Quotessence
Home / Authors / Seth Godin
Seth Godin

Seth Godin Quotes

Author

Filter quotes by topic

AllPeopleIfsWayMarketingArtIdeasNeedsThinkingBusinessWantMotivationalMatterImportantArt IsGivingMarketersWorldBelieveChoicesEnough

Famous Seth Godin Quotes

“The notion that I do my work here, now, like this, even when I do not feel like it, and especially when I do not feel like it, is very important. Because lots and lots of people are creative when they feel like it, but you are only going to become a professional if you do it when you don't feel like it. And that emotional waiver is why this is your work and not your hobby.”

PeopleIfsFeelsImportantMotivationalCreativeEmotionalNotionHobbiesWaiver
Author:Seth Godin
Create image

“If you are afraid to write or edit or assemble or disassemble, you are merely a spectator. And you are trapped, trapped by the instructions of those you've chosen to follow. Twenty people in the field and eighty thousand in the stands. The spectators are the ones who paid to watch, but it's the player on the field who are truly alive.”

PeopleIfsWritingMotivationalWatchesAlivePlayerFieldsThousandPaidTwentiesChosenInstructionTrappedSpectatorsEightyEdits
Author:Seth Godin
Create image

“Leadership is scarce because few people are willing to go through the discomfort required to lead. This scarcity makes leadership valuable...It's uncomfortable to stand up in front of strangers. It's uncomfortable to propose an idea that might fail. It's uncomfortable to challenge the status quo. It's uncomfortable to resist the urge to settle...If you're not uncomfortable in your work as a leader, it's almost certain you're not reaching your potential as a leader.”

PeopleIfsIdeasMightCertainChallengesLeaderFailingFrontsWillingStrangerValuableSettlingUncomfortableReachingUrgesStatus QuoDiscomfortProposeScarceScarcity
Author:Seth Godin
Create image

“Canoeing was hard and scary, and the wind could blow you across the lake if you did it wrong. After a year of not doing it right, I could talk to people and get them to sit up straight, take different kinds of chances, to breathe differently, to engage in the moment in the boat. And I changed them, and I changed me in the process.”

PeopleIfsYearsKindDifferentHardMomentsProcessChanceChangedWindBlowScaryBreatheBoatLakesDifferent KindsCanoeing
Author:Seth Godin
Create image

“If you're remarkable, then it's likely that some people won't like you. That's part of the definition of remarkable. Nobody gets unanimous praise - ever. The best the timid can hope for is to be unnoticed. Criticism comes to those who stand out. Playing it safe. Following the rules. They seem like the best ways to avoid failure. Alas, that pattern is awfully dangerous. The current marketing “rules” will ultimately lead to failure. In a crowded marketplace, fitting in is failing. In a busy marketplace, not standing out is the same as being invisible.”

PeopleIfsWaySeemsFailingDangerousLike YouSafeStandingCriticismPraiseBusyMarketingPatternsDefinitionsCurrentsFollowingInvisibleBest WayRemarkableStanding OutAlasMarketplaceCrowdedFittingUnnoticedPlaying It Safe
Author:Seth Godin
Create image

“If your project or organization depends on knowing things that other people don't know (but could find out if they wanted to), your days are probably numbered. Ask a travel agent The alternative, while difficult, is obvious. Provide enough non-commodity service and customization that it doesn't matter if the ideas spread. In fact, it will help you when they do.”

PeopleIfsKnowsIdeasMatterEnoughFactsHelpingWantedAsksDifficultKnowingDependsProjectsOrganizationObviousSpreadAgentsAlternativesCommodityKnowing ThingsTravel Agent
Author:Seth Godin
Create image

“If you're going to invest a valuable asset (like time), go ahead and make it productive. Use a postit or two, or some index cards or a highlighter. Not to write down stuff so you can forget it later, but to create marching orders. It's simple: if three weeks go by and you haven't taken action on what you've written down, you wasted your time.”

IfsWritingTwoUseActionOrderThreeStuffSimpleForgetBusinessTakenWrittenWeekHavensValuableCardsProductiveAssetsForget It
Author:Seth Godin
Create image

“In fact, most of the time, people with similar information, similar beliefs and similar apparent choices will choose similar actions. So if you want to know why someone does what they do, start with what they know, what they believe and where they came from. Dismissing actions we don't admire merely because we don't care enough to have empathy is rarely going to help us make the change we seek. It doesn't help us understand, and it creates a gulf that drives us apart.”

PeopleIfsKnowsWantBelieveDoeEnoughFactsHelpingCareActionChoicesBeliefInformationEmpathyDon't CareAdmire
Author:Seth Godin
Create image

“If you set your bar at 'amazing' it's awfully difficult to start. Your first paragraph, sketch, formula, sample or concept isn't going to be amazing. Your tenth one might not be either. Confronted with the gap between your vision of perfect and the reality of what you've created, the easiest path is no path. Shrug. Admit defeat. Hit delete. One more reason to follow someone else and wait for instructions. Of course, the only path to amazing runs directly through not-yet-amazing. But not-yet-amazing is a great place to start, because that's where you are.”

IfsFirstsReasonRealityMightRunningCoursesWaitingDifficultPerfectVisionPathConceptsDefeatBarsGapsWhere You AreFormulasInstructionParagraphSample
Author:Seth Godin
Create image

“I wonder why anyone would hesitate to be generous with their writing. I mean, if you really want to make a living, go to Wall Street and trade oil futures ... We're writers. We're doing something that is inherently a generous act. We're exposing ourselves to the muse and to the things that frighten us. Why do that if you're not willing to be generous? And paradoxically, almost ironically, it turns out that the more generous you are, the more money you make. But that's secondary. For me, the privilege of being generous is why I get to do this.”

IfsWantWritingMeanTurnsWonderStreetsWillingWallTradePrivilegeOilGenerousMore MoneyMuseExposingBeing Generous
Author:Seth Godin
Create image

“But if the cow is purple, you'd notice it, OK? The thing that's going to decide what gets talked about, what gets done, what gets changed, what gets purchased, what gets built is, is it remarkable? And remarkable's a really cool word 'cause we think it just means neat, but it also means worth making a remark about, and that is the essence of where idea diffusion is going.”

IfsThinkingMeanIdeasDoneCausesChangedBuiltEssenceRemarkableCowsPurpleRemarksReally CoolNeatDiffusion
Author:Seth Godin
Create image

“You know, if I look at an auditorium full of high school students and the big man on campus and his girlfriend are busy talking while the lecture's going on, the rest of the room is going to do it because they're powerful sneezers. They have influence. They reach out to a whole bunch of people in a way that makes the idea of being disrespectful spread.”

PeopleIfsKnowsMenWayLooksIdeasWholeBigsSchoolRoomsPowerfulTalkingInfluenceStudentsHigh SchoolBusySpreadBunchGirlfriendReach OutLecturesCampusDisrespectfulAuditoriumsHigh School Students
Author:Seth Godin
Create image

“Or, if I take that same auditorium and I make it much bigger and put more space between seats, it'll be quieter because it's much harder when you're not in physical contact with people to spread a virus from person-to-person, right? There are all sorts of patterns that we see in epidemiology that help us understand why something spreads.”

PeopleIfsPersonsHelpingSpaceBiggerHarderPatternsSpreadContactSeatsVirusesSpace BetweenAuditoriumsEpidemiology
Author:Seth Godin
Create image