Ninety-nine percent of people believe they can't do great things, so they aim for mediocrity.

This is not my phrase, but if you're stuck in the past, then you're depressed. If you're stuck in the future, then you're anxious.

For all of the most important things, the timing always sucks. Waiting for a good time to quit your job? The stars will never align and the traffic lights of life will never all be green at the same time. The universe doesn't conspire against you, but it doesn't go out of its way to line up the pins either. Conditions are never perfect. "Someday" is a disease that will take your dreams to the grave with you. Pro and con lists are just as bad. If it's important to you and you want to do it "eventually," just do it and correct course along the way.

Avoid results-by volume approach, instead focus on few critically important but uncomfortable actions.

I open each class with an explanation of the singular importance of being a "dealmaker." The manifesto of the dealmaker is simple: Reality is negotiable.

Being busy is a form of laziness - lazy thinking and indiscriminate action. Being busy is most often used as a guise for avoiding the few critically important but uncomfortable actions.

People feel personally slighted if you don't respond to them in 30 seconds and treat email as instant messenger.