“It's only work if you would rather be doing something else.Find a way to carve a career out of what you already want to do.”

“Build small habits. Make big plans.1) Keep your daily actions small. Strive to get 1% better every day.2) Keep your daily mindset big. Think about how you can play a bigger game.Start small, but never dream small.”

“Great work resists compression.Great explanations are short, but potent.Great software delivers the same outcome in fewer clicks.Great manufacturing processes create products in less time and with less waste.The Shape of genius is simplicity "

“A change in perspective is worth 80 IQ points.”

“If I could talk to myself twenty years ago, I would tell myself to focus on my strengths, and not on my weaknesses; on the things I could do and not the things I couldn’t do; to strive to excel and hone those skills to the point of excellence. That this was the best strategy to secure my future. I would say to myself that the only real obstacles you have are those you create for yourself.”

Sometimes we are too hard on ourselves and criticize our mistakes to an unhelpful degree. Sometimes we are too easy on ourselves and let excuses run our lives. Which way are you leaning right now? How can you pull yourself back to center?

1 QUESTION FOR YOU

3-2-1: Small habits with big plans, the shape of genius, and advice to a younger self

“Before you try to increase your willpower, try to decrease the friction in your environment.”

“Your habits are how you embody a particular identity.When you make your bed, you embody the identity of someone who is clean and organized. When you study, you embody the identity of someone who is studious.What identity are you embodying today? Who are your habits helping you become?”

“Most big, deeply satisfying accomplishments in life take at least five years to achieve. This can include building a business, cultivating a loving relationship, writing a book, getting in the best shape of your life, raising a family, and more.Five years is a long time. It is much slower than most of us would like. If you accept the reality of slow progress, you have every reason to take action today. If you resist the reality of slow progress, five years from now you'll simply be five years older and still looking for a shortcut.”

“If you care too much about being praised, in the end you will not accomplish anything serious.Let the judgments of others be the consequence of your deeds, not their purpose.”

“You have to make your own happiness, wherever you are. Your job isn’t going to make you happy, your spouse isn’t going to make you happy, the weather isn’t going to make you happy…You have to decide what you want, and you have to find that way of doing it, whether or not the outside circumstances are going to participate in your success…You have to be able to create your own happiness, period. And if you can’t, then you need to find a good shrink who can help you figure out what it’s going to take.”

How, specifically, do you want your life to be better at this time next year?

3-2-1: Happiness, the opinions of others, and accepting the reality of slow progress

“If an idea is true, criticism will not destroy it, but strengthen it.”

“You need focus to become exceptional at anything.Massive amounts of time and energy are wasted optimizing things that should be left undone.You have to be great at saying no.”

“A gift you can give yourself right now:Stop what you're doing. Close your eyes.For the next 60 seconds, just breathe.”

“Quality of life is having the freedom to make choices that are not fear based. Whether it’s the ability to choose the kinds of projects I want to take on and can learn from, or the ability to take a month off to travel. Freedom to choose is the ultimate luxury.”

“One of my guiding principles is don’t do anything that other people are doing. Always do something a little different if you can. The concept is that if you do it a little differently there is a greater potential for reward than if you do the same thing that other people are doing. I think that this kind of goal for one’s work, having obviously the maximum risk, would have the maximum reward no matter what the field may be.”

What is an area you'd like to improve over the next decade? How are you working toward that outcome today? Think long-term. Act short-term.

3-2-1: The effect of criticism, a gift you can give yourself, and the ultimate luxury

“In the long-run, prioritization beats efficiency.”

“When researching strategies, emphasize patterns over stories. One person succeeding means nothing. 100 people succeeding is a signal.When explaining strategies, emphasize stories over patterns. People forget numbers and charts. Everyone remembers a great story.”

“When determining the size or complexity of a new habit ask yourself, “What can I stick to—even on my worst day?”Start there. Master the art of showing up. Then advance.”

“Where I was born and where and how I have lived is unimportant. It is what I have done with where I have been that should be of interest.”

“Reading is migratory, an act of transport, from one life to another, one mind to another. Just like geographic travel, reading involves estrangement that comes with the process of dislocating from a familiar context. I gather energy from this kind of movement, this estranging and unsettling, and I welcome it precisely because it’s conducive to examination, interrogation, reordering. Travel, imaginative or physical, can sharpen perception and force a measuring of distance and difference.”

Before you ask, “What should I do today?” Ask yourself, “What should I remove today?” Create the space you need to succeed.

3-2-1: Prioritization, making the most of what you have, and reading as a form of travel

“The most important battles must be fought anew each day.Exercising today does not render tomorrow's workout unnecessary.Learn to love the endless nature of things and life gets easier.”

“As far as life philosophies go, “The right time is right now” isn't a bad one. Most of us would benefit from a greater bias toward action.If you move fast, you can try more things. And if you try more things, you're likely to find something that works for you.”

“Remove the branches of a thorn bush today and you'll avoid a scrape this year. But next year, you'll face the same problem again.Remove the root of the bush today, and the entire plant will die.Are you solving problems at the branch level or the root level?”

“We all of us have limited amounts of energy, and I am sure the people who are successful have learned, either by instinct or consciously, to use their energies well instead of spilling them about. And this has to be different for every person, writers or otherwise.Trial and error, and then when you’ve found your needs, what feeds you, what is your instinctive rhythm and routine, then cherish it.”

“Every problem, every dilemma, every dead end we find ourselves facing in life, only appears unsolvable inside a particular frame or point of view. Enlarge the box, or create another frame around the data, and problems vanish, while new opportunities appear.”

How can I accomplish my goals as fast as possible at a high quality?

​  1 QUESTION FOR YOU

3-2-1: Moving fast, solving problems, and the various ways to succeed

“Just because it didn’t work doesn’t mean it was the wrong choice.The world is full of probabilities, not certainties.Find a game where the probabilities favor you and keep taking shots.”

