Best Quotes from World Domination Summit – Day 2

The most challenging part in returning home from an exhilarating event [insert your dream event here!] is what to do next? How do you take the sensory overload of information and inspiration and channel it to something useful, something original, something meaningful and valuable? How do you apply what you learned to your life? How do you infuse your work and your goals with so much inspiration that you are good to go until next month or even next year or dare I say, indefinitely? What do you do differently? What do you start anew? Where do you push? Where do you let go?

It usually takes a few days, maybe even a week, to make your way to this subtle bump on the road – please tell me I am not alone! First you have to get over jet lag – unless you were one of those “traveled 3 miles to come to WDS” lucky souls – anyway, then you start to settle down from all the excitement, reflect on your memories, read your notes, remember your promises to yourself. You probably stop recounting the stories to people around you or reminiscing it with the people that shared the experience with you. And then you begin to wonder what on earth to do next because what you do next is really what matters the most.

As Jonathan Fields, one of the most captivating speakers at WDS, told us so casually yet sincerely, “Last 2 1/2 days has been amazing but it’s utterly worthless if you don’t do something with it.”

No time to answer that question here but I made big plans and promises to myself, and yet they shall mean nothing until execution. Fair enough. So my lips are sealed until I put more work into those plans, and with that, I give you this last post on World Domination Summit which took place in the fabulous city of Portland with the final best quotes from Day 2. What will you do differently after reading these quotes?

This is Post 3 and the last post of the World Domination Summit post series where I share the best quotes from Day 2 of the event. May you find encouragement, enthusiasm, energy and enlightenment from these words of wisdom.

Neil Pasricha – Funny, Story-teller, Grateful, Poised Speaker

Neil was there briefly on Friday but had an emergency that took him back to Toronto before his speech. Chris thought about finding a replacement speaker but he said they had planned on Neil’s message so on enormous screens, we watched Neil at his Tedx Talk tell the story of Awesome, and well, it was pretty awesome.

As these dark clouds were circling me and I was finding it so difficult to find anything good, I told myself I needed to focus on the positive.

I was trying to remind myself of the simple universal little pleasures that we just love but never talk about it.

The 3 As of Awesome: Attitude, Awareness, Authenticity.

There are times in life when you could get tossed in the well too with twists in your stomach and with holes in your hearts.

When bad news washes over you, you always got two choices, you can swirl and twirl in gloom and doom forever or you can grieve and then face the future with newly sober eyes.

I love the way 3-year olds are seeing the world because they are seeing the world for the first time.

Authenticity is about being you and being cool with that. You end up following your heart and feeling very fulfilled.

Things are amazing – there are just so many things to be happy about.

Those moments are counting down and they are always, always, always fleeting!

You will never be as young as you are right now.

John T. Unger – Unique, Brilliantly Entertaining, Utterly Sincere, Artistic, Creative

John was the most entertaining speaker, unintentionally so I am guessing, and one with the wackiest, craziest and scariest experiences. He had me captivated as he drew all of us into his world, his life, his beginnings and the way he developed his winning attitude. Seriously happy to have heard him speak.

His wife didn’t have any teeth because he spent all his money on guns! ~ In reference to the cab driver who held John at gun point.

Having a gun to your head really polarizes the difference between an emergency and a problem!

Having a gun to your head for 10 minutes is a very long time.

My art. It was something to do full time when I was ready but all I really wanted to do was to make art.

I was standing there laughing and smiling at them rather than saying “Your building sucked, it fell down!

Disasters are really our opportunities. Disaster has a lot of mass and as in Thai chi, do not reflect the mass but instead go ride it forward.

I was fighting about the right to my reputation.

Catching the spears in my backyard was my favorite game.

Take stupid risks but not too stupid.

All I ever wanted to do was to make art and make people pay me for it and the only way to do that’s to create great sh1t!

We have a lot in common: I love my art, they love my art. I am a big fan of me, they are a big fan of me.

We cannot violate the truth of who we are within our dreams.

The settlement was that he would stop and I wouldn’t say nasty things about him!
About his lawsuit.

Jonathan Fields – Mindful, Convincing, Deeply Encouraging, Enterprising

I was taken aback by what a powerful speaker Jonathan Fields turned out to be. He has a calm and strong presence – no wonder he used to teach yoga. I can’t imagine the attorney side of him so much as it is probably masked by his new way of life and vision of the world. His intelligence is high and his ability to communicate and articulate thoughts and concepts is brilliant. I think I got a little carried away with his speech too.

Given the choice between a certain and an uncertain option, we always choose the uncertain option.

We are hard wired to run from uncertainty rather than to stand in the face of it.

Maybe we are scared what people think of us if we act in the face of uncertainty and we are wrong.

Anything that is worth doing you will not have complete information about before you do it.

We are here to do great things.

Your job is to invite and embrace feedback as you go toward that direction.

Consistently walk fearlessly in this deepening world of uncertainty and create genius.

About fear – we want to learn how to lean into it and not suffer.

They created an environment where they deliberately removed judgement and exalted experimentation. Create that environment!

I did it because I love her dearly and I want her to fly.

You have a room of 500 people buying into the zero sum game.

When you want to do something you love, resistance rises – capital R. You need a ritual that pushes it out. Build your ritual!

Many people ritualize everything but the creative process! All the mundane daily tasks gets systematized and ritualized. Think about ritualizing your own creative process. Do it for 30 days and see if that shifts your ability to create.

Explore working in bursts – even if you feel you can rock it, don’t do it.

Re-framing – We can’t change the circumstances but we can change the choices.

“How can you give up so much?” People would ask me.
I would say to them they are asking the wrong question.
“How can I not do this and limit the next 30 to 40 years of my life because of what happened in the last 7 years?”

Practice your meditation!

These practices not only make us much calmer, they change our neuro-chemistry and allow us to go to that place more easily.

Commit to take action and just see what happens.

Anxiety is an anticipatory emotion; it cannot exist in the present.

It’s destructive to label organizations as good or bad. It’s just about what you want for yourself.

What do people thank you for?

Are you here to create something stunning?

The single most important to do is to develop your craft on a consistent basis.

And that wraps it up, my darling readers. These were the best quotes from some of the best speakers I have ever heard in a live event.

I went to a few of the sessions too. My favorite was the one with Pam Slim and in particular, the fact that she spent over half an hour sitting on the concrete outside the museum and spending time to dig in deeper with a few of us. The sense of compassion and giving, as well as the level of knowledge and understanding, in Chris Guillebeau’s team was phenomenal and I was truly glad to be a part of such an occasion.

Now I am back home and anything but settled into my routines, not that my routines aren’t great. I am feeling restless and full of energy, not that I didn’t run on boundless energy before. Something is just different. Yet a miniscule part of me still teases me with distracting thoughts of say new computer gadgets for my work space or new yoga clothes for better meditation. I think these distractions can be explained with one answer and that is that we get in the way of our own success and we create excuses that keep us from giving it our all because there is fear associated with massive success.

The thing is all of us are capable of massive success – in whatever way we define it – but very few of us are able to push through the gates and give it the focus and the willingness it takes. The opportunity is here. The time is now. The decision is entirely up to you as to what you do with your life. Are you one of those rare people?