The current entrepreneurial drumbeat is to do what feels good, fill your head with inspirational quotes, be happy, and everything will work out great. Focus on your strengths and ignore your weaknesses. If it sounds positive, then it must be good. If it sounds negative, then it must be bad.

Like it or not, that’s nothing but a bunch of utopian fluff.

All that glitters is not gold. Seeking instant gratification is never the path to long-term happiness and fulfillment. And in all likelihood, you’ll never achieve great things without facing tough obstacles, crashing and burning, and finally rising up from the ashes.

If you want to be successful, learn to challenge conventional wisdom and question your own beliefs. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. And when it comes to making important decisions, learn to look at things from different perspectives.

If you want to make it in a complex world, you have to be a multidimensional thinker.

– Steve Tobak