change
The question we asked was, “Our customers want to know: Who is Apple, and what is it that we stand for? Where do we fit in this world?"
And what we're about isn't making boxes for people to get their jobs done, although we do that well. We do that better than almost anybody, in some cases.
But Apple is about something more than that. Apple, at the
... See moreSteve Jobs • Make Something Wonderful
The ego likes big, dramatic actions that seem as if they’ll magically change the future. This gives the ego a sense of power. Real discipline is quite the opposite. It’s made up of an endless number of small steps, each of which can seem meaningless on its own. The ego has to humble itself to keep going on a productive course.
Phil Stutz • Lessons for Living
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The way we work seems fixed and unchangeable—until it changes, and then we realize it didn’t have to be like that in the first place.
Johann Hari • Stolen Focus: Why You Can't Pay Attention And How to Think Deeply Again
Morning Pages ask us to have courage. When we do, they give us positive reinforcement. On an “off” day, we can still tell ourselves, “At least I did my pages.” Most days, we can count some small forward motion. Pages lead us to large changes by very small steps.
Julia Cameron • The Miracle of Morning Pages: Everything You Always Wanted to Know About the Most Important Artists Way Tool a Special From...
One major advantage of springboard stories is that they combat skepticism and create buy-in. Denning says that the idea of telling stories initially violated his intuition. He had always believed in the value of being direct, and he worried that stories were too ambiguous, too peripheral, too anecdotal. He thought, “Why not spell out the message
... See moreChip Heath • Made to Stick
Most of our attempts to become better people, fitter and healthier, more moral/ productive/ organised, and so forth, make this problem worse– because it's basically impossible to pursue any program of personal change without the thought, somewhere in the back of your mind, that successfully completing the change will catapult you into a new and
... See moreOliver Burkeman • What if You Never Sort Your Life Out?
Have you ever noticed that there is no running away from anything? That, sooner or later, the things that you don’t want to deal with and try to escape from, or paper over and pretend aren’t there, catch up with you— especially if they have to do with old patterns and fears? The romantic notion is that if it’s no good over here, you have only to go
... See moreJon Kabat-Zinn • Wherever You Go, There You Are
Of course it sounds as if it were the most abject fatalism to have to admit that I am what I am, and that no escape or division is possible. It seems that if I am afraid, then I am “stuck” with fear. But in fact I am chained to the fear only so long as I am trying to get away from it. On the other hand, when I do not try to get away I discover that
... See moreAlan Watts • Wisdom of Insecurity
The moment we deny ourselves some gratification, we feel deprived. Part X appeals to our selfishness, telling us we should never have to feel deprived.
The only way to fight this is to have an equally selfish reason not to give in to our impulses. In other words, we need to find a reward in depriving ourselves. In the lower-channel, purely material