"For me, it’s how many useful things I create, whether songs, companies, articles, websites, or anything else. If I create something that’s not useful to others, it doesn’t count. But I’m also not interested in doing something useful unless it needs my creative input. How do you grade yourself? It’s important to know in advance, to make sure you’re staying focused on what’s honestly important to you, instead of doing what others think you should."
-- Derek Sivers
"Optimism has an important place in some, though not all, realms of your life. It is not a panacea. But it can protect you against depression; it can raise your level of achievement; it can enhance your physical well-being; it is a far more pleasant mental state to be in."
-- Martin Seligman
"It does not matter what he has been or what he is. All that matters is “what does he want?” He knows that the world is a manifestation of the mental activity which goes on within himself, so he strives to determine and control the ends from which he thinks. In his imagination he dwells in the end, confident that he shall dwell there in the flesh also. He puts his whole trust in the feeling of the wish fulfilled and lives by committing himself to that state, for the art of fortune is to tempt him so to do."
-- Neville Goddard
"If you take responsibility for your attitude recognizing that it can change how you live, managing it every day, and cultivating and developing positive thoughts and habits then you can make your attitude your greatest asset. It can become the difference maker in your life opening doors and helping you overcome great obstacles."
-- John C. Maxwell
"Let love guide you. Follow the route that feels loving and joyful. If it feels heavy and fearful, don’t go that way. Always choose love. Let love pull you into happiness. You will discover your purpose-filled life by being present in the journey of life. In order to fully embrace the journey, you have to become present in it. Explore this meditation, which can help you release expectations of the future and be more present in the moment."
-- Shannon Kaiser
"Your ability to succeed is in direct proportion to your ability to solve your problems. The better you are at solving problems, the more successful you become."
-- Gino Wickman
""Very often, when you change your perspective, you see things differently, make different decisions, and get different results. Napoleon Hill says in his success classic Think and Grow Rich that “within every problem or difficulty there lies the seed of an equal or greater benefit or advantage.”
-- Brian Tracy
"The value of exercise for mental health is widely discussed now, as well as the health dangers of having a sedentary lifestyle. Though I do think that can feel dispiriting if you have never enjoyed exercise, if you feel you are starting from a place of low fitness or if you are lacking in body confidence. The main thing is to choose a form of exercise you enjoy – or can at least bear to do – and find a way to stick with it. Recognise what motivates you. Does being outdoors make you feel good? Are you more likely to go to a class where there is a social aspect, at a set time every week? Does it help to listen to music or podcasts when you work out?"
-- Trinny Woodall
"But that’s forgetting about the joy of learning and doing. Yes, it may take longer. Yes, it may be inefficient. Yes, it may even cost you millions of dollars in lost opportunities because your business is growing slower because you’re insisting on doing something yourself. But the whole point of doing anything is because it makes you happy! That’s it!"
-- Derek Sivers
"On an individual level, those that are more resilient report better wellbeing – which means boosting resilience can also help to reduce stress, burnout, anxiety and depression. Research has shown that resilient people have attributes that help to facilitate adjustment and coping in adverse or stressful situations, whereas someone with low resilience may struggle to cope with challenging situations such as failure, which can lead to negative emotions."
-- Gemma Leigh Roberts
"But whatever you do, don’t underestimate how difficult it will be to reach your goal. Most goals worth achieving require time, planning, effort, and persistence. Thinking things will come to you easily and effortlessly will leave you ill prepared for the journey ahead, and as a result can be a recipe for failure."
-- Heidi Grant Halvorson
"You have the mental ability right now to set any goal and achieve everything you could ever want or hope for in life. By using your brain—your ability to think, plan, and create—with greater precision and accuracy, you can solve any problem, overcome every obstacle, and achieve any goal you can set for yourself."
-- Brian Tracy
"Men are anxious to improve their circumstances, but are unwilling to improve themselves; they therefore remain bound. The man who does not shrink from self-crucifixion can never fail to accomplish the object upon which his heart is set. This is as true of earthly as of heavenly things. Even the man whose sole object is to acquire wealth must be prepared to make great personal sacrifices before he can accomplish his object; and how much more so he who would realize a strong and well-poised life."
