Over the years I’ve made notes in my journal with the shorthand label “RTS” – “Reminder to self.” Here’s a collection of them, in no particular order:
Reminder to self: Money solves money problems.
Reminder to self: Everyone you meet today is waging an inner battle you can’t see. Be gentle.
Reminder to self: Rationality is not about knowing facts, but about recognizing which facts are relevant.
Reminder to self: Opportunities are obligations with a pretty face. Everything worthwhile still has costs, even if the net positive benefit is worth the cost.
Reminder to self: What I really need is more focus because I have all the time I need.
Reminder to self: Always play the long game (health, relationships, finances)
Reminder to self: It’s bad when our teams get into rework, and disastrous when we get stuck in rehashing.
Reminder to self: Competitive advantage is found in uneven distributions.
Reminder to self: Solitude is not loneliness.
Reminder to self: There is more to reality than can fit in a spreadsheet. “Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted counts.” (Einstein)
Reminder to self: Other people are thinking about you far less than you think they’re thinking about you.
Reminder to self: Ingenuity is the most limiting resource.
Reminder to self: Calendars are more useful than to-do lists for allocating time and energy to the most valuable work.
Reminder to self: It’s not “Pay me or pay me later,” but “Pay me now or pay me more later.” It’s not a can that you kick down the road. It’s a grizzly bear cub and grows up meaner. (There are exceptions to this but they’re relatively rare.)
Reminder to self: We become what we do.
Reminder to self: Overcome excuses by asking “Do I have a knowing problem or a doing problem?”
Reminder to self: It’s not about you.
Reminder to self: The well-trained apprentice is a world-changer.
Reminder to self: You have the foremost power of deciding where to put your attention, and energy.
Reminder to self: The world is more improved by your example than your opinion.
Reminder to self: There are learning opportunities every day, but we need to pay attention and create time to reflect on events
Reminder to self: A good education is expensive. Second-rate education is far more expensive, because you learn the wrong things and waste years doing the wrong things.
Reminder to self: Every path has a puddle.
Reminder to self: Momentum is built by accumulating small successes.
Reminder to self: If you really want to do something, do it while you can. Someday may arrive too late.
Reminder to self: Big opportunities arise from big problems
Reminder to self: You’ll have to climb a mountain to get to simplicity on the far side of complexity.
Reminder to self: Don’t put your faith in the common culture most everyone swims in
Reminder to self: Even in fearful situations you still have the power of choice
Reminder to self: Of course your first effort will be meh. The power is in getting started and then improving.
Reminder to self: Excuses are incompatible with excellence.
Reminder to self: if something can’t go on forever, it will stop.
Reminder to self: Growth begins at the edge of comfortable.
Reminder to self: Never become content with mediocrity.
Reminder to self: Time is the most valuable currency in the workplace.
Reminder to self: Meetings are tools (means to an end) not an event.
Reminder to self: Time is not in short supply — but attention and focus are.
Reminder to self: Boldness brings its own kind of genius.
Reminder to self: Hope without action is not a strategy.
Reminder to self: Today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday.
Reminder to self: Individuals play the game, and teams win the championship.
Reminder to self: Any time you see complexity you can look for opportunities.
Reminder to self: Instead of looking for hundreds of reasons to quit, see the thousands of reasons not to give up.
Reminder to self: You maximize the rate of learning by tightening the feedback loops.
Reminder to self: Even pigs fly when the tornado comes. Don’t translate occasional incidents into normal expectations.
Reminder to self: Gratitude energizes us forward; resentments and bitterness shackle us to the past.
Reminder to self: Maintain a sea-anchor of skepticism and realism to prevent your optimism from foundering in rough seas.
Reminder to self: Uncertainty is why we need leadership – and all leadership begins with self-leadership.
Reminder to self: There is a big difference between wanting something, and purposefully deciding to get it.
Reminder to self: Busy is a dangerous word.
Reminder to self: Complexity naturally happens. Simplicity requires intelligence and action.
Reminder to self: Yesterday is yesterday. I get to start again today.
Reminder to self: We all make mistakes. What defines us is how we respond to failure.
Reminder to self: You can’t delegate culture.
Reminder to self: Delegate does not mean abdicate.
Reminder to self: The stupidity of the past need not be the future; the foolishness of others need not be contagious.
Reminder to self: You are always being evaluated.
Reminder to self: If all we needed was more information, we’d all be multimillionaires with 6-pack abs.
