DittoGrow

Some uplifting thoughts and positive quotes to start your morning right for a great day!

Today is going to be great!

I choose to be grateful today.

Today I will work hard.

My full potential is my measure of life.

I choose to be positive today.

“Everything begins with an idea.” Earl Nightingale

Today I will be honest.

I choose to be happy today.

Formal education will make you a living, self-education will make you a fortune. Jim Rohn

Today I will be kind, and I will do something kind.

I will set goals.

“If you aim at nothing, you’ll hit it every time.” Zig Ziglar

Even though it looks hard at first, I will solve the problem.

I will define a time to complete that task.

Today I will make good choices.

I deserve to earn happiness.

“Go to the Ant, O sluggard, consider her ways, and be wise. Without having and chief, officer, or ruler, she prepares her bread in summer and gathers her food in harvest.” Proverbs 6:6-8

My emotions do not control me, I control my emotions.

I am qualified to be successful.

I am prepared to be positive.

“I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again. And that is why I succeed.”  Michael Jordan

If I stumble I will get back up.

“Change your thoughts and you change your world.” Norman Vincent Peale

I trust my abilities.

I have the skills to do the task.

My feelings do not control me, I control my feelings.

I choose confidence over anxiety.

“The most effective way to do it, is to do it.” Amelia Earhart

I choose to be thankful for what I have.

My goals are clear.

“Keep your face toward the sunshine, and shadows will fall behind you.” Walt Whitman

I will remember to smile today.

Obstacles are stepping stones to success.

I will persevere.

“A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest, and poverty will come upon you like a robber, and want like an armed man.”              Proverbs 6:10-11

I will choose to do the right thing.

My goals motivate me to achievement.

“Setting goals is a first step to turn what’s invisible into visible.”  Tony Robbins

I will give a gentle answer to an angry person.

When I measure or count I will be accurate.

I will have integrity.

When no one is watching I will choose what is best.

“Prepare your work outside; get everything ready for yourself in the field, and after that build your house.” Proverbs 24:27

“You can have it all. Just not all at once.”  Oprah Winfrey

 

What good is studying art? Who would spend time learning photography – when they could learn something practical? Oh, I don’t know, maybe a co-founder of a little app called “Instagram” … 

“In high school … I fell in love with photography, art history, computer science, and I wanted to combine those.”

“I actually thought what I was going to do was be an art restorer. Like go around the world, travel, see art. Use science to like restore chapels and stuff.”

“I actually never thought of computer science as like a passion of mine. It was an enabler to do other things.”

“That’s where Instagram came from, it’s the, like, intersection of art and science.”

“The best business models in the world are the ones where you, like, ask people what they want, and they tell you, and you go and you build it. And every now and then you have to read between the lines …”

“If I knew what I knew now, I probably wouldn’t have started a company. Mostly because I would have been afraid. So actually I think youth is an advantage – you’re like, flexible, you’re like, you just can bounce back from anything …”

“It was like, ‘I don’t want a boss’, ‘I just want to do my own thing’, ‘I want to have ideas’, and I want to be able to be wrong.”

“We didn’t change the tense of photo sharing but we certainly went after the present tense rather than the past tense. ‘This is what I did on vacation’ was like, kind of, the paradigm that exists. ‘This is what I’m doing on vacation’ was the thing that we wanted to tackle.”

“I tell every entrepreneur, if you don’t have, like, the three things you’re focusing on in your company, you’re not going to survive.”

“I still remember the exact room in Dogpatch Labs. Dogpatch Labs was a co-working space over this pier, or, it was on a pier, over the bay in San Francisco. We were in this little room and we had a whiteboard.”

“You just have to figure out ways of reinforcing the business that you work on and then also a portion of like, just experimental stuff that sometimes won’t work out.”

“Can you imagine the feeling inside this company when we were like, ‘Guys, we’re gonna allow non-square photos’. Everyone was like, ‘Are you crazy?’ That’s what makes Instagram, Instagram. I mean the number of articles that were posted day one when we launched non-square photos, they were like, ‘They ruined Instagram’.”

“So we we’re like, o.k., so this is clearly a thing that is not going away, so how can we make it awesome?”

“What drives people? What gets them up in the morning, what, like, where does the fire come from? Because, like, the best people in the world just have a fire about something. Not about everything but about something.”

“Every single day that goes by, it surprises us how people use Instagram.”

“Twenty-five thousand people, day one. I was like, ‘Mike, I think we’ve created something, I don’t know what, I don’t know, like, where it’s gonna go’, but there’s like a spirit, you can, like, feel it, you can feel the momentum.”

 

 

You’ve maybe never heard that name. But you have played his games. The President of Nintendo and his thoughts on the ever-changing gaming scene. Maybe ya wanna listen?

“There are now many ways for consumers to entertain themselves. And the competition of chasing after that precious, limited time that consumers have is as intense as it’s ever been.”

“Not just streaming, but any kind of new technology, whether that is going to be appealing to the consumer or not really depends on the quality of the experience that we can provide.”

