Derek Sivers Quotes

There’s a big difference between being self-employed and being a business owner. Being self-employed feels like freedom until you realize that if you take time off, your business crumbles. To be a true business owner, make it so that you could leave for a year, and when you came back, your business would be doing better than when you left.

Here’s how to live: Make a million mistakes.

Don’t try to impress an invisible jury of MBA professors. It’s OK to be casual.

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: Make memories.

- Hell yeah or no. Spend time doing/working/being things you love and are passionate about. If it doesn’t excite you, and you don’t have to do it, say no.

Never forget that you can make your role anything you want it to be. Anything you hate to do, someone else loves. So find that person and let her do it.

Mastery is the best goal because the rich can't buy it, the impatient can't rush it, the privileged can't inherit it, and nobody can steal it. You can only earn it through hard work.

To appreciate something fully, picture losing it.
Imagine losing your freedom, reputation, money, and home.
Imagine losing your ability to see, hear, walk, or talk.
Imagine the people you love dying tomorrow.
Never take them for granted.

In the end, it’s about what you want to be, not what you want to have.

Everybody’s ideas seem obvious to them.

Every time you're making a choice, one choice is the safe/comfortable choice - and one choice is the risky/uncomfortable choice. the risky/uncomfortable choice is the one that will teach you the most and make you grow the most, so that's the one you should choose.

Delegation doesn’t come naturally to any of us. But I was trying really hard to be good at it. I knew how important it was to get into the delegation mind-set. I was trying to empower my employees — to let them know they could make decisions on their own, without me.

Short-term thinking is the root of most of our problems, from pollution to debt, both personal and global.

Don’t hope.
Hope is wanting things to be different than they are.
Wanting to change yourself is self-loathing.