I thought I heard someone shout this last night as I took trash bins out to the street. Usually my mind doesn’t register random shouts on the street. I’ve learned to tune them out. But I heard this one. I used to live in Venice. 

Can you call a business a success if it closes its doors? Can you say you are successful if your small business isn’t growing? If you have to shut down or sell or leave a business, can you really call that successful? 

I think you can. 

“There is a beautiful statue dedicated to liberty in New York City’s harbor. There is no such monument to responsibility.“

Stress and sadness and annoyance aren’t necessarily things to be avoided at all costs.

This quote struck me a few weeks ago. It wasn’t until I heard Ryan Holiday say it so plainly that I realized I’m always looking for the third thing. 

Everyone wants to create a smash hit: a movie or a book or a song that is instantly popular, and remains meaningful for decades thereafter. In order to do this, you have to balance popularity and longevity. 

We’re good at considering the costs of being truthful when we make creative excuses. But having a cloudy conscience has costs, too, and we’re not so quick to consider those costs. 

“I’m not interested in squeezing something so tight that I get every last drop.”

As someone in high school in the late 2000s and early 2010s, I spent a microscopic amount of time actually reading classic novels, or watching award-winning movies, or seeing great paintings. 

In 1964, when the U.S. Surgeon General issued a warning about cigarette smoking, Bill Bernbach decided he wouldn’t be in that corner of the business anymore.

In five two-minute rounds of Boggle, I scored 15 points. My wife scored 50. She crushes me (and most people) at this game. I knew this going in.

For better and for worse, we extrapolate success from one area to another.