Wildcard stories

…The work of a professional isn’t to recreate thrills. It’s to show up and do the work. To continue the journey you set out on a while ago. To make the change you seek to make in the universe. Thrilling is fine. Mattering is more important.

For me personally, you always think when you are starting out, I am going to make a nebulous amount of money, buy an island, wear an Amadeus wig and go naked and be crazy. But, you know, I was talking recently to Spike [Jonze] and he said ‘Take money out of the equation. And ask yourself what would you do?’ and I realised two things: first I would pay money to do the job I am doing, and second I wanted to build the next CNN, the next ESPN. The money followed in buckets.

When the need to succeed is as bad as the need to breathe, then you’ll be successful.

Ten percent luck, twenty percent skill Fifteen percent concentrated power of will Five percent pleasure, fifty percent pain

When you say what you want, you give others the opportunity to help you make your dreams come true.

The loudest monkeys have the smallest balls

I’m fortunate that I’ve learned this through my job, but meeting new people fuels so much inspiration that it is as worthwhile of a habit as anything else.  Does someone have a blog you read regularly?  Shoot them an email.  Is there a local business owner you’d like to learn from?  See if they’d be up to meet you for coffee. The more people you reach out to and meet, the more valuable you will become because of your network, but also the more inspired you will be to continue your own development.  It will also help put things in perspective whenever you are down and feeling like you’re not getting anywhere.  You’ll meet someone new and realize that you aren’t alone, and you are getting somewhere, it just takes time.

Money is like gasoline during a road trip. You don't want to run out of gas on your trip, but you're not doing a tour of gas stations. You have to pay attention to money, but it shouldn't be about the money.

If you believe in something, work nights and weekends. It won’t feel like work.

There's a fabled story about a janitor’s exchange with President Kennedy during the early days of NASA: “What do you do?” the president supposedly asked the man with a broom during a visit to Cape Canaveral. “Well, Mr. President, I’m helping to put a man on the moon.

I don’t know what a business is. All a company is is a bunch of people together to create a product or service. There’s no such thing as a business, just pursuit of a goal—a group of people pursuing a goal.

Karim Sy, founder of @Jokkolabs will be speaking at #Coworking Europe this year, #Milan, Nov 11-13 #socialchange http://t.co/MurDQnrU6I— CoworkingEurope (@EuropeCoworking) October 4, 2015

it's unreasonable to think you'll find great people if you're spending the minimum amount of time (and money) necessary to find people who are merely good enough.