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Overcoming Impossible

Brain Food – No. 524 – May 14, 2023

Timeless ideas and insights for life. (Read the archives)

FS

Kurt Vonnegut’s timeless letter to those who burned his books:

“If you and your board are now determined to show that you in fact have wisdom and maturity when you exercise your powers over the education of your young, then you should acknowledge that it was a rotten lesson you taught young people in a free society when you denounced and then burned books— books you hadn’t even read.”

— Source

Insight

Impossible is just a big word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in the world they’ve been given than to explore the power they have to change it. Impossible is not a fact. It’s an opinion. Impossible is not a declaration. It’s a dare. Impossible is potential. Impossible is temporary. Impossible is nothing.

— Muhammad Ali

Tiny Thought

The single biggest thing that separates people is the consistent ability to show up and do the work.

The consequences of failing to show up consistently are getting the results you deserve but not the ones you want.

(Click here to share on Twitter)

TKP

Tim Cook recommended that all Apple executives read one book. 

In this conversation, I sit down with the author to learn how to unleash the power of time-based competition. We discuss:

  • Time-based competition and why it changes the game.
  • When to play nice and when to be aggressive.
  • Why family companies may not perform as well in market upturns, but they also don’t fall as far during downturns. Stability and long-term vision are key.
  • The timeline mismatch between CEOs and shareholders and how it impacts business.
  • Becoming a time-based competitor involves not just saving time.

Listen and learn on FS | Apple | Spotify | or read the professionally edited transcript.

Etc.

Happy-If People:

“They’re paying me a ton of money. People recognize me at the airport. I’m doing everything I drempt of doing for 30 years. It all came true. And I am the least happy I have ever been in my life. … And I have every single thing on paper that I wanted. I feel grateful for this because I was able to say something much more profound is broken … I think a lot of us proceed through life thinking ‘we would be happy if,’ ‘we would have self-estreem if’ … and those are illusions most people don’t get to find out are illusions.”

— Source

Cheers,
— Shane

P.S. Don’t mess with otters.

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