Are we falling or flying …

… but am amazed other people haven’t:

• If you’re doing things you feel compelled to hide from others you shouldn’t be doing them. 
• You can’t make a silk purse from a sow’s ear.
• Experience is what you get when you don’t get what you wanted; but at the same time, be very careful what you wish for.
• All sales are solution sales; while you or I may not understand someone else’s decision points and drivers, those drivers are definitely there and often in (or out?) of control.
• Flying monkey launchers are a must have when in a target rich environment.
• Eventually, all shit rolls uphill.  For example: each person in a work group is responsible for their own actions; but if an individual repeatedly acts in a way which is detrimental to a business and/or to other people, the root cause responsibility rolls uphill to the decision maker(s) who condones/enables that situation to continue.

Things I learned from Albert Einstein:

• Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I’m not sure about the former.
• Sometimes one pays most for the things one gets for nothing.
• If the facts don’t fit the theory, change the facts.
• We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.

Things I learned from Antoine du Saint-Exupery:

• A designer knows he has achieved perfection not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.
• A pile of rocks ceases to be rocks when somebody contemplates it with the idea of a cathedral in mind.
• Life has taught us that love does not consist in gazing at each other but in looking outward in the same direction.
• The meaning of things lies not in the things themselves, but in our attitude towards them.
• What makes the desert beautiful is somewhere it hides a well.

Things I learned from Randy Pausch:

• Brick walls are there for a reason. The brick walls are not there to keep us out. The brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something. The brick walls are there to stop the people who don’t want it badly enough.
• It’s very important to know when you’re in a pissing match. And it’s very important to get out of it as quickly as possible.
• Loyalty is a two way street.
• We cannot change the cards we are dealt–just how we play the hand.
• Focus on others.  The other people on your team are often the key to your success. Take care of their needs and yours will be taken care of.
• Find the best in everybody. No matter how long you have to wait for them to show it.
• If you live your life the right way, the karma will take care of itself, and the dreams will come to you.

Tying this all together: The people who are good and also good people are the well in the desert.  If  each person focuses on the others the karma will take care of itself - and while you may periodically walk separate paths, you will meet up with them again further down the way.

Cheers.