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Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything - all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important.
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It's rare that you see an artist in his 30s or 40s able to really contribute something amazing. Of course, there are some people who are innately curious, forever little kids in their awe of life, but they're rare.
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You can't look at the competition and say you're going to do it better. You have to look at the competition and say you're going to do it differently.
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Learn continually - there's always "one more thing" to learn!
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Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower.
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If you define the problem correctly, you almost have the solution.
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Older people sit down and ask, 'What is it?' but the boy asks, 'What can I do with it?'.
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Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.
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Start small, think big. Don’t worry about too many things at once. Take a handful of simple things to begin with, and then progress to more complex ones. Think about not just tomorrow, but the future. Put a ding in the universe.
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Don't be afraid, you can do it.
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The most important decisions you make are not the things you do, but the things you decide not to do.
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Do not try to do everything. Do one thing well.
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Have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.
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Innovation is the only way to win.
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I don't need a hard disk in my computer if I can get to the server faster... carrying around these non-connected computers is byzantine by comparison.
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In most cases, strengths and weaknesses are two sides of the same coin. A strength in one situation is a weakness in another, yet often the person can't switch gears. It's a very subtle thing to talk about strengths and weaknesses because almost always they're the same thing.
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I think the biggest innovations of the 21st century will be at the intersection of biology and technology. A new era is beginning.
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My kids accuse me and my wife of being fascists and overly concerned about tech, and they say that none of their friends have the same rules... That's because we have seen the dangers of technology firsthand. I've seen it in myself, I don't want to see that happen to my kids.
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There are sneakers that cost more than an iPod.
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I'm not dismissing the value of higher education; I'm simply saying it comes at the expense of experience.
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When you're in a start-up, the first ten people will determine whether the company succeeds or not. Each is 10 percent of the company. So why wouldn't you take as much time as necessary to find all the A players? If three were not so great, why would you want a company where 30 percent of your people are not so great? A small company depends on great people much more than a big company does.
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The hardest thing when you think about focusing. You think focusing is about saying "Yes." No. Focusing is about saying "No." And when you say "No," you piss off people.
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Digital hub (center of our universe) is moving from PC to cloud - PC now just another client alongside iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, ... - Apple is in danger of hanging on to old paradigm too long (innovator's dilemma) - Google and Microsoft are further along on the technology, but haven't quite figured it out yet - tie all of our products together, so we further lock customers into our ecosystem
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When you're a carpenter making a beautiful chest of drawers, you're not going to use a piece of plywood on the back, even though it faces the wall and nobody will ever see it. You'll know it's there, so you're going to use a beautiful piece of wood on the back.