What determines your success isn’t “What do you want to enjoy?” The question is, “What pain do you want to sustain?”

Who you are is defined by the values you are willing to struggle for.

People who enjoy the stresses and uncertainty of the starving artist lifestyle are ultimately the ones who live it and make it.

happiness requires struggle. The positive is the side effect of handling the negative. You can only avoid negative experiences for so long before they come roaring back to life.

The quality of your life is not determined by the quality of your positive experiences but the quality of your negative experiences. And to get good at dealing with negative experiences is to get good at dealing with life.

99% of your thoughts are useless.

You have the ability to decide what you think. Or, you can choose NOT to think.

“How do I train myself to stop thinking useless thoughts?” Awareness. That’s where it starts. Every time you start drifting off, become aware of it. Just observe your brain. Step outside yourself and just observe the crazy shit you’re thinking about.

Set priorities on Sunday. I outline my weekly priorities and what I want to have accomplished by the following Sunday.

Map out work, play, fit, and push. Work: For each day, I outline my “Top 3,” meaning the three most important things I will have accomplished by the end of the day.

Play: Play enables me to self-express, reflect, and give my ideas space, which shows up positively in my work.

Fit: Movement keeps ideas moving forward so I aim to move my body for at least 30 minutes each day.

Push: Since learning and growth is important to me, I do something that scares me (almost) every day. This may be asking someone whom I deeply respect for an interview or writing about a topic that makes me feel vulnerable.

Batch your days. Batching actions into specific days and creating time for creativity.

CREATE on Monday/Wednesday/Friday: I create holes in my schedule for thinking and creating. On these days, I pay attention to my body and take breaks as needed.

CALLS and MEETINGS on Tuesday/Thursday: When possible, I avoid phone calls and meetings because I find them typically unproductive and often easy to solve via email.

SPONTANEOUS Saturday: With so much structure, I make room for spontaneity. On Saturday, I let go and go where the day takes me. Balancing structure with a day of free-spiritedness makes me feel whole.

INTENTIONAL Sunday: Plan for the week ahead.

I didn't watch horror movies when I was a kid. I didn't watch any bad movies.

Of course, if you're gonna make movies, you gotta make movies, and I'm not gonna say no to a good role.

In middle school, I was boy crazy and it was the worst! I would always lose, too. I was more into the competition than the boy by the end of it! I just wanted to win!

The Thriller album is still the biggest album of all time. That is still returning huge royalty cheques.

Now it will take a long time to scale biofuels, but I'm the only one in the world forecasting oil dropping in price to $35 a barrel by 2030. I'll put it on the record: Oil will not be able to compete with cellulosic biofuels. If you do it from food, the food will get so expensive you can't make fuel out of it.

Barack Obama is one of the greatest politicians in American history.

Every couple I know has side-by-side grave plots, but when we do it we're the biggest weirdos on the block.

Things that are holy are revealed only to men who are holy.

It is true that authoritarian governments increasingly see the Internet as a threat in part because they see the U.S. government behind the Internet.

From the thorn bush comes forth the rose.

When I see my mom in the stands, it always pushes me to succeed.

I guess we'd better start getting used to the consequences and permit the American liberals to squeak and squeal us to ultimate defeat.

I'm a transactional lawyer; I negotiate all types of things, but with a particular focus in software licenses.

People always grow and mature.

I tried to work with a record label; I tried to work with a booking agency, variety shows. I went to Vegas. I just tried everything I could think of, and nothing took. No one thought there was a place for my style and my music; it was just too different.

I try to keep people happy. I go out of my way to get a smile. That's the way my mother raised me.

To really ask is to open the door to the whirlwind. The answer may annihilate the question and the questioner.

Prayer is the way you defeat the devil, reach the lost, restore a backslider, strengthen the saints, send missionaries out, cure the sick, accomplish the impossible, and know the will of God.

Making people uncomfortable is one of my hobbies. I'm always hoping that half the people get the joke and the other half are the joke.

For the Gulf States, perhaps no forage crop of which the available seed supply is relatively abundant exceeds the velvet bean in potential value. This legume possesses also the ability to make a crop when planted relatively late.

Educators shouldn't be afraid of cliches. You know why? Because kids don't know most of them! They're a new audience. And they're inspired by cliches.

Ambition is a tunnel that you run through that doesn't end.

I definitely had a Paul Rudd crush. He's great.

The common denominator is a love of music.