Well, we're not flying Mike Doughty in for my birthday today, as far as I know.

So what do I want for my natal day? I'll go for synchronicity -- unrelated significance.

Here's an example. I'm churning through a backlog of subscriptions: Godin, Lefsetz, Dave Trott, Armano, Luke Sullivan, Cal Newport, et al.

Lefsetz (on Nile Rodgers' performing his guitar riff for Daft Punk's “Get Lucky”):  “And he starts off all wrong. Finally figures out it’s in B minor.”

Newport: “Careers you love require a lot of work. Sometimes even ‘horrible’ work.”

Godin: “If you set your bar at ‘amazing,’ it's awfully difficult to start. Your first paragraph, sketch, formula, sample or concept isn't going to be amazing. Your tenth one might not be either.”

Sullivan: “The thing about problem-solving in advertising? It’ll never take you to an entirely new place.”

Lefsetz (con't.): “What comes out first sucks, but when he’s done, it’s magic! We saw this exact process in front of our very eyes!”

Godin (con't.): “...the only path to amazing runs directly through not-yet-amazing.”

Armano: “Nobody tries. Nobody fails. Nobody wins.”

The unrelated messages are clear: Mistakes are fuel.

It's what they ignite that matters.