Godin Quotes & Sayings

Today, not starting is far, far worse than being wrong. If you start, you've got a shot at evolving and adjusting to turn your wrong into a right. But if you don't start, you never get a chance. — Seth Godin

It's not about you, it's about the next person. The single best use of a business book is to help someone else. Sharing what you read, handing the book to a person who needs it ... pushing those around you to get in sync and to take action-that's the main reason it's a book, not a video or a seminar. A book is a souvenir and a container and a motivator and an easily leveraged tool. Hoarding books makes them worth less, not more. — Seth Godin

If you borrow money to make money, you've done something magical. On the other hand, if you go into debt to pay your bills or buy something you want but don't need, you've done something stupid. Stupid and short-sighted and ultimately life-changing for the worse ... — Seth Godin

Be personal. Be relevant. Be specific. — Seth Godin

The object of the new school is to teach reasonable doubt. Not the unreasonable doubt of the wild-eyed heckler, but the evidence-based doubt of the questioning scientist and the reason-based doubt of the skilled debater. — Seth Godin

The first step toward becoming extraordinary is, of course, to stop being ordinary. — Seth Godin

The easier it is to quantify, the less it's worth. — Seth Godin

Too often, the person who wrecks our work is us. — Seth Godin

Begin to realize that the safest thing you can do feels risky and the riskiest thing you can do is play it safe. — Seth Godin

We fail when we give up too soon. — Seth Godin

The opposite of coherent is interesting. — Seth Godin

With limited time or opportunity to experiment, we intentionally narrow our choices to those at the top. — Seth Godin

Art is what we do when we're truly alive. — Seth Godin

People that take responsibility are often given responsibility! — Seth Godin

Persistence isn't using the same tactics over and over. Persistence is having the same goal over and over. — Seth Godin

Fear of living without a map is the main reason people are so insistent that we tell them what to do. The reasons are pretty obvious: If it's someone else's map, it's not your fault if it doesn't work out. If you've memorized the sales script I gave you and you don't make the sale, who's in trouble now? Not only does the map insulate us from responsibility, but it's also a social talisman. We can tell our friends and family that we've found a good map, a safe map, a map worthy of respect. — Seth Godin

It's clearly more fun to make the rules than to follow them. ~ Seth Godin — Seth Godin

It's rare to find a consistently creative or insightful person who is also an angry person. They can't occupy the same space, and if your anger moves in, generosity and creativity often move out. It's difficult to use revenge or animus to fuel great work. — Seth Godin

Your drudgery is another person's delight. It's only a job if you treat it that way. The privilege to do our work, to be in control of the promises we make and the things we build, is something worth cherishing. — Seth Godin

What most people want in a leader is something that's very difficult to find: we want someone who listens ... The secret, Reagan's secret, is to listen, to value what you hear, and then to make a decision even if it contradicts the very people you are listening to. Reagan impressed his advisers, his adversaries, and his voters by actively listening. People want to be sure you hear what they said - they're less focused on whether or not you do what they said. — Seth Godin

Mass attention is almost unattainable and it's not clear that you want it. — Seth Godin

When you are leading a tribe, a tribe that you belong to, the benefits increase, the work gets easier, and the results are more obvious. That's the best reason to overcome the fear. — Seth Godin

Education isn't a problem until it serves as a buffer rom the world and a refuge from the risk of failure. — Seth Godin

Piracy is not the problem, obscurity is. — Seth Godin

Reputation is what people expect us to do next. It's their expectation of the quality and character of the next thing we produce or say or do.
We control our actions (even when it feels like we don't) and our actions over time (especially when we think no one is looking) earn our reputation. — Seth Godin

Leaders who set out to give are more productive than leaders who seek to get. — Seth Godin

The problem doesn't lie with the great teachers. Great teachers strive to create linchpins. The problem lies with the system that punishes artists and rewards bureaucrats instead. Here — Seth Godin

Make a decision. It doesn't have to be a wise decision or a perfect one. Just make one. — Seth Godin

Success brings with it the fear of blowing it. With more to lose, there's more pressure not to lose it. — Seth Godin

We run our schools like factories. We line kids up in straight rows, put them in batches (called grades), and work very hard to make sure there are no defective parts. Nobody standing out, falling behind, running ahead, making a ruckus. Playing it safe. Following the rules. Those seem like the best ways to avoid failure. — Seth Godin

Going out of your way to find uncomfortable situations isn't natural, but it's essential. — Seth Godin

