Nothing defines you but you. It’s a great day for a great day. Go get’em! Walk good. 28all. Eya. *WC, JW, CC*

A Note for Y’all: 

Still taking it all in. All those to whom I still owe thank you texts and happy birthdays, a response is coming (eventually). But thank you for thinking of me, reaching out, and your support. It’s been a life-changing week. The journey continues…

The Warm-Up: 

“If you want to be rewarded, you have to be irreplaceable. If you want to be irreplaceable, you have to be unique. If you want to be unique, you have to be authentic. If you want to be authentic, stop listening to everyone and everything else. It’s drowning ‘you’ out.” ~Naval Ravikant

The Core: 

“There is no honor in being a door mat for ungrateful feet.” ~Jason Wilson

“Avoiding hard things isn’t better. It’s just easier. The longer you wait the higher the cost.” ~Shane Parrish

“I hope you have friends who do not dismiss your dreams but who join you on the journey.” ~Dr. Thema Bryant

“Too many people care more about being perceived as a good person rather than just being a good person.” ~Orange Book

“The chess grandmaster considers no more moves than does the expert; he just knows which ones to look at.” ~Robyn Dawes

“After all of the years chasing nonsense out there, I’m glad you discovered the treasure was already within you.” ~Dr. Thema Bryant

“The smarter you get, the less you jump to conclusions. You realize that things are more complex than they seem.” ~Orange Book

“If you keep focusing on who left and what’s lost, you are not going to see who’s lost and what’s left.” ~Pastor Steven Furtick, Stop Crying, It’s Coming

“Five great signs of intelligence: You’re not afraid or ashamed to find errors in your understanding of things. You take mistakes as lessons. You don’t get offended with accepting the facts. You are highly adaptable and very curious. You know what you don’t know.” ~@ProfFeynman

“Warren Buffet addresses the early drafts of his shareholder letters to his sister, Dorothy. Once he finishes it, he replaces her name with ‘Shareholders.’ The lesson: Writing for a huge audience is a fast track to getting writer’s block, so write for one person instead.” ~David Perell

“I’ve noticed people like to skip over the fundamentals, they think it’s boring, or they’re too good for them. Skip ahead to the ‘fun parts’. When the vast majority of the time the fundamentals are 90% of the work. And the true masters of a craft focus on them for a reason.” ~@dantalks1

“So why do I choose discipline over motivation? Motivation produces emotion, but discipline produces results. Motivation is temporary, but discipline perseveres. Motivation fades after time, but discipline grows after time. Motivation is an event, but discipline is a lifestyle. Motivation starts the project, but discipline finishes it. Motivation sets the goal, but discipline works it to accomplishment. Don’t get me wrong, I receive motivation during the week through various avenues (podcasts, books, teachings, mentors and quotes on social media), and my mind races with exciting ideas! I’m constantly getting motivated. But it was only when I learned the art of transitioning the motivated feelings into regular, disciplined actions through weekly routines is when I truly saw results!” ~Hamza Khan, Discipline will take you to places where motivation can’t

Last Set: 

“The greatest thing that I have achieved / Was four little words, down on one knee / You said, ‘Darling, are you jokin’?’, and I just said, ‘Please’ / Ain’t it funny how the simplest things in life can make a man? / Little moments that pass us by / Oh, but I remember / The first kiss, the first night, the first song that made you cry / The first look in your eyes when I said ‘I love you’ / I can still feel the butterflies from when we stumbled home that night / I can’t wait to make a million more first times / Mmm, mmm…” ~Ed Sheeran, First Times

Food For Thought:

“The truth is, having board members with different backgrounds is important, and that is now being recognized, not ignored. My board credentials, by the way, are also solid. I have worked for more than 35 years in financial services, and I was the first Black woman to be a partner at Goldman Sachs. I got that promotion in 2000 — 131 years after the company was founded. I headed the firm’s human resources department for a decade. I’ve run multimillion-dollar, client-facing businesses with large teams of people reporting to me. I’m now on the boards of Amazon and PepsiCo, and I’ve been on the boards of Slack and Etsy. The executives and boards of these companies prioritized diversity of experience as critical to their organizations’ success. My identity as a Black woman is part of that experience.” ~Edith Cooper, I Was Told I Have Career Advantages ‘as a Black Woman.’ Here’s How I Replied.

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