Discipline is Destiny
Ryan Holiday
Summary
Ryan Holiday's newest book about maintaining discipline. Lot of good one-liners but not my favourite Holiday book
Rating: 4/5
Notes
In the ancient world, virtue is comprised of 4 components: courage, temperance, justice and wisdom
Timeless law of the universe: we must keep ourselves in check or risk ruin
‘The most powerful is he who has himself in his own power’ - Seneca
When you love the work, you don’t cheat it or the demands it asks of you
Discipline isn’t deprivation, it brings its own rewards
We owe it to ourselves, to our goals, to the game, to keep going. To keep pushing. To stay pure. To be tough. To conquer our bodies before they conquer us.
When we desire more than we need, we make ourselves vulnerable
The space where great work is done is holy. We must respect it
Consistency is a superpower
We don’t rise to the occasion, we fall to the level of our training
Always and forever, the reward is the work
Succeeds breeds softness
No one can carry on forever. You need to rest and take breaks so you can last forever
To last, to be great, you have to understand how to rest
Greatness is not just what one does but also what one refuses to do
The main thing in life is to keep the main thing the main thing
No one can say yes to their destiny without saying no to what is clearly someone else’s
Patience is the primary ingredient of genius - Thomas Edison
Another way to spell perfectionism is paralysis
Transitions are as important as achievements
Fear makes your mind sharper. When you have nothing to fear, your mind becomes dull
We are all going to lose. Nobody stays undefeated for long in this life
‘Powerful people impress and intimidate by saying less’ - Robert Greene
Of all the addictions in the world, the most intoxicating and hardest to control is ambition
When your choices turn you into someone who has to worry about money, then you are not rich, no matter how much you make
The best way to manage the load is to share the load
Be tolerant of others and strict with yourself
Courage, according to hemingway, is grace under pressure
Being the boss is a job. Being a leader is something you earn
A leader has to show, not tell. First in line for duty, last in line for recognition
Be a friend to yourself
The person who cannot resist and give up control is a danger to themselves and their organizations
Greatness isn’t what you have. It’s who you choose to become or who you choose to remain
Sometimes even to live is an act of courage - Seneca
Words don’t matter, deeds do
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Buy the book here
Free E-book download here
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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Buy the book here
Free E-book download here
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