Tessa Mania

Architect and furniture designer Eileen Gray on thinking for yourself:

"To create, one must first question everything. Never adopt someone else's conclusion without putting it to the test of your own reasoning and imagination."

Source: Eileen Gray: Her Work and Her World

Which activities are the best expression of you? Can you spend five minutes doing one of them today?

"The ability to observe without evaluating is the highest form of intelligence."

Source: The First and Last Freedom

"You are as old as the risks you take. In many ways, aging is not the process of growing old, but rather the slow death of becoming overly protective, scared, and worried about losing what you have. Youth is found in the energy of going for it, taking the risk, and trusting that you'll figure it out along the way."

"One way to stand out is to look for pockets of low competition.

Wake up early—less traffic, fewer people.

Go deeper or narrower in your field—less noise, more space.

People are drawn to where it is crowded. Look for the quiet spaces inside your areas of interest. Excellence often hides at the edges."

What is in the way of what I want?

Can I come up with at least three different paths around it?