Seth Godin Quotes

In a crowded marketplace, fitting in is failing. In a busy marketplace, not standing out is the same as being invisible.

Or, more accurately, spend all day trying to avoid making a mistake? These are very different things. Defect-free is what people are often in search of. Meeting spec. Blameless.

Waiting for perfect is never as smart as making progress.

Write like you talk. Often.

The same is true for learning. True learning (as opposed to education) is a voluntary experience that requires tension and discomfort (the persistent feeling of incompetence as we get better at a skill).

The secret of leadership is simple: Do what you believe in. Paint a picture of the future. Go there.

It’s uncomfortable to stand up in front of strangers. It’s uncomfortable to propose an idea that might fail. It’s uncomfortable to challenge the status quo. It’s uncomfortable to resist the urge to settle. When you identify the discomfort, you’ve found the place where a leader is needed.

If you’re remarkable, it’s likely that some people won’t
like you. That’s part of the definition of remarkable.
Nobody gets unanimous praise–ever. The best the timid
can hope for is to be unnoticed. Criticism comes to those
who stand out.

If you can deny your talents, if you can conceal them from others or, even better, persuade yourself that they weren’t even given to you, you’re off the hook.

And being off the hook is a key element of the industrialized school’s promise. It lets parents off the hook, certainly, since the institution takes over the teaching. It lets teachers off the hook, since the curriculum is preordained and the results are tested. And it lets students off the hook, because the road is clearly marked and the map is handed to everyone.

If you stay on the path, do your college applications through the guidance office and your job hunting at the placement office, the future is not your fault.

That’s the refrain we hear often from frustrated job seekers, frustrated workers with stuck careers, and frustrated students in too much debt. 'I did what they told me to do and now I’m stuck and it’s not my fault.'

What they’ve exchanged for that deniability is their dreams, their chance for greatness. To go off the path is to claim responsibility for what happens next.

Real leaders don't care [about receiving credit]. If it's about your mission, about spreading the faith, about seeing something happen, not only do you not care about credit, you actually want other people to take credit...There's no record of Martin Luther King, Jr. or Gandhi whining about credit. Credit isn't the point. Change is.

Passion can overcome fear - the fear of losing, of failing, of being traditional.

strategy is empty without change, empty without passion, and empty without people willing to confront the void.

«Quejarse es estúpido. Actúa u olvídalo.» Stefan Sagmeister

When Pat Holt strings together a list of words not to overuse — “Actually, totally, absolutely, completely, continually, constantly, continuously, literally, really, unfortunately, ironically, incredibly, hopefully, finally” — she’s not being a stickler for formality and grammar. Instead she’s reminding us that words matter, that poor word use is just a red flag for someone who wants to ignore you.

Writers write. Runners run. Establish your identity by doing your work.