Success is like aging, that way: when you wake up on your birthday, you don’t feel older. There will never be a day where you wake up and suddenly feel successful.
Freedom, success, and richness are gradients you achieve day by day or not at all.
Archive for the ‘Quotes’ Category
Success is like aging
Thursday, July 14th, 2011What it means to understand an equation
Thursday, July 7th, 2011I understand what an equation means if I have a way of figuring out the characteristics of its solution without actually solving it.
Nobel physicist Paul Dirac
Rules for Problem Solving
Monday, June 13th, 2011ALL MY PROBLEM SOLVING RULES
- There are NO isolated problems, they always come in dynamic bunches
- There are NO final solutions for the really great problems, these have to be solved again and again.
- NOT solving the problem, but defining it is the critical step.
- NOT the unknown data, but those known and untrue are the greatest obstacle to ths solution.
- NOT what we know, but what we don’t know is more important for solving the problem.
- NOT the main desired positive effect, but those secondary negative and/or undesired effects decide in most cases if a solution is implemented.
- NOT all problems have a complete, genuine solution.
- NOT the solutions that seem perfect from the start, but those which are very perfectible are the best in many cases.
- NOT the bright, shiny, spectacular solutions but those elaborated, worked out with difficulty and effort and patience are more valuable and have a larger area of applicability.
- NOT the solutions that are logical and perfectly rational, but those that are adequate for the feelings of the potential users, even if they are ilogical, have the greatest chances of fast implementation.
- NOT the quality of the solution but the speed of its implementaion is the decisive factor in many cases. It can be better to have a partial solution applied fast than a slower almost perfect solution.
- NOT always long hours of hard work and great efforts, but (sometimes) relaxation and fun is the best way to obtain solutions for (awfully) difficult problems.
- NOT our own problems, but the problems of other people are usually more boldly and creatively solved by us.
- NOT the solutions worked out by us, but those borrowed. Bought or stolen from others are more easily accepted and implemented.
- NOT the enhancement of human strengths but the limitation of human weaknesses is more useful for efficient problem solving.
- NOT the very careful perfect planning, but the smart assuming of risks and firm decision taking are the practical keys to successful problem solving.
- Do NOT accept the premises of the problem, change them as necessary and possible.
- Do NOT stop at the first solution, seek for alternatives.
Logic is a good partner, but a bad master.
Tuesday, May 17th, 2011Logic is a good partner, but a bad master. Logic locks you into your box, the box that contains everything you have already pre-nominated as relevant. To think outside the box, you must whimsically entertain ideas you have already rejected as irrelevant. Playing around with “nonsense” takes you down roads you wouldn’t have traveled and the wrong ideas lead to the right ideas, whereas starting with what you already know is right will tend to lead you in circles of endless, repetitive re-iterations.
Wm. Scott Smith
Becoming great…
Monday, May 9th, 2011But you don’t become great by trying to be great. You become great by wanting to do something, and then doing it so hard that you become great in the process.
Chinese proverb
Wednesday, July 21st, 2010If you don’t change the direction you’re going, you’re likely to end up where you’re headed.
Chinese proverb
Fortune Cookie
Tuesday, July 20th, 2010Digital circuits are made from analog parts.
Fortune Cookie
Quote: Take a few minutes today to gather your resources.
Sunday, July 18th, 2010Take a few minutes today to gather your resources. Sit in perfect stillness. No talking. No fidgeting. No moving. No reading. No TV and no radio. Oh, and no cell phone or any other device.
Just sit and watch your breathing.
Relax your body from head to toe as you do so.
Feel the energy build.
Then go hunting.
Matt Furey, “My Top Secret Mission” 18 June 2010