Quotes About Progress

Waiting for perfect is never as smart as making progress.

The reason it's difficult to learn something new is that it will change you into someone who disagrees with the person you used to be.

Sometimes, we're so focused on being consistent that we also lower the bar on amazing.

The only purpose of starting is to finish, and while the projects we do are never really finished, they must ship.

The opportunity cost of investing your life in something that's not going to get better is just too high.

My new favorite word is 'awkward.'...The reason we need to be in search of awkward is that awkward is the barrier between us and excellence, between where we are and the remarkable. If it were easy, everyone would have done it already, and it wouldn't be worth the effort.

It's more about a five- or ten- or fifteen-year process where you start finding your voice, and finally you begin to realize that the safest thing you can do feels risky and the riskiest thing you can do is play it safe.

Start Your Journey Before You See the End

Think for a second about the people you know who are engaged, satisfied, eager to get to work. Most of them, I'll bet, make change.

the new thing is rarely as good as the old thing was. If you need the alternative to be better than the status quo from the very start, you'll never begin.

Our society is struggling because during times of change, the very last people you need on your team are well-paid bureaucrats, note takers, literalists, manual readers, TGIF laborers, map followers, and fearful employees.

A movement is thrilling. It's the work of many people, all connected, all seeking something better.

As a result, the rewards for being first are enormous. It's not a linear scale. It's not a matter of getting a little more after giving a little more. It's a curve, and a steep one.

Transparency in the traditional school might destroy it.

the best time to start was last year. The second best time to start is right now.

The time to look for a new job is when you don't need one. The time to switch jobs is before it feels comfortable. Go. Switch. Challenge yourself; get yourself a raise and a promotion. You owe it to your career and your skills.

Strategic quitting is a conscious decision you make based on the choices that are available to you. If you realize you're at a dead end compared with what you could be investing in, quitting is not only a reasonable choice, it's a smart one

I'm imagining that your colleagues aren't stupid. But when the world changes, the rules change. And if you insist on playing today's games by yesterday's rules, you're stuck. Stuck with a stupid strategy. Because the world changed. Some organizations are stuck. Others move quickly. In a changing world, who's having more fun?

Deep change is difficult, and worth it

We have little choice but to move beyond quality and seek remarkable, connected, and new. Remarkable, as you've already figured out, demands initiative.

For the rest of us, it's not about what you're born with, it's about what you do.

Every day you stay is a bad strategic decision for your career because every day you get better at something that isn't that useful—and you are another day behind others who are learning something more useful.

The opportunity cost of investing your life in something that's not going to get better is too high.

Every single important thing we do is something we didn't use to be good at, and in fact, might be something we used to fear.