Lines I have found myself coming back to, pulled out of longer pieces where they were doing quieter work. Each one links to the room it came from.
[ 01 ]
Most people try to raise their happiness by growing Revenue. Bigger wins, better news, more of everything. Almost none of that line is yours to control, and all of it is expensive to move. Operating Expense is entirely yours. The grudge you are still carrying. The comparison you keep running. The thing you have not said to somebody. The room you will not clean. Every one of them is a fixed cost, debited daily, whether or not the day hands you anything at all. Take Operating Expense near zero and any Revenue clears. You stop needing a good day. You need a day with nothing subtracting from it, and then the crumbs are enough on their own.
Where this came from →
[ 02 ]
I am nervous more often than anybody watching would guess. My nerves come out as a joke rather than as silence, and I have stopped apologising for that, because a laugh is a genuinely useful thing to do with adrenaline. It lets the air out of a room that was holding its breath, and tells everybody present that they are permitted to be human here.
Where this came from →
[ 03 ]
False modesty is only bragging with better manners.
Where this came from →
If one of these is wrong, I would genuinely like to be told. fyruan@usc.edu