Marketing yourself to a new person often involves being charismatic, clever and quick-but most jobs and most relationships are about being consistent, persistent and brave.

The good news is that more than ever, value accrues to those that show up, those that make a difference, those that do work that matters.

The only path to amazing runs directly through not-yet-amazing . But not-yet-amazing is a great place to start, because that's where you are. For now.

I was amplifying the negative at the expense of the positive, not to serve any useful function, not to make my writing better, but to destroy it. The lizard brain, so attuned to people laughing behind our backs, was on high alert for this sort of criticism and would do anything it could to stop me from writing again. I haven't sought out and read a review or a tweet since.

Loving what you do is almost as important as doing what you love, especially if you need to make a living at it.

If we live in a world where information drives what we do, the information we get becomes the most important thing. The person who chooses that information has power.

It's entirely possible that there won't be a standing ovation at the end of your journey. That's okay. At least you lived.