I cannot give you the formula for success, but I can give you the formula for failure - which is: Try to please everybody.
Interpretation
Trying to please everyone can lead to failure, while focusing on your own goals is key to success.
This quote by Herbert Bayard Swope highlights the futility of attempting to satisfy everyone around you. It suggests that in the pursuit of success, one must prioritize personal ambitions and values instead of seeking approval from all, as this approach often leads to dissatisfaction and hindered progress.
In practice
During a motivational speech about achieving personal goals, one could mention this quote to emphasize the importance of staying true to oneself.
When I'm doing a movie, I'm not doing anything else. It's all about the movie. I don't have a wife. I don't have a kid. Nothing can get in my way... I've made a choice, so far, to go on this road alone. Because this is my time. This is my time to make movies.
The first time I stepped on an NBA court I became a businessman.
The only choice that leads small business owners to real success in their endeavors is the one that requires real thought. Understanding and building the systems they need within their company to afford them a framework of organization that can scale the business from a company of one to a company of one thousand.
I feel basically good about my career because it's remained constant. What I do has never been especially in vogue or gotten high on the charts. At the same time, I haven't had to stop performing any of my music because it aged in style.
Just because you started your careers in a certain role, let's say hardware engineering, does not mean you'll end your careers in hardware.
Money is a tool – it’s the means, not the end. Inspiration is the metric that dictates whether or not a project is a success. It’s more realistic than trying to aim for radio play, or trying to satisfy an AR, or the other gatekeepers on these platforms. I don’t even know how to create with those things in mind. But if you tell me the goal is to inspire? That makes my job a lot easier.
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