Bullet points are not the point. — Seth Godin

Viewing the web as a platform for generosity is very different than seeing an opportunity to turn it into an ATM machine. — Seth Godin

If you're passionate, be passionate enough to fail. Fail small, accept responsibility, repeat. The people who make change are the survivors of serial failure. — Seth Godin

If you never fail, either you're really lucky or you haven't shipped anything. — Seth Godin

The unhappy theory of business ethics is this: you have a fiduciary responsibility to maximize profit. Period. To do anything other than that is to cheat your investors. And in a competitive world, you don't have much wiggle room here. — Seth Godin

An artist is someone who uses bravery, insight, creativity, and boldness to challenge the status quo. And an artist takes it personally. — Seth Godin

In contemporary art or movies, it makes perfect sense to be focused on the bleeding edge, on the new idea that's never been previously contemplated. But when we're discussing our goals, our passion and the way we interact with the culture, it seems to me that what works is significantly more important than what's new. — Seth Godin

The thing about information is that information is more valuable when people know it. There's an exception for business information and super timely information, but in all other cases, ideas that spread win. — Seth Godin

Increasingly, there are only two kinds of companies: brave and dead. — Seth Godin

Don't measure anything unless the data helps you make a better decision or change your actions.
If you're not prepared to change your diet or your workouts, don't get on the scale. — Seth Godin

What makes someone an artist? I don't think is has anything to do with a paintbrush. There are painters who follow the numbers, or paint billboards, or work in a small village in China, painting reproductions. These folks, while swell people, aren't artists. On the other hand, Charlie Chaplin was an artist, beyond a doubt. So is Jonathan Ive, who designed the iPod. You can be an artist who works with oil paints or marble, sure. But there are artists who work with numbers, business models, and customer conversations. Art is about intent and communication, not substances. — Seth Godin

Understanding the mythology of your partner, your customer and your audience is far more important than watching the instant replay of what actually happened. — Seth Godin

Marketing yourself to a new person often involves being charismatic, clever and quick-but most jobs and most relationships are about being consistent, persistent and brave. — Seth Godin

People are not afraid of failure, they're afraid of blame. — Seth Godin

I do not think you can get rid of the fear ... but you can dance with it. — Seth Godin

If you treat your employees like mushrooms (keep them in the dark and regularly throw crap on them), it's entirely likely you will get precisely the work you deserve in return. — Seth Godin

3. Here's a gift, I love you. — Seth Godin

People watch what you do more than listen to what you say. — Seth Godin

Living and breathing an authentic story is the best way to survive in a conversation-rich world. — Seth Godin

People have come to the erroneous conclusion that if they're not willing to start something separate, world-changing, and risky, they have no business starting anything. Somehow, we've fooled ourselves into believing that the project has to have a name, a building, and a stock ticker symbol to matter. — Seth Godin

Selling to people who actually want to hear from you is more effective than interrupting strangers who don't. — Seth Godin

It takes confidence and guts to intentionally create tension. — Seth Godin

Every single important thing we do is something we didn't use to be good at, and in fact, might be something we used to fear. — Seth Godin

The internet has opened the door for millions of businesses to do things differently, because there are other assets now, assets that can transcend location. Your permission to talk to customers, your reputation, your unique products-you can build a business around them online. — Seth Godin

Please stop waiting for a map. We reward those who draw maps, not those who follow them. — Seth Godin

Our cultural instinct is to wait to get pickedNo one is going to pick you. Pick yourself. — Seth Godin

We would be thrilled to have you as a guest on our show, EntrepreneurOnFire, a top ranked Business, averaging over 1 million unique listens each month in over 145 countries. We understand you have a busy schedule, and that's why we've developed an efficient, 30-minute audio interview over Skype. We have an awesome lineup thus far, including Seth Godin, Gary Vaynerchuk, Barbara Corcoran, Guy Kawasaki, Chris Brogan, Eric Ries, and Tim Ferriss... just to name a few. — John Lee Dumas

Marketers have to move upstream now. We have to stop being the last step in the process and start being the first step. — Seth Godin

The problem with holding a grudge is that your hands are then too full to hold onto anything else. It might be the competition or a technology or the lousy things that someone did a decade ago. None of it is going to get better as a result of revisiting the grudge. — Seth Godin

The mistake so many marketers make is that they conjoin the urgency of making another sale with the timing to earn the right to make that sale. In other words, you must build trust before you need it. Building trust right when you want to make a sale is just too late. — Seth Godin

