Leaders
help people see the possibilities in tough--even dire circumstances. In
normal times, most people like to sink
their teeth into a great quote. Given today's economic and social precarity, we need more than knowledge; we need wisdom. The quotes I selected and commented on are
really simple truths that have helped people live a quality life in the
best of times and in the worst of times.
I
could have included a hundred quotes easily gleaned from a google
search. But I wanted to explain why I thought the quote was great. The
quotes are in random order. I did have an idea to list them 1-50 in
order of their greatness, but soon realized that would be an impossible
task.
I’d
suggest you dip into this post from time to time rather than just reading it
as you
would a normal book and then leaving it alone. In the days ahead, there
will be
many times when things don’t go according to plan or when your team's
morale is down. On those days open this up and I’m sure you’ll spot a
quote that in no time will inspire you and your team to bounce back and
carry on.
1. “Those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.”
– George Bernard Shaw
Apparently
it’s statesmanlike to stand firm and not change your mind. It’s also
idiotic to ignore new evidence and refuse to admit you may have been
wrong with your first conclusion. Your brain actually hates to be wrong and it sets off a series of chemical responses that don’t feel good at all. It takes courage to ignore those feelings and admit your mistake.
We all get stuff wrong, just admit it when you do and move on with your newfound insight.
2. “Until
one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back.
Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one
elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and
splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then
Providence moves too.
All
sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have
occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in
one‟s favor all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and
material assistance, which no man could have dreamed would have come
his way.
Whatever you can do, or dream you can do, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. Begin it now.”
– William H Murray
– William H Murray
This
is often mistakenly attributed to Goethe when it really just came from a
Goethe couplet and is presumed to have been said in full by Scottish
Mountaineer, W. H. Murray, although that is not 100% certain.
Is there is a greater quote on the importance of commitment? I doubt it.
3.”Always do what you are afraid to do.”
– Ralph Waldo Emerson
– Ralph Waldo Emerson
Presuming
you don’t take this too literally and decide to strip naked, rub
yourself down with fish guts and go teasing Grizzly Bears in mating
season, this is a fantastic quote. The reality is speaking in front of
large audiences scares me, but I still do it and boy am I glad every
time I do, that I didn’t succumb to my fears.
Fear is ok, it’s just an emotion and you’re unlikely to die from being scared, but every time you do something that scares you, you widen your comfort zone and it’s less likely to scare you as much next time.
4. “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act but a habit”
– Aristotle
Malcolm
Gladwell in his brilliant book, “Outliers” talked about the growing
realization in science that few people are born gifted.
That
it takes time (thought to be about 10,000 hours) and persistence to be
world class at anything. It seems Aristotle beat Gladwell to the punch
by about 2,000 years or so. You can be great, you just have to stick
with whatever it is you want to be great at.
5. “A small group of thoughtful people could change the world. Indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has”
– Margaret Mead
– Margaret Mead
Another
oft cited quote and one that inspires people (or at least should do) to
believe they really do have more power than they could ever imagine.
Don’t think you are powerless because you’re not.
6.“What you think of yourself is much more important than what others think of you”
– Seneca
– Seneca
If
only you knew how often I try to impress this belief on clients. So
many people get wrapped up in trying to make other people like them,
that they forget to like themselves. In other words, they give away
their personal power and their happiness is then dependent on the good
opinion of others.
It shouldn’t be.
7. “Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm”
– Winston Churchill
There
are so many quotes regarding the importance of failure in being
successful, but in my opinion, this is the best. We ALL fail from time
to time and the more you fail the more likely you are to succeed.
As
long that is, you don’t drag your bottom lip around on the floor all
the time bemoaning the fact that things aren’t going your way. During tough times, I've found it helpful to reflect on another insightful quote from Robert Kiyosaki, “You either win or you learn.” So learn from the set back and move ahead a little wiser.
8. “You must be the change you wish to see in the world”
– Gandhi
– Gandhi
I
almost left this out because it’s been done to death and it possibly
the most well-known quote in the universe. But there’s a good reason for
that, and that’s because it’s deeply profound.
You cannot ever change anybody else; you can only change yourself and hope you inspire other people to do the same.
9. “Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up”
– Thomas Edison
– Thomas Edison
Three
years ago I had a client that I knew was really close to making a huge
breakthrough when she lost her nerve. The fact that I’m telling you
about it now demonstrates how frustrated as a Coach I was. There is a
time for giving up and a time for pushing through, even though the
latter can sometimes be scary.
