Seth Godin is an American author and former dot com business executive.
The reason you might choose to embrace the artist within you now is that this is the path to (cue the ironic music) security.
Habits are where our lives and careers and bodies are made.
Every day I meet people who have so much to give but have been. . . frighten ed enough to hold it back. It's time to stop complying with the system and draw your own map. You have brilliance in you, your contribution is essential, and the art you create is precious. Only you can do it, and you must.
Most people are searching for a path to success that is both easy and certain. Most paths are neither.
Art is what we do when we're truly alive.
All good ideas are terrible. . . Until people realize they are obvious. If you're not willing to live through the terrible stage, you'll never get to the obvious part.
Anyone who says failure is not an option has also ruled out innovation.
Canoeing was hard and scary, and the wind could blow you across the lake if you did it wrong. After a year of not doing it right, I could talk to people and get them to sit up straight, take different kinds of chances, to breathe differently, to engage in the moment in the boat. And I changed them, and I changed me in the process.
Before you promise to change the world, it makes sense to do the hard work of changing your neighborhood.
Surprise comes from defying expectations.
Turn strangers into friends. Turn friends into donors. And then do the most important job: Turn your donors into fundraisers.
It's almost impossible to have fun playing ping pong with someone who doesn't care, won't try or isn't any good.
The way to get unstuck is to start down the wrong path, right now.
As long as you want to please everyone, you won't please anyone.
Marketing is the art of seeing (and then creating) what might be interesting to more than our friends
Not only are bloggers suckers for the remarkable, so are the people who read blogs.
When in doubt, tell yourself the truth.
Getting picked is fine if it happens to you. But it's not a plan. It's a version of waiting and hoping.
The next thing you do today will be the most important thing on your agenda, because, after all, you're doing it next. Well, perhaps it will be the most urgent thing. Or the easiest. In fact, the most important thing probably isn't even on your agenda.
Either you defend the status quo, or you invent the future.