Excerpt: My best friend is excellent at communication. He’s good at signaling and receiving. Most are bad at both. Some are good at one. Here’s what I have learned from him as of late.
Excerpt: Hustle can help you get ahead. But, how good is getting ahead if you can’t stay ahead? Here’s what hustle culture is missing…
“Some people hesitate to share an idea because they’re worried it will be stolen. In general, these people are afraid of success, not failure. An idea unspoken is a safe one, which not only can’t be stolen, but it can’t be tested, criticized, improved or used in the real world.”
Seth Godin, Blog
Excerpt: Brandon Stanton’s new book, Humans, is a masterpiece. These quotes from Humans give a behind-the-scenes look at how he works and thinks.
Book Overview: Brandon Stanton created Humans of New York in 2010. What began as a photographic census of life in New York City, soon evolved into a storytelling phenomenon. A global audience of millions began following HONY daily. Over the next several years, Stanton broadened his lens to include people from across the world. Traveling to more than forty countries, he conducted interviews across continents, borders, and language barriers. Humans is the definitive catalogue of these travels. The faces and locations will vary from page to page, but the stories will feel deeply familiar. Told with candor and intimacy, Humans will resonate with readers across the globe―providing a portrait of our shared experience.
Buy from Amazon! Not on Audible…
Great on Kindle. Great Experience. Great Value. The Kindle edition of this book comes highly recommended on Amazon.
Post(s) Inspired by this Book:
“Our struggles connect us. We relate to the challenges of other people much more than we relate to their victories. We empathize with pain much more than joy. The moment we truly see ourselves in another person is when we realize that we’ve felt the exact same pain.”
Brandon Stanton, Humans (Page 278)
This is the oversight with always wanting to show off. It might make people envy you, but it doesn’t allow people to easily connect with you. If anything, it creates a larger disconnect between where they are and where you portray yourself to be. As Brandon points out above, it’s our struggles that connect us, not our victories.
Read More »Brandon Stanton Quote on Connection and How We Connect Through Struggles More Than Victories“Karma isn’t fate. Nor is it a punishment imposed on us by some external agent. We create our own karma. Karma is the result of the choices that we make every moment of every day.”
Tulku Thondup
Karma is real. Maybe I can’t describe it in a metaphysical sense, but I can certainly describe it from a common sensical, sense. When somebody texts me asking if I want a coffee while they’re at the café—I can promise you it makes me want to text them when I’m at the café next. When somebody brings in food for me, just because—it makes me think about getting food for them on a random, “just because,” day, too. When somebody does a favor for me, it leaves me feeling grateful and in their debt—which makes me want to return a favor. Karma, undoubtedly, returns.
Read More »Tulku Thondup Quote on Karma and How We Create Our Own Karma—It Isn’t Fate“People come to me, they always say, ‘The other is not loving me.’ Nobody comes and says, ‘I am not loving the other.’ Love has become a demand: ‘The other is not loving me.’ Forget about the other! Love is such a beautiful phenomenon, if you love you will enjoy. And the more you love, the more you become lovable. The less you love and the more you demand that other should love you, the less and less you are lovable, the more and more you become closed, confined to your ego.”
Osho, Courage (Page 67)
Do for others that which you most want done for yourself. I cannot think of better advice for anyone who is looking to improve the relationships in their lives. The overwhelming majority seem to default to blaming and criticizing rather than relating and empathizing. You don’t often hear people say things like, “What am I doing wrong?” “How can I better love the other?” “How might I improve the way I treat them?” It is more often than not things like, “Look at all of these things they are doing wrong!” “Listen to all of these reasons on how they are not loving me!” “Let me vent to you about how poorly they are treating me.”
Read More »Osho Quote on Relationships and How The More You Love, The More You Become Lovable“Despite having interviewed thousands of people, I still learn something new from each person I meet. Everyone has a unique expertise. The quickest way to find a person’s expertise is by learning their struggle. What they’ve battled. What they’ve carried with them the longest. Because it’s what they’ve thought about the most.”
Brandon Stanton, Humans (Page 278)
“There’s an old cliché that ‘everyone has a story,’ but there’s a reason it’s a cliché. Every person has a story because everyone has a struggle. The heart of a story is the struggle—the obstacle that has been faced, and hopefully overcome. It can be an obvious physical feat, like climbing a mountain or rescuing someone from drowning. It can be a mental battle: like depression, or addiction, or schizophrenia. It can be comedic or tragic. But none of these particular elements are the reason that struggles are crucial to a story. Struggles are crucial because they’re transformative. Struggles change people. And a well-told story merely follows the arc of that transformation.”
Brandon Stanton, Humans (Page 277)
“The most reputable [news] outlets entertain their audience with the truth. They tell true stories. But even then, they know that it’s not the truth that generates profits—it’s always the stories. Stories keep us tuned in. Stories sell newspapers. Stories get clicks. Yes, truth matters. But when it comes to the bottom line, journalism isn’t a truth business. It’s a story business.”
Brandon Stanton, Humans (Page 177)
“If our shields are what separate us, it’s what’s behind them that brings us together: the struggles, the worries, the pain, the weakness. All the soft spots. The places we protect. These are the things that make us most relatable to others. These are the things that connect us—if only we allow them to be seen.”
Brandon Stanton, Humans (Page 25)
“It’s amazing how people transform when they realize you’re not a threat. They become much more relatable. More familiar. More recognizable. Big cities can feel so isolating because we rarely get past this point with people. Everyone is hiding behind their shield. They’re on guard at all times. At least until the end of the day, when they get back home, around people they love and trust, and suddenly become themselves again.”
Brandon Stanton, Humans (Page 24)
“If we’re dating, I want to be your second priority. I want your first priority to be you, your ambitions, your life, and your future, because my priority right now is me and mine. Finding happiness and security alone is crucial to finding it together.”
~ Steven Bartlett
Want to know the secret to a happy relationship? Two happy people. Not two dependent people who are constantly negging each other for attention/ validation/ reassurance. Not two people who are constantly placing expectations on the other person to fulfill. Not two people who are so scared to be alone that they demand the other person be in every single faucet of their lives. And definitely not two people who are trying to use the other for selfish gains. The secret is being happy first—as an individual—and then sharing that happiness with the other.
Read More »Steven Bartlett Quote on Dating and How We Should Keep Ourselves As The First Priority“Success is never due to one thing, but failure can be. Sleeping well won’t make you successful, but not sleeping enough will hold you back. Hard work is rarely enough without good strategy, but even the best strategy is useless without hard work. Many things are necessary, but not sufficient for success.”
James Clear, Blog
Not all hard work is created equally. For some, specific kinds of “hard work” aligns with strengths, aptitudes, potentials, and interests. For others, that same “hard work” might call upon weaknesses. Even if the “hard work” that was tasked was the same, it wouldn’t have the same net result on the individual. It would cause a drastic difference in the amount of time, energy, and effort required. And if you want to optimize your time, energy, and effort in your life—then you should start by optimizing the type of “hard work” that you choose to do for this very reason.
Read More »James Clear Quote on Hard Work and How Not All Hard Work Is Created Equally
