects in the long run.

People are comfortable buying all kinds of different products from Apple. This is because of their ”clarity of WHY”; even though the what’s are different (phones, computers, tablets, etc.), the WHY is consistent among all products underneath the Apple umbrella (challenging the status quo, zen-like simplicity).

Conversely, Dell’s MP3 player was a flop because Dell has always identified themselves based on their WHAT: computers.

The what should only be the logical stuff that the brain uses to rationalize the WHY. This is because WHY’s are difficult to articulate.

Early adopters, that is, those consumers on the left side on the innovation diffusion curve, purchase things based on feel, based on WHY. Don’t blindly sell to the majority, seek out the early adopters on the left side of the curve that believe what you believe and will be loyal to you. These loyal early adopters will “tip” the majority in the middle of the curve (see The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell).

Charisma is clarity of WHY.

Energy excites, charisma inspires.

Charisma breeds loyalty.

As a company grows, its CEO becomes farther removed from its what. It can, and it must, however, maintain control over its WHY.

The best example of brand loyalty is this: there are many people that have tattooed the Harley Davidson logo on their body. And a portion of these people don’t even have Harley Davidson motorcycles.

Products or whats are simply megaphones for the WHY.

There is a difference between achievement and success. Achievement is a something to be reached for, a tangible, measurable goal. Success, on the other hand, is a feeling, a state of being. Achievement is getting what you want, success is clarity and expression of WHY.

The tendency is to become preoccupied with tangible results – achievements – the WHATs, at the expense of the WHY. This is what causes “selling out” and ultimately, the demise of even industry-leading companies.

Poke the Box – Seth Godin

December 2, 2011

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If you’re stuck at the starting line, you don’t need more time or permission. You don’t need to wait for a boss’s okay or to be told to push the button; you just need to poke.

Poke the Box is a manifesto by bestselling author Seth Godin that just might make you uncomfortable. It’s a call to action about the initiative you’re taking-– in your job or in your life. Godin knows that one of our scarcest resources is the spark of initiative in most organizations (and most careers)-– the person with the guts to say, “I want to start stuff.” -Amazon.com description

 

A study showed that when people are placed in a forest without a map, they end up walking in circles instead of taking a clear path. People need a map. Be brave enough to draw one for them.

Our culture has become more about waiting to be picked than stepping up and being a captain (ie: people being dependent on another person to employ them, not even considering the possibility of starting their own business.)

Just because you’re not a boss or an entrepreneur doesn’t mean you can’t take initiative. Organize meetings, parties, and other group initiatives. If your boss doesn’t encourage independent, self-directed action like this, your job sucks and you should actively seek a new one.

Calibrating your level of initiative is just like Jeopardy. Knowing how to use the buzzer is of the utmost importance – buzz too early and Alex won’t finish the question, but if you’re too unsure of yourself you’ll buzz in too late and someone else will have taken the points.

“Polishing” yourself for other people has an asymptotic effect. For example, having a shower every day improves your appearance dramatically, but having three showers a day does not make your appearance three times better. The moral here is that it is extremely inefficient to be overly preoccupied with “polishing.”

The guy who started the first Starbucks only sold coffee beans; he made a huge error in his business plan. But at least he started it. If he had been worried about it not working, it never would’ve even existed.

Having a success-only policy stifles creativity and risk-taking, because big, risky ideas fail most of the time (but they’re still worth it because when they do succeed, they SUCCEED.)

The rule of initiating is that if it cannot fail, it doesn’t count. Go all-in.

“Life is not about extinguishing fear. It’s about calling its bluff.”

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