7

A real man is honest enough to admit his need to be validated, is courageous enough to live as though he doesn’t have this need, and is kind enough to assent to this need in others.

6

You cannot become who you will without owning the day. And there has ever been only one way to own the day: unify your actions, minimize distractions*

*Distractions can include good people, worthy causes, and golden opportunities.

5

Noisy minds empty into still minds. Chatter seeks company in quietude. Waterfalls descend into pools. One visibly in disarray, the other still and dark below the surface.

4

I am full of self-doubt; I’m certain of that.

3

The experience of insight is evidence of madness. It’s a temporary lighting of the way, yet all paths continue into darkness. It’s a momentary reprieve from doubt, though every confidence remains subject to revision. It suggests presence of mind but is only forthcoming in its absence. It appears as an increase in knowledge and matures into awareness of increased ignorance. Insight is not evidence of truth, but rather that we long for such and can never find it. It indicates not an ability to make sense of our world, but merely the fervent desire to do so.

2

There’s never a good reason for a bad attitude, for a bad attitude can only survive in the domain of excuses, and an excuse is not a reason but a refusal to take responsibility. As soon as we take responsibility for the conditions of our life or situation, and recognize that what we see as problematic is due to how we see it and not how it is, we find that all our excuses were meaningless.

1

Success is a function of many factors, not the least of which is this: a willingness to repeatedly and publicly fail.