-- James Allen
"When you are thinking about taking on a new goal, make sure you think about both the wonderful things that will happen if you succeed and the obstacles that stand in your way. This process of mental contrasting will not only help you to make a good decision about whether or not to adopt the goal, but it will naturally engage your motivational systems and maximize your commitment to the goals that you do decide to achieve."
-- Heidi Grant Halvorson
"There are only so many hours in a day, after all. There are only so many days in a year, only so many years in a life. You do what you can do, as competently as possible within a reasonable time frame, and then you let it go. When it came to everything from washing the dishes to wrapping Christmas presents, my mother’s thinking was much in line with General George Patton’s: “A good plan violently executed now is better than a perfect plan executed next week.”"
-- Elizabeth Gilbert
"In the end, it’s about what you want to be, not what you want to have. To have something (a finished recording, a business, or millions of dollars) is the means, not the end. To be something (a good singer, a skilled entrepreneur, or just plain happy) is the real point. When you sign up to run a marathon, you don’t want a taxi to take you to the finish line."
-- Derek Sivers
"Observe your inner talking and remember your aim. Do they match? Does your inner talking match what you would say audibly had you achieved your goal? The individual’s inner speech and actions attract the conditions of his life. Through uncritical self-observation of your inner talking you find where you are in the inner world, and where you are in the inner world is what you are in the outer world. You put on the new man whenever ideals and inner speech match. In this way alone can the new man be born."
-- Neville Goddard
"The power of your subconscious is beyond all measure. It inspires you and guides you. It calls up vivid scenes from the storehouse of memory. Your subconscious controls your heartbeat and the circulation of your blood. It regulates your digestion, assimilation, and elimination. When you eat a piece of bread, your subconscious mind transmutes it into tissue, muscle, bone, and blood. These processes are beyond the ken of the wisest person who walks the earth. Your subconscious mind controls all the vital processes and functions of your body. It knows the answer to all the problems."
—- Joseph Murphy
"It is our job to dig up whatever potential we have in whatever situation we are in, and then to invest it and see it grow. The choice is whether we are going to allow fear and experiences to keep our potential buried, or choose to step out in faith and see that potential turn into reality."
-- Henry Cloud
"Achieving isn’t just about knowing how to reach your goals—it’s at least as much about pursuing the kinds of goals that will help you to develop your full potential and actually enjoy the process of getting there."
-- Heidi Grant Halvorson
"When you’ve been blaming somebody else for your problems all of your life, and all of a sudden you forgive them, you can no longer blame them. That means you’re now accepting responsibility for your future. That’s the most important step you will ever take: accepting that responsibility. Nonetheless, you’ll discover that the load is so much lighter that you can move much faster."
-- Zig Ziglar
"I find meditation and visioning useful for so many reasons. It brings me clarity, it renews my energy and it clears my head of a tremendous amount of noise. It also helps me to deal with stress."
-- Trinny Woodall
"Inner talking is the beginning, the sowing of the seeds of future action. To determine the action, you must consciously initiate and control your inner talking. Construct a sentence which implies the fulfillment of your aim, such as “I have a large, steady, dependable income, consistent with integrity and mutual benefit,” or “I am happily married,” “I am wanted,” “I am contributing to the good of the world,” and repeat such a sentence over and over until you are inwardly affected by it. Our inner speech represents in various ways the world we live in."
-- Neville Goddard
"It won’t surprise you to learn that your beliefs are important influences on the goals you adopt. For instance, you would probably only commit to the goal of improving your math skills if you believe that math skills can be improved in the first place—otherwise it just wouldn’t make sense to try. Our beliefs determine whether we see a goal as within our reach or as a waste of time and energy."
-- Heidi Grant Halvorson
"I firmly believe that we all need to find something to do in our lives that stops us from eating the couch. Whether we make a profession out of it or not, we all need an activity that is beyond the mundane and that takes us out of our established and limiting roles in society (mother, employee, neighbor, brother, boss, etc.)."
