This is one of the most creative things I’ve ever seen.

It’s hard to describe why. Something about the author’s juxtaposition of the paintings and the photography or the simple, clever writing in that playful white font. My initial impression was that it was a sloppy mess, but the more I looked at it the more I realized that every word of every sentence was deliberate and purposeful. It’s inspiring.

The author wrote a piece on Lincoln too.

From The Quick and Easy Way to Effective Speaking by Dale Carnegie:

When Julius Caesar sailed over the channel from Gaul and landed with his legions in what is now England, what did he do to insure the success of his army?  A very clever thing: he halted his soldiers on the chalk cliffs of Dover; and, looking down over the waves two hundred feet below, they saw red tongues of fire consume every ship in which they had crossed.  In the enemy’s country, with the last link with the Continent gone, the last means of retreat burned, there was but one thing left for them to do: to advance, to conquer. That is precisely what they did.

-You understand the numbers are against you and realize even if you fail it’s worth trying again; you believe it’s better to go for 0 for 50 than 0 for 0.

-You provide a utility that is good enough for someone to pay for.

-Your startup saves someone time or make someone’s life easier.

-Your costs are so low you’re virtually impossible to kill.

-You don’t care about material possessions.

-Your startup makes others money.

-You treasure not (or rarely) having meetings.

-You love working for yourself.

-There’s very little wasted time and red tape. Your team is lean, mean and aggressive.

-You’re patient. Twitter, Kayak, Plenty of Fish and Facebook have been around longer than you think. And two of them aren’t even profitable.

-You know IPOs or acquisitions aren’t required to make a good living..

-You do instead of talking about doing.

-You realize, in the very early stages, that the worst thing that could happen is you lose a few hundred or thousand dollars and learn something. What do you have to lose?

-When you get lucky or catch a break you’re ready for it.

-You believe that success is the amount of your life you control.

-You love what you do. Or at the very least, love your situation.

-You avoid blanket statements like this: All the millionaires were in porn in 2000 and realize that not every “startup rule” or any rule applies. Businesses can be very different from each other.

-You understand that your odds of having an enjoyable job paying 200k are roughly the same as owning a profitable small business.

Posted here by Dan Haubert, cofounder of TicketStumbler.