Find Your Yellow Tux: How to Be Successful by Standing Out

when you know you suck at something, or when you know you’re unhappy, that’s the best possible place to be. From there, you can actually start to do something about it.

while most people run on autopilot in the morning, most successful people start their day intentionally.

Whenever I’d approached him with some crazy idea—say, a five-hundred-person pillow fight in the middle of the field—he would just look at me, smile, and say, “What do you think?” Somehow, those simple words always managed to put any idea in perspective.

when you’re working for something bigger than yourself, the hours don’t matter.

if you tell others you’re living the dream, make sure you actually are.

Every day, every week, use mirror moments to think about both the things your business isn’t great at and the things you’re not great at in your business. Then, instead of throwing yourself into the fire to try and rescue everyone all the time, try thinking about how your team can avoid starting the fire in the first place.

Rather than president, owner, or CEO, the title most business people and entrepreneurs should have is firefighter. When I’m out there with the zip ties or at the concession stand, I’m not making the best use of my time. I’m not helping my business. I’m putting out fires—and

It takes me thirty minutes to put up a sign that someone else could put up in five. Really, it’s not just zip ties. I’m basically a human roadblock when it comes to any sort of operational task like that.

To keep growing and being hungry, you need two things: self-awareness and a willingness to fail. This means being able to look at yourself and say, “You know what? I’m not good at this, and I’m hurting my business because of it.” If you can get to that level of honesty with yourself, that’s when the real fun begins.