-- Elizabeth Gilbert
"Believing you have the ability to reach your goals is important, but so is believing you can get the ability. Embracing the (accurate) belief that you can change will allow you to make better choices and reach your fullest potential."
-- Heidi Grant Halvorson
"One interesting and effective way to engage the subconscious is to visualize, using a meditative approach. Visualizing is a way to “make believe,” to pretend that something you want is already real. It’s not necessary to actually see a picture in your mind’s eye, although it’s fine if you do. Despite its name, visualization relies on feeling, not vision. The important thing is that you feel as if it is genuine by acting as if it is true. It is the feeling that convinces your subconscious that it’s real, not the picture."
-- Natalie Reid
"The greater danger for most of us, said Michelangelo, is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it. A big dream is a goal that will stretch you beyond your current capabilities. That is the point. Dream BIG."
-- Newt Gingrich
"Happiness also brings out the best in us. When we are happy we relate better with others. We feel more connected, we are less afraid, and we are more confident. Our inner happiness is attractive, literally, in that it attracts happy relationships. When we are happy we also work better. Occupational psychology research confirms that if you can say “I am happy in my work,” you are likely to be more productive, more creative, and more successful and experience less stress, less depression, and less mental illness. True happiness enables us to be more successful"
-- Robert Holden
"Your beliefs about your strengths and your weaknesses play a large role in determining the goals you set for yourself. If I believe that I’m good at math and science, then setting myself the goal of becoming an engineer makes sense for me. If I believe that I am uncoordinated and slow, then trying to make the varsity basketball team probably doesn’t make so much sense. Our beliefs about our abilities influence what we think is possible—and what we might realistically be able to achieve."
-- Heidi Grant Halvorson
"Try to notice what you are saying in yourself at this moment, to what thoughts and feelings you are consenting. They will be perfectly woven into your tapestry of life. To change your life you must change your inner talking, for “life,” said Hermes, “is the union of Word and Mind.” When imagination matches your inner speech to fulfilled desire, there will then be a straight path in yourself from within out, and the without will instantly reflect the within for you, and you will know reality is only actualized inner talking."
-- Neville Goddard
"Your identity emerges out of your habits. Every action is a vote for the type of person you wish to become. Becoming the best version of yourself requires you to continuously edit your beliefs, and to upgrade and expand your identity."
-- James Clear
"It doesn’t matter in the least. Let people have their opinions. More than that—let people be in love with their opinions, just as you and I are in love with ours. But never delude yourself into believing that you require someone else’s blessing (or even their comprehension) in order to make your own creative work. And always remember that people’s judgments about you are none of your business."
-- Elizabeth Gilbert
"Imagination is such a powerful thing. We can’t do anything unless we can imagine it first. So imagine practical and emotional challenges of the journey too, as well as visualising the outcome, and it will help you to get there. You can put it on a mood board so that it visually exists too."
-- Trinny Woodall
"Ask your future self, “What could I be doing better that would help me grow faster?” The benefit of asking this question is that you are able to cut out the distractions that are keeping you from achieving your goals, the tasks that might be draining your creativity, or the things you are doing out of obligation but not strategy. Go so far as to ask, “Will you be proud of me in this moment?”"
-- Sten Morgan
"What we desire does not lie in the future but in ourselves at this very moment. At any moment in our lives we are faced with an infinite choice: “what we are and what we want to be.” And what we want to be is already existent, but to realize it we must match our inner speech and actions to it."
-- Neville Goddard
"Remember that failure is an event; it is not a person. A musician hits a sour note. Does that mean he’s a failure as a musician? A student misses a question. Does that mean she’s a failure as a student? The cook burns the beans. Does that mean he’s a failure as a cook? The salesperson misses a sale. Does that mean that that salesperson is a failure? You take a wrong turn on the highway. Does that mean you’re an idiot, or does it simply mean you made a wrong turn? When the quarterback throws past the wide receiver, does that mean he’s a failure as a quarterback, or does it simply mean that on that particular occasion, he happened to make a mistake? I don’t believe I can say too many times that failure is an event. It is not a person. Yesterday did end last night. Today is a brand-new day, and it’s yours."
