A big part of doing your work is defending your time and your attention so you can do your work.

The status quo is persistent and resistant. It exists because everyone wants it to. Everyone believes that what they've got is probably better than the risk and fear that come with change.

Playing safe is very risky.

Choices lead to habits. Habits become talents. Talents are labeled gifts. You’re not born this way, you get this way.

Gifts are not favors. If you expect something in return, it's not a gift.

What makes someone an artist? I don't think is has anything to do with a paintbrush. There are painters who follow the numbers, or paint billboards, or work in a small village in China, painting reproductions. These folks, while swell people, aren't artists. On the other hand, Charlie Chaplin was an artist, beyond a doubt. So is Jonathan Ive, who designed the iPod. You can be an artist who works with oil paints or marble, sure. But there are artists who work with numbers, business models, and customer conversations. Art is about intent and communication, not substances.

If it's work, we try to figure out how to do less, If it's art, we try to figure out how to do more