“If you know where you want to go in life, people tend to help or get out of the way.Both of those are useful.”

“People follow incentives, not advice.”

“The best arguments in the world won't change a single person's mind. The only thing that can do that is a good story.”

“For me, forgiveness and compassion are always linked: how do we hold people accountable for wrongdoing and yet at the same time remain in touch with their humanity enough to believe in their capacity to be transformed?”

Am I willing to look foolish today so I can learn something that will make me better tomorrow?

3-2-1: How to change someone's mind, the balance between justice and compassion, and looking foolish

“Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.”

"The earth does not belong to us. We belong to the earth."

"The greatest threat to our planet is the belief that someone else will save it."

"Earth provides enough to satisfy every man’s needs, but not every man’s greed."

"A nation that destroys is soils destroys itself. Forests are the lungs of our land, purifying the air and giving fresh strength to our people.”

5 Inspirational Quotes to Save Our Mother Earth

“In school, you are graded on every test—even if it's your weakest subject.In life, you can choose the tests you take—even if they always play to your strengths.Maintain a baseline so your weak areas don't hold you back, but design your life so you are graded on your strengths.”

“One roadblock almost never ruins you.There might not be 1000 ways to accomplish something, but there is almost always more than one way.Know what you want. Be flexible about how to get there.”

“The gift of a beginner is fresh eyes.The longer you're in a field, the harder it is to perceive new truths. Your mind is biased toward refining what you're already doing instead of exploring fresh terrain.Take your expertise and apply it to something new.”

“There are times when dreams sustain us more than facts.”

“A complex system that works is invariably found to have evolved from a simple system that worked. The inverse proposition also appears to be true: A complex system designed from scratch never works and cannot be made to work. You have to start over, beginning with a working simple system.”

What's one decision you can make today that will save you from making ten more decisions in the future? Make the choice that eliminates other choices.

3-2-1: Playing to your strengths, cultivating a beginner's mindset, and the power of hope

“For those who expect everything, there are many curses.For those who appreciate everything, there are many blessings.”

“Money is not the only way to improve life. Instead of widening your margin of profit, widen your margin of leisure. Instead of optimizing for money, optimize for time. Instead of seeking efficiency, seek recovery.”

“Many good opportunities are ruined for the dream of slightly better ones.Would you be 10% happier in a different relationship? Maybe. Maybe not. But you'll definitely be unhappy in the one you have if you spend all day thinking about what else is out there.The surefire way to end up worse off is to agonize over unchosen options and fail to make the most of the one you selected. Every minute spent yearning for your unlived lives is a moment you can't invest in the one you actually have.Choices matter, but so does your level of commitment.”

“Nobody's going to do your life for you. You have to do it yourself, whether you're rich or poor, out of money or raking it in, the beneficiary of ridiculous fortune or terrible injustice. And you have to do it no matter what is true. No matter what is hard. No matter what unjust, sad, sucky things befall you. Self-pity is a dead-end road. You make the choice to drive down it. It's up to you to decide to stay parked there or to turn around and drive out.”

“I strongly believe that the only way to encourage innovation is to give it to the young. The young have a great advantage in that they are ignorant. Because I think ignorance in science is very important. If you’re like me and you know too much you can’t try new things. I always work in fields of which I’m totally ignorant.”

When was the last time you felt a sense of wonder and awe? What can that experience teach you about how to spend your time?

3-2-1:  Innovative thinking, the trap of self-pity, and how to spend your time

“Walk slowly, but never backward.”

“Look around your environment.Rather than seeing items as objects, see them as magnets for your attention. Each object gently pulls a certain amount of your attention toward it.Whenever you discard something, the tug of that object is released. You get some attention back.”

“Powerful combination = Hate being bad at stuff + Willing to look like a beginner.People who hate being bad at stuff are driven to improve. However, if they are unwilling to look like a beginner from time to time, they will avoid new challenges and struggle to reinvent themselves.Meanwhile, people who are willing to try new things, but lack a thirst to improve will settle for mediocre results.It's the willingness to look foolish for a short time—but not for a long time—that leads to jumps in performance.”

“I started dividing my to-do list into 1) things I have to do, 2) things I want to do, and 3) things other people want me to do. Life changing! I often don’t get to #3 and I finally realized… this is what it means to have boundaries.”

“Everyone writes in a way; that is, each person has a “story,” a personal narrative which is constantly being replayed, revised, taken apart, and put together again. The significant points in this narrative change as a person ages—what may have been tragedy at twenty is seen as comedy or nostalgia at forty. All children write. (And paint, and sing.) I suppose the real question is why do so many people give it up?”

Bite-sized knowledge
to upgrade
your career

Kokhulash MS
@kokhul_736

3-2-1: Small habits with big plans, the shape of genius, and advice to a younger self

3-2-1: Happiness, the opinions of others, and accepting the reality of slow progress

3-2-1: The effect of criticism, a gift you can give yourself, and the ultimate luxury

3-2-1: Prioritization, making the most of what you have, and reading as a form of travel

3-2-1: Moving fast, solving problems, and the various ways to succeed

Bite-sized knowledgeto upgradeyour career

Kokhulash MS@kokhul_736

3-2-1: Small habits with big plans, the shape of genius, and advice to a younger self

3-2-1: Happiness, the opinions of others, and accepting the reality of slow progress

3-2-1: The effect of criticism, a gift you can give yourself, and the ultimate luxury

3-2-1: Prioritization, making the most of what you have, and reading as a form of travel

3-2-1: Moving fast, solving problems, and the various ways to succeed

Bite-sized knowledge
to upgrade
your career

Kokhulash MS
@kokhul_736