-- Zig Ziglar
"The subconscious mind, if maximized, can catapult you and your career to heights previously unimaginable. The trick lies in understanding how this inner part of the mind, which is always working silently in the background, can be fed special instructions which will program it. If programmed properly, the subconscious will feed the conscious part of your mind continuously and almost unbeknownst to you while you are sleeping, watching television, walking, working, or eating. The subconscious is like a power plant all in itself that can power up the body to accomplish what it could not otherwise do."
-- John Paul Carinci
"I told the universe (and anyone who would listen) that I was committed to living a creative life not in order to save the world, not as an act of protest, not to become famous, not to gain entrance to the canon, not to challenge the system, not to show the bastards, not to prove to my family that I was worthy, not as a form of deep therapeutic emotional catharsis . . . but simply because I liked it."
-- Elizabeth Gilbert
"There is very little growth and reward in life without taking risks. As the parable says, the one who buried his treasure in the ground did so to avoid risk of loss, failure, and disapproval. In the end, though, he reaped all three of these disasters. Clearly . . . Avoidance of risk is the greatest risk of all."
-- Henry Cloud
"Our ideals are waiting to be incarnated, but unless we ourselves match our inner speech and action to the speech and action of fulfilled desire, they are incapable of birth. Inner speech and action are the channels of God’s action. He cannot respond to our prayer unless these paths are offered. The outer behaviour of man is mechanical. It is subject to the compulsion applied to it by the behaviour of the inner self, and old habits of the inner self hang on till replaced by new ones. It is a peculiar property of the second or inner man that he gives to the outer self something similar to his own reality of being. Any change in the behaviour of the inner self will result in corresponding outer changes."
-- Neville Goddard
"Don’t be afraid to set a goal even if you don’t initially know how you will make it happen. If you really want it you will find a way. You can break it into stages, find people to help you, learn a skill to get you there. Set the goal and challenge yourself to make a plan."
-- Trinny Woodall
"Action, on the other hand, is the type of behavior that will deliver an outcome. If I outline twenty ideas for articles I want to write, that’s motion. If I actually sit down and write an article, that’s action. If I search for a better diet plan and read a few books on the topic, that’s motion. If I actually eat a healthy meal, that’s action."
-- James Clear
"Most things will be okay eventually, but not everything will be. Sometimes you’ll put up a good fight and lose. Sometimes you’ll hold on really hard and realize there is no choice but to let go. Acceptance is a small, quiet room."
-- Cheryl Strayed
"To put it plainly, if you convince your subconscious mind that you are becoming healthier, stronger, happier and wealthier, it will become true—because the subconscious mind will create a world for you that contains these elements. That’s how the subconscious works. 1 It isn’t a matter of merely saying the words, however; you have to honestly believe them."
-- Natalie Reid
"Hold fast to your ideal. Nothing can take it from you but your imagination. Don’t think of your ideal, think from it. It is only the ideals from which you think that are ever realized."
-- Neville Goddard
"Your reasons are your rope. If you find at least five reasons to fight for what you want in life, you reinforce your courage and you become stronger. Your reasons are the only things that will pick you back up when life knocks you down. They will keep you on point, give you a purpose, and hone your focus as you move toward your goals."
-- Aziz Gazipura
"“Quit your complaining. It’s not the world’s fault that you wanted to be an artist. It’s not the world’s job to enjoy the films you make, and it’s certainly not the world’s obligation to pay for your dreams. Nobody wants to hear it. Steal a camera if you must, but stop whining and get back to work.”"
-- Elizabeth Gilbert
"I’m here to tell you that we can change. We can grow. We can be more than we are. If you don’t like who you are or where you are, don’t sweat it. You’re not stuck with who you are or where you are. You absolutely can grow. You can change."
