According to a cluster of recent behavioral science studies, autonomous motivation promotes greater conceptual understanding, better grades, enhanced persistence at school and in sporting activities, higher productivity, less burnout, and greater levels of psychological well-being.3.
Now, once a quarter, the company sets aside an entire day when its engineers can work on any software problem they want – only this time, “to get them out of the day to day,” it must be something that’s not part of their regular job.
Taking a Sagmeister,” as I now call it, requires a fair bit of planning and saving, of course. But doesn’t forgoing that big-screen TV seem a small price to pay for an unforgettable – and un-get-backable – year of personal exploration?
When the reward is the activity itself – deepening learning, delighting customers, doing one’s best – there are no shortcuts. The only route to the destination is the high road. In some sense, it’s impossible to act unethically because the person who’s disadvantaged isn’t a competitor but yourself.
Think of this book as a new genre altogether – a when-to book.
Wikipedia represents the most powerful new business model of the twenty-first century: open source.
Despite its greater sophistication and higher aspirations, Motivation 2.0 still wasn’t exactly ennobling. It suggested that, in the end, human beings aren’t much different from livestock – that the way to get us moving in the right direction is by dangling a crunchier carrot or wielding a sharper stick. But what this operating system lacked in enlightenment, it made up for in effectiveness. It worked well – extremely well. Until it didn’t. As.
The child is grown, the dream is gone.
All in all, you’re just another brick in the wall.
There is no dark side of the moon really. As a matter of fact it’s all dark.
I’ve always been mad, I know I’ve been mad, like the most of us... very hard to explain why you’re mad, even if you’re not mad...
Don’t chase ghosts. You’ll waste your life and miss out on the love that’s right here in front of you.
There are seven mermaid princesses and seven pearls. The reason I sing is to convey my love. The reason the pearl sparkels is to brighten the sea. And so, I can never forget... the sound of the waves or the warmth of the sea.
There should be a word for what happens when you begin to ruin a feeling by saying it.
I realize every specific thing I worry about is nothing compared to the main worry I have which never has an object.
Sometimes I definitely feel a sense of accomplishment but it’s never after accomplishing something.
You aren’t sure whether you have feelings or not but that’s all part of the shrug you have performed in slow motion for your entire life so far.
And I can see either accepting everything that happens, or accepting none, but in between I lose hope.
You have never approved of yourself so you bother other people to do it.
Life like two broken hands trying to pick flowers for someone you really like.