Shaun Hick on the best listener

vutran | Aug. 20, 2020, 5:41 p.m.

“Nothing listens as well as a blank page.”

— Shaun Hick

Mark Twain the secret of getting ahead and getting started

vutran | Aug. 19, 2020, 5:59 p.m.

"The secret of getting ahead is getting started. The secret to getting started is breaking your complex overwhelming tasks into small manageable tasks and then starting on the first one."

— Mark Twain

A proverb on the importance of asking questions

vutran | Aug. 17, 2020, 5:05 p.m.

"The person who asks is a fool for five minutes, but the person who does not ask remains a fool forever."

— Proverb

Jean-Paul Sartre on limitations and freedom

vutran | Aug. 17, 2020, 5:02 p.m.

"We are all free, completely free. We can each do any damn thing we want. Which is more than most of us dare to imagine."

— Jean-Paul Sartre

Michael Chabon on entertainment

vutran | Aug. 17, 2020, 5 p.m.

"Most of what gets labeled 'entertainment' is really terrible. We get the entertainment we deserve. To me, being entertained is having your mind engaged with the work of art on multiple levels. So I think a lot of what gets passed off as entertainment really does not qualify for that definition. It’s merely diverting at most. To be entertained by something is in turn to entertain it, like you entertain ideas, a kind of mutuality there that I think is part of my definition of “entertainment,” that you’re giving back to the work at the same time the work is giving to you."

— Michael Chabon

James Clear on attitudes over solutions

vutran | Aug. 17, 2020, 4:58 p.m.

"We want solutions, but what we really need are attitudes.

You don't need abs, but rather an attitude of training. You don't need the answer, but rather an attitude of curiosity. You don't need an easier life, but rather an attitude of perseverance.

Attitude precedes outcome." 

— James Clear

Cindy Gallop on how to build a successful business

vutran | Aug. 15, 2020, 3:45 p.m.

“There is a formula for success in business, and it goes like this: You set out to find the very best talent in the marketplace, and then give them a compelling and inspirational vision of what you want them to achieve for you and the company. Then you empower them to achieve those goals using their own skills and talents in any way they choose. If, at the same time, you demonstrate how enormously you value them, not just through compensation, but also verbally, every single day, and if you enable that talent to share in the profit that they help create for you, you’ll be successful. It’s so simple, and virtually nobody does it, because it requires a high-trust working environment, and most business environments are low-trust. In order to own the future of your business, you have to design it around trust.”

— Cindy Gallop