8 Quotes That (If Applied) Will Change Your Perception of Reality Forever
Only killer quotes to change your life, no filler.
Quotes abruptly interrupt your thinking.
That’s why they’re so powerful.
I’ve been collecting quotes for 8 years. I don’t go after the ones that have become cliche such as “your network equals your net worth.” B-o-r-r-r-r-r-r-i-n-g.
Ever wondered why Twitter is still going strong after all these years?
Quotes.
They’ve tried video, audio, blogs posts, TikTok-style videos, etc. None of it worked. People wanted succinct tweets containing one good thought. That’s what quotes are. Kindle books gave us the highlight feature which popularized quotes.
My mantra is if you can’t read the book, then at least read the best quotes from a book you don’t have time to read.
I collect thousands of them in my second brain, the Roam Research app.
The ones you’re about to read are the best because I’ve applied them in my life. You can too. Application beats procrastination. Even if you only apply one of these quotes, I have succeeded with this article. Here we go.
“Create a mindset where you think everything is happening in your favor” — Dan Go
This quote has saved my life many times.
What if everything is happening in your favor?
A friend of mine lost his entire life fortune. We were chatting about it the other day on the phone. It’s easy to mourn loss. Then I said to him this:
“What if you kept your millions of dollars, became a successful property developer, bought drugs because you could afford to, cheated on your wife with strippers, and then ended up divorced and never seeing your three daughters again?”
This question left him speechless.
Maybe when you lose something big in your life it directs you away from an unknown terror. The reality I just described may be false.
But the mindset that a loss is actually a win is a rare view of the world I haven’t seen too often. It’s an idea that can rewire your brain and prevent a lot of suffering.
The bad thing that happened is secretly working in your favor.
You just can’t see the puppet masters’ good intentions.
"Double down on your best relationship. It's the investment with the highest return." – James Clear
The desire to expand our networks is what made the LinkedIn app a success.
The closely related desire to collect social media followers has caused us to binge on the idea of infinite relationships. Do we really need more people in our lives? Nope.
It’s better to go deep than go wide with relationships.
Reinvest in your winning relationships and don’t worry about constantly accumulating more people you’ll never have time to properly get to know.
Too many human relationships drain your most precious resource: time.
Spend more time with people who’ve already shown enormous value.
“One pillar…
So many people have built their lives on one pillar, one punch, one arbitrage, one freebie that their mate is giving them.” — Gary Vee
When Gary came to Australia for the first time, I heard him say this. It knocked me flat on the floor.
It’s so true.
Think about all those people who figured out one tiny thing. Now they want to preach to you about how the world works. Maybe it was dumb luck, or worse, beginner’s luck.
There’s an arbitrage in almost anything in life.
The thing is, arbitrages don’t last forever. At some point the gap closes.
These one-trick ponies tend to come undone when it happens. They realize that a one-pillar life is extraordinarily risky. It’s why I tell content creators to use multiple platforms. What if you get banned? What if the platform dies?
Don’t build a one-pillar life.
Diversify your success across multiple avenues in case the arbitrage gap closes.
"So many people suffer because they don’t properly understand the motivations of other human beings." — Ayodeji Awosika
I get pitched every day of the week. Most pitches never get a reply.
If you want to persuade anyone to do anything, then spend your time figuring out what motivates them.
The motivation of a corporation is to make money. So instead of asking for a pay rise, help the corporation make more money.
The motivation of a writer is to reach more readers. So instead of pitching a dumb product, tell them how you can get them more readers.
The motivation of an unfit person is to exercise and get fit. So instead of selling them fitness products and vegan protein, tell them how to get fit.
You won’t get what you want in life unless you help other people get what they want.
So figure out what motivates people you seek to persuade, then right hook them with a well-researched pitch that meets their personal needs.
Listen, smile, agree, and then do whatever the f*ck you were gonna do anyway." — Robert Downey Jr
People love to criticize you.
Just wait until you’ve had a tiny bit of success. BOOM!
It’s tempting to reply or get offended. It’s tempting to get on your high horse and direct this sh*t show like you’re Martin Scorsese. Don’t.
Smile. Be grateful. Don’t react. And then go do what you were already going to do.
Playing defense is exhausting. Play offense instead, as that’s where the growth lies.
“Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms
— to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.” – Victor Frankl
Victor lived in concentration camps during the Holocaust.
Out of all the darkness and death from that terrible period in history, his example remains one of the few that showed beautiful optimism.
Attitude equaled freedom to him.
You could lock him in a cage or beat him, but only he got to choose the meaning.
Choose your attitude carefully. It determines whether you will be free or a slave.
Tomorrow — A mystical land where 99% of all human productivity, motivation and achievement are stored" — Ali Abdaal
What if you’re dead tomorrow?
You’d be pretty disappointed you delayed that task or forgot to say “I love you” to the man or woman of your dreams.
I freaking hate tomorrow.
I hate it went potential students that want to join my academy say “I don’t have time.”
Not having time simply means it’s not a goal.
Stop having fantasies about goals you want to achieve. Pick a goal and do it.
If you say “I’ll do it tomorrow” then you’re lying to yourself, and fooling nobody. It literally ruins lives. It screws up the minds of so many good people.
When would NOW be a good time? — Tony Robbins
“It’s not what you get or even what you give - it’s who you become”
This final quote is from me, although it’s been pieced together from hundreds of quotes I’ve loved over the years.
You can succeed. You can fail. You can earn. You can learn. What really matters is who you become.
Life can take away your resources but it can never take away what is inside your mind, and all those valuable lessons that have shaped who you are. Good, humble, kind, genuine people will always succeed.
Focus on becoming a better person than you were a year ago.
This instalment of Unfiltered is free for everyone. I send this email weekly. If you would also like to receive it, join the 50,000+ other smart people who absolutely love it today.
👉 If you enjoyed reading this post, feel free to share it with friends!
I love sharing this, Tim. It's a tremendous encouraging article.
Gosh. I would love to print out this blog and stick it to my bed and read it every night. This is so cool man!!