“Our job as professionals is to show up and do the work. Not simply respond to incoming or do the chores, but to create and innovate. And yet, some days feel more conducive than others. There are moments when it simply flows. When the surf’s up, cancel everything else. Don’t waste it. Postpone the dentist, outsource the grocery shopping and leave your email for now. Make hay.”
Seth Godin
“If it makes you a worse person (parent, neighbor, writer, whatever), it’s not success. If starting a business makes you a worse person—if it stresses you out, if it tears your relationships apart, if it makes you bitter or frustrated with people—then it doesn’t matter how much money it makes or external praise it receives. It’s not successful.”
Ryan Holiday
“I had this idea that I wanted to be a millionaire by 25. Where this number came from, I don’t know. I made it up, it was ego, and I didn’t hit it. But you know what the difference of getting there a little later was? Nothing. No one throws you a party. Accomplishments don’t change who you are.”
Ryan Holiday
“You can’t necessarily automate your happiness. But you can use automation to give you more time to follow your bliss—whatever that looks like for you.”
Aytekin Tank, Automate Your Busywork (Page 168)
“If I lived only for the major, newsworthy milestones, I’d be miserable. Instead, I focused on small wins and created an alternative way to measure success and happiness: know what you’re good at and what you like doing, and spend as much of your workday doing exactly that.”
Aytekin Tank, Automate Your Busywork (Page 168)
“Trying to get those near you to behave more like you is the opposite of love and it reflects your lack of inner peace. If you truly love someone, you have to accept them as they are, you can certainly give them suggestions from time to time but in no way can you control them. You can also create boundaries when necessary but you can never force them to change. Control is a manifestation of your own insecurity”
Yung Pueblo
“We’ve already seen occupations like typesetting, switchboard operation, data entry, travel planning, and even retail sales dwindle or become obsolete, and technology will continue to replace manual work with machines. We need equitable retraining solutions for people who lose their livelihoods, but otherwise, this is a good change. The vast majority of people have more to offer than pressing buttons or sorting widgets. We need their contributions.”
Aytekin Tank, Automate Your Busywork (Page 158)
“Climate change, human rights issues, political polarization, loneliness, and isolation. These are just a few of the challenges we need to solve together—and it will take smart, creative, empathetic people to find workable solutions. The less time you spend on mundane tasks like email, the more time you have to unleash your imagination.”
Aytekin Tank, Automate Your Busywork (Page 158)
“Creativity is an utterly human skill that can’t be automated. But technology can sweep away some of the more tedious parts of the process, like research or data transfer or transcription. It can give you space to do the work that only you can do.”
Aytekin Tank, Automate Your Busywork (Page 158)
“Trying to force a wild human brain into precise, professional boxes is one of the reasons we’re so overwhelmed in the first place.”
Aytekin Tank, Automate Your Busywork (Page 137)
“There’s a poetic beauty in imagining that all the whispered conversations, cups of coffee, and daily minutiae add up to create a rich and textured story. Then there’s the reality of modern life: emails, chat notifications, system backups, and taxes. Our digital world has empowered us to accomplish so much, yet, many of us are proportionately beholden to electronic tools and tedious processes. My goal [is] to loosen their grip, to help you find more space and freedom.”
Aytekin Tank, Automate Your Busywork (Page 137)
“Your problems aren’t that unique. Your nature isn’t that unique. Your personal stuff isn’t that unique. In fact, it is universal. We are all people struggling the same way, we are all people with the same capacities and dignity and worth. Let’s celebrate that. Come together over that.”
Ryan Holiday
“Our definitions of ‘success’ are maybe the most common way we torture ourselves with arbitrary standards and made-up problems. It’s one reason I advise people to be careful and hold their goals lightly—because while goals may motivate you in the short run, a poorly defined version of success can really make you suffer in the long run.”
Mark Manson
“Getting a bad haircut is usually worse than missing an appointment with your stylist. A large portion of a tasteless dish is rarely better than a smaller portion of a delicious meal. There are many times in life when the outcome is more important than the output. In the same vein, your workflow shouldn’t just work; the system should create value for you and everyone else involved. Quality beats quantity.”
Aytekin Tank, Automate Your Busywork (Page 113)