-- Zig Ziglar
"Your life will be a great and continuous unfolding. It’s good you’ve worked hard to resolve childhood issues while in your twenties, but understand that what you resolve will need to be resolved again. And again. You will come to know things that can only be known with the wisdom of age and the grace of years. Most of those things will have to do with forgiveness."
-- Cheryl Strayed
"You have the power to change your beliefs about yourself. Your identity is not set in stone. You have a choice in every moment. You can choose the identity you want to reinforce today with the habits you choose today."
-- James Clear
"When you have more clarity about what you need to do and what is important to you, you can create space to allow you more focus. You will have a greater understanding of what your priorities actually are and you can move forward with greater intentionality and give importance to the things that nurture you too."
-- Trinny Woodall
"Opening up to optimism is about focusing on the good instead of being resentful about the bad. Nick Vujicic was born without legs or arms. But today he is a world-renowned messenger of hope. He demonstrates that the only barriers in life are the ones we put on ourselves. We can choose to focus on our broken pieces and what is not working, or we can choose to see the good. We always have a choice. We can be angry for what we don’t have, or we can be thankful for what we do have."
-- Shannon Kaiser
"This proclamation of intent and entitlement is not something you can do just once and then expect miracles; it’s something you must do daily, forever. I’ve had to keep defining and defending myself as a writer every single day of my adult life—constantly reminding and rereminding my soul and the cosmos that I’m very serious about the business of creative living, and that I will never stop creating, no matter what the outcome, and no matter how deep my anxieties and insecurities may be."
-- Elizabeth Gilbert
""Whenever possible, I leave my phone in a different room until lunch. When it’s right next to me, I’ll check it all morning for no reason at all. But when it is in another room, I rarely think about it. And the friction is high enough that I won’t go get it without a reason. As a result, I get three to four hours each morning when I can work without interruption.
-- James Clear
"To build a healthy self-image, know that you’re not stuck where you are. You can grow, you can change, and when your self-image is solid, you’ll be happy with your mate, your child, your job, and your neighborhood. If you find fault with yourself, it’s easy to find fault with everything else."
-- Zig Ziglar
"Focusing on confidence can help to enhance performance and master uncertainty. It’s important to remember you don’t need to have all the answers, you just need confidence in your ability to find a solution – either alone or with the help of a team or network."
-- Gemma Leigh Roberts
"Worry can infect almost anyone at any time. But if I find myself worrying needlessly, I ask myself, “Do I have control over this situation? Can I change the outcome? Then forget about it!” That’s right. I tell myself, “Forget about it!” As soon as the words are spoken, a certain feeling of relief sets in. You can also say, “And this, too, shall pass.”"
-- John Paul Carinci
"There are an awful lot of people who have a bear up a tree. They have their pasts buried in their mind. They concentrate on the negatives of life. As a result, they end up never doing the things that they are capable of doing. Your self-image is enormously important."
-- Zig Ziglar
"Your own reasons to create are reason enough. Merely by pursuing what you love, you may inadvertently end up helping us plenty. (“There is no love which does not become help,” taught the theologian Paul Tillich.) Do whatever brings you to life, then. Follow your own fascinations, obsessions, and compulsions. Trust them. Create whatever causes a revolution in your heart. The rest of it will take care of itself."
-- Elizabeth Gilbert
"Bad things will happen, and you will stay strong and keep going. Ninety-nine per cent of the things you worry about won’t happen. But the fear will sap your energy and keep you stuck. For me, the sense of freedom that comes from conquering fear is one of the best feelings there is."
-- Trinny Woodall
"Your subconscious mind never sleeps, never rests. It is always on the job. You can discover the miracle-working power of your subconscious by plainly stating to your subconscious, prior to sleep, that you want a specific thing accomplished. It is foolish to believe in sickness and something to hurt or to harm you. Believe in perfect health, prosperity, peace, wealth, and divine guidance."
