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    “How do we make it so that when someone is born with a chronic illness, someone who is going to be sick, who might always be sick—who might die sick—can still live a life that they are proud of?  How do we teach kids who are sick, teach people who are sick in general, to not feel ashamed of their illness or their experience of life, but to learn from it and to make something from it?” ~ Claire Wineland (20), EEM LA 2018

      “Innovation doesn’t happen because there’s some person who’s in some great circumstance and everything is going well and they get on a roll and they make something for the world.  Innovation happens—art happens—because of suffering.” ~ Claire Wineland, Klick MUSE New York

        “Some of the happiest moments in my life have been when I am sick in the hospital—honestly.  And think about the implications of that because I have lived the kind of life that all of you spend your entire lives running from.  I’ve been sick and dying my entire life.  And yet, I am so proud of my life.  What does that say?  We’re waiting to be healthy; we’re waiting to be wealthy; we’re waiting to find our passion; we’re waiting to find our true love before we actually start living!  Instead of looking at everything that we have—looking at all of the pain, looking at all of the sadness, looking at all of the beauty, and making something with that.  That’s how innovation happens.” ~ Claire Wineland, Klick MUSE New York

          “I have lived a life of a lot of pain and I’m not pretending that I haven’t.  I’ve had to deal with death; I’ve had to deal with painful surgeries; I’ve had to deal with being alone and scared in the hospital.  But I have had a beautiful life—and one that I am so incredibly proud of.  And that is not in spite of having Cystic Fibrosis… That’s because of it.” ~ Claire Wineland (19), Zappos All Hands Meeting

            “An optimist is one who sees opportunity in every difficulty.  A pessimist is one who sees difficulty in every opportunity.” ~ L. P. Jacks, via The Way of the Seal

              “The nature of the outer, conscious mind is to receive input, process it through our story filter, and then make meaning out of it.  A problem arises when too much of what flows through our minds is negative: The conscious mind dwells on negative things and obsesses about them.  Sound familiar?  It’s well known that whatever we focus on tends to become our reality, even if the focus is on not wanting something.  Negative input can plant seeds of destruction in our subconscious mind, which then partners with our conscious mind in a conspiracy for failure.” ~ Mark Divine, The Way of the Seal

                “Drive is fueled by desire, belief, and expectation that we can achieve something extraordinary through our efforts.  It feeds on discipline in that it becomes stronger as we commit ourselves at deeper levels to our pursuits.” ~ Mark Divine, The Way of the Seal

                  “Discipline is the spark that ignites the fire of a habit.  Those fires must be lit daily, and discipline provides the original source energy.  The word discipline literally means to be a disciple to a higher purpose.  Developing the discipline to train hard every day means you become a disciple—not to the training itself, not just to looking good or stroking your ego, but to the higher purpose of developing yourself fully as a human being and as a leader.” ~ Mark Divine, The Way of the Seal

                    “When it comes to habits, the best approach isn’t to focus on eliminating unwanted behaviors but to replace them with new habits and drown the old out.  This is true of replacing a nasty habit like smoking with a healthy habit like exercise, and it’s just as true with replacing a character habit like laziness with a more useful one such as embracing the suck.  Our habits define us:  Solid character habits define a solid character.” ~ Mark Divine, The Way of the Seal