What do you take home with you from a once in a lifetime experience? People’s faces? Smells and sounds of the place? Photographs you may have snapped? Goodies they may have given out at the event? Memories of great laughs and greater conversations yet?
All of the above? Definitely all of the above plus one more if you went to the World Domination Summit in Portland: The phrases that left you speechless, the few that made you move to the edge of your seat, the many that gave you a quicker pulse in the chest or in my case, the ones that brought on unplanned tears in the least likely parts.
The speeches were simply remarkable. Every single one! They were all so pleasantly void of business news, current events, corporate jargon, or the state of economy. They were original and refreshing, filled with insights that you need to survive life in an unconventional world and inspiration that blows your mind.
This is Post 2 of the World Domination Summit post series where I share the best quotes from Day 1 of the event. May you find encouragement, enthusiasm, energy and enlightenment from these words of wisdom.
Pam Slim – Peaceful Warrior, Deeply Perceptive, Kind, Compassionate, Incredible with People
I finally got to meet Pam Slim and had an opportunity to immensely enjoy a mini coaching hour sitting on the concrete outside the museum, following her breakout session. That is the kind of compassion this woman exudes to all who cross her path. She did the opening speech after Chris’s introductions and she set the stage so brilliantly well and the mood so perfectly right that I cannot think of another opening speaker topping her anytime in the near – or far – future. Thank you, dear fabulous Pam! Here are my best takeaways from your special talk:
Your first root is the human connection.
Teach your children to be independent. When you do this, you are going against the instinct of protecting them and keeping them safe.
When you find yourself looking at someone else to give you permission to be who you are, change it.
Our power is on loan from mother earth.
Earth benders anchor down to the center of the earth, they are absolutely ok with emergencies.
Intense energy comes when you are doing significant work.
Martial arts – shifting yourself to a position of safety rather than that of attacking.
In order to be a really effective martial artist, you must know yourself!!
Trolls have nothing to do with you.
We need to invoke our inner warrior.
Leo Babauta – Relaxed, Easy Going, Smart, Dedicated, Grateful
I had had the pleasure of hearing Leo Babauta speak at Blogworld so it was like seeing an old face and hearing an old voice again – old as in familiar and good – but I liked hearing him fill the gaps in his story and add more food for thought. The set-no-goals idea is the only thing I am not so sure about. I guess it may just come down to semantics. What I do know is that I am all for detaching from end results and just doing what I love to do. Here are my best Leo quotes:
I’m not interested in making more money; I’m interested in making money in an authentic way.
Just start with five minutes. Form the bond between trigger and habit.
Set yourself up for success. Make change so slowly that it’s impossible not to do it.
Focus on one thing at a time. Only one. Resolutions are worthless because there are too many of them.
I have an allergic reaction to hype.
Find other people like you. Accountability.
Learn how habits work, the triggers behind them, and how to engineer good habits.
Associate positive benefits with new habits and remove negative triggers from habits you want to encourage. Learn how to untangle these triggers.
Danielle La Porte – Subtle, Powerful, Great Presence, Remarkable on Stage, Original Prose
Yeah, I got a bit carried away with Danielle, didn’t I? You’d think I’d just give you the entire transcript of her speech but even I don’t type that fast on my beloved iPad. Here are the ones that stuck and stuck hard. Thank you Danielle for saying it and saying it all so well.
The word here is friendship.
Become an unbridled version of yourself!
You have contended with the 9-5, you are escaping the cubicles or you have found a way to be in a cubicle and still dominate.
I want to push, push more. What it is to be on your edge? Within that edge, I think of impeccability and innovation.
This isn’t about being perfect or being a Puritan. This is about being impeccably you.
Be willing to break things. Innovation is messy and uncertain.
Showing up means being present and it means you have to do do-overs.
Push beyond the fatigue. You can be better. Go the extra mile.
Showing up means you have to leave things behind and do do-overs.