The habit of doing more than is necessary can only be earned through practice. — Seth Godin

There's no shortage of great ideas. There's a shortage of execution. — Seth Godin

A book is a souvenir of an idea. — Seth Godin

Being surrounded by educated people makes democracy stronger, and it benefits our entire economy. — Seth Godin

The cost of being wrong is less than the cost of doing nothing. — Seth Godin

You can't have good ideas unless you're willing to generate a lot of bad ones. — Seth Godin

The nature of revolutions is that they destroy the perfect and enable the impossible. — Seth Godin

Many Things That Are True Are True Because You Believe Them. — Seth Godin

By being remarkable, being genuine, you can be worth connecting with. And you don't have to have it figured out perfectly the first time - you can adjust. — Seth Godin

Everyone is not your customer. — Seth Godin

Which are you? ... competen t, inspiring, passionate, obsessed, provocative, impatient, hungry, driven, adoring, inspired, an artist, a genius, someone who cares ... ?
With all these remarkable, powerful, important options available to each of us, why do so many of us default to competent? — Seth Godin

Is it worth getting one more tweet out, or putting your phone down and doing something that is worth tweeting? — Seth Godin

Its never too late
... to start heading in the right direction. — Seth Godin

Average feels safe but it's not. It's invisible. — Seth Godin

One reason I encourage people to blog is that the act of doing it stretches your available vocabulary and hones a new voice. — Seth Godin

Taking delight in the journey takes confidence. It pushes the envelope of design. — Seth Godin

The challenge is simple: Quitting when you hit the Dip is a bad idea. If the journey you started was worth doing, then quitting when you hit the Dip just wastes the time you've already invested. Quit in the Dip often enough and you'll find yourself becoming a serial quitter, starting many things but accomplishing little. Simple: If you can't make it through the Dip, don't start. If you can embrace that simple rule, you'll be a lot choosier about which journeys you start. — Seth Godin

Emotional labor is available to all of us,
but it is rarely exploited as a competitive
advantage. — Seth Godin

Our culture works hard to prevent change. — Seth Godin

An individual artist needs only a thousand true fans in her tribe. It's enough. — Seth Godin

Do not internalize the industrial model. You are not one of the myriad of interchangeable pieces, but a unique human being, and if you've got something to say, say it, and think well of yourself while you're learning to say it better. - David Mamet — Seth Godin

Here's an assignment for you: Write it down. Write down under what circumstances you're willing to quit. And when. And then stick with it. — Seth Godin

When you learn to listen to your fear, you've found a compass that can show you what matters. — Seth Godin

A product for everyone rarely reaches much of anyone. — Seth Godin

Something remarkable is worth talking about. Worth noticing. Exceptional. New. Interesting. It's a Purple Cow. — Seth Godin

Most people are searching for a path to success that is both easy and certain. Most paths are neither. — Seth Godin

Anything worth achieving in life has a dip — Seth Godin

Treating people with respect is the best way to earn their attention. - SETH GODIN — Jeff Goins

If you're going to buy a real book, a paper book, there better be a good reason. Perhaps scarcity is one of those reasons. — Seth Godin

Here's the fascinating part, call it the golden shoulder: We have no idea in advance who the great contributors are going to be. We know that there's a huge cohort of people struggling outside the boundaries of the curated, selected few, but we don't know who they are. — Seth Godin

The reason they want you to fit in ... is that once you do, then they can ignore you. — Seth Godin

Our best work can't possibly appeal to the average masses, only our average work can. Finding the humility to happily walk away from those that don't get it unlocks our ability to do great work. — Seth Godin

If you wait until there is another case study in your industry, you will be too late! — Seth Godin

Human nature is to need a map. If you're brave enough to draw one, people will follow. — Seth Godin

Be with the ones you love (and the ones that love you.) Ignore everyone else. — Seth Godin

Waiting for perfect is never as smart as making progress. — Seth Godin

Reject the tyranny of picked. Pick yourself. — Seth Godin

Copy, not from your industry, from others. You have to go where there is no competition. — Seth Godin

Instead of working hard to keep their share of a shrinking pie, or working even harder to make sure the industry stays as is, I think the most essential thing legacy book industry players can do is set up independent ventures with great people and little interference and work really hard to put themselves out of business by starting at the bottom, not by reinforcing the top. — Seth Godin