“The problem that many of us face is that we have great dreams and ambitions. Caught up in the emotions of our dreams and the vastness of our desires, we find it very difficult to focus on the small, tedious steps usually necessary to attain them. We tend to think in terms of giant leaps toward our goals. But in the social world as in nature, anything of size and stability grows slowly.”
Robert Greene, 33 Strategies of War
“Don’t allow yourself to engage in fantasies about other projects on the horizon. You want to channel this grandiose energy by absorbing yourself in your work as deeply as possible.”
Robert Greene, The Daily Laws (Page 393)
“One of the most common narratives on the internet is that you have to ‘go all in’ and ‘have no backup plan’ in order to be successful. People will cite the success of Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and Steve Jobs to further drive home their point. But this is simply survivorship bias. Instead of looking at Musk, Bezos, and Jobs, ask yourself this question instead: ‘How many people have tried to do what these three did, and failed?’ If 3 out of a million make it, it’s probably not the right choice for you. Instead, think about how you can start small and don’t flush years of your productive time down the drain on one ‘big’ idea.”
Justin Welsh
“If the Egyptians had so capably built their temples and pyramids without the benefit of modern architectural tools, then I, the daughter of this great civilization, must be capable of more than I knew. We all are. Anything we can conceive of can be built. Perhaps not through our efforts alone, but also by the generations of dreamers whose feet will rest on our shoulders.”
Alicia Keys, More Myself (Page 105)
“Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that it was vanity: but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dream with open eyes, to make it possible.” ~ T.E. Lawrence via The Way of the Seal