You need to know the rules to break the rules.
There are rules in art, rules about colors and dimension and proportions. The masters knew this. They trained. Then they broke the rules and that’s when self-realization happens.
Everything you bring to your life is a choice.
Owning your choices is about leadership. You are in a boardroom that you don’t want to be in. You’re in a movie that sucks. Your energy will completely shift if you say that you choose to be there. Or you can choose to leave.
And everything is a choice – take radical responsibility for your choices.
Even when you ask for advice, you still need to make the choice.
You need to know why you love what you love!
My body knew I was absent in the choice. Be present, not absent, in your choices!
Is that it? In 5 years, you want hardwood floors?
How do you want to feel when you get there?
If you trusted that your art would support your life, how would you live?
We come to our edge either to be of service or to self-express.
Your edge is not a horizon – it is inside – the way to get to your edge is to open.
You want to lead and be innovative and be on your edge, you open. Openness is the greatest human resource.
Radiate and state the facts. Stop selling. Start radiating.
Honor your deadlines. If you betray yourself, it is the worst kind of betrayal.
The universe speaks in cash flow!
Worst-case scenario will liberate you!
The dream is inside you. Get it out and walk into it.
Jodi Ettenberg – Kind, Audacious, Compassionate, Adventurous Soul, Amazing Spirit
I know what you are thinking. I must have not liked Jodi Ettenberg‘s speech since I have only two quotes from her talk. Are you kidding me? I was mesmerized by her, I was so into with her speech that I could not take my eyes off of her long enough to take out the iPad. I have searched low and high all over #WDS tweets for quotes from her but these are the only two that I remember from her incredible speech. If you captured more, hurry up and add it to the comments for me (and all else to see)!
Jodi, I loved you! Speak again and speak often.
What’s the worst thing that could happen? I could always do something else so why not do the things I really want to do?
When I come back here, people ask me how my vacation was. I say this is my vacation. That’s my life.
Karen Wolrond – Funny, Talented, Beautiful, Brilliant Speaker, Incredible Photographer
I had not seen or heard about Karen before and now I regret that I did not get a chance to meet her and to offer up my lovely profile for her 1000 faces to photograph project. Sigh, sigh! Karen belongs on the stage. She has a mesmerizing presence and a way with words and the kind of self-deprecating humor that gives you belly laughs. At least, she did for me. I liked her facial expressions, her strong gestures, and the way she carried herself. And while I wrote fewer quotes from her speech than I would have liked, her impact was indelible for sure.
We are all wired to be different. What makes you different?
We all feel different (but we don’t want to admit it.)
Making comparisons is a colossal waste of time.
Create your own story. Do not let others create your story for you.
Adventure occurs when we embrace possibility
In addition to the awesome, you have to do some of the simple.
We don’t age because time passes. We age because we stop looking for the wonderful.
I figured that at 40 something, I have at least my life to live again!
Come up with one good thing a day!
We are all beautiful.
The commercial beauty changes all the time!! The inside stuff is beautiful.
Think of someone beautiful. Notice that if I had done this exercise in another room, you might have come to mind!
FYI: As you may know, all photography on Prolific Living is by me. If you are interested in seeing even more photos from WDS check out Chris Guilleabeau’s Flickr set! So many fantastic shots!
Are you feeling stuck in business or life?
If you like what you see here, and want to know how to do the same for yourself, be it creating your business or blog as well as building up your confidence, then book your free 20-minute consult with me and learn my systems & tools: coaching page.
{ 19 brilliant comments, Care to add another? }
Hey Farnoosh, thanks for this compilation–looks like you took a lot of notes! It’s great to see “the best of” quotes all in one place. A lot to ponder. Ok, I can see why you’re so pumped up about the conference and basking in the afterglow–sounds like a great experience. One question–was anyone at the conference over 30 yrs old?? Everyone looks so young!
