Focus on the moment, not the monsters that may or may not be up ahead.
Interpretation
This quote emphasizes the importance of being present and not worrying about potential future problems.
Ryan Holiday's quote advises us to concentrate on the present rather than succumbing to anxiety about hypothetical challenges that lie ahead. The idea is to embrace the here and now, as fixating on imagined fears can detract from the richness of our current experiences.
In practice
In a motivational speech about overcoming anxiety, one might quote this to encourage the audience to stay grounded.
Being criticized in the media is a good problem to have - most of the time. It means you're doing something that is at least interesting or cool or crazy enough to be noticed. It might not always feel good, but it's usually better than the alternative of obscurity.
The idea that only the swaggering, all-knowing, and ruthlessly ambitious succeed is a lie. One that has discouraged so many people with so much potential - and worse, encouraged many more to crash and burn.
Virality, at its core, is asking someone to spend their social capital recommending or linking or posting about you for free.
Ordinary people shy away form negative situations, just as they do with failure. They do their best to avoid trouble. What great people do is the opposite. They are their best in these situations. They turn personal tragedy or misfortune - really anything, everything - to their advantage.
There is no good or bad without us, there is only perception. There is the event itself and the story we tell ourselves about what it means.
Virality is not an accident. It is engineered. And that's why growth hackers beat traditional marketers.
Maybe thatβs enlightenment enough: to know that there is no final resting place of the mind; no moment of smug clarity. Perhaps wisdom...is realizing how small I am, and unwise, and how far I have yet to go. -Anthony Bourdain
The way you come to fully appreciate the infusion of the Spirit is to more and more come fully into the moment, where this moment is enough.
It is a characteristic of wisdom not to do desperate things.
True wisdom is less presuming than folly. The wise man doubteth often, and changeth his mind; the fool is obstinate, and doubteth not; he knoweth all things but his own ignorance.
If you expect nothing, you're apt to be surprised. You'll get it.
Minds are like swords, I do fear. The old ones go to rust.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.