The best practical advice then is: try to maximize your expected payoff, which is the sum of all payoffs multiplied by probabilities.

You probably don't want maximum effectiveness.

For example, the most effective way to make money likely requires a lifestyle you don't want to live. Instead, you want the most effective path that fits your desired lifestyle.

How do you want to spend your days? Start there, then optimize.

Obra como si la máxima de tu acción pudiera ser erigida, por tu voluntad, en ley universal de la naturaleza

Maximizing your potential doesn’t seem to be a good aim in life. Especially as a primary one. I also don’t think this is something you can ever achieve

To reach your full potential, you have to set goals that will stretch you. You must not be afraid of taking risks. You must learn to recognize opportunities and have the courage to pursue them. You have to make better choices that will provide better results. Finally, you need to avoid the negative influences of other people and surround yourself with successful people who will encourage you to pursue your dreams.

To maximise innovation, maximise the fringes.

The maximum of motive power resulting from the employment of steam is also the maximum of motive power realizable by any means whatever.

Nobody wants anything less than "extra strength". "Extra strength" is the absolute minimum. You can't even get "strength"; "strength" is out now. It's all "extra strength". Some people are not satisfied with "extra"; they want "maximum". "Give me the 'maximum strength'." "Give me the maximum allowable human dosage." "Figure out what will kill me and then back it off a little bit."

The best thing to do is go as far out as you can get... what you regard as 'too far' — and when others follow, as they will, move on.

No matter what you are dealing with, your goal should be to maximize the resources and capabilities you do have. If you’ve suffered a freak injury or received a diagnosis that changes everything, what does your new maximum effort level look like? A lot of people bide their time and wait to see what happens next, but a year or two later, they find they are still waiting. With every unfortunate turn in life, no matter how heavy the weight, you have to be committed to pushing back against that pressure with effort. No matter your age, abilities, disabilities, or responsibilities, we must all stay committed to finding our new benchmarks. Because not only does that keep your mind engaged and your demons at bay, you actually might achieve things the old you never could have conceived.

For maximum results, focus on your biggest opportunities, not your biggest problems.

The key to maximizing talents is to put yourself into the zone of stimulation that’s right for you.

Optimal experience is thus something that we make happen. For a child, it could be placing with trembling fingers the last block on a tower she has built, higher than any she has built so far; for a swimmer, it could be trying to beat his own record; for a violinist, mastering an intricate musical passage. For each person there are thousands of opportunities, challenges to expand ourselves.

Things work out best for those who make the best of how things work out.