After a recent move, I was sorting through boxes of books and revisiting some that I hadn’t read in awhile. Die Empty jumped out as one of these.
I first read it in 2014 and enjoyed it so much I bought some copies and gave them to friends at work. Nearly a decade later I opened it again with the aim of rebooting my mind and sharing some of its key takeaways…
It is action that creates impact, not knowledge alone.
There is little personal gratification in unintentional success.
Problem finding is increasingly more critical than problem solving.
“the love of comfort is frequently the enemy of greatness.”
Self-delusion is a fast track to a life of wasted potential.
“finding the balance between going out to get what you want and being open to the thing that actually winds up coming your way.”
Decisions part the fog on stagnant waters. Cowardice kills us.
As Walt Disney once said, “We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we’re curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths.”
It is our actions that define us, not our intentions.
You cannot pursue greatness and comfort at the same time.
Make a list of five people you admire. Are there any qualities they exhibit that intimidate you? Make a list of these qualities, and consider any overlap between them. Do you notice any patterns? If so, how would you begin to cultivate those qualities in your own life?
The best way to learn something is to teach it.
We need to fall in love with the process, not just the end product of our work.
The hard truth is that there is no real and lasting success without the potential for failure. The pain of the journey is what allows you to sustain your success on the other side.
Urgency and diligence are the foundation of “hustle,” and hustle is the best antidote to lifelong regret. If you hustle, you never have to wonder “what if?”
Winston Churchill said,” Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.”
The way people succeed is by adding a tremendous amount of value to the lives of others.
“A mercenary mind-set tends to attract a mercenary crowd.”
The future will be defined by those who choose to contribute more value than they consume.
Capacity and character are born and tested in the fertile fields of tension, where we are challenged to stretch to our limits, and then recover through rest and reflection.
“Never commit to anything that you can’t give your all to. Hustle overcomes nearly every shortcoming.”