-- Joseph Murphy
"Most people read, view and listen to things without the faintest consideration of what they are letting into their mind, and how that impacts their overall self-image. If you allow negative, violent, sadistic and demeaning content into your mind, it will lead to a negative self-image—akin to an infection. Be careful to only allow nutritious, positive, healing and uplifting content into your mind.… and watch your self-image elevate accordingly."
-- Zig Ziglar
"The purpose of setting goals is to win the game. The purpose of building systems is to continue playing the game. True long-term thinking is goalless thinking. It’s not about any single accomplishment. It is about the cycle of endless refinement and continuous improvement. Ultimately, it is your commitment to the process that will determine your progress."
-- James Clear
"Listen to what bugs you. It might be a message. Don’t let negative feelings just sit there. Do something about them. Don’t let long-term wishes and dreams go ignored. Find out what they mean. Listen to your symptoms. They might be telling you that you have something to dig up."
-- Henry Cloud
"Negative conditioning is the mother of learning, the father of action, and the architect of failure. Positive conditioning is the mother of learning, the father of action, and the architect of success. Do you respond to life, or do you react to life?"
-- Zig Ziglar
"Confidence, self-belief, self-esteem and tenacity are like an ecosystem, they all feed each other. When we practise or nurture one, it grows the others."
-- Trinny Woodall
"The subconscious mind is where your beliefs, attitudes, thoughts, feelings, decisions, and choices are working away, automatically crafting your life. The key is to bring what is in your subconscious mind to the surface. By bringing these aspects of yourself into your own awareness, you’ll make them conscious, so you can take charge and direct them yourself."
-- Natalie Reid
"Remember: The underlying belief through all of this is that you can handle whatever comes your way. If you internalize that belief, there's no end to what you can accomplish in your life."
-- Aziz Gazipura
"Reminding yourself of the positive reasons why you are working hard towards your goal will help keep you on course. Whether it is the clothes you can wear having lost weight or the decisions you will make once you become your own boss – thinking about this helps."
-- Shaa Wasmund
"Positive emotions have in fact been shown to help with stress recovery. Research has shown that highly resilient people tend to display positive emotions, even when facing adversity or stress, and those with positive expectations – which is a view that your future looks positive, and you’ll fare better than is generally expected – have a lower risk of depressive symptoms and low mood when faced with adversity."
-- Gemma Leigh Roberts
"Things that never happen: 40%.
Things over and past, that can’t be changed: 30%.
Needless worries about our health: 12%.
Petty, miscellaneous worries: 10%.
Real legitimate worries: 8%
Which leaves 92 percent of all worry we do as useless."
-- Dr. Walter Cavert
"Take a moment to visualize yourself in five years. First, visualize yourself if you stayed exactly where you are now, and continued doing the same things that you’ve always done. Now visualize where you would be if you adopted the view that you can be constantly changing and growing. How different would these two people be? How much does the decision you make today impact your future?"
-- Sten Morgan
"When we think of a difficult thing to do, like attending graduate school or changing careers, we often just think of the immediate comfort that comes from not doing it. No, I won’t do it gives a little relief from the big gulp of work that school would be for three years. But, that is a big lie we tell ourselves —a lie that hides the future consequences of our choices. Yes, you avoid the work. That feels good at the moment. But in doing that, you have made another choice as well: to have a life you hate three years from now. We act as if the present is all there is; we forget that the future is going to come either way. Immediate relief from hard work is not the only consequence. By avoiding the immediate discomfort, you also sign up for the negative consequence residing within the future reality."
-- Henry Cloud
"In order to make the change and heal, you must prepare and be willing to make the actual decision. That sounds easy, right? “Of course I want to change,” you say. The decision has to be genuine; it’s not about merely saying the words. If you think you really want to change and it doesn’t happen, you will need to honestly examine your motivations, your convictions, and your determination."
-- Natalie Reid
"Whatever really gets you going and lights a fire in your heart, you must write it down. Find your reasons for the one thing that you would be doing if you had more courage and list at least five them on paper. Again, if you haven’t done it already, take a moment and write those reasons down right now."
