15 Action Inspiring Seth Godin Quotes from Whatcha Gonna Do With That Duck? (Enough Getting Them In A Row)

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Excerpt: This is a massive 608 page book that’s packed with insight. Our 15 quotes from Whatcha Gonna Do with That Duck? highlight some of the best.

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Introduction: Less lining up; more doing

‘Getting your ducks in a row is a fine thing to do. But deciding what you are going to do with that duck is a far more important issue.’

Seth Godin

Type in ‘Seth’ to any search engine and you’ll find his blog. Since he started blogging in the early 1990s, Seth Godin has written more than two million words and shaped the way we think about marketing, leadership, careers, inno­vation, creativity, and more.

Made for dipping into again and again, Whatcha Gonna Do with That Duck? brings together the very best of Seth Godin’s acclaimed blog and is a classic for fans both old and new.

Collected in his book are six years of his best, most entertaining, and most poignant blog posts, plus a few bonus ebooks. Be ready though, because Godin writes to get under our skin. He wants us to stand up and do something remarkable, outside the standards of the industrial system that raised us—and he presents an incredibly persuasive case.

It’s time to stop waiting, delaying, and procrastinating and it’s time to start taking action and making change in the world—starting with the piece of the world that has become the stomping ground of your life.

Below you will find our top 15 favorite quotes from Whatcha Gonna Do with That Duck? by Seth. Be forewarned, it’s a massive 608 page book that is jam-packed with incredible insights—this book will change your life.

As you can imagine, 15 quotes from a book of that magnitude can hardly do the book justice, but none-the-less gives you some golden nuggets of wisdom that you can walk away with (or open a new tab with) in a matter of minutes. Thanks and enjoy!

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The List: 15 Action Inspiring Seth Godin Quotes from Whatcha Gonna Do With That Duck? (Enough Getting Them In A Row)

“Dreamers don’t have special genes.  They find circumstances that amplify their dreams.”

Seth Godin, Whatcha Gonna Do with That Duck?

“People don’t believe what you tell them.  They rarely believe what you show them.  They often believe what their friends tell them.  They always believe what they tell themselves.”

Seth Godin, Whatcha Gonna Do with That Duck?

“Let’s define dumb as being different from stupid.  Dumb means you don’t know what you’re supposed to know.  Stupid means you know it but make bad choices. […]  Dumb used to be a by-product of lack of access, bad teachers, or poor parenting.  Today, dumb is a choice, one that’s made by individuals who choose not to learn.  If you don’t know what you need to know, that’s fixable.  But first you have to want to fix it.”

Seth Godin, Whatcha Gonna Do with That Duck?

“If there’s information that can be written down, widespread digital access now means that just about anyone can look it up.  We don’t need a human being standing next to us to lecture us on how to find the square root of a number or sharpen an ax.  (Worth stopping for a second and reconsidering the revolutionary nature of that last sentence.)  What we do need is someone to persuade us that we want to learn those things, and someone to push us or encourage us or create a space where we want to learn to do them better.  If all the teacher is going to do is read her pre-written notes from a PowerPoint slide to a lecture hall of thirty or three hundred, perhaps she should stay home.  Not only is this a horrible disrespect to the student, it’s a complete waste of the heart and soul of the talented teacher.  Teaching is no longer about delivering facts that are unavailable in any other format.”

Seth Godin, Whatcha Gonna Do with That Duck?

“The two pillars of a future-proof education: Teach kids how to lead; help them learn how to solve interesting problems.”

Seth Godin, Whatcha Gonna Do with That Duck?

“When we teach a child to make good decisions, we benefit from a lifetime of good decisions.  When we teach a child to love to learn, the amount of learning will become limitless.  When we teach a child to deal with a changing world, she will never become obsolete.  When we are brave enough to teach a child to question authority, even ours, we insulate ourselves from those who would use their authority to work against each of us.  And when we give students the desire to make things, even choices, we create a world filled with makers.”

Seth Godin, Whatcha Gonna Do with That Duck?

“Waiting for inspiration is another way of saying that you’re stalling.  You don’t wait for inspiration; you command it to appear.”

Seth Godin, Whatcha Gonna Do with That Duck?

“Most learning, especially most organizational learning, occurs through trial and error.  Error occurs whether you want it to or not.  Error is difficult to avoid.  It’s not clear that research or preparation have an enormous impact on error, especially marketing error.  Error is clearly not in short supply.  Trial, on the other hand, is quite scarce, especially in some organizations.  People mistakenly believe that one way to successfully avoid error is to avoid trial.  We need more trial.”

Seth Godin, Whatcha Gonna Do with That Duck?

“The universal truth is beyond question – the only people who excel are those who have decided to do so.  Great doctors or speakers or skiers or writers or musicians are great because somewhere along the way, they made the choice.”

Seth Godin, Whatcha Gonna Do with That Duck?

“Just about every great, brave, or beautiful thing in our culture was created by someone who didn’t do it for the money.”

Seth Godin, Whatcha Gonna Do with That Duck?

“It really seems (at least if you read popular media) that who you know and whether you get ‘picked’ are the two keys to success.  Luck.  The thing about luck is this: we’re already lucky.  We’re insanely lucky that we weren’t born during the Black Plague or in a country with no freedom.  We’re lucky that we’ve got access to highly leveraged tools and terrific opportunities.  If we set that luck aside, though, something interesting shows up.  Delete the outliers – the people who are hit by a bus or win the lottery, the people who luck out in a big way – and we’re left with everyone else.  And for everyone else, effort is directly related to success.  Not all the time, but as much as you would expect.  Smarter, harder-working, better-informed, and better-liked people do better than other people, most of the time.”

Seth Godin, Whatcha Gonna Do with That Duck?

“One option is to struggle to be heard whenever you’re in the room… Another is to be the sort of person who is missed when you’re not.  The first involves making noise.  The second involves making a difference.”

Seth Godin, Whatcha Gonna Do with That Duck?

“Persistence isn’t using the same tactics over and over.  That’s just annoying.  Persistence is having the same goal over and over.”

Seth Godin, Whatcha Gonna Do with That Duck?

“Remarkable visions and genuine insight are always met with resistance.  And when you start to make progress, your efforts are met with even more resistance.  Products, services, career paths… whatever it is, the forces for mediocrity will align to stop you, forgiving no errors and never backing down until it’s over.  If it were any other way, it would be easy.  And if it were any other way, everyone would do it and your work would ultimately be devalued.  The yin and yang are clear: without people pushing against your quest to do something worth talking about, it’s unlikely that it would be worth the journey. Persist.”

Seth Godin, Whatcha Gonna Do with That Duck?

“We make a difference to other people when we give gifts to them, when we bring emotional labor to the table and do work that matters.  It’s hard for me to imagine that this way of living and working is available to only a few.  Yes, the cards are unfairly stacked against too many people.  Yes, there are too many barriers and not enough support.  But no, your ability to create and contribute isn’t determined at birth.  It’s a choice.”

Seth Godin, Whatcha Gonna Do with That Duck?

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If you enjoyed these quotes from Whatcha Gonna Do With That Duck, you should read Seth Godin’s massive book in full. It comes highly recommended.