January 1, 2017 - Comments Off on Commonplace #0044

Commonplace #0044

Is that a dream or a goal? Because there’s a difference.

A writer’s brain is like a magician’s hat. If you’re going to get anything out of it, you have to put something in first.

Curiosity is anti-fragile, like an addiction it is magnified by attempts to satisfy it.

Our libraries are not cloisters for an elite. They are for the people, and if they are not used, the fault belongs to those who do not take advantage of their wealth. If one does not move on from what merely amuses to what interests, the fault lies in the reader, for everything is there.

Personally, I do not believe the human mind has any limits but those we impose ourselves. I believe that creativity and inventiveness are there for anybody willing to apply himself. I do not believe that man has even begun to realize who he is or what he can become. So far he has been playing it by ear, following paths of least resistance, getting by — because most others were just getting by too. I believe that man has been living in a Neanderthal state of mind. Mentally, we are still flaking rocks for scraping stones or chipping them for arrowheads. We simply must free the mind from its fetters and permit it to function without restraint. Many of us have learned to supply ourselves with the raw materials and then allow the subconscious to take over. This is what creativity is. One must condition oneself for the process and then let it proceed.

Imagine how our coffee situation might change if there was a public list where each person wrote their name when they took a cup of coffee, and maybe put a star next to it when they made a pot of coffee. Then you would know who left this last bit of black goo (and think a bit less of them) or who made that gleaming new potful (and think a bit better of them). The solution lies in aligning self-interest a little more closely with the community interest.

The leaders who make the biggest difference in office, and change millions of lives for the better, are the ones who collaborate, delegate, and negotiate—the ones who recognize that no one person can or should have all the answers.

Redefining leaders radically change the political landscape, not by seeking centre ground but by moving the centre in their direction.

Transformational leaders go a step further by fundamentally transforming the political or economic system itself. They are the ones who leave their country a completely different place than they found it.

Tell me something I don’t know.

Published by: seanwing in notes

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