-- Aziz Gazipura
"If you are focusing on what you don’t want more than what you do want, you will feel overwhelmed, stressed out, frustrated, and perhaps even depressed or sad. You may be feeling unhappy and hopeless. The goal is to turn your attention to what you want instead of what is at the moment, which requires a dedication to trusting the unknown. We can trust the unknown and become more comfortable when we follow the joy route of becoming a goal digger."
-- Shannon Kaiser
"Situations where you encounter adversity and trauma provide the richest learning experiences while also helping to develop resilience. Learning is the conduit through which failures can be turned into successes. The adaptability pillar can enhance the future success of individuals by encouraging them to actively think about negative experiences and learn from them by reframing those experiences as opportunities for adapting, learning and positive development."
-- Gemma Leigh Roberts
"The overriding principle is that unresolved negative things are a drain and take away from that which has life. They have no place in your heart. That principle does not negate patience, longsuffering, hope, or working out difficult relationships over time. It includes all of those things, doing whatever you can to fix what is wrong and make it better. Forgive and reconcile. But it also means not to let bad situations sit, stagnate, get infected, and drain away your life. “A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones” (Proverbs 17:22).Move quickly to deal with whatever is crushing your spirit. Déjà vu."
-- Henry Cloud
"Beliefs precede your reality, which means that whatever you believe is what you will create. In other words, first the belief exists, and then the corresponding reality shows up. For example, whether you believe this 5-Step Process will work for you or whether you believe it won’t work, you’ll be right—because everything depends on your own belief!"
-- Natalie Reid
"You’ve got to realize that all the horror you prepare yourself for is not actually going to happen. Once you do that and you see through those fears, your courage will explode. You won’t be dealing with overwhelming fears anymore ... you’ll be dealing with minor challenges; things you will be able to plow through with ease."
-- Aziz Gazipura
"From the perspective of responsibility, you realize that you have the power to make something happen. From any other perspective, such as failure or victim, you do not. In fact, from those positions you will operate in a helpless, powerless way at the mercy of “circumstances.” It is up to you to take this first step by taking responsibility for the situations you want to change."
-- Natalie Reid
"The message here is that our successful friends do not ignore the little signals that things are not quite right inside. They pay attention to what bugs them, drives their fantasies, delivers stress, or whatever signals make their way up through the weeds to consciousness. Often, the biggest sign that tells us of things buried in the heart is numbness and a life that is not alive. Our déjà vu friends will always choose life, and that means their heart, mind, and soul are always getting attention. And when they see those signs, they take action."
-- Henry Cloud
"When you've emptied out your head - so to speak- you can start to notice the connections between the issues in the bubbles. Your whole life is connected, so when you begin to work on one issue it will automatically begin to have a positive impact on some of the other issues. Look at your bubbles and draw lines between the issues that are connected in some way (using coloured pens makes this even clearer). This means that when you make even a small improvement in one of the areas of concern, it often has a positive impact on some of the other areas, triggering an exponential result."
-- Stephanie Philp
"Remember, we create reality by observing it, so if you dwell on something, it will show up before you. To get rid of something, you do the exact opposite—instead of focusing on it—you let it become meaningless in your world by changing your attitude about it."
-- Natalie Reid
"You only need a few minutes a day for a journaling practice, and it is essential for growing your self-awareness. It was Socrates who said that an unexamined life is not worth living. That sounds harsh, but if you consider that without deeply examining your mental training and reconstructing new, uncommon stories to guide your behavior and goals, then you are blissfully (or painfully) ignorant that you are dancing to someone else’s tune."
-- Mark Divine
"Whatever industry you work in, wherever you’re located in the world, you will face change. Once you’ve accepted this fact, the next step is to find opportunities in the situation you find yourself in."
-- Gemma Leigh Roberts
"Forgiveness reduces your stress. Over the years, many studies have shown that holding a grudge keeps your body in a state of stress. When you practice forgiveness, your blood pressure and heart rate decrease."
