I spent 60 hours reading this 800 page biography of Walt Disney A few short lessons from the book: 1. Combine raw ingenuity with sadistic determination. 2. If your self confidence is justified it is too low. 3. Whatever you cannot stop doing, you should do. 4. You must create a system of your own or be enslaved by someone else’s. 5. You don’t have to be like your father. 6. Do not reason or compare. Create. 7. You can remake the world in the image of your own imagination. 8. Attach yourself to somebody older and wiser. Learn everything they have to teach. Move on to your own accomplishments. 9. The student that was classified as the “second dumbest” in the class became the greatest in his field. 10. Determination overcomes poverty, hardship, and neglect. 11. Be enthusiastic, unflappable, indefatigable, lighthearted, and high-spirited. But above all, be determined. 12. For the obsessed total engrossment is the best way to work. 13. Enthusiasm for your work makes selling easier. 14. Don’t do anything someone else can do. 15. If anything is worth doing it is worth doing to excess. 16. Intense concentration can bring out resources you didn’t know you had. 17. If there was only one word on Walt Disney’s tombstone that had to describe him, that word would be: FOCUSED. 18. Pick a field where you can be the best. 19. Build your own curriculum. 20. Train your own people. 21. Be a yard stick for quality. Some people aren’t used to an environment where excellence is expected. 22. A brand is a promise. 23. Excellence can be your only strategy. 24. You must keep control of your company. An entrepreneur without control is an employee. 25. Never forget how shady the business world can be. You can’t do a good deal with a bad person. 26. Don’t let anyone get in between you and your customer. 27. If this is your greatest opportunity sit tight and be in it for everything. 28. Some people have the drive and ambition of ten million men. 29. Take the hard knocks with the good breaks. 30. The solution you seek is found in the work. The only thing to do is get back to work.