5 Short & Sweet Lessons from Einstein

• Tweet
• Email

• Tweet
• Email

Einstein really was an einstein at brevity. Conveying so much in so little.

I saw these quotes by Einstein and wondered how they’d apply to me, and in turn, how they’d apply to you.

Curiosity got me this far. 

1. “Strive not to be a success, but rather to be of value.”

This is the 80/20 principle again: picking the most effective action and just doing that.

Success will automatically come if what you have created – may it be a career, a business or your life – is of value to others.

This nicely fits in with my for-profit philanthropy mantra too, where your actions may (or may not) have a motive for profit, but their primary focus is the benefit of others.

2. “A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new.”

Remain seated, don’t get up, let life pass you by. But if you want to live it, you need to try something new. Take bigger risks. Kill the rats.

That means mistakes will be made. And everyone’s got their own mistakes to make. So while you’re making mistakes, learn to handle them and how to learn from them.

One way to handle such mistakes is to make a few harmless ones on purpose. Do this homework by Julien to get you started.

3. “Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”

This quote tells you how to learn from your mistakes.

If you have tried it once, the next time over make sure you know what is different in your approach. Otherwise you’re just insane, by definition.

4. “Information is not knowledge. The only source of knowledge is experience.”

I can either do it myself, or ask someone who has done it. There is no other source of knowledge. Information acted upon is knowledge.

Experience, more than anything else, matters. But the right kind of experience for the right kind of job.

5. “I have no special talent. I am only passionately curious.”

Coming from the most celebrated talent the world has known, this quote has to be my favorite.

Curiosity leads to experiments. It leads to discovery of ideas, of yourself, of this world, of God.

So take Einstein’s advice and forget your talents, find your interests.

Take a “what if” or a “can I” and run with it. Live curiously.

#

Did you like this post? Share it across your network. It helps spread the word. Thanks.