“Develop your taste. Take a good, long look at anyone creating meaningful work. You will see that it wasn’t their skill that came first but their taste. With time, they became so inspired by their taste, that they wanted to create something themselves that could live up to it. In other words, they honed their skills to make something worthy of their taste. You shouldn’t be a snob about many things in life. Your taste, however, is an exception. Watch great films. Read gorgeous books. Spin brilliant records. Eat delicious food. Study extraordinary people. Consume. Consume. Consume. Develop your taste. Refine your palate. Your skills will follow.”
Cole Schafer
“It’d be wonderful if power or success exempted us… from everything time-consuming, pedestrian, inconvenient, difficult. In practice, it obligates us to those things even more. It demands more of us. That’s just how it shakes out. Can you handle that? The leader shows up first and leaves last. The leader works hardest. The leader puts others before themselves. The leader takes the hit. Everything else is just semantics and titles.”
Ryan Holiday, Discipline Is Destiny (Page 255)
“The nearer a man is to a calm mind, the closer he is to strength.”
Marcus Aurelius, via Discipline Is Destiny (Page 249)
“There are two ways to live a longer life: 1) Biologically. Extend the timeline between your birth and your death. 2) Psychologically. Fit more lives into whatever time you are given. Make each decade rich with experiences and perhaps you can live a handful of lives before you are done.”
James Clear
“‘You don’t have to turn this into something,’ [Marcus Aurelius] reminded himself when someone did something wrong or said something untrue about him. When he lusted after something, he stopped himself, turning those desires to stone before they burned through him and he did something he’d regret. He tried to make beautiful choices, tried to look for the best in people, tried to put himself in their shoes, tried to lead by serving. It was the pride of Marcus’s life that he not only didn’t need to ask anyone for favors but that anytime anyone asked him for something—money, advice, a hand—he could be generous.”
Ryan Holiday, Discipline Is Destiny (Page 234)
“The opposite of self-awareness is unconscious reactions and impulsiveness, which leads to simply repeating the past endlessly. Self-awareness opens the door to new opportunities, where you can see more than just your impulsiveness. Being able to see yourself and the way you move through your emotional range helps you be mindful of what you are saying and why you are saying it. Through self-awareness comes better decisions because you know when your intentions are genuine, when you would benefit from pausing and slowing down, and when you need to take accountability.”
Yung Pueblo