-- Amy Morin
"To cultivate a true sense of self, you must get clear about who you are and what you want in life. Fuzzy goals will leave room for holes. Instead of having a life full of ditches and dead ends, create a plan of action to help you gravitate toward self love in every situation."
-- Shannon Kaiser
"Circumstances change, and so can you. Positive feedback loops, adding effect to effect, can spiral counterproductively in a negative direction, but can also work to get you ahead. That’s the other, far more optimistic lesson of Price’s law and the Pareto distribution: those who start to have will probably get more."
-- Jordan B. Peterson
"If you want to be the best you can be and to achieve what is truly possible for you, you must be brutally honest with yourself. You must sit down and analyze yourself in detail to determine where you are today, as well as what you must do to get where you want to go."
-- Jack Welch
"Your inner dialogue is the key to your perceptions, your decisions, your actions, and how you live your life. A useful metaphor is to think of your mind as being full of fast-moving mental traffic. Each thought is a vehicle that wants to take you somewhere. The thoughts you “take” to be true and wise are what shape your future experiences."
-- Robert Holden
"Make a habit of daily goal setting and achieving for the rest of your life. Focus on the things you want rather than the things you don’t want. Resolve to be a goal-seeking organism, moving unerringly toward the things that are important to you."
-- Andrew Clancy
"A man can assure his success only if he learns how to utilize his personal qualifications so as to create and control his opportunities to succeed. He should be able to bring himself to good luck, and not expect anybody or any event to bring good luck to him."
-- Norval A. Hawkins
"What brings you joy? Every single one of us has our own inner joy route and things that feel loving to us. This awesome action is where you can get in touch with them. The more you open up to love, the more you will realize your true purpose and passion. The goal is to use your passion to live a purpose-filled life. Give yourself permission to be in the journey of life and explore your passions."
-- Shannon Kaiser
"Life is a constant balance of holding on and letting go. Releasing habits, people, and situations that no longer serve you is an act of self-love. When we hold on to things that no longer help us grow, we become stale and bored with life. This is when the depression can sneak in and we avoid acting on our inner pull. Show up for yourself, and let go."
-- Shannon Kaiser
"A 'stretch' goal is something that not easily achievable. It's a goal that will demand more of you than perhaps you currently have, forcing you to learn new skills, step outside your comfort zone and become more flexible. In the process you'll develop more resilience. When you've accomplished that stretch goal, set another that will stretch you even further."
-- Stephanie Philp
"I learned this, at least, by my experiment; that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours. He will put some things behind, will pass an invisible boundary; new, universal, and more liberal laws will begin to establish themselves around and within him; or the old laws be expanded, and interpreted in his favor in a more liberal sense, and he will live with the license of a higher order of beings."
-- Harriet Rubin
“We need to have the courage to enter into this other hidden world (our subconscious) [...] If we do this, we will discover two things: the origin of our involuntary behaviour and our unexplored potential.”
-- Mario Alonso Puig
"Self-knowledge is a primary key to Success Intelligence. It is far more important than your IQ, your CV, your Ph.D., your MBA, or your last job reference. The better you know yourself—what you value, what inspires you, what you are made of—the more effectively you will live, work, and relate to others. Self-knowledge is the jewel in the crown of success. It enables you to be inner-directed, self referring, and true to yourself."
-- Robert Holden
"We talk about beliefs as if they're things that you can pick up and handle. But beliefs aren't things. Beliefs are just thoughts that are repeated. The more the thoughts are repeated the stronger they become. They attract other similar thoughts. The thinking process becomes a habit. And eventually you end up with a belief. Beliefs can also come about because of some trauma or incident, from your parents or teachers, from the media. In short - they can come from anywhere."
-- Stephanie Philp
"Practice five or more minutes of box breathing daily (building up to twenty minutes). Read something inspiring as part of your morning or evening ritual, or a spot drill. Say no to new commitments and say yes to downtime for learning or helping someone out."
-- Mark Divine
"We can make do without enjoyment for a while, and even without a lot of satisfaction. Without purpose, however, we are utterly lost, because we can’t deal with life’s inