Shoe Dog by Phil Knight

Sometimes when a story is so good and authentic, I will slow down in reading it because I don’t want it to end. 

Shoe Dog was that kind of story. It’s captivated me by how open Phil was in describing the kind of founder and runner he is. I even caught myself laughing out loud while reading because of his candor. 

I’m not going to summarize it or tell you much of what to expect besides highly recommend it.

Anyway, these are quotes from the book stuck out: 

• I had an aching sense that our time is short, shorter than we ever know, short as a morning run, and I wanted mine to be meaningful. And purposeful. And creative. And important. Above all… different…. I saw it all before me, exactly what I wanted my life to be. Play. 

• People, sensing my belief, wanted some of that belief for themselves. Belief, I decided. Belief is irresistible. 

• It’s like Hesse says, “happiness is a how, not a what.”

• Inspiration, he learned, can come from quotidian things. Things you might eat. Or find lying around the house. 

• Wisdom seemed an intangible asset, but an asset all the same, one that justified the risk. But my hope was that when I failed, if I failed, I’d fail quickly, so I’d have enough time, enough years, to implement all the hard-won lessons. Fail fast. 

• I wanted to focus constantly on the one task that really mattered. I wanted my work to be play. I wanted what everyone wants. To be me, full-time. 

• I connected with the shyness of the Japanese people, with the simplicity of their culture and product and arts. I liked that they tried to add beauty to every part of life, from the tea ceremony to the commode.

• Like books, sports give people a sense of having lived other lives, of taking part in other people’s victories. And defeats. When sports are at their best, the spirit of the fan merges with the spirit of the athlete, and in that convergence, in that transference, is the oneness that the mystics talk about.

• Entrepreneurs have always been outgunned, outnumbered.  They’ve always fought uphill, and the hill has never been steeper.