“Innovation is making something that most people perceive to be impossible into something that’s possible.”

“It’s very important for us to constantly ask ourselves, ‘Is there something impossible that I can make possible?'”

“Nintendo is Nintendo because of our games, characters and intellectual property.”

“Giving our teams the freedom to experiment with new ideas is something I strongly agree with.”

“It’s just part of the video game and entertainment business to constantly have that impeding sense of danger. Basically, that means this is a very severe business.”

“The gaming population has a strong, grassroots influence. And technology that’s employed in video games often becomes standard elsewhere. For example, touch screens were only widely used in smart phones after they were made popular by the Nintendo DS.”

“Our objective has always remained the same. To connect and entertain more consumers with Nintendo IP. We hope they become interested in the world of our dedicated video game experiences. By doing this, our goal is to create a connection that transcends a particular game, platform, or console generation.”

“The reason we have the opportunity to hear from our customers from all  around the world who loved playing Nintendo as a child and now play with their children is because those customers actually work at Nintendo now. We want people who feel like that to join the team.”

“We realize that unless we reach outside of video games, that it’s going to be difficult for our creative vision to come to fruition.”

“Expansion can’t happen without the freedom to try something new, and the courage to step into unfamiliar territory.”

“The importance of the Japanese market will not change for us. We study the declining birthrate and increasing age of the elderly. Then develop products that appeal to a wide range of generations is necessary. If we do that, we can find success with many people despite how the Japanese market may change.”

“Lately I’ve been into Pokémon which came out for the “Switch Lite”. I love catching all the Pokémon found throughout the game.”

Ever hear about “the power behind the throne”. The power behind tech start-ups is not electricity, instead it is brain-power – and he got lots. “Well, what has he ever done?” you say? Let’s see, Zynga, FourSquare, Etsy, Twitter, and more …

“I learned a really valuable lesson. In 1999 we sold GeoCities to Yahoo. I had all this high-priced Yahoo stock … and my wife said, “Let’s buy a townhouse in New York City”. So we sold enough Yahoo stock to buy the townhouse in New York City, and renovate it, and a year later that was our entire net worth. Because everything else had gone to zero. And so, I learned a lesson, which was, you take high priced internet stock and you trade it for New York real estate.”

“I do think the one benefit of never having had an operating job in my career is that I have a lot of respect for the job that the CEO is doing and I don’t personally feel that I could do it better.”

“(the dot-com bubble of 1999) … was an incredible learning experience for me.  I spent a lot of time thinking about the mistakes we made and what worked and what didn’t work. What kinds of companies worked and what kinds of companies didn’t work. What kind of investment strategies worked and when they didn’t work and I feel I came out of it much, much stronger …”

“The internet is a two-way medium. And if you look at most of the investments that worked, that we made in the 90’s, they were businesses that actually took advantage of the architecture of the internet.”

“And the things that didn’t work were the things that people were just taking an offline business and porting it to the internet without taking any native advantage of the internet.”

“Another thing we learned was, uh, lean. You know, spend very little money in the seed round and the Series A round. Get a long way before you really step on the gas, that money doesn’t buy success in the startup world.”

“I really feel that we are in the service business. The entrepreneur is the customer. The people who give us money are the shareholders and we are in the business of trying to make entrepreneurs successful. We’re not in the business of making money. Making money is the by-product of making entrepreneurs successful.”

“Entrepreneurs are really difficult customers to serve well. It takes a significant investment of time, energy, money, and intellect to satisfy them. But if you do it well, you will develop a reputation for great customer service that will keep the best ones lined up at your door.”

“I think that you want somebody who is a real product person. Somebody very adapt at the product, you don’t have to be technical. You can sit down with a bunch of engineers and some designers … that’s critical, that’s what I think entrepreneurs should be.”

“The other thing is, almost, you know, an ‘evangelical’ kind of personality, because when you start a company, you have nothing.”

“You gotta get people to join your company. And people to use your product. You gotta get people to invest in your company. Then, get people to write about your company.   It’s the kind of leadership that people will follow you even though you don’t really have anything yet.”

“There does come a time when the company is not succeeding or the management team is revolting. And there are certain moments of crisis when the board has to act, and they have to make a change. But it shouldn’t be because the investor is uncomfortable with the entrepreneur, it has to be that there’s some larger problem.”

“I’ve been interested in community solar for a while now. It makes sense to me that a group of people can build and participate in a solar installation … where it most makes sense and then share in the energy that installation generates.”

“We believe that Bitcoin represents something fundamental and powerful. An open and distributed Internet peer to peer protocol for transferring purchasing power. It reminds us of SMTP, HTTP, RSS, and BitTorrent in its architecture and openness.”

“Digital Asset Mining is shorthand for “proof of work consensus validation of public blockchain infrastructure”. Thankfully we have the shorthand.”

Italians know style. Some people say they are style. This ambassador of a major fashion house shares her thoughts on family, life, legacy, work, and branding. Maybe you’ll start you own Italian Renaissance! 

