"Consider Steven Spielberg. At the age of thirty-six, he had become the most successful filmmaker in history. He's already responsible for four of the ten top-grossing films of all time, including E. T., The Extra-Terrestrial, the highest-grossing film ever. How did he reach that point at such a young age? It's a remarkable story. From the age of twelve or thirteen, Spielberg knew he wanted to be a movie director.

His life changed when he took a tour of Universal Studios one afternoon when...

"The time we waste on the people who don't care is time that is stolen from the people who do care."

Marshall Goldsmith

Sometimes previous experience blinds us to new perspectives.

Early train cars were designed with no central aisles, and with brakes that had to be operated by a conductor seated outside, on top of the train car.

Why such a dangerous practice?

Because these early cars were almost exact replicas of what the expert designers were most familiar with – the stagecoach.

"Why would “smarter” brains work less hard? One strong bet is that when we are inexperienced—when we still have a lot to learn—we have to make a conscious effort to think about what we’re doing. But later, after we’ve become more adept, much of what initially took effort becomes automatic.