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an entrepreneur is someone who is always on the lookout for problems that can be turned into opportunities and finds creative ways to leverage limited resources to reach their goals.
And, even more important, it is acceptable to fail.
But it is helpful to know that we don’t have to be right the first time.
The more we take on problems, the more confident and proficient we become at solving them.
There is no limit to the size of the problems you can tackle.
Switching from diapers to Pull-Ups served as a big milestone for both children and parents.
Create Solutions for minor gaps
assumptions are sometimes so integrated into our view of the world that it’s hard to see them.
decided to jump out of this perfectly good airplane because it was heading in the wrong direction.
Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (KPCB),
it is better to “make meaning than to make money.”
We always make our own prisons, with rules that we each create for ourselves, locking us into specific roles and out of an endless array of possibilities.
with the right frame of mind, you can look at most ideas or situations and find something valuable.
During a brainstorming session it is important to explicitly state that there are no bad ideas.
One of the most important rules is to expand upon the ideas of others.
Of course, at some point you have to decide what is feasible, but that shouldn’t happen during the “idea generation” phase. Brainstorming is about breaking out of conventional approaches to solving a problem.
In fact, many companies decide to set up Skunk Works projects to do just this: they pull a team out of the normal workflow, giving them permission to break the rules, to free them to think and work differently.
that it is better to know the few things that are really against the rules than to focus on the many things you think you should do.
it takes practice to do things that are not the “automatic next step.”
The task was certainly ambitious, but why not try?
This was clearly a stretch for me, but I assumed I could figure it out.
the world is divided into people who wait for others to give them permission to do the things they want to do and people who grant themselves permission.
one of the best ways to move from one field to another is to figure out how your skills can be translated into different settings.
those of us with a fixed mind-set about what we’re good at are much less likely to be successful in the long run than those with a growth mind-set.
people are generally happy to tell you about their problems.
If you study each situation with an eye for improvement, you will find countless opportunities. It is then up to you to decide if you will put yourself in the position to take on that challenge.
people who get to the top work harder than those around them, they have more energy that propels them forward, and they’re markedly more driven to get there. He notes that in the past people in the inner circle inherited their wealth and access. But today that isn’t the case. The majority of people who claim great success have made it happen on their own. This means that the primary barriers to success are self-imposed. The corollary to this is, as David says, “The biggest ally of superachievers is the inertia of others.”
Nobody was going to hand him the tools to be successful.
failure is an important part of our learning process, especially when you’re stretching your abilities, doing things the first time, or taking risks.
if you aren’t failing sometimes then you aren’t taking enough risks.
the key is killing projects early.
you control the situation and can leave whenever you like.
Sometimes quitting is the bravest alternative, because it requires you to face your failures and announce them publicly. The great news is that quitting allows you to start over with a clean slate.
You need to know when to stop pounding on an idea that isn’t working and when to move on to something
a successful career is not a straight line but a wave with ups and downs.
he was able to turn what seemed like a terrible situation into a period of extreme productivity and creativity.
reward smart failures, not dumb failures.
if you want more successes, you’re going to have to be willing to live with more failures.
Sometimes a little extra push is all it takes to flip the switch from failure to success.
they spend most of their efforts working to reduce the risks for their business.
Experts in risk management believe you should make decisions based upon the probability of all outcomes, including the best- and worst-case scenarios, and be willing to take big risks when you are fully prepared for all eventualities.
learning from others can significantly reduce your failure rate.
If you do take a risk and happen to fail, remember that you personally are not a failure.
you can be a terrific fan, going to games and concerts, without being a professional.
He simply pursues his vision of excellence in whatever he does, leaving others to decide whether he is working or playing. To him, he is always doing both.
Being too set on your path too early will likely lead you in the wrong direction.
it’s a mistake to try to manage your career too closely,
This self-assessment process forces you to come to terms with the fact that sometimes it’s time to move on to a new environment in order to excel.
It’s best to address small problems that crop up in your life early and often, as opposed to waiting for problems to get so big that they seem intractable.
if you intend to stop working while your kids are young, consider finding a way to keep your career on a low simmer.
Don’t be in a rush to get to your final destination—the side trips and unexpected detours quite often lead to the most interesting people, places, and opportunities.
