Before moving to Tennessee, I had an office in our house in Oregon where I designated one of my walls as a space to highlight many of the thoughts or maxims that have impacted my life.
Here, I have a smaller office with a sliding door that I decided would serve the same purpose. There's a bit less room, so I've had to be more choosy as to which statements would make the cut.
I selected my favorites and affixed them to the door.
I keep the full running list in evernote (it continues to grow).
Every time I read or hear something profound that alters my thinking in some positive way, I try to capture it in that note.
Unless it's an original idea (if there is such a thing), I usually include the source so I can go back and revisit it later.
I derive a lot of value from having somewhere to capture all these insights, and even more from seeing them in front of me regularly.
Here is the full list as it currently stands:
- Less but better - The essentialist (page 5)
- Protect the asset - (your body, spirit, mind - from the essentialist page 94)
- Am I the thermostat or the thermometer - Michael Hyatt (FB Post)
- Make decisions by design, not by default - Greg McKeown
- What’s important now? (WIN - from “the essentialist”)
- There’s nothing more expensive than a cheap design that doesn’t work (from platform - Michael Hyatt)
- You will never see the full path. The important thing is to do the next right thing. (from platform - Michael Hyatt)
- Be frugal, not cheap - Stretch (Scott Sonenshein)
- Shuffle the back row - Stretch (Bobby Fischer)
- Waste is just a resource out of place - Stretch
- Practice Digital Generosity - (Platform, Michael Hyatt)
- Get on the bike - (You can’t learn to ride a bike by reading about it - What if it does work out - Susie Moore)
- If something is worth doing, it probably has a dip (the Dip, Seth Godin)
- Resilient systems build in fail-safes (The Coaching Habit - Michael Bungay Stanier)
- We are what we give our attention to (The Coaching Habit - Michael Bungay Stanier)
- Bite your tongue. Don’t fill the silence. (The Coaching Habit - Michael Bungay Stanier)
- Act as if people are interesting and you’ll eventually find them so (? - Sandi Metz talk, Laracon 2018)
- If you’re wrong, persuasion will only make things worse (Sandi Metz, Laracon 2018)
- The faster I can build things, the more things I can justify building (Matt Stauffer, Laracon 2018)
- I can do that, I’m a programmer (Matt Stauffer, Laracon 2018)
- Doing something unimportant well does not make it important (Tim Ferriss - 4 hour workweek)
- Why, What if, How (Warren Berger - A more beautiful question)
- Listening informs questioning (Warren Berger - A more beautiful question)
- Listen with your whole body (Warren Berger - A more beautiful question)
- How might we...? (Min Basadur - from A more beautiful question)
- Complexity is the enemy of efficiency (Michael Hyatt)
- What’s my sentence (quoting Daniel Pink in A More Beautiful Question)
- Fear of failure leads to failure (paraphrased - Idea from beautiful question)
- What if I { fail, do nothing, succeed }?
