Eventually, it’s all just ‘yes’

Our self-awareness as actors is pretty missing in that way! There are plenty of times where I thought, “That was something…” And then nobody thought that was anything. (Laughs) And then there’s other times where I said, “Oh, I don’t know about that.” And everybody loves it! So it’s not that easy.

~ Mads Dittmann Mikkelsen, from Mads Mikkelsen – The Talks

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Recently I’ve noticed I have a list of actors and when I see they are in a project… yes.

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Luxury

If you wish to remove avarice you must remove its mother, luxury.

~ Cicero

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Mistakes

Do not be embarrassed by your mistakes. Nothing can teach us better than our understanding of them. This is one of the best ways of self-education.

~ Thomas Carlyle

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Learning

I’ve always treated the world as my classroom, soaking up lessons and stories to fuel my path forward. I hope you do the same. The worst thing you can ever do is think that you know enough. Never stop learning. Ever.

~ Arnold Schwarzenegger

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Pessimist? Optimist?

This has been distilled to a motto: “pessimism of the intellect, optimism of the will”. I am a pessimist or optimist of the intellect according to facts on the ground, but I am ever an optimist of the will.

~ Jason Crawford from, Descriptive vs. prescriptive optimism

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Frankly, I’ve never cared for the simple dichotomy of, “are you an optimist, or a pessimist?” There is simply too much complexity—in the world, in the mind—for that level of simplicity to be useful. I’m interested in models, and this article from Crawford spreads out some of the complexity nicely. (It also includes some interesting references.)

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Choose today

Stick to what’s in front of you—idea, action, utterance. This is what you deserve. You could be good today. But instead you choose tomorrow.

~ Marcus Aurelius

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Professional versus Amateur

I believe a man is a professional when he can do what needs to be done no matter how he feels within. An amateur is an amateur in his attitude emotionally. A professional is a professional in the way he thinks and feels and in his ability to execute under the most trying conditions.

~ Cus D’Amato

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Dunbar’s number

Dunbar’s Number is a favorite blunt diagnosis for the pains that affect rapidly growing teams. The number, which is somewhere between 100 and 250 describes a point at which a group of people can no longer effectively maintain social connections in their respective heads. What was simple from a communication perspective becomes costly. What was a familiar family that you saw wandering the hallway becomes Stranger Town.

~ Rands from, The Old Guard

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Also, Dunbar’s Number on Wikipedia.

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