It isn't enough to think outside the box. Thinking is passive. Get used to acting outside the box.
Tim FerrissRead
But if it's tolerable mediocrity, and you're like, 'Well, you know it could be worse. At least I'm getting paid.' Then you wind up in a job that is slowly killing your soul and you're allowing that to happen. Comfort can be a very, very dangerous thing.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Settling for mediocrity can lead to a soul-crushing existence.
Tim Ferriss warns against the complacency that comes from settling for a tolerably acceptable job solely for the financial benefits. He suggests that remaining in a comfort zone can be harmful, potentially stifling personal growth and passion, leading to a slow decline in one's vitality and purpose.
Themes
MediocrityComfortSoulJobDangerGrowth
In practice
Example use cases
During a motivational speech, to encourage people to pursue their passions rather than settle for a dull job.
More from Tim Ferriss
All quotes →The way we measure productivity is flawed. People checking their BlackBerry over dinner is not the measure of productivity.
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It's just astonishing to me, but not surprising in some respects, how dependent we are on the somewhat meaningless and certainly ephemeral feedback that we get from strangers on the Internet. I think that's a dangerous dependence to develop.
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I always point people to the article '1,000 True Fans' by Kevin Kelly. If you choose your thousand ideal customers or readers properly and find the single author blog that targets that audience, you never have to do any more marketing. You're done. That is a lesson that very few product developers and marketers have learned, and it's unfortunate.
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By using money as the scapegoat and work as our all-consuming routine, we are able to conveniently disallow ourselves to do otherwise: 'John, I'd love to talk about the gaping void I feel in my life, the hopelessness that hits me like a punch in the eye every time I start my computer in the morning, but I have so much work to do! I've got at least three hours of unimportant email to reply to before calling prospects who said 'no' yesterday. Gotta run!
Tim FerrissRead
Being busy is a form of laziness - lazy thinking and indiscriminate action. Being busy is most often used as a guise for avoiding the few critically important but uncomfortable actions.
Tim FerrissRead
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