- Do it afraid (Nicole Walters)
- Is it Ambitious & Actionable? (From A More Beautiful Question)
- If you can’t learn, you can’t thrive (From Deep Thinking)
- Drain the shadows (Deep Work)
- Pain + Reflection = Progress (WorkLife podcast episode 1)
- Don’t fix your problems. Fix your thinking. Then the problems fix themselves. (Quora Answer - Evian Gutman)
- No matter how far you’ve gone down the wrong road, turn around. (Sue Rasmussen)
- Where is my hope (John Eldridge- all things new)
- Knowledge does not change behavior (Dan & Chip Heath - switch)
- Find the bright spots (Dan & Chip Heath - switch)
- Change is not an event, it’s a process (Dan & Chip Heath - switch)
- Direction without motivation and motivation without direction result in inaction. (Dan & Chip Heath - paraphrased)
- Done is better than perfect (Sheryl Sandburg as quoted in Measure What Matters)
- if it’s worth your time, it’s worth your attention (Michael Hyatt - No Fail Meetings)
- In all matters, be enthusiastic. Adam Robinson (Tim Ferris podcast)
- ”Nevermind, I’ll see them at the Restoration” - Emilie, quoted in All Things New by John Eldridge
- Stop advertising and start innovating - (Seth Godin, Purple Cow)
- What’s missing isn’t the ideas. It’s the will to execute them. (Seth Godin, Purple Cow)
- Invest in the cow (Seth Godin, Purple Cow)
- Safe is risky (Seth Godin, Purple Cow)
- Make an attempt, find a flaw, fix it (5 habits of effective thinking)
- Beware the soul sucking force of reasonableness (The power of moments, Dan & Chip Heath)
- We can’t expect to solve problems using the same thinking that created those problems in the first place (Albert Einstein, as quoted in “How”)
- Effort is limited. Impact is not. (Paraphrased- Amyporterfield.com/232)
- If you can’t make it through the dip, don’t start (Seth Godin)
- Lean into the dip (Seth Godin)
- Where our brains work like books, our lives work like movies. People aren’t reading our minds, they’re watching our actions (Don Miller - A million miles in a thousand years)
- The stories we tell ourselves are very different than the stories we tell the world (Don Miller - A million miles in a thousand years)
- The great stories go to those who don’t give in to fear (Don Miller - A million miles in a thousand years)
- Live a better story (paraphrased - Don Miller - A million miles in a thousand years)
- A goal without a plan is just a wish - Antoine do Saint Exupéry
- Creativity thrives on constraint - Paul Jarvis
- We could learn a lot if we tuned in more - Guy Kawasaki
- People who avoid failure also avoid success - Guy Kawasaki
- Investing is not buying. It’s more a case of knowing- Guy Kawasaki
- Action cures fear - J Schwartz
- Is the master copy worth duplicating. - J Schwartz
- Investing makes money for you. Speculating makes money for your broker. - Ben (intelligent investor)
- The only thing that prepares you for running a company is running a company - Ben Horowitz (hard thing about hard things)
- Where am I poor?
- If you don’t know your plan intimately, you don’t have a plan - the startup checklist
- To change your life, change your mind - John Hargrave (mind hacking)
- A board member should be able to provide one of these: wealth, work, or wisdom - the startup checklist
- What you do becomes who you are
- Stop losing sleep over the success of your business and start losing sleep over the success of your customers - Story Brand
- Where there’s no story, there’s no engagement. - Story Brand
- Competence. Integrity. Communication.
- If you don’t get uncomfortable, you won’t move to the next level! - Amy Porterfield
- Do something different (DSD) - Amy Porterfield
- Aggregate Marginal Improvements - Atomic Habits
- We do not rise to the level of our goals, we fall to the level of our systems. Atomic Habits
- Motion != Action - Atomic Habits
- Master decisive moments- Atomic Habits
- Incentives start a habit; identity sustains it - Atomic Habits
- No plan B (burn the boats)
- Follow the signs (of life)
- DSD (Do Something Different)
- If you don’t get uncomfortable, you will not get to the next level-Amy Porterfield
- Focus on the things that don’t change - perennial seller
- Only is better than best
- Design or drift (Michael Hyatt)
- Eliminate, automate, delegate
- Try, track, tweak
- Stay in the fight (David Goggins)
- Take imperfect action (Amy Porterfield)
- Cultivate a life of focus (Michael Hyatt)
- Working at it works (Ryan Holiday)
- Don’t just spend time, invest it!
- Go for reward, not relief
- Everything is copy (Amy Porterfield - podcast June 6, 2019)
- Let the fools debate the details (Ramit Sethi)
- Cutting is limited, earning is not
- Never go to sleep without a request to your subconscious - Thomas Edison
- The problem is the hook. - Donald Miller
- Remember Tomorrow - Amy Porterfield quoting Jesse Itzler
- Cultivate focus - cal Newport, Don Miller interview
- Focus requires sacrifice - Ryan Hall (loosely) from Run the mile you’re in
- Don’t ask how, ask who! - paraphrased from Clockwork, mike m
- AC/DC- attract, convert, deliver, collect - Clockwork, mike m
- Staff your liabilities
- Make it simple. Make it memorable. Make it inviting to look at. Make it fun to read - Leo Burnett (quoted in « how to write copy that sells »)
- The race IS the reward - Sarah hall
- Sell them what they want, give them what they need - Ray Edwards (how to write copy that sells)
- Practice in Public - Jeff Goins from a Seth Godin blog post on Side Hustle Project podcast
- The system runs the business. The people run the system. – the E-Myth revisited.
