This isn't particularly profound, but when I find myself getting distracted, I say "One thing at a time." to myself to reset my focus on the task at hand. Pretty simple, but it seems to help.
Ask HN: What is your favorite motto?
301–310 of 472 posts
Re: Ask HN: What is your favorite motto?
#302Life can be much broader once you discover one simple fact: Everything around you that you call life was made up by people that were no smarter than you and you can change it, you can influence it, you can build your own things that other people can use. Once you learn that, you’ll never be the same again. - Steve Jobs And in similar vain: Are you moving one step in 20 directions or 20 steps in one direction? I colle…
"Are you moving one step in 20 directions or 20 steps in one direction?" - in 20-dimensional space I may still be moving forward, even though I'm changing direction with each step ;)
Re: Ask HN: What is your favorite motto?
#303"All happiness depends on courage and work."
-Honoré de Balzac
Re: Ask HN: What is your favorite motto?
#304Chance favors the prepared mind.
- Louis Pasteur
Re: Ask HN: What is your favorite motto?
#305I have always liked the simple expression "fail to plan, plan to fail". And by extension a modified quote of Eisenhower's: "plans are worthless, but planning is essential."
Re: Ask HN: What is your favorite motto?
#306"A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects." And also: "Everythi…
> Specialization is for insects This is literally why we are talking over internet and not using smoke signals.
The quote doesn't say insects aren't useful.
Re: Ask HN: What is your favorite motto?
#307"Adapt and overcome."
Motto/mantra from my time in the Marine Corps. I think, officially, it was "Improvise, Adapt and Overcome." but rarely was the first word included in my exposure.
Related to that mantra's concept was: "Semper Gumby - Always Flexible."
Both are useful in acknowledging that 1) Change is constant and 2) To thrive, you must be able to work with that change.
Re: Ask HN: What is your favorite motto?
#308"Not my problem"
Re: Ask HN: What is your favorite motto?
#309If i had more time, I would have made it shorter
Re: Ask HN: What is your favorite motto?
#310"It's kind of fun to do the impossible"
— Walter Elias Disney
"Sometimes, you can either be right, or you can be happy." — My mother (though probably some other people, too)