10. “Man can alter his life by altering his thinking”
– William James
– William James
There
is an amazing, if possibly apocryphal story about the father of modern
psychology. Apparently he agreed to be the keynote speaker at a major
conference on psychology. This was a rare event and people traveled from
all over the country looking forward to hearing the great man deliver
his pearls of wisdom.
At
the appointed time he walked up to the lectern, stood for a moment
surveying the audience and then said “The greatest discovery of my
generation is that a human being can alter his life by altering his
attitudes” He then apparently walked off stage, out of the building and
back home, leaving everybody confused and pretty angry.
He
was right though and if you are not inspired to know that you can
improve the quality of your life by improving the quality of your
thinking, then you’re reading the wrong article.
11. “We don’t stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing”
– George Bernard Shaw
– George Bernard Shaw
I'm
in the autumn season of my career. But I still get excited about work, I
still love to play and as I type this I have loud music playing in the
background.
Don’t stop being young because your birth certificate tells you too.
12. “If I gave people what they wanted I’d have designed a faster horse”
– Henry Ford
– Henry Ford
This
may well never have actually been said by Ford, it may just be an
apocryphal quote, but we don’t care, do we, because it makes a brilliant
point? Sometimes you have to step outside the box and take chances that
don’t necessarily sit with conventional wisdom.
13. “You will not be punished for your anger; you will be punished by your anger”
– Buddha
Is
there any need to explain this? Probably not because we all know how
bad we feel when we're angry. So let it go and don't feel bad.
14. “Happiness depends more on the inward disposition of mind than on outward circumstances”
– Benjamin Franklin
– Benjamin Franklin
You
know that money and material things don’t make you happy for any length
of time. That’s because they are extrinsic, and just because the
Declaration of Independence got it wrong by suggesting we need to pursue
happiness, thus suggesting it’s external, doesn’t mean you have to too.
Happiness
is intrinsic, meaning it‟s always within you. People have a
predisposition to be more happy or unhappy through genetics, but that
only makes up about 50% of the story, the rest is about your
determination to be happy.
15. “Life is what happens while you are busy making other plans”
– John Lennon
Doesn’t
that sum up many people you know, maybe even yourself? Are you so busy
planning what’s next, that you forget that now is already here? Planning
is crucial of course, but so is enjoying the only time you ever have;
now.
16. “No one can make you feel inferior without your consent”
– Eleanor Roosevelt
Every
feeling you have is generated internally as a reaction (usually) to
external events. It is your interpretation of events that gives them
meaning, not the events themselves. How liberating is that? To know that
people can only hurt you if you allow them to.
Of course, you have to believe it first.
17. “Twenty
years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't
do than by the ones you did. So throw off the bowlines, Sail away from
the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream.”
– Mark Twain
– Mark Twain
Yes,
yes, and three times yes. So many people try to avoid disappointment by
reigning in their hopes and dreams. It certainly can help avoid any
short-term failure, but it pretty much guarantees a lifetime of “what
ifs” and that's not something I would wish on anybody.
18. “A ship is safe in the harbor, but that is not what a ship was built for.”
– William H Shedd
Another
quote that may not be attributed to the right person, but who cares who
said it, it’s still great. You can hide yourself away from the world,
you can avoid doing anything risky or out there, but that’s not what
you were put on this earth to do. You were put here to be the best
person you can be and that means taking risks by hauling anchor and
sailing out into the uncharted open sea from time to time.
19. “Watch
your thoughts, they become words. Watch your words, they become
actions. Watch your actions, they become habits. Watch your habits, they
become your character. Watch your character, it becomes your
destiny.”
– Author unknown although sometimes attributed to Frank Outlaw.
I don’t think this needs any explanation other than you become what you think about, so be careful what you think about.
20. “Judge a man by his questions rather than his answers”
–Voltaire
–Voltaire
The
quality of your life is dictated by the quality of questions you ask
not just others, but yourself too. Questions like “Why does this always
happen to me?” will not improve the quality of your life. Ask great
questions and prepare yourself for some great answers!
21. “It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it”
– Aristotle
– Aristotle
Most
people I know like to think they are open-minded. Yet if you cannot
entertain thoughts that contradict your belief system, how open-minded
can you truly claim to be?
22. “What the thinker thinks, the prover proves.”
– Robert Anton Wilson
Taken
from the absolutely great book, “Prometheus Rising,” Wilson sums up in a
sentence something we do, which is to look for evidence to support the
beliefs we already hold rather than questioning them.
23. “Nothing is impossible, the word itself says “I’m possible!”
