Eric L. Barnes

In his book "7 Habits of Highly Effective People," Stephen Covey wrote, "Most people do not listen with the intent to understand; they listen with the intent to reply … If I were to summarize in one sentence the single most important principle I have learned in the field of interpersonal relations, it would be this: Seek first to understand, then to be understood."

Muhammad Ali said, "A man who views the world the same at 50 as he did when he was 20 has wasted 30 years of his life.”

I want to keep the assholes in my life to an absolute minimum, if not zero.” That’s worth real, real money — to not have assholes in your life.

maybe one of the most important questions we who are concerned about our common culture can ask ourselves is this: How do we bring reading back?

We have deflation in the things we want, but inflation in the things we need.

Underscoring the benefits of working for a laid-back company like SocialFire Marketing, founder and CEO Matt Avalon told reporters Tuesday he had instituted an office-wide policy permitting employees to work from home anytime after 6 p.m. “If it helps them be efficient and get more done, I have no problem with people working remotely once they’ve left the office for the day,” said Avalon, who noted that as long as they’re doing their jobs, the location where his staff members choose to work between 6 p.m. and 9 a.m. is “completely up to them.”

Focus on what is said when you speak and on what results from each action. Know what one aims at, and what the other means.

It was often frustrating, because he could talk, with complete confidence, about things he was just plain wrong about

Entrepreneurs think they are better than their resumes show and realize they can make more money by going it alone. And in most cases, they are right.

I used to spend a good chunk of time on research, but I learned a hack for cutting it down. Instead of writing about unfamiliar things, focus on either the things you are already familiar with or something you’ve read about/learned recently. When you write about either something familiar or something recent, you’ll crank out your ideas quicker. You will also recall quotes, highlights, and links to research with less effort.

the best time to start journaling would have been years ago, the second best time would be right then. So I did. If you want to get a chain going, start to day.

I’d make an entry in my calendar two or three weeks from today, and resolve not to fret about the matter till then. In almost every case, by the time the date rolled around, the issue seemed absurd. Everyone tells you to live in the moment – but there’s much to be said for putting the moment off for a few days.

Magic is an art, as capable of beauty as music, painting or poetry. But the core of every trick is a cold, cognitive experiment in perception: Does the trick fool the audience? A magician’s data sample spans centuries, and his experiments have been replicated often enough to constitute near-certainty. Neuroscientists—well intentioned as they are—are gathering soil samples from the foot of a mountain that magicians have mapped and mined for centuries. MRI machines are awesome, but if you want to learn the psychology of magic, you’re better off with Cub Scouts and hard candy.

PayPal Holdings Inc. insists she should have known the minimum age is 18, because the rule is clearly stated in terms and conditions she agreed to. Clearly stated, that is, in a document longer than The Great Gatsby—almost 50,000 words spread across 21 separate web pages.

they have the power so often inherent in youth: to see the world anew; to reject the old constraints, outdated conventions and cowardice too often dressed up as wisdom.