“Your work can be great enough. Great enough means you’ve sweated out every bit of inspiration possible.” – Paul Jarvis
“He believes that companies need to focus on becoming better instead of simply growing bigger.” – Paul Jarvis
35 Paul Jarvis Quotes
- “If we don’t let our weirdness rise to the surface, we don’t let our work stand out.”
2. “I say no so I can say yes to what I’m currently doing.”
3. “Work means offering a valuable product or service – and that work has to inspire people to pay you for it.”
4. “The only way to see if your work might have traction is to do it and put it out there.”
5. “Tell the story behind your art.”
6. “Repeated failure doesn’t stop successful artists.”
7. “Great enough means you can push your work to the finish line. Great enough isn’t settling; it’s launching.”
8. “There’s nothing wrong with finding the right size and then focusing on being better. Small can be a long-term plan, not just a stepping-stone.”
9. “What if instead of reading, you wrote? Instead of watching TV, you made videos? Instead of listening to music, you learned how to play guitar?”
10. “Company’s interests may not always align with the interests of its backers.”
Inspirational Paul Jarvis Quotes
11. “Choosing to work on what you value means not choosing something else. This is okay.”
12. “He believes that companies need to focus on becoming better instead of simply growing bigger.”
13. “To achieve autonomy as a company of one, you have to be a master at your core skill set.”
14. “When you focus on solving problems or on making a difference, passion may follow.”
15. “Most reasons to delay are invalid if you get right to the core.”
16. “Challenging myself and pushing against my fears are two of my core values, and that won’t happen if I’m endlessly building client websites. If I don’t try new things and new directions, I feel like I’ll stagnate.”
17. “We can easily run a business with less, although to many people that seems counterintuitive.”
18. “Your work can be great enough. Great enough means you’ve sweated out every bit of inspiration possible.”
19. “Our fear of failure often prevents us from attempting things.”
20. “When you feel like you have to start out competing with the largest player in the market, you end up chasing your competitor’s growth instead of bettering your own offering.”
Success Paul Jarvis Quotes
21. “You shouldn’t pay attention to things that don’t grab your attention. If you do, you’re being a pretentious douchebag.”
22. “Most of the time, our fears come down to being judged by others.”
23. “While the use of messaging tools can seem like a truly great advance in collaboration, too often they lead to daylong half-conversations, like a slow-drip coffee maker.”
24. “Most people don’t get paid for promoting; they get paid for doing actual work.”
25. “In saying no to anything that doesn’t fit, you leave room to say yes to those rare opportunities that do fit—opportunities that align with the values and ideas of your business.”
26. “More is generally the easiest answer, but not the smartest.”
27. “The most important part of finishing anything is saying no. If I’m working on an idea, I say “no” to almost everything: new projects, new clients, social engagements—basically anything that would take my focus away from what I’m doing.”
28. “There’s no path if you aren’t moving. It’s just a single point in the road. The view might be great, but stasis never changed the world.”
29. “There are advantages to putting in the time and effort to master a skill, but there’s also a great need for balance.”
30. “A funny thing happens when you focus on work that you love; more soon starts to appear. Like attracts like. Plus, that intersection between enjoying what you do and getting paid to do it is the sweetest place of all.”
31. “Our fear of failure often prevents us from attempting things. It feels safe not to try, but not trying is the only way you’re guaranteed to fail. Don’t fail in advance by not even making an attempt.”
32. “Sometimes, in order to stay true to yourself and your values, you need to innovate through change. And sometimes that means stopping and stepping back for a while.”
33. “Most reasons to delay are invalid if you get right to the core: no time, no money, no audience. These are all future concerns, which make it hard to start anything. Worry about those things later or not at all. Make small decisions at first, and start moving in a direction that feels right.”
34. “People sometimes tend to focus on the wrong things when starting a business, like office space, scaling, websites, business cards, computers. You can add expenses or bigger ideas later, once revenue is coming in. But if your idea requires a lot of money, time, or resources to start, you’re probably thinking too big too soon. Scale it down to what can be done right now, on the cheap and fast, and then iterated upon.”
35. “A large part of choosing your path is figuring out which values will determine your worth. Once that’s clear, it’s much easier to decide if the work you’re doing will increase or decrease your feelings of worth.”
Paul Jarvis is the author of Company of One, which has been translated into more than 20 languages. His articles and concepts have been published by numerous publications, including Bloomberg, The Financial Times, Inc., Forbes, CNBC, The Next Web, Fast Company, USA Today, and others.
Paul is an experienced member of the online technology community who has worked with brands like Microsoft, Yahoo, Mercedes-Benz, Warner Music, and even Shaquille O’Neal over the years. He has been designing and writing for more than 25 years.