what if i were smiling and running into your arms?

[paulyooooo]

the greatest wealth is to live content with little - Plato

[paulyooooo]

Values

1. Who do you admire?

To better understand what you value, it can help to turn to real-life examples of people who exhibit admirable qualities. Think of some positive role models who inspire you to live a meaningful life. 

This could include people you know personally, famous figures, characters in a book, etc. 

As you think about these people, write down:

what it is about them that inspires you

the admirable qualities they possess

behaviors and actions you would like to emulate

2. What inspires you to take action?

Often our core values reveal themselves through our actions. Can you think of a situation when you took a stand for someone or something?

Try writing down some of the reasons you felt so strongly to take action. For example:

the feelings that motivated you to speak up or act

what you were willing to risk in that situation

the results of taking action — what you gained or lost

3. When do you feel most like yourself?

When you’re in situations that allow you to be authentic, that’s a clue that you are in alignment with your values. And when you have to betray yourself to fit in or find success, you feel ashamed and alone.

In situations that feel wrong in some way, what’s going on? Write down:

who you’re with

what feelings are triggered

what these experiences cost you emotionally or physically

In situations where you feel real and authentic, what’s going on? Write down:

who you’re with

what activities are involved

positive emotions or outcomes of these experiences

[paulyooooo]

Bezos on Hiring

1. “Will you admire this person?”

“If you think about the people you’ve admired in your life, they are probably people you’ve been able to learn from or take an example from,” Bezos wrote in the letter, adding that he’s always tried to work only with people he admires.

Interview tip for candidates: I’ve interviewed hundreds of people throughout my career, and two admirable traits that I consistently look for are integrity and leadership.

I do this by asking them to describe a time they’ve had to handle a difficult situation. I essentially want to know: Did they use diplomacy? What were their intentions? Can they be trusted? What does their thought process say about them as a person?

2. “Will this person raise the average level of effectiveness of the group they’re entering?”

“The bar has to continuously go up,” Bezos wrote in his letter.

The problem is, it can be difficult for hiring managers to tell if a candidate, once hired, will remain engaged and eager to grow with the company for years to come.

“Long-term thinking is a core value cemented in Amazon’s history since our inception,” according to Amazon’s Day One blog. (And it’s true: Some of Amazon’s most successful business areas, like Amazon Prime and Amazon Web Services, launched many years ago.)

Interview tip for candidates: To fight entropy, Bezos always asked candidates how they visualize the company five years from now. “At that point,” he wrote, “each of us should look around and say, ‘The standards are so high now — boy, I’m glad I got in when I did!’”

Before your interview, research the company’s values and be prepared to talk about how you plan to exceed expectations and goals as the company grows.

3. “Along what dimension might this person be a superstar?″

In addition to their skills and experience, Bezos said it’s important to consider a candidate’s individual talents.

“One person here is a National Spelling Bee champion,” he wrote. “I suspect it doesn’t help her in her everyday work, but it does make working here more fun if you can occasionally snag her in the hall with a quick challenge: ‘Onomatopoeia!’”

Superstar employees can be mavericks, radical and a little rebellious, too — and although these types may be “a little bit annoying” and “not always the easiest to get along with,” Bezos said in a 2018 interview, “you want them at your organization” because they encourage innovative thinking.

[paulyooooo]

Money just makes you more of what you already are 

[paulyooooo]

parents older than I are now my children the same cicadas -Chiyo-Ni

[paulyooooo]

How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives. What we do with this hour, and that one, is what we are doing. A schedule defends from chaos and whim. It is a net for catching days. It is a scaffolding on which a worker can stand and labor with both hands at sections of time. A schedule is a mock-up of reason and order—willed, faked, and so brought into being; it is a peace and a haven set into the wreck of time; it is a lifeboat on which you find yourself, decades later, still living. Each day is the same, so you remember the series afterward as a blurred and powerful pattern.

[paulyooooo]

In many ways, the work of a critic is easy. We risk very little, yet enjoy a position over those who offer up their work - and their selves - to our judgement. We thrive on negative criticism, which is fun to write and to read. But the bitter truth we critics must face is that in the grand scheme of things, the average piece of junk is probably more meaningful than our criticism designating it so.