– Audrey Hepburn
– Audrey Hepburn
How
cool is that? Next time you tell yourself something is impossible, try
using this and see if you think differently because, physical
limitations notwithstanding, pretty much everything is possible.
24. “There is no how it is, only how it is for you.”
– Peter Mclees
– Peter Mclees
Holy mackerel, can you believe the audacity of the man to include one of his own quotes? Does his arrogance know no bounds!
Seriously
though, I love it because it gets to the heart of self-development. Too
many gurus want to tell you their way is the way. They’re wrong, don’t
listen to them. If getting up at 5.00am in the morning doesn’t suit you, don’t do it.
If goal setting leaves you feeling deflated, don’t set any, and if reading blogs with inspiring quotes in it doesn’t inspire you, stop reading right now! Find out what works best for you and then do it! Better still hire a Coach and get help doing it!
If goal setting leaves you feeling deflated, don’t set any, and if reading blogs with inspiring quotes in it doesn’t inspire you, stop reading right now! Find out what works best for you and then do it! Better still hire a Coach and get help doing it!
25. “People often say that motivation doesn’t last. Well, neither does bathing – that’s why we recommend it daily.”
– Zig Ziglar
– Zig Ziglar
Mr.
Ziglar nails it with this one. Self-development is like going to the
gym. Nobody gets fit by going to the gym once; it’s a daily or weekly
ritual. Self-development is the same, you have to work on it, if that is
the case, you really want to master it.
26. “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.”
– Wayne Gretzky
– Wayne Gretzky
Guess
what? If you don’t write that eBook you have been thinking of, you have
failed. If you don’t ask for the order you have failed. And if you
don’t ask for that date for fear of rejection, you have failed.
Failure isn’t missing, failure is never trying.
27. “I am the greatest, I said that even before I knew I was.”
– Muhammad Ali
– Muhammad Ali
That
is a classic fake it till you make it or as it is sometimes called
“The act as if frame." Your brain struggles to tell the difference
between fact and fiction, which is why visualization is such a powerful
tool.
Telling
yourself you can do something and truly getting behind that belief can
lift you to heights you previously thought of as being unattainable.
Note of caution: Be
judicious with this. Do not pretend to be a brain surgeon when you’ve
never been to medical school, and don’t tell yourself you’ll win
American Idol by a landslide if you have the voice that would shame a
frog. That’s being delusional.
28. “Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one.”
– Albert Einstein
– Albert Einstein
Look
if the great man himself says reality isn’t real, who are you to argue?
Go and set your own reality and don’t allow other people (including the
media) to impose theirs upon you, because they will, if you let them.
29. “You
will never change your life until you change something you do daily.
The secret of your success is found in your daily routine.”
– John C. Maxwell
– John C. Maxwell
Small
incremental change, or Kaizen as the Japanese call it is the way to go.
Small change really does add up and the saying that people over
estimate what they can achieve in a week and underestimate what they can
achieve in a year, is so true.
English Author Graham Greene wrote a lot of books, but did you know he only ever wrote 500 words per day. No more, no less, he would even stop mid-sentence. He seemed to do ok for himself, so what could you introduce into your daily regime that will make you glad you did in a years’ time? Check out our article on How to Establish New Habits.
30. “This too shall pass.”
– Anonymous
– Anonymous
This
possibly came from the Sufi poets but nobody really knows for sure and
it doesn’t really matter. The way of life is change. Good times come and
good times go. Bad times come and bad times go. If we can remain
relaxed in the knowledge that we’ll deal with the change that comes our
way, so much the better. If you are going through tough times at the
moment, know that they won’t go on forever.
31. “I am always doing that which I cannot do, in order that I may learn how to do it.”
– Pablo Picasso
Nobody strides onto the first tee and drives a ball 300 yards down the middle of the fairway the first time they ever play golf. Nobody reads a book on a foreign language and becomes instantly fluent. And nobody picks up a Violin for the first time and knocks out a flawless rendition of Vaughan Williams’ “The Lark Ascending.”
Go
and do stuff that you can’t do because that is the only true way of
pushing yourself to the limits and eventually you will be able to it and
I guarantee you’ll be proud of yourself.
32. “I visualize things in my mind before I do them. It’s like having a mental workshop.”
– Jack Youngblood
– Jack Youngblood
Jack
wasn’t just a terrific football player for the LA Rams, he was also
deceptively wise. We know for a fact visualization improves performance,
but we also know very few people utilize it.
33. “It’s perfect and it stinks.”
