Sometimes, when we're terrified of embracing our true calling, we'll pursue a shadow calling instead. That shadow career is a metaphor for our real career. Its shape is similar, its contours feel tantalizingly the same. But a shadow career entails no real risk. If we fail at a shadow career, the consequences are meaningless to us. Are you pursuing a shadow career?

Never forget: This very moment, we can change our lives. There never was a moment, and never will be, when we are without the power to alter our destiny.

You are a writer when you tell yourself you are. No one else's opinion matters. Screw them. You are when you say you are.

It's one thing to lie to ourselves. It's another thing to believe it.

The professional has learned that success, like happiness, comes as a by-product of work. The professional concentrates on the work and allows rewards to come or not come, whatever they like.

Do we have to stare death in the face to make us stand up and confront Resistance?

Research can become Resistance. We want to work, not prepare to work.