Payalnik

He said, “I am an artist and the most impactful art that my generation can make is websites but I see myself first and foremost as an artist.” And I thought, “well it is a shame that you can’t hang a website on a wall and move on to the next one.

Throughout my time at Microsoft, it has always been sad to see the Internet side define itself more based on who it wanted to compete with (Netscape, AOL, Yahoo, and Google), rather than defining its own vision of what it wanted to be. So when Netscape was defeated and owned by AOL, the browser team was basically split up and many of the best people re-focused to compete against AOL.

We all enter this world in the same way: naked; screaming; soaked in blood. But if you live your life right, that kind of thing doesn’t have to stop there.

You are never a victim of your circumstances, and you have not only a right, but a responsibility to live your life in a way that inspires passion inside of you. Those around you will benefit far more from that passion than from your fear of pursuing it, and they will be inspired themselves to seek out the things that they are passionate about. You only live once. No, seriously, you only live once. If you’re not doing something today that you’re passionate about, then quit. Take that scary plunge into the unknown. You will be so happy that you did.

I am a maker. It’s important first and foremost to understand where this comes from: not from ambition, but from compulsion. Making is the only way I’ve found to understand and cope with the world around me. Without the ability to work out the process of my existence through the act of creation, I feel out of place and helpless to effect good in my life.

Молодым людям я всегда говорил: не стойте на краю обрыва в раздумьях, что делать дальше. Прыгайте, и обретайте крылья в падении. Вот что такое писательство, вот что такое актерство, вот что такое борьба, вот что такое любовь.

Questions are places in your mind where answers fit. If you haven’t asked the question, the answer has nowhere to go. It hits your mind and bounces right off. You have to ask the question – you have to want to know – in order to open up the space for the answer to fit.

If you aren’t curious enough to want to know why, to want to ask questions, then you’re not making the room in your mind for answers. If you stop asking questions, your mind can’t grow.