But there are times when a critic truly risks something - and that is in the discovery and defence of the New. The world is often unkind to new talent, new creations. The New needs friends. Last night I experienced something new: an extraordinary meal from a singularly unexpected source. To say that both the meal and its maker have challenged my preconceptions about fine cooking is a gross understatement. They have rocked me to my core.

In the past, I have made no secret of my disdain for Chef Gusteau's famous motto; "anyone can cook." But I realise, only now do I truly understand what he meant. Not everyone can become a great artist, but a great artist can come from anywhere. It is difficult to imagine more humble origins than those of the genius now cooking at Gusteau's - who is, in this critic's opinion, nothing less than the finest chef in France!

I will be returning to Gusteau's soon - hungry for more.

[paulyooooo]

1. See failure as a beginning.

2. Never stop learning.

3. Assume nothing, question everything.

4. Teach others what you know.

5. Analyze objectively.

6. Practice humility.

7. Respect constructive criticism.

8. Take initiative.

9. Give credit where it's due.

10. Love what you do.

[paulyooooo]

Life advice you can actually use

Elon Musk once said, "They laugh at you just before they applaud."

Place more importance on solving problems correctly than looking smart while doing it.

They'll be plenty of time for people to praise your intellect after you deliver them to the promised land.

Get there first.

-

What’s 1 thing you can get done now?

I know, I know, you've heard it 1,000 times before.

The key is taking action.

The funny thing about advice? The good stuff gets repeated.

Start by identifying the single most important thing you can do today.

Now go do it.

-

Caught not taught:

You should feel intellectually uncomfortable in your peer group.

Engage with people who are more intelligent & further along than you.

It's intimidating, but you'll "catch" more knowledge, land more deals, & rack up wins just by being in the right place.

-

In what areas of life are you settling?

Just "ok" & "good enough" don't sound interesting to me.

If you're willing to settle for average, that's exactly what you'll get.

Life has a funny way of giving you what you ask for.

Want uncommon results?

Take uncommon action.

-

Who you work with + what you work on matters more than how hard you work.

I'm all for hard work, but if it's with people you don't enjoy on a project you're not interested in, what the hell are you doing?

Get outta there.

Life's too short.

-

What would I do if I wasn’t scared?

Often, what holds us back is fear.

Fear of the unknown, fear of failure, fear of what others may think.

Breaking news: People are often too wrapped up in their own world to worry much about yours.

Put yourself out there. It's worth it.

-

Take note of the good days:

Find as much pleasure in days that go well as you find frustration in days that don't.

Humans are terrible at this––myself included.

One thing goes wrong and your whole day is screwed.

It doesn't have to be.

You can choose what happens next.

-

Stop avoiding difficult conversations:

Yes, they suck.

The only thing that makes them worse––delaying them.

Most of us spend more time worrying about having the conversation than the actual conversation will take.

Sit down, say what you need to say, move on.

-

There is far more good in the world than we give it credit for.

Go outside.

Turn off the news.

Don't read the comments.

Quit interacting with negativity and you'll immediately become less negative yourself.

Think of it as "mental fitness"

junk food = Out of shape

-

Pick your battles.

Not every fight is worth fighting.

It's ok to let someone else "win" once in a while.

You don't always need to be right, and you don't always have to come out on top.

Just because you're invited to an argument doesn't mean you have to show up.

-

"This is the way we've always done it."

So what?

Does that mean it can't be improved?

Whatever "it" is, there are always aspects that can be made more clear, efficient, and simple.

At best, it makes you sound lazy.

At worst, you'll be left behind.

Ideate, innovate, repeat.

-

99% of our problems stem from our inability to forego instant gratification.

Relationships, fitness, financial wellness...

All fall short of expectations when long-term success is sacrificed for immediate pleasure.

Lean into waiting.

-

"This has to be perfect"

No it doesn't.

Perfection is the enemy of progress.

Don't become so buried in the details that you fail to move forward at all.

To err is human.

You can't catch every mistake, you'll never get everything right.

Just. Keep. Moving.

