4: If you could have a gigantic billboard anywhere with anything on it, what would you say?

Today I’m on to the fourth question (see all of the question here) that Tim Ferriss asked people in “Tribe of Mentors”, which was:

If you could have a gigantic billboard anywhere with anything on it—metaphorically speaking, getting a message out to millions or billions—what would it say and why? It could be a few words or a paragraph. (If helpful, it can be someone else’s quote: Are there any quotes you think of often or live your life by?)

This one had a ton of fantastic answers, so here we go.

First was Steven Pressfield, arguing against the question itself:

I would not have a billboard, and I would take down every billboard that everybody else has put up.

The next one I noticed was from Bozoma Saint John, and it’s similar to the answer I would likely give:

Hands down, it would be “Be the change you want to see in the world.” We spend far too much time complaining about the way things are, and forget that we have the power to change anything and everything.

I loved what Ben Stiller had to say:

“BE HERE NOW” (something I am constantly trying to do, though not always successfully). Because life is short, and we only have the current moment. Our memories are precious but they are the past, and the future is not here now.

Peter Attia opted to share a quote from Bertrand Russell:

Well, assuming it’s a big billboard, I’d lobby for the following: “The fundamental cause of the trouble is that in the modern world the stupid are cocksure while the intelligent are full of doubt.”—Bertrand Russell

The last is a quote from Jocko Willink about how freedom requires discipline:

“Discipline equals freedom.” Everyone wants freedom. We want to be physically free and mentally free. We want to be financially free and we want more free time. But where does that freedom come from? How do we get it? The answer is the opposite of freedom. The answer is discipline. You want more free time? Follow a more disciplined time-management system. You want financial freedom? Implement long-term financial discipline in your life. Do you want to be physically free to move how you want, and to be free from many health issues caused by poor lifestyle choices? Then you have to have the discipline to eat healthy food and consistently work out. We all want freedom. Discipline is the only way to get it.

Ultimately, my choice would be a combination of what Bozoma Saint John said above and what Robert Carnes said in his post about this where he simply said “Be kind, please”.

I’d tweak it a bit to say “Be a good human”, which is mostly the same but implies a bit of sonder with it.

What would you put on your billboard?