“Much has been said about the Democrats’ failure to reach Trump supporters, and I’d add that Trump’s demographic intersects heavily with the infomercial consumer, hence he used proven marketing techniques to reach his ‘buyers,’ a segment of the population the Democrats didn’t understand and ignored.”
“Over the course of a lifetime, just as your physical appearance changes and your cells are constantly replaced, your personality is also transformed beyond recognition.”
“Games are won by players who focus on the playing field (long term) — not by those whose eyes are glued to the scoreboard (short term).”
“Who else but a patent clerk could have discovered the theory of relativity? Who else could have distilled this simple central point from all the clutter of electromagnetism than someone whose job it was over and over to extract simplicity out of complexity.”
“The audience doesn’t know what they’re about to see. It’s the only moment you ever have them where their minds are as open as they’re ever going to be and they are truly ready to think of your work on the highest possible terms. You want to try not to fumble that ball.”
“The other major hazard when it comes to worry and anxiety is that, unlike other negative emotions, they seem productive; chewing over a problem feels like doing something about it. And so we’d like others to share our worry; that way several people will be ‘working’ on the problem.”
“About 10 to 15 minutes of natural light within two hours of waking up will help ward off early morning grogginess and keep you feeling more awake throughout the day.”
“You cannot push, that’s positively last century. Sure, you can grease the skids, pour some oil to get something started, but it’s only working if people are demanding more. And if they are not, you don’t have a marketing problem, you have a product problem. Marketing has never meant less.”
“Risk comes from not knowing what you’re doing.” — Warren Buffett
It’s a word rooted in negativity, guilt, and pressure. More often than not, it leads us down paths that won’t take us where we want to go.
I’ve made a conscious effort stop using the word and believe the less we use it or allow ourselves to be influenced by it, the better off we’ll be.
Here’s why…
The belief we “should” do or be something is rooted in other people’s expectations – not our own.
When we think we should do something it’s because our family, friends, or society has convinced us it’s the right thing to do.
But it’s often not something we actually want to do.
If it was, we’d refer to it as something we want to do instead of as something we should do.
When we say we should do something, it’s another way of expressing that whatever we’ve chosen to do isn’t enough. It belittles our choices.
Should is critical. It creates pressure. And breeds insecurity.
While should is a bad word to use with regard to our own actions, it’s equally dangerous to use when directed at others.
When we tell others what they should do, we extend our judgment on to them.
Just like others have no business telling us what to do, the opposite is also true.
We don’t know what others should do so there’s no reason to use words that suggest otherwise.
There are plenty of reasons to be wary of the word should, but this might be the most important one – should doesn’t exist.
There’s no such thing as a single way we should live our life or do our job.
There are results we hope to achieve and goals we want to attain, but there are infinite ways to do so.
There’s no one path we “should” follow, so we can stop speaking and acting as if there is.
Or at least we can try.