Keep your purpose above your privilege. Signal vs. Noise…Walk good. 28all. Eya. *KB, PB, KO*

The Warm-Up: 

“Sometimes I would like to ask God why He allows poverty, suffering, and injustice when He could do something about it. But, I’m afraid He would ask me the same question.” ~Brandon Hatmaker, Barefoot Church: Serving the Least in a Consumer Culture

The Core: 

“Sometimes your ego will make you be loyal to a mistake.” ~Bishop TD Jakes

“The only difference between feedback and criticism is how you hear it.” ~Tim Grover

“Everybody you fight is not your enemy, and everybody that helps you is not your friend.” ~Mike Tyson

“Choosing a spouse and a choosing career: the two great decisions for which society refuses to set up institutional guidance.” ~Alain de Botton

“Normalize saying ‘no’ without needing to over-explain yourself. If someone is offended by your boundaries, that’s their problem.” ~Steven Bartlett

“Step one: clearly understand what kind of person you want to be. Step two: put in at least a decade of efforts. Step three: be at peace with yourself, enjoy life.” ~Orange Book

“May those who don’t like you no longer occupy the center of your time, attention, and energy. Shift from the distraction and occupy the fullness of your life.” ~Dr. Thema Bryant

“Never blame the fact that no one believes in you. You believe in yourself, you invest in yourself, you persist and keep trying, you get results, then, people will believe in you. It’s all earned.” ~Orange Book

“Home is not a physical place. It is the place where your soul feels it belongs, where you can unapologetically be yourself, where you are loved for your authentic self. Home is the place where you don’t have to work hard just to be loved.” ~Najwa Zebian

“The two began embracing concepts such as positive self-talk, which can reduce anxiety in competition, and visualization, which can help prepare athletes for adverse situations. Before every game, Bryce [Young] developed a routine. He’d listen to music, pray and visualize his performance.” ~Alex Scarborough, Nothing seems to rattle Alabama QB Bryce Young, and it’s all part of the plan

“Next time you’re faced with a situation that’s hard to get past, consider trying these approaches instead of holding a grudge. 1. Assume it was a misunderstanding. 2. Empathize with the other person. 3. Use the experience to learn about people. 4. Harness it for motivation…And if you can’t let it go, disarm it through empathy, transform it into a lesson or energy, or try to carry it as lightly as you can.” ~Robert Reffkin, No One Succeeds Alone

“If you wanted to impress your interviewer with knowledge of finance, rather than cramming the WSJ the night before, you would start reading 10pg of a finance or investing related book a day. Regardless of whether you impressed the interview[er], you would end up being smarter. The point being that rather than focus on just a goal or task, build a system that ensures that you will acquire something of value even if you don’t immediately succeed at your goal.” ~Ahmed Husain

“The truth is, the road to fame and fortune is rarely found within yourself. The only sure way to success is to find yourself a horse to ride. It may be difficult for the ego to accept, but success in life is based more on what others can do for you than on what you can do for yourself. Kennedy was wrong. Ask not what you can do for your company. Ask what your company can do for you. Therefore, if you want to take maximum advantage of the opportunities that your career has to offer, you must keep your eyes open and find yourself a horse to do the job for you.” ~Al Ries & Jack Trout, Positioning 

Last Set: 

“A simple rule that’s obvious but easy to ignore is that nothing worth pursuing is free. How could it be otherwise? Everything has a price, and the price is usually proportionate to the potential rewards. But the price is rarely on a price tag. You don’t pay it with cash. Most things worth pursuing charge their fee in the form of stress, doubt, uncertainty, dealing with quirky people, bureaucracy, other peoples’ conflicting incentives, hassle, nonsense, and general bullshit. That’s the overhead cost of getting ahead.” ~Morgan Housel, History’s Seductive Beliefs

Food For Thought:

The quote below is from: A Troubled Mind And An Open Door. This sermon ripped me up; I felt like Pastor Steven was speaking directly to me. As I often do, I sent it to a few folk: PB, LW, AG, and LL. But when I sent it to JP, he hit me with, “My dude! I listened to that live on Sunday morning. So so so so so so good. This was a reminder to listen again! It was too good!” That brightened my day, just knowing that you’re in sync with someone miles away…and that that connection was only made by reaching out and sharing with one another.

“The devil can’t close the door that God opens for you, but he will try to mess with your mind so that you won’t go through it. Don’t let the enemy use this: D(isappointments) O(utcomes you can’t control) O(ffenses you cant let go of) R(egrets of the opportunities you can’t get back) to keep you from walking through the door of opportunity that God has opened for you.” ~Steven Furtick

Food For Thought II:

“When we look at a founder, we look at, are they going to be that person that is going to be capable of making those pivots and stuff when they have to? And if you paint between the lines, you get too frustrated and you look at yourself as a failure. Because you went to an Ivy League school and then you went to a business school and you went to Goldman Sachs, whatever. Your life had been about getting gold stars. I’m not saying that’s not a bad life. It’s just not the life you and I had. But you tend to look at risk as painful. ‘I don’t want to lose a gold star. I don’t want to have a blemish.’ We’re embarrassed all the time. Like, oh my God…I know, about failures. Well, I mean, really? You’re going to need me back all week to record it. Because we get this stuff so wrong all the time and we got to look at it as a learning experience. And then we got to do it with empathy and dignity. And make sure that the people around us do too…. I should have began your question by answering it this way. My greatest joy and the reason why I’ve been able to do the things that I do and be able to do them with some degree of success and an extraordinary amount of enjoyment is the people that have come into my world who do a lot of great things with me. And I, in and of myself, am incredibly mediocre at most things. However, if I have convening power and I have the ability to surround myself with extraordinary people, I’m the most blessed person in the world. And that’s what gives a lot of the things that I’ve done in my life to throw away, whether it’s film or philanthropy or General Catalyst, whatever, the capacity to do it. So the direct answer to your question, you would not want me [to] pontificate you about business models.” ~David Fialkow, Paint Outside the Lines, Invest Like the Best, Ep.243

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