– Ram Dass
What
this means (I think) is realizing that you and I exist on more than one
plane of awareness simultaneously and on one plane suffering stinks,
and on another plane suffering is grace in that we learn and grow from
it. The question is, “Can we balance those two things in our
consciousness?”
34. “Whether you think you can or think you can’t, you’re right.”
– Henry Ford
– Henry Ford
Belief
in yourself is so important and often the determiner in how successful
you are in life. Believe in yourself because you’re a human being with
incredible endowments!
35. “One of the symptoms of an approaching nervous breakdown is to believe that one’s works is terribly important.”
– Bertrand Russell
– Bertrand Russell
Think
of what you do for a living. How important is it in the great scheme of
things? How important is it compared to your family, your health, and
your happiness? I’d guess it’s not even close, unless that is, you are
His Holiness The Dalai Lama in which case I give you permission to
ignore this quote.
36. “There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so”
– Shakespeare (from Hamlet)
– Shakespeare (from Hamlet)
Another
quote that perfectly sums up the fact that we determine our own reality
by how we decide to view things. Things, people and events aren’t good
or bad in and of themselves. It’s the meaning we attach to them through
thought that makes them so.
Was Bill Shakespeare the world’s first reframer?
37. “Gratitude is a vaccine, an antitoxin, and an antiseptic.”– John Henry Jowett
Did
you know it’s almost impossible to be feeling down and grateful at the
same time? That the moment you shift your attention on to what you have
rather than what you don’t have, your body responds accordingly.
Imagine
I asked you to throw your birth certificate into a very big hat that
contains the birth certificate of every other person on the planet. Then
once you had done that and I’d given them a good mix you had to pull
out a birth certificate at random, would you want to?
My guess is no, and as such that tells me you have stuff to be grateful about!
38. “It’s not hard to make decisions when you know what you’re values are”
– Roy Disney
Woo-baby!
Walt's brother knew a thing or too and he nailed this one. If you have
read much of my blog or have worked with me, you will know my absolute
conviction that if we don’t know our own values we cannot truly know
ourselves.
Your
values drive every aspect of your life and your life is always going to
be a tad hit or miss until you fully understand them. Do you?
39. “Courage doesn't always roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, ‘I will try again tomorrow’” – Mary-Anne Rademacher
One
failure is all many people need to give up. One, “no‟, one set back,
one missed target, one rejection. The courageous and determined push
through though with belief and commitment.
40. “As long as you're going to be thinking anyway, think big.”
– Tony Schwartz
– Tony Schwartz
Too
many people reign in their thinking because they just want to be
“realistic” and to avoid the disappointment of aiming high and missing.
Unfortunately about the only thing that approaches guarantees is a
lifetime of unfulfilled dreams and long-term disappointment that is
exponentially worse than that of a short-term failure.
Momentary dopamine crash notwithstanding, aiming for 20 and getting to 18 is better than aiming for 5 and hitting it!
41. “Life is either a daring adventure or nothing.”
– Helen Keller
– Helen Keller
This
is one of my favorite quotes because of its simplicity. If you aren’t
pushing yourself, scaring yourself and testing yourself then you really
aren’t living to your potential and there’s a good chance you are
going to feel unfulfilled.
How amazing would your life be if you could see it as a daring adventure each and every day?
42. “I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.”
– Thomas Edison
– Thomas Edison
I
love reframing and this quote is the greatest reframe in history in my
opinion. Reframing is possibly the single best skill I can teach any
client because it then gives them complete control over their lives and
the ability to see things how they want to.
43. “A man can fail many times. but he isn’t a failure until he begins to blame somebody else.”
– John Burroughs
– John Burroughs
At
the heart of self-development is the willingness to take control of our
lives and to admit responsibility if things aren’t going according to
plan. This does NOT mean beating yourself up, but it does mean refusing
to be a victim by blaming your situation on outside forces.
44. “To avoid criticism, do nothing, say nothing, be nothing.”
– Elbert Hubbard
– Elbert Hubbard
Many
people are terrified of criticism and will often keep their head down
and go with the flow for fear of being on the receiving end of it. The
world doesn’t need that; speak your mind more often. If people don’t
like you for being you, then why would you want to please them by
pretending to be somebody else?
45. “If you can't feed a hundred people, then feed just one.”
– Mother Theresa
– Mother Theresa
Have
you ever heard the story about the little girl throwing starfish into
the sea? There has been a huge storm and the beach is covered with
thousands of the stranded little fellas.
