Al Abut, Matthew Baldwin, danah boyd, Sarah Brown, Heather Champ, Tracey Gaughran-Perez, Amit Gupta, Jessica from Kerlop, Kelly from Mocha Momma, Margaret Mason, Brandon Rogers, Jason Scott, Jennifer Simpson

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Al Abut
(Website)

“Divide & conquer. Take a problem, divide and divide again until you’ve got a simple task.”

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Matthew Baldwin
(Defective Yeti, Tricks of the Trade)

More Than A Reprimand, It’s A Life Philosophy

When I was five my mother gave me an Oreo cookie. I promptly shoved the entire thing into my mouth and, while chewing, asked if I could have another.

My mother said “You should concentrate on enjoying the cookie you’re eating instead of thinking about the next one.”

That’s pretty much the best advice I have ever received in my life.
Posted on July 11, 2003

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danah boyd
(zephoria , apophenia)

The QOTD that has been keeping me sane through the last 6 weeks of travel has been:

“Teh Ceiling Cat giv me cheezburger, teh Ceiling Cat takded mah cheezburger awai. I stil laiks teh Ceiling Cat.” – Job 1:21 in kitty pidgin on the LOLCatBible.

Somehow, the Christian bible is much more palatable and useful for thinking about things when it is reframed in kitty pidgin…

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Sarah Brown
(Que Sera Sera, Cringe)

The best advice I’ve ever received was from my mother, and that was: “Never let a man see you put on pantyhose.”

My other favorite quote is Eleanor Roosevelt: “No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.”

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Heather Champ
(HChamp, The Mirror Project)

“It just doesn’t matter.” circa 1997
“Chop wood. Carry water.” current
“Soft pleasing tone of voice.” a sticker on my laptop

“I was watching Unzipped today. The morning after Mizrahi presents his collection via the runway show he heads out early to pick up the newspapers to read the reviews. Walking back euphoric from the good reviews
he’s asked by the documentary crew whether it was all worth it. He says that it was and then “”….even when
it sucks, it’s worth it.” There’s something in that.”

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Tracey Gaughran-Perez
(Sweetney, Mamapop)

Here’s my quote from biologist Robert Ardrey, which when I’m feeling particularly down about humanity and the state of the world serves to remind me that there is, indeed, transcendence in spite of it all:

“But we were born of risen apes, not fallen angels, and the apes were armed killers besides. And so what shall we wonder at? Our murders and massacres and missiles, and our irreconcilable regiments? Or our treaties whatever they may be worth; our symphonies however seldom they may be played; our peaceful acres, however frequently they may be converted into battlefields; our dreams however rarely they may be accomplished. The miracle of man is not how far he has sunk but how magnificently he has risen. We are known among the stars by our poems, not our corpses.”

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Amit Gupta
(Blog, Photojojo)

A fellow entrepreneur once told me that the worst thing you can do is be afraid of making a decision, however large or small. If you’re smart, and you’re truly into your business, chances are you’re more likely to be right than to be wrong. As long as your chances of being right are greater than 50%, make that decision and move on.

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Jessica from Kerflop
(Kerflop, Very Baby)

It doesn’t have to be perfect. It just has to be good enough.

I chant this to myself whenever I find myself caught up in perfectionist, obsessive compulsive thinking. I have no idea if I thought it up in my own little brain or if I heard/read it somewhere. But it helps. It helps a lot.

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Kelly from Mocha Momma
(Mocha Momma)

My mom says the wisest stuff. Like “It’ll be ok. We just don’t know what ok looks like.”

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Margaret Mason
(Mighty Girl, Mighty Goods)

What you are thinking about is what you are becoming.

Also:

Plan less, do more.

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Brandon Rogers
(Brandonoana)

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do.”
Mark Twain

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Jason Scott
(Textfiles, BBS Documentary)

My cubicle at work is completely bare except for a single quote hung on the wall next to the computer. A lot of people have heard this quote, but I don’t mind being yet another person quoting it, just in case you haven’t.

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”

It’s from a speech given by Theodore Roosevelt called ‘Citizenship in a Republic: The Man in the Arena.

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Jennifer Simpson
(AkaJesais, San Diego Blog)

inhale.
exhale.
inhale.
exhale.

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