Quote Of Week

"When you take things for granted the things you are granted gets taken." - Rev Run.

Race Across The Sky Film

Race Across The Sky 2010 from Citizen Pictures on Vimeo.

Three Kinds

There are three kinds of people: those who let it happen, those who make it happen, and those who wonder what happened.

Anthony Bourdain "Gets It"

I have followed his career from sometime - of course, his successful TV show on the Travel Channel has exposed him to millions of people. It's refreshing that with Tony what you see is what you get. Heart on his sleeve - not afraid to tell it like it is. In part, because he worked his way out of difficult times - including drugs and debt. Here's a paragraph from a recent blog post by him:

Look Back With Embarrassment
August 2, 2010, 9:31 AM | Comments (77) | Permalink
I’m frankly delighted to be out of the country when tonight’s WHERE IT ALL BEGAN special airs. While it’s a very good piece of film making by a very distinguished gentleman named Dmitri Kasterine (who put over a year of his life into it), I dearly wish I were not the subject. I just can’t bear looking back at that black-haired, post-crack-skinny, arrogant twerp. I’ve said elsewhere that I “had” to be arrogant to get through the day but looking at this guy (me) eleven years ago, not fifty dollars to my name, unpaid rent hanging over my head, years of back taxes and credit card debt, no real accomplishments (and plenty of wasted advantages) to my credit….and I thought, already, that I knew everything. Standing there in my restaurant, my first real book newly situated on the best seller list–and I was clueless. I had no idea–no IDEA what kind of tractor trailer was headed down the pike and straight up my ass. I see a guy standing on the precipice…and my instinct is (after slapping him a few times) to yell back at him. Warn him. But what would I tell him? And would I have listened?

Where there is no struggle, there is no strength.

"Where there is no struggle, there is no strength." - Oprah

NEVER EVER THOUGHT I WOULD QUOTE OPRAH. BUT THERE IT IS.

She should of gone on to explain that struggle breeds strength in the few - but for most, struggle creates doubt and despair. Of course, her point is also that there are people that never have had to struggle, thanks to wealthy parents, trusts funds, etc. Or, there are those that would rather wait out their days in a cubicle at a 9 to 5 type job than to take the kinds of risks that might lead to struggle. Either way, they likely won't know if they can overcome struggles via internal strength.

Pain is temporary, quitting lasts forever.

Nuff said.

"Your Failures Interest Me Far More Than Your Success"

I think David Kelly from Ideo said that. It takes lots of real world experience to really understand what he meant. Failures are responsible for far more innovation than successes have been. Failures also cause people and businesses to adapt or fail.

In these regards failures are much more interesting than success stories. We've heard stories of people "failing upward" - especially in science and other businesses where trail and error counts more than revenue targets.

An example of a failure that is far more interesting as a failure than a success could be the Leaning Tower of Pisa - it was obviously intended to stand vertically (to serve as a bell tower,) but began leaning soon after construction started in August of 1173. Who would really care about it if it didn't lean?

The lesson: We all fail. It's up to us to use those events to grow or wither. It often seems we live in a society that actually enjoys seeing people fail. When this happens to you, keep in mind that what is happening to you is only a state of "where you are" in life and not "who you are" as a person. I know.