People from all age groups were represented. In fact, in my hostel there was someone from 75 who was also attending the WDS
Exactly what Gerhard said! I am glad he also had proof. Thank you, my friend Gerhard!!!
Dear Sean, I for one am much over 30 and I was there. Yes, there is a large population of what I call “kids” affectionately but they are kids who really know what they are doing and I admire their perspective and their way of living. So glad you enjoyed the review – there is one more coming soon – and please don’t feel bad about missing it. Chris is repeating this, bigger and better, next year. Thank you for stopping by!!!
Thank you for sharing these pearls with those of us who were not there. You give us an entry way -it’s as though we were there for a moment.
Dear Aileen, I am so glad this helped share the inspiration and boy were YOU missed ever so much. Jeanie and I talked about you. She was my room mate there. What a great last few weeks. Now it’s time to rest up and do some real work. Thanks for your lovely words.
Wow! Very cool! I’m actually gonna have to come back and read this again before I actually comment. It’s amazing to be among people who get it.
Hi Vic, come back anytime. It’s going to be up indefinitely. You said it right. People who “get it” – I did not know they existed a year ago but oh they so do! Thanks for your comment.
Wow Farnoosh. You must have taken prolific notes the whole time. Thank you for that, so that those of us who couldn’t be there could still share in it. From what you’ve written so far, I can see the atmosphere must have been incredible. I can only imagine how high you were flying at the end of each day. Keep up the great work, it’s such an inspiration.
Hugs,
Melody
Hi Melody, it’s nice to see you back. I took prolific notes yes
even though I lost a few of my notes due to not syncing up Evernote right. If I can give you one tip about Evernote – which I really love as an app – is to never ever “append” to a new note but always add a new one. Anyway, got a bit side-tracked, It was an incredible event and I was over the moon to attend it. Thank you so much for stopping by.
Thank you, thank you thank you Farnoosh for a great post and a glimpse into WDS. It is always so great to read your posts following these events, especially if we can’t get to them ourselves. You really give us the amazing highlights and make us want even more badly to have been there
It sounds like such an amazing time and experience. You have been on the move lately … Blogworld, WDS and I am sure so much more 
Dearest Sibyl, I thought about you especially after you told me you are planning only on the LA event this year. You are *VERY* welcome. Chris is doing this again next year and if I am not out of the country, I will be there. I am home now to rest a bit and to write and do something with all this information. Thank you for stopping by and oh so glad you enjoyed this.
I loved reading through that Farnoosh, brought back some of that great energy from WDS. One quote from Jodi that I made note of:
“Just because you’re doing what you really want to do doesn’t mean it’s going to be easy.”
Dear Niall, so glad you enjoyed this. The energy is fading little by little a week later now but I am tapping into it as much as I can. THANK YOU for the Jodi quote. That makes it 3.
> In order to be a really effective martial artist, you must know yourself!
So true. I think Bruce Lee exemplified this in so many ways.
J.D., believe it or not, Pam gave us a demo of the martial arts skills she beholds. Bruce Lee is unmatched – Love that guy!
Hi Farnoosh,
I found your website via Jacob Sokol and I’m really glad to have found it! I try to live without regrets, but I really wish I went to WDS, so thank you for supplying these uplifting, wonderful and inspiring quotes!
I love “When I come back here, people ask me how my vacation was. I say this is my vacation. That’s my life.”
Hello Patrick, toss that regret aside. You can always, always go next year and there was probably a good reason you could not be there. I am so happy I was able to bring some of WDS back and meeting Jacob was indeed one of the highlights for me. Oh Jodi’s quote was brilliant. And the way she said “that’s my life.” – the emphasis on the words, the way she described her feelings. She really touched me. Thanks for your comment and come back anytime.
So many great quotes here, Farnoosh!!!
I read these on my phone when you first posted them, but I came back for a little “pick-me-up.” Now, I’m feeling all energized and ready to tackle the world again!! Thanks for sharing these gold nuggets with those of us who missed out.
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