-

"The biggest lie we tell ourselves is that if circumstances were different, WE would be different."

No, you wouldn't.

If you won't do it now, you won't do it then.

Action leads to change, not the other way around

[paulyooooo]

don't forget to dance today ^^

[paulyooooo]

Apparently my color dandelion lol

[paulyooooo]

Leaders

[paulyooooo]

“The heart is not broken, in the sense that it does not exist before the break. But it is the break itself that makes the heart.” ~Jean-Luc Nancy

[paulyooooo]

Being in love is a good thing, but it is not the best thing. There are many things below it, but there are also things above it. You cannot make it the basis of a whole life. It is a noble feeling, but it is still a feeling. Now no feeling can be relied on to last in its full intensity, or even to last at all. Knowledge can last, principles can last, habits can last but feelings come and go. And in fact, whatever people say, the state called ‘being in love’ usually does not last. If the old fairy-tale ending ‘They lived happily ever after’ is taken to mean ‘They felt for the next fifty years exactly as they felt the day before they were married,’ then it says what probably never was nor ever would be true, and would be highly undesirable if it were. Who could bear to live in that excitement for even five years? What would become of your work, your appetite, your sleep, your friendships? But, of course, ceasing to be ‘in love’ need not mean ceasing to love. Love in this second sense — love as distinct from ‘being in love’ — is not merely a feeling. It is a deep unity, maintained by the will and deliberately strengthened by habit; reinforced by (in Christian marriages) the grace which both partners ask, and receive, from God. They can have this love for each other even at those moments when they do not like each other; as you love yourself even when you do not like yourself. They can retain this love even when each would easily, if they allowed themselves, be ‘in love’ with someone else. ‘Being in love’ first moved them to promise fidelity: this quieter love enables them to keep the promise. it is on this love that the engine of marriage is run: being in love was the explosion that started it.

C. S. Lewis

[paulyooooo]

We might have learned, even from the poets, that Love is something more stern and splendid than mere kindness. Kindness, merely as such, cares not whether its object becomes good or bad, provided only that it escapes suffering. If God is Love, He is, by definition, something more than mere kindness. He has often rebuked us and condemned us but he has never regarded us with contempt. He has paid us the intolerable compliment of loving us. We are, not metaphorically but in very truth, a Divine work of art. Over a sketch made idly to amuse a child an artist may not take much trouble. But over the [magnum opus] of his life—the work which he loves—he will take endless trouble—and would, doubtless, thereby give endless trouble to the picture if it were sentient. One can imagine a sentient picture, after being rubbed and scraped and re-commenced for the tenth time wishing that it were only a thumb-nail sketch whose making was over in a minute. In the same way it is natural for us to wish that God had designed us for a less glorious and less arduous destiny; but then we are wishing not for more love but for less. You asked for a loving God; you have one. Not a senile benevolence that drowsily wishes you to be happy in your own way…but the consuming fire Himself, the Love that made the worlds, persistent as an artist’s love for his work. It is certainly a burden of glory not only beyond our deserts but also, except in rare moments of grace, beyond our desiring. We should not ask that God’s love should reconcile itself to our present impurities—not more than the beggar maid could wish that the King should be content with her rags and dirt. What we would here and now call our ‘happiness’ is not in the end God chiefly has in view: but when we are such as He can love without impediment, we shall [finally] be happy. – C.S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain

[paulyooooo]

“some of us are drawn to the sea, some to the mountains... i think at the end of it all, we are looking for that which we lack, the pieces that will create balance. if we're lucky, we find it in another. if we're even luckier, we find that we were never lacking in the first place.”

[paulyooooo]

space

It has taken nearly 36 years to get to this point in my life where I finally see the appreciation of making your space and environment beautiful. It doesn't have to be perfect (nor would I want it to be that way - imperfect <3), but to transform a space into something beautiful is a window towards something almost transcendental. You are aiming at being the best you can in that space and season of life. It shows how you might view life and how you see yourself. IDENTITY . Who is it you are trying to be? These are all important factors as it is the building blocks to a foundation. Keyword GROWTH~ Next task on the list? A new coat of paint and one more plant and then I think we're good XD