Sam Carpenter > Quotes

“Too many of us are paralyzed in the static snapshot of how we think things should be instead of working with the mechanics of the world as it is. Life is not a snapshot; it’s a real-time, streaming video—and the video plays on whether we participate in it or not.”
― Sam Carpenter, Work the System: The Simple Mechanics of Making More and Working Less

“remember that most people don’t fail by making overt mistakes. They fail because they don’t take action.”
― Sam Carpenter, Work the System: The Simple Mechanics of Making More and Working Less

“If solid goals are established and the majority of time is spent manipulating systems toward those goals, great results will materialize naturally.”
― Sam Carpenter, Work The System: The Simple Mechanics of Making More and Working Less

“Your job is not to be a fire killer. Your job is to prevent fires.”
― Sam Carpenter, Work the System: The Simple Mechanics of Making More and Working Less

“Strict adherence to written procedure is critical, but we counterbalance this strictness with our eagerness to make instant adjustments should the environment change or should someone come up with a better idea.”
― Sam Carpenter, Work The System: The Simple Mechanics of Making More and Working Less

“Problems are gifts that inspire us to action. A problem prompts the act of creating or improving a system or procedure. We don’t want setbacks, but when one occurs we think, ‘thank you for this wake-up call,’ and take assertive system-improvement action to prevent the setback from happening again.” Yes, our internal”
― Sam Carpenter, Work The System: The Simple Mechanics of Making More and Working Less

“Your task is to optimize one system after another, not careen through the day randomly taking care of whatever problems erupt. Your job is not to be a fire killer. Your job is to prevent fires.”
― Sam Carpenter, Work The System: The Simple Mechanics of Making More and Working Less

“leadership must focus on improving processes, not on performing the work or on repeatedly snuffing out brushfires. Quality products or services, a stable staff, and profitability are the result of the quality systems that underlie them, not the reverse.”
― Sam Carpenter, Work The System: The Simple Mechanics of Making More and Working Less

“In the Western world, 10 percent of adults are alcoholics, 70 percent drink copious amounts of caffeine, 20 percent are addicted to tobacco, and more than 10 percent rely on antidepressants. Throw in the other legal and illegal drugs, and it is safe to say that each day, 98 percent of us ingest at least one mood-altering substance in our endless search for a better state of mind. Of course, many of us are multisubstance users, for instance, consuming caffeine in the morning and alcohol at night. One addictive substance counters the negative effects of the other in the classic, endless loop of Western chemical mood adjustment.”
― Sam Carpenter, Work The System: The Simple Mechanics of Making More and Working Less

“The truth of Woodstock? The nonstop music was good but few bands played their best due to the confusion and pervasive drug ingestion. Yes it was peaceful, but after that first glorious day it was cold and wet, and we sat in the mud shivering, drenched, hungry, and thirsty. Huddled in the rain, a half million of us worked hard to relax, insistent in our success at finding freedom and joy outside the system. Peace, brother! In the downpour, over and over again we told ourselves that all we needed was love. We really had jumped outside the everyday world, but in our T-shirts, jeans, and little else, we were utterly unprepared as the relentless torrent hammered down. It was no contest as soft theory met bare-knuckled reality.”
― Sam Carpenter, Work The System: The Simple Mechanics of Making More and Working Less

“As you stumble, walk, and sprint to that end, don’t underestimate your accomplishment and your contribution.”
― Sam Carpenter, Work The System: The Simple Mechanics of Making More and Working Less

“most people don’t fail by making overt mistakes. They fail because they don’t take action.”
― Sam Carpenter, Work the System: The Simple Mechanics of Making More and Working Less

“the leader’s role is to first see the wheels of the machine, and then to get those wheels turning with maximum efficiency.”
― Sam Carpenter, Work The System: The Simple Mechanics of Making More and Working Less

“leadership must focus on improving processes, not on performing the work or on repeatedly snuffing out brushfires.”
― Sam Carpenter, Work the System: The Simple Mechanics of Making More and Working Less

“I direct Work the System to those who have the following chronic internal dialogue:

"There are things I must do right now and there is barely the the time or money or energy to do them. I will bulldoze my way through these tasks and, as usual they will be completed just in time - but the results will be of marginal quality and my body and mind will continue to be stretched to the breaking point. I'm tired and stressed and can't seem to shake free from living on the edge and I worry about my frame of mind and my health. There is too much chaos around me, too little control and never enough money. Things are not what they should be.”
― Sam Carpenter

“I’m trying to free your mind but I can only show you the door. You’re the one who has to walk through it. —MORPHEUS”
― Sam Carpenter, Work The System: The Simple Mechanics of Making More and Working Less

“unmanaged systems produce random results, and random results always add up to chaos.”
― Sam Carpenter, Work the System: The Simple Mechanics of Making More and Working Less

“It is often darkest just before dawn. —SOJOURNER TRUTH”
― Sam Carpenter, Work The System: The Simple Mechanics of Making More and Working Less

“the colossal human error is the assumption that there is a cosmic inclination to chaos, when the mechanical truth is that there is a default predisposition toward order.”
― Sam Carpenter, Work the System: The Simple Mechanics of Making More and Working Less

“When you realize you are watching your temporary depression from the outside, you will know you have reached a higher level of control.”
― Sam Carpenter, Work The System: The Simple Mechanics of Making More and Working Less

“Mysterious people typically don't do well in business or friendship.”
― Sam Carpenter, Work the System: The Simple Mechanics of Making More and Working Less

“Addressing the problem, and then taking this second step to fix the cause of the problem, distinguishes the people who are in control from the people who are not in control - the successful from the unsuccessful.”
― Sam Carpenter, Work the System: The Simple Mechanics of Making More and Working Less

“Think this pleasant thought: “Money keeps materializing in my bank account while I’m elsewhere.”
― Sam Carpenter, Work The System: The Simple Mechanics of Making More and Working Less