Derek Sivers Quotes

Kurt Vonnegut and Joseph Heller were at a party at a billionaire’s extravagant estate. Kurt said, “Wow! Look at this place! This guy has everything!” Joseph said, “Yes, but I have something he’ll never have. . . . Enough.

Here’s how to live: Balance everything.

Every year or two, change your job and move somewhere new.
Change the way you eat, look, and talk.
Change your preferences, opinions, and usual responses.
Try the opposite of before.

The real point of doing anything is to be happy, so do only what makes you happy.

I hope you find these ideas useful for your own life or business. I also hope you disagree with some of them. Then I hope you e-mail me to tell me about your different point of view, because that’s my favorite part of all. (I’m a student, not a guru.)

Think of the comic heroes, like Charlie Chaplin, Jackie Chan, Jim Carrey, Kung Fu Panda, or Roberto Benigni in “Life Is Beautiful”.
They win by being playful, creative, adaptive, irreverent, and unbound by norms.
Those who take life too seriously are the opposite, and at a disadvantage.

Suspend all judgment when creating the first draft.
Just get to the end.
It’s better to create something bad than nothing at all.
You can improve something bad.
You can’t improve nothing.

Then you can appreciate everything from a healthy distance.
You can appreciate your country from abroad, once it’s not your only option.
You can appreciate family, once they’re not forced upon you.
You can laugh at the hysteria of the crowd, and learn from it too.

A gorilla, speaking with sign language, makes a joke.
We’re amazed.
She’s showing the fullest expression of a soul. But when a person is humorless, it’s the opposite.
They’ve lost the point of life.

A bad goal makes you say, “I want to do that some day.” A great goal makes you take action immediately.

Here’s how to live: Do nothing.

If you’re ever unsure what to prioritize, just ask your customers the open-ended question, “How can I best help you now?” Then focus on satisfying those requests.

But all progress comes from those who ignore the boundaries, break the rules, or make a whole new game.

We think walls protect us from enemies, but walls are what create enemies in the first place.

Concentrating all of your life’s force on one thing gives you incredible power.
Sunlight won’t catch a stick on fire.
But if you use a magnifying glass to focus the sunlight on one spot, it will.
Mastery needs your full focused attention.