Your Default Settings Quotes

“We can only create new connections between things that are already stored in our brains. The same applies to our settings. We can’t change our beliefs or habits to a different course of action if we don’t know our options. To change a default setting, then, you must first realize that there’s another way.”
― Rad Wendzich, Your Default Settings: Adjust Your Autopilot to Build a More Stable and Impactful Life

“changing a default setting involves three steps: new exposures, reflection, and commitment to change.”
― Rad Wendzich, Your Default Settings: Adjust Your Autopilot to Build a More Stable and Impactful Life

“Default settings—both in software and in our lives—are most helpful when we wouldn’t know where to begin otherwise. But that ignorance is temporary. We’ll always have default settings—shortcuts for making decisions, patterns of behaviors, and habits—but we don’t need to hold on to our original settings over time. When we have limited time, we don’t want to waste it on things that don’t move our goals forward. “Greatness,” as American historian James Harvey Robinson said, is “courage in escaping from old ideas and old standards.”
― Rad Wendzich, Your Default Settings: Adjust Your Autopilot to Build a More Stable and Impactful Life

“In the words of Albert Pike, a 19th-century American writer, “What we do for ourselves dies with us. What we do for others and the world remains and is immortal.”
― Rad Wendzich, Your Default Settings: Adjust Your Autopilot to Build a More Stable and Impactful Life

“Just like your parents influenced your defaults when you were growing up, you set your kids’ defaults during the time you live with them and when you make decisions for your family. And just like your parents’ defaults may not have been the optimal match for you, your children’s settings will likely need to be different than yours. Be sensitive to your kids’ unique personalities. Let them learn to explore without your protection, without your resources, without your solutions. This is the paradox of parent-child love: sometimes, we need to distance ourselves from what we love the most. Our offspring develops stability when they’re given the right roots, and they thrive proportionately to the time they’re left alone to figure things out for themselves (with the security of knowing you are there for assistance if needed).”
― Rad Wendzich, Your Default Settings: Adjust Your Autopilot to Build a More Stable and Impactful Life

“our communities exert their influence on us with their expectations, behaviors, and beliefs. But influence works the other way too—your routine, habits, and the way you treat others contribute to your community’s identity. Philosopher Thomas Carlyle said that “Reform, like charity, must begin at home.” Once we’ve changed ourselves, we will naturally spread that change to everything we touch, talk about, and work on.”
― Rad Wendzich, Your Default Settings: Adjust Your Autopilot to Build a More Stable and Impactful Life

“Too often, our mindset when interacting with others defaults to this same goal of efficiency. When we interact with others in a store, restaurant, or car repair shop, we tend to ask for what we need, finish the exchange, and move on to our next task. Companies have growth and profit goals to hit, so they treat each dialogue as a transaction. But if your goal is to have a positive impact on others, it’s better to interact with empathy and attentiveness.”
― Rad Wendzich, Your Default Settings: Adjust Your Autopilot to Build a More Stable and Impactful Life

“To become more externally focused, you need to pay closer attention to the way you treat, interact with, and serve others. It’s your responsibility to be deliberate about your interactions and mindful of how your work affects the rest of humanity.”
― Rad Wendzich, Your Default Settings: Adjust Your Autopilot to Build a More Stable and Impactful Life

“Your personal time defaults should have a deliberate role in your life: they should boost your positivity, advance your health and relationships, and promote growth and development. When you go to bed each night, you should feel satisfied that you’ve invested in areas you care about.”
― Rad Wendzich, Your Default Settings: Adjust Your Autopilot to Build a More Stable and Impactful Life

“To truly change something in your life, you have to commit yourself to the change fully, which means you have to commit to it over and over again. This is true whether the commitment is big or small. During wedding vows, people promise to love and care for each other for the rest of their lives for better or for worse. This isn’t just a vague happily ever after; it’s a daily commitment to love and care for their partner, even when it is difficult. True commitment requires consistency over time.”
― Rad Wendzich, Your Default Settings: Adjust Your Autopilot to Build a More Stable and Impactful Life

“Measuring your impact is also helpful. How many hours have you spent sharing your knowledge? How many people have benefitted from the more efficient process you created? How much time have you saved yourself and your peers? Quantifying your results builds your confidence and makes it easier for other leaders to sponsor you or even join in.”
― Rad Wendzich, Your Default Settings: Adjust Your Autopilot to Build a More Stable and Impactful Life