- Things that matter are hard - instant family
- Be better - inspired by so good they can’t ignore you
- Adopt the craftsman mindset - so good they can’t ignore you
- Explore the adjacent possible (so good they can’t ignore you / where good ideas come from)
- Emotions are not actions - Don Miller
- Win with Clarity - Storybrand podcast (feb 2020)
- The magic never happens in the middle - The One Thing
- If you don’t prioritize your life, someone else will - Greg McKeown
- The answer to confusion is always no - Marketing Made Simple
- Sell the surface, solve the root. - Membership Academy
- Stop wandering, Start wondering - Ken Coleman, entreleadership podcast
- Don’t choose a bad option just because you don’t see any good options. Create one! Based on EntreLeadership (p66)
- We fear things in proportion to our ignorance of them - Titus Livius
- The tortoise always wins
- Focus over time, times God equals Momentum - the momentum theorem (EntreLeadership)
- If you and your team can’t get “shouting-excited” about the thing you are doing, then don’t do it. (EntreLeadership)
- Marketing Stew: Passion, Activity, Scarcity, Urgency, Momentum (EntreLeadership)
- Act your wage - (EntreLeadership)
- Debt magnifies mistakes - (EntreLeadership)
- Hand your negatives up and your positives down (avoid gossip) - EntreLeadership
- Practice intense intentionality (Chris Hogan, everyday millionaires)
- Stay humble, hungry, and smart - The ideal team player
- Progress is never an accident - Chris Hogan
- Fail forward
- Boldness is a skill - Jennifer Cohen
- Make 10 attempts - Jennifer Cohen
- Practice boldness
- Do not choose to be confused - Donald Miller - BMS
- Think complex, speak simple - Amazon
- Speak the universal language of story - Donald Miller
- You get what you expect. - from the go giver
- Measure lead. Celebrate lag. (Idea taken from business made simple)
- Slow is smooth. Smooth is fast - military mantra as quoted in “effortless” by Greg McKeown
- Be good at what no one is doing - Greg McKeown (effortless)
- Integrity, intelligence, initiative- what warren buffer looks for in hires as quoted in “effortless”
- Solve the simplest, easiest, and most valuable problem (Reid Hoffman - titans)
- Work will work when nothing else will work (Titans - Shay Carl’s grandfather)
- It’s Christ or Chaos (Richie - Refuge)
- You don’t have to be God to your kids - you just have to be a God follower to them (Kelsey - refuge)
- Thrash early, not late (Seth Godin, Linchpin)
- Thrash now, not later (exact quote ^)
- This might work! (Seth Godin, Linchpin)
- Done is the engine of more - Bre Pettis
- Be surprised - (Seth Godin, Linchpin) exact quote: setting yourself up to be surprised is a conscious choice.
- There is no map (Seth Godin, Linchpin)
- Ideas are just multipliers of execution (Derek Sivers - anything you want)
- Make 10 plans - nothing ever goes as planned (inspired by Derek Sivers)
- What if I relaxed?
- It’s ok to be casual (Derek Sivers)
- Quit the plan, not the goal
- Put something on the plot (from hero on a mission)
- Learn in public (indie hacker podcast #200)
Most of the time, when I add something to the list, it's on my iPhone while I'm reading a book or listening to a podcast or audiobook so the format's not 100% consistent and with a few exceptions I usually don't include links.
I wish I had an even more comprehensive list but the reality is that it's not always practical or convenient to capture these ideas.
Still, I love having it in all its imperfection and incompleteness - and I hope if nothing else, sharing this list encourages you to capture those fleeting insights you get from the deep work and thinking of others.
