Courage is Calling
Ryan Holiday
Summary
Being courageous in the face of fear
Rating: 4/5
Notes
Virtue is comprised of 4 components: courage, temperance, justice and wisdom
If not me, then who?
History is written with blood, sweat and tears and it’s etched into eternity by the quiet endurance of courageous people
The call to adventure in the hero’s journey is usually followed by refusal to answer the call
There is nothing worth doing that is not scary
Be scared but don’t be afraid
At the root of most fear is what other people think of us
There has never been a person who did something that mattered without pissing people off
Foresee the worst to perform the best
It’s easy to judge but hard to know
‘It’s preferable to stand tall in the mud puddle than lick boots in the parlour’
All growth is a leap into the dark
Be original. Be yourself. To be anything else is to be a coward.
You don’t get to succeed privately. Life happens in public.
Independence and fearlessness is the key to greatness
‘If not me, then who? If not now, then when?’ - Hillel
Repetition leads to confidence. Confidence leads to courage
To know the truth and not say the truth is to betray the truth
The well behaved rarely make history
Make courage a habit
Courage, like fear, is contagious
If you’re going to speak out, sign your name on everything you do
Nobody becomes great without believing that such a thing was worth doing
Where there is only a choice between cowardice and violence, I would advise violence - Gandhi
Odds of being born are 1 in 400 trillion
Heroic: risking one self for someone else
The opposite of fear is love
It’s best to win a war without fighting
Every prophet has to go to the wilderness and have periods of isolation and meditation - Churchill
If you are an independent or visionary, you will be alienated
Our duty is not just to be our best selves but to help others realize their best. Even if the effort comes at our own expense
The leader risks themselves for everyone else
You can commit injustice by doing nothing
Words don’t matter, deeds do
Our obligation is to truth whether people like it or not
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Make Something Wonderful
Steve Jobs
Summary
The life of Steve Jobs in his own words
Rating: 5/5
Notes
Make something wonderful and put it out there
‘You appear, have a chance to blaze in the sky, then you disappear’
When you’re a stranger in a place, you notice thing you don’t otherwise (Jobs after India trip)
Whenever you start with nothing, always shoot for the moon. You have nothing to lose.
You never achieve what you want without falling on your face a few times
Never be afraid to fail. You never achieve what you want without falling flat on your face a few times
We are never taught to listen to our intuitions, to develop and nurture them. But if you do pay attention to these subtle insights, you can make them come true
Creativity equals connecting previously unrelated experiences and insights others don’t see
Believe that some of what you follow with your heart will come back and make your life richer. And it will. And you will gain even firmer trust on your instincts and intuitions
Make your avocation your vocation. Make what you love your work.
The journey is the reward. The reward isn’t in the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, it’s in crossing the rainbow
To find A+ talent, if experienced, look at their track record and results
The world we know is a human creation and we can push it forward
The people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do (read whole ad ‘here’s to the crazy ones)
We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then is not an act but a habit - Aristotle
Hire people better than you are
You can’t plan to meet the people who will change your life
It’s impossible to connect the dots looking forward, but they make sense looking backwards so you have to trust the dots will somehow connect in your future
Everything around you that you call life was made up by people no smarter than you
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