What a great post.

"...do you think there's going to be fairy dust on the diploma that's going to enable you to do anything you can't do now?"

From http://www.johndcook.com/blog/2010/11/24/fairy-dust-on-the-diploma/

"... you don’t wait until you’re in olympic form to start training. You train to get into olympic form."

I like this quote. The first draft, the first prototype, the first iteration of a design doesn't have to be perfect, or even very good, provided that you are willing to relentlessly improve it. Make something. Then, make it better until it is something great.

"A man would do ...

People love to say there is a fine line between an excuse and a reason. The truth is that it doesn't matter. The world doesn't care which category your excuse¹ falls into. If you didn't do the job you promised, you didn't do it.

Excuse ...

What it means to be interested in the problem and how that mindset dramatically influences the quality of work. This idea is tied to some discussion of how to be a successful researcher.

Tim Cook and some other Apple executives gave an interview to ABC News recently. They walked by a huge Steve Jobs quote on the wall at Apple headquarters. They didn't even show it, but it's this one:

If you do something and it turns out pretty good, then ...

One of my favorite questions to ask people, particularly those that I consider successful, is what makes them so. The answer to this question almost invariably points to the ideals that they work towards, to what they value.¹ To some it's old-fashioned hard work, to others it's ...

One of the main benefits of travel is the perspective that it can offer. Seeing places different than your own can shed light on what's great, and what's not so great, about where you call home. Even beyond that, travel can provide perspective on your life, both personal ...