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Seth Godin Quote on Quitting—Quitting More So You Can Focus More On What Matters [Plus 30 Things to Consider Quitting]

    “Sticking things out is overrated, particularly if you stick out the wrong things.  In fact, I think you’d be much better off quitting most of what you do so you have the resources to get through the hard slog I call the Dip.  The challenge, then, is to not quit in the Dip, but instead to quit everything else so you have the focus to get through the slog of what matters.”

    Seth Godin, Whatcha Gonna Do With That Duck?

    Beyond the Quote (71/365)

    What should we stick out and what should we quit?  I can tell you that the list of things we should stick out is far smaller than the list of things we should quit.  And after some reflection, what you might find is that your list of things that you’ve been sticking out is WAY bigger than you might have imagined it to be and the things you SHOULD be sticking out might not even be making it to your daily to-do list at all.  My instinct tells me that the follow 6 things are worth sticking out without explaination: Reading, Writing, Exercising, Meditating, Learning, and Connecting. 

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    Seth Godin Quote on Making The Decision To Excel

      “The universal truth is beyond question – the only people who excel are those who have decided to do so.” ~ Seth Godin

      Beyond the Quote (36/365)

      Excelling is optional.  And so is the opposite.  The path of least resistance is the path most people decide to follow.  Why wouldn’t that be the case?  Naturally, we are lazy creatures.  We’re wired to conserve energy—both by expending less (moving less) and storing more (fat on your body)—so that we don’t starve to death if we can’t get more food.  These were critical adaptations that were made over the course of our existence as humans that kept us alive during harsh periods of existence.

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        “The best way to change long-term behavior is with short-term feedback.” ~ Seth Godin

        Whatcha Gonna Do With That Duck? [Book]

          Whatcha Gonna Do With That Duck by Seth Godin

          By: Seth Godin

          From this Book: 28 Quotes

          Book Overview:  Made for dipping into again and again, Whatcha Gonna Do with That Duck? brings together the very best of Seth Godin’s acclaimed blog and is a classic for fans both old and new. ‘Getting your ducks in a row is a fine thing to do. But deciding what you are going to do with that duck is a far more important issue.’ Since he started blogging in the early 1990s, he has written more than two million words and shaped the way we think about marketing, leadership, careers, inno­vation, creativity, and more. Much of his writing is inspirational and some is incendiary. Collected here are six years of his best, most entertaining, and most poignant blog posts, plus a few bonus ebooks.

          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:

          1. Top 15 Quotes from Whatcha Gonna Do With That Duck by Seth Godin
          2. Seth Godin Quote on Quitting—Quitting More So You Can Focus More On What Matters [Plus 30 Things to Consider Quitting] (Beyond the Quote 71/365)

            “When we teach a child to make good decisions, we benefit from a lifetime of good decisions.  When we teach a child to love to learn, the amount of learning will become limitless.  When we teach a child to deal with a changing world, she will never become obsolete.  When we are brave enough to teach a child to question authority, even ours, we insulate ourselves from those who would use their authority to work against each of us.  And when we give students the desire to make things, even choices, we create a world filled with makers.”

            Seth Godin, Whatcha Gonna Do With That Duck?

              “Let’s define dumb as being different from stupid.  Dumb means you don’t know what you’re supposed to know.  Stupid means you know it but make bad choices. […]  Dumb used to be a by-product of lack of access, bad teachers, or poor parenting.  Today, dumb is a choice, one that’s made by individuals who choose not to learn.  If you don’t know what you need to know, that’s fixable.  But first you have to want to fix it.”

              Seth Godin, Whatcha Gonna Do With That Duck?

                “In the connected age, reading and writing remain the two skills that are most likely to pay off with exponential results.  Reading leads to more reading.  Writing leads to better writing.  Better writing leads to a bigger audience and more value creation.  And the process repeats.”

                Seth Godin, Whatcha Gonna Do With That Duck?

                  “School is at its best when it gives students the expectation that they will not only dream big, but dream dreams that they can work on every day until they accomplish them – not because they were chosen by a black-box process but because they worked hard enough to reach them.”

                  Seth Godin, Whatcha Gonna Do With That Duck?

                    “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?

                        “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?

                              “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?