“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?
“What we can’t do is digitize passion. We can’t force the student to want to poke around and discover new insights online. We can’t merely say, ‘here,’ and presume the students will do the hard (and scary) work of getting over the hump and conquering their fears. Without school to establish the foundation and push and pull our students, the biggest digital library in the world is useless.”
Seth Godin, Whatcha Gonna Do With That Duck?
“Dreamers don’t have special genes. They find circumstances that amplify their dreams.”
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 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?
“We can teach people to desire lifelong learning, to express themselves, and to innovate. And just as important, it’s vital we acknowledge that we can unteach bravery and creativity and initiative. And that we have been doing just that. School has become an industrialized system, working on a huge scale, that has significant by-products, including the destruction of many of the attitudes and emotions we’d like to build our culture around.”
Seth Godin, Whatcha Gonna Do With That Duck?
“As soon as we associate reading a book with taking a test, we’ve missed the point.” ~ Seth Godin, Whatcha Gonna Do With That Duck?
“The passionate worker doesn’t show up because she’s afraid of getting in trouble; she shows up because it’s a hobby that pays. The passionate worker is busy blogging on vacation, because posting that thought and seeing the feedback it generates is actually more fun than sitting on the beach for another hour. The passionate worker tweaks a site design after dinner because, hey, it’s a lot more fun than watching TV.”
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?
“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?
“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?
“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?
“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?
“If it acts like a duck (all the time), it’s a duck. Doesn’t matter if the duck thinks it’s a dog; it’s still a duck as far as the rest of us are concerned. Authenticity, for me, is doing what you promise, not ‘being who you are.’ That’s because ‘being’ is too amorphous and we are notoriously bad at judging that. Internal vision is always blurry. Doing, on the other hand, is an act that can be seen by all.”
Seth Godin, Whatcha Gonna Do With That Duck?
“Be happy wherever you are, with whatever you’ve got, but always hungry for the thrill of creating art, of being missed if you’re gone, and, most of all, of doing important work.”
Seth Godin, Whatcha Gonna Do With That Duck?
“If you want to become the kind of person that any company would kill to have as an employee, you need to be the kind of employee that’s really picky about whom you align with.”
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?
“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?
“My feeling is that the more often you create and share ideas, the better you get at it. The process of manipulating and ultimately spreading ideas improves both the quality and the quantity of what you create; at least it does for me.” ~ Seth Godin, Whatcha Gonna Do With That Duck?