The voices / 80 fragments

Seth Godin

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Name supplied in the contributor-provided quotation collection. Basic attribution label; identity, lifetime and quotation authenticity have not been independently verified.

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Archive entries

01Undated

People don't believe what you tell them.They rarely believe what you show them.They often believe what their friends tell them.They always believe what they tell themselves.

Seth Godin / quote

02Undated

At the age of four, you were an artist. And at seven, you were a poet.

Seth Godin / quote

03Undated

Writing a book is a tremendous experience. It pays off intellectually. It clarifies your thinking. It builds credibility. It is a living engine of marketing and idea spreading, working every day to deliver your message with authority. You should write one.Seth Godin

Seth Godin / quote

04Undated

Do What You Want; these are the 4 most frightening words brought to us by the Connection Revolution. If you want to sing, sing. If you want to lead, lead. If you want touch, connect, describe, disrupt, give, support, build, question—Do It. You will not be picked. But, if you want to pick yourself—go for it. The cost is that you own the results.

Seth Godin / quote

05Undated

The lizard brain is hungry, scared, angry, and horny.The lizard brain only wants to eat and be safe.The lizard brain will fight (to the death) if it has to, but would rather run away. It likes a vendetta and has no trouble getting angry.The lizard brain cares what everyone else thinks, because status in the tribe is essential to its survival.A squirrel runs around looking for nuts, hiding from foxes, listening for predators, and watching for other squirrels. The squirrel does this because that's all it can do. All the squirrel has is a lizard brain.The only correct answer to 'Why did the chicken cross the road?' is 'Because it's lizard brain told it to.' Wild animals are wild because the only brain they posses is a lizard brain.The lizard brain is not merely a concept. It's real, and it's living on the top of your spine, fighting for your survival. But, of course, survival and success are not the same thing.The lizard brain is the reason you're afraid, the reason you don't do all the art you can, the reason you don't ship when you can. The lizard brain is the source of the resistance.

Seth Godin / quote

06Undated

If school is about postponing the day you have to stand up in front of the world and put yourself at risk, the resistance would like to stay there forever.

Seth Godin / quote

07Undated

It's war that makes generals

Seth Godin / quote

08Undated

Change almost never fails because it's too early. It almost always fails because it's too late.

Seth Godin / quote

09Undated

How dare you settle for less when the world has made it so easy for you to be remarkable?

Seth Godin / quote

10Undated

Art isn't only a painting; it's anything that changes someone for the better, any nonanonymous interaction that leads to a human (not simply a commercial) conclusion.

Seth Godin / quote

11Undated

Leadership, on the other hand, is about creating change you believe in.

Seth Godin / quote

12Undated

The secret of leadership is simple: Do what you believe in. Paint a picture of the future. Go there.People will follow.

Seth Godin / quote

13Undated

In a battle between two ideas, the best one doesn't necessarily win. No, the idea that wins is the one with the most fearless heretic behind it.

Seth Godin / quote

14Undated

Leadership is the art of giving people a platform for spreading ideas that work.

Seth Godin / quote

15Undated

How was your day? If your answer was "fine," then I don't think you were leading.

Seth Godin / quote

16Undated

Leaders lead when they take positions, when they connect with their tribes, and when they help the tribe connect to itself.

Seth Godin / quote

17Undated

The job is what you do when you are told what to do. The job is showing up at the factory, following instructions, meeting spec, and being managed.Someone can always do your job a little better or faster or cheaper than you can.The job might be difficult, it might require skill, but it's a job.Your art is what you do when no one can tell you exactly how to do it. Your art is the act of taking personal responsibility, challenging the status quo, and changing people.I call the process of doing your art 'the work.' It's possible to have a job and do the work, too. In fact, that's how you become a linchpin.The job is not the work.

Seth Godin / quote

18Undated

Art is what we call...the thing an artist does.It's not the medium or the oil or the price or whether it hangs on a wall or you eat it. What matters, what makes it art, is that the person who made it overcame the resistance, ignored the voice of doubt and made something worth making. Something risky. Something human.Art is not in the ...eye of the beholder. It's in the soul of the artist.

Seth Godin / quote

19Undated

You cannot create a piece of art merely for money. Doing it as part of commerce so denudes art of wonder that it ceases to be art.

Seth Godin / quote

20Undated

Art changes posture and posture changes innocent bystanders.

Seth Godin / quote

21Undated

Great work is not created for everyone. If it were, it would be average work.

Seth Godin / quote

22Undated

A tribe is a group of people connected to one another, connected to a leader, and connected to an idea. For millions of years, human beings have been part of one tribe or another. A group needs only two things to be a tribe: a shared interest and a way to communicate.

Seth Godin / quote

23Undated

...treasure what it means to do a day's work. It's our one and only chance to do something productive today, and it's certainly not available to someone merely because he is the high bidder. A day's work is your chance to do art, to create a gift, to do something that matters. As your work gets better and your art becomes more important, competition for your gifts will increase and you'll discover that you can be choosier about whom you give them to.

Seth Godin / quote

24Undated

Artists think along the edges of the box, because that's where things get done. That's where the audience is, that's where the means of production are available, and that's where you can make an impact.

Seth Godin / quote