“I believe the more fierce the competition, the more you have to think about what your core points are and to be strong and work on that. “

“We always integrate art to be important within the brand. Because it’s part of what we are and it’s part of our legacy and also it’s a true passion.”

” … Max Mara has been my greatest love since I was a little girl and I used to play in my grandfather’s office. So yeah, I’m not going to lie to you. I have a lot of sleepless nights!”

“But on the other hand, I really have a passion to go to work every morning and do something for my company every day. Because of that, if anything, I’m really honored.”

“My grandfather’s dream was … to share the beauty and the elevation in spirit that something like contemporary art or art in general brings and to share it with other people.”

“… so most importantly for us, being in the position of collectors, we really want to go and find new artists and put them out there and promote their work. And wherever there is a talent to be celebrated, if we can help, we’d love to do it.”

“The biggest gift that my grandfather gave to me was the sense of family. So not only when it comes to my own family … but also the sense of family when it comes to the idea of managing a business. People really are the game changer. And to really put in effort and love—that’s the bottom line.”

“Obviously you have to be business savvy but at the end of the day, the integrity that comes from having those values set in stone—well, they’re timeless. That was the biggest lesson I learned from him. And every time I go to work, it’s to make him proud. He did something phenomenal, and I really want for his legacy to be out there for years and years.”

“But ultimately what really sets us apart is we love what we do. Because that is something that is not only about people that are in the family. It is also about people that have been working with us for fifty years and more. It’s an incredible feeling.  And my grandfather was like that.”

 

The Pacific Rim region is growing an ocean of talented people. Thoughts on creativity from a leader in the realm of creativity, leadership, growth, and more. Quite the positive person.

“Everyone’s creativity is different, and what works for me might not for everyone else. However, leading a creative organization, I know there is one thing that can help anyone be more creative: generosity.”

“If you’re a creative leader, be generous. Be generous with your time, and your attention, and your beer and pizza money.”

“If everyone on the team is working late, don’t go home early. Reward other people first. If everyone else is traveling coach, don’t fly business class. Those are all generous acts – not just giving what’s important, but giving up what’s not that important.”

“I’ve become more curious and less afraid. I know how to hack my own process and push divergence. However, I also know that, for the job I have today, it’s more important to shine a light on other people’s ideas.”

“Never has it been easier to find and bond with the like-minded. And when that happens, we call that community. Community is a force multiplier for growth.”

“(with community) … Creators and audience can find one another faster, learn from a wider pool, and improve together.”

“Retail shops and pen shows are both great venues to try out pens and compare nibs.”

“Fountain pens aren’t only about looks. Aside from a comfortable grip, heft, and length, what’s important for you to notice is way the nib and flow of ink interact with how your hand moves across the paper.”

“With practice and attention in the beginning, you can end up with a pen so attuned to the way you write, it quietly moves out of the way so you can focus on the writing and not on the instrument.”

“Figure 8’s are a classic, simple shape sequence. So to get the best feel for a nib, draw figure 8’s in several sets, completing each at increasing speed.”

… the OG of OG’s when it comes to positive thinking. This is like energy drink in writing for growth, development, relationships, attitudes, success. Except this is healthy for you! Guzzle it down, grab another …

“Show zest and enthusiasm and you will attract zest and enthusiasm! Life does give back in kind.”

“Restore confidence and build it by action. Inaction is not only the result, but the cause, of fear.”

“Perhaps your action is successful; perhaps different action or adjustments will have to follow. But any action is better than no action at all.”

“We’ve all heard that we have to learn from our mistakes. I think it’s more important to learn from your successes. If you only learn from your mistakes, you are inclined to learn only errors.”

“Every problem has in it the seeds of its own solution, so get some problems in order to get seeds.”

“Empty pockets never held anyone back. Only empty heads and empty hearts can do that.”

“Keep that promise, today. Promises are like crying babies in a theater, carry them out at once.”

“Any fact facing you is not as important as your attitude toward that fact – your attitude determines your success or failure. The way you think about a fact may defeat you before you ever do anything about it. You are overcome by the fact because you think you are.”

“We tend to get what we expect.”

“Paint in your mind a picture of bright and happy expectations, so that you put yourself into a condition conducive to your goal.”

“Put off everything till you’re sure of it, and you’ll never get anything done.”

“Formulate and stamp indelibly on your mind a mental picture of you succeeding. Hold this picture tenaciously. Keep it vivid. Develop in your mind the picture – do not build up obstacles in your imagination.”

“Get people to like you – it is merely the other side of liking them.”

“Be interesting, be enthusiastic … and don’t talk too much.”

“Drop the idea that you are Atlas carrying the world on your shoulders. Because the world would go on even without you. Don’t take yourself so seriously.”

“Weave the true magic carpet by weaving your imagination.”

“Watch the way you speak and you develop a peaceful state of mind. So that you start each day by affirming peaceful, contented and happy attitudes and your days will tend to be pleasant and successful.”

“Stand up to your obstacles and do something about them, to find that they haven’t half the strength you think they have.”

“Focus your physical and mental resources, and you multiply your power to solve a problem.”

[continue reading … ]