The girl is approached by a man who inquires as to what she is doing? She explains she is throwing them back and when the guy aghast at her naiveté and pointing to the endless stretch of starfish says, “You can’t possibly make a difference” With that the girl tosses one back into the ocean and says, “Well I made a difference to that one”
The girl is approached by a man who inquires as to what she is doing? She explains she is throwing them back and when the guy aghast at her naiveté and pointing to the endless stretch of starfish says, “You can’t possibly make a difference” With that the girl tosses one back into the ocean and says, “Well I made a difference to that one”
You too can make a difference; if that is, you want to.
46. “There is no comparison between that which is lost by not succeeding and that which is lost by not trying”
– Francis Bacon
– Francis Bacon
I
know this one is similar in tone with a few other quotes but I think
it’s worth repeating that failure is not that big a deal (Unless you’re
an airplane pilot attempting to land a plane successfully).
47. “If
you want to build a ship, don't drum up people to collect wood and
don't assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the
endless immensity of the sea.”
– Antoine de St-Exupéry
– Antoine de St-Exupéry
This
is really a values based quote because it refers to intrinsic
motivation. Most people try to motivate themselves using extrinsic
motivation like earning more money, gaining a job promotion or buying a
new house etc. There’s nothing wrong with that, as long as it isn’t to
the detriment of what really drives you from deep inside.
If
you manage people, take this quote to heart. Don’t wave huge bonuses at
people if you want to get the best out of them, find out what really
drives them at a core level and you will get much greater results.
48. “We
can never judge the lives of others, because each person knows only
their own path and renunciation. It’s one thing to think you are on the
right path, but it’s another to think that yours is the only path.”
– Paulo Coelho
– Paulo Coelho
If
everybody adopted this quote do you realize there would be no judging,
no arrogant people, no extremism, no hatred and no wars. It would
lead to more understanding and the realization that we are all merely a
product of our genes and upbringing and as such, no better nor worse
than anybody else. Not bad for one little quote, eh?
49. “Procrastination is opportunities' assassin”
– Victor Kiam
– Victor Kiam
How
many people have had great ideas and then failed to act on them
immediately? Amazingly enough I have no idea, but my guess is that
its‟ somewhere between a boat load and a shitte load, and that’s a lot
of people.
Everybody procrastinates from time to time, but if you’re going to do that, do it about emptying the dishwasher and not about launching that brilliant idea or starting that business that you know just can’t fail.
50. “Where you stumble there your treasure is”
– Joseph Campbell
“It
seems a farmer was out working in the field when his plow caught on
something and it wouldn’t budge. His first reaction, of course, was go
into what I call Judger mind. Cursing, he began digging around to free
the plow. To his surprise, it was caught on a ring buried deep in the
ground.
After freeing his plow, the farmer got curious and pulled on the iron ring. Off came the lid of an ancient chest.
Before him, glittering in the sun, lay a treasure of precious jewels and gold.”
This
story reminds us that it is often by confronting our greatest obstacles
that we find our greatest strengths and possibilities but sometimes you
have to dig deep to find them.
Bonus # 51. “Be curious always, because knowledge will not acquire you, you must acquire it.”
– Sudie Beck
Curiosity
is an incredible state to be in. You can’t be judging and curious and
you probably can’t be miserable and be curious. Unless I guess
you are curious as to why you are miserable. 😉
Be more curious!
I
hope you've enjoyed these quotes. Equally, I hope you'll send me an
email with your favorite quote and what it means to you. Also, as I said at the beginning, please feel
free to forward it on to somebody whose day it may brighten up.
To your greater fulfillment and success!
Peter Mclees, Leadership Coach, Trainer and Performance Consultant
SMART DEVELOPMENT
Having worked with several companies throughout their growth cycle, we have valuable insights and strategies that would help any late stage startup, small or medium sized company achieve sustained growth and prosperity.
To your greater fulfillment and success!
Peter Mclees, Leadership Coach, Trainer and Performance Consultant
SMART DEVELOPMENT
Take the Next Step...
Interested
in learning how to develop your organization's leadership capability,
culture, and employee engagement? We begin with a collaborative
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contact: Email: petercmclees@gmail.com or Mobile:323-854-1713
Smart Development has an exceptional track record helping service providers, ports, sales teams, restaurants, stores, distribution centers, food production facilities, wealth management services, third-party maintenance providers, real estate services, nonprofits, government agencies and other businesses create a strong culture, leadership bench strength, coaching skills and the teamwork necessary for growth.Having worked with several companies throughout their growth cycle, we have valuable insights and strategies that would help any late stage startup, small or medium sized company achieve sustained growth and prosperity.
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