Category Archives: Quotes

Embracing Death

Posted on October 5, 2011 by AJ Kessler

“Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure – these … Continue reading →

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A 10 Second Guide To Mastering Capitalism

Posted on October 3, 2011 by AJ Kessler

Capitalism is the ability to accumulate capital, which can then be deployed at will. The key to accumulating capital is delaying gratification.

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Minimum Viable Personality

Posted on September 30, 2011 by AJ Kessler

Excellent thoughts here on cultivating personality in your products.  Note that just about everything can be thought of as a product.  If you produce reports for a living, the report is your product.  You can create a brand out of … Continue reading →

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Should I Go To Medical School?

Posted on September 24, 2011 by AJ Kessler

A lot of bright young people consider going into medicine.  Like any profession, it has its downsides, but, at least to me, it was pretty obvious that those downsides were much bigger than in many other fields.  But, not having … Continue reading →

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Relationship Rot

Posted on September 23, 2011 by AJ Kessler

More pithiness from Seth Godin: Most partnerships don’t end up in court. Most friendships don’t end in a fight. Most customers don’t leave in a huff. Instead, when one party feels underappreciated, or perhaps taken advantage of, she stops showing … Continue reading →

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On Handling Critics

Posted on September 14, 2011 by AJ Kessler

Anyone who produces art, or voices opinions, or does anything publicly, will have critics.  Guaranteed. I wrote a post about frugality that got a tiny bit of attention on the web and was bombarded with insults.  Did I care?  Well, … Continue reading →

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Mark Zuckerberg Isn’t Mark Zuckerberg

Posted on September 13, 2011 by AJ Kessler

I can’t say this more succinctly than Seth Godin, so I’ll just copy it here: “Mark Zuckerberg” has become a codeword for the truly gifted exception, the wunderkind freak of nature for whom traditional rules don’t apply. Well, sure, Mark … Continue reading →

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Why Motivational Speakers Don’t Motivate

Posted on September 9, 2011 by AJ Kessler

Dr. Jim Taylor, who has a PhD in psychology, says the “inspirational-industrial complex” is a sham. Why, you ask? Because the inspiration that comes from other people is manufactured from the outside. This “synthetic” inspiration simply can’t last long because … Continue reading →

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How Important Is Boredom?

Posted on September 5, 2011 by AJ Kessler

A thought provoking article by Scott Adams, creator of Dilbert, in the Wall Street Journal: If you have a smartphone in your pocket, a game console in the living room, a Kindle in your backpack and an iPad in the kitchen, … Continue reading →

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Selling Technology Sucks: Start With The Goal Instead

Posted on September 4, 2011 by AJ Kessler

How do you sell $10 Billion worth of product a year? One of the things I’ve always found is that you’ve got to start with the customer experience and work backwards for the technology”. You can’t start with the technology and … Continue reading →

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The Million Dollar Answer

Posted on August 31, 2011 by AJ Kessler

I am an old man and have known a great many troubles, but most of them never happened. – Mark Twain We spend a lot of time and money worrying.  We walk around thinking about earthquakes and hurricanes and terrorist … Continue reading →

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Most Of Your Stuff Is Worthless

Posted on August 29, 2011 by AJ Kessler

I’ve written about the benefits of eliminating clutter before.  I’ve made a conscious effort to only buy stuff I actually need and am going to use.  I’ve gone through several rounds of getting rid of stuff I own.  That said, … Continue reading →

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Fake It ‘Til You Make It: Physiologically Sound

Posted on August 27, 2011 by AJ Kessler

From Psychology Today: The great surrealist artist Salvador Dali was described by his fellow students at the Madrid art academy as “morbidly” shy according to his biographer Ian Gibson.  He had a great fear of blushing and his shame about … Continue reading →

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Don’t Shop When You’re Hungry

Posted on August 25, 2011 by AJ Kessler

You’ll end up buying more than you want. Make plans when you’re fresh, not at the end of the day when you’re exhausted. Set goals when you’re on a roll; don’t undermine them after a failure. The hard part isn’t … Continue reading →

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Why Procrastination Is Good

Posted on August 23, 2011 by AJ Kessler

Very interesting thought from Cal Newport: The evolutionary perspective on procrastination, by contrast, says we delay because our frontal lobe doesn’t see a convincing plan behind our aspiration. The solution, therefore, is not to muster the courage to blindly charge … Continue reading →

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