David Calhoun

“So many of the people I admired—the musicians, the artists, the writers—created their greatest works not during a period of happiness and contentment, but during a period of struggle.”
― Adam Braun, The Promise of a Pencil: How an Ordinary Person Can Create Extraordinary Change

“When you align individually high-performing people around the idea that they are collectively underdogs, you tap into the cohesive gel that brings early adopters together. We created an enemy for us to rebel against (this belief that our approach was “impossible”), which is one of the fastest ways to unite people around a common goal. And with each new person who joined our volunteer army, we received both the validation and the skills necessary to prove that we could carve a different path from those who came before us.”
― Adam Braun, The Promise of a Pencil: How an Ordinary Person Can Create Extraordinary Change

“People claim to want to do something that matters, yet they measure themselves against things that don’t, and track their progress not in years but in microseconds. They want to make something timeless, but they focus instead on immediate payoffs and instant gratification.”
― Ryan Holiday, Perennial Seller: The Art of Making and Marketing Work that Lasts

“But deep down inside, I was no longer enamored with the life I’d created. The only purpose I was serving was self-interest. While I rarely showed it to outsiders, my happiness waned day after day. A restless voice kept me up at night, telling me that until I found meaning, the money wouldn’t matter.”
― Adam Braun, The Promise of a Pencil: How an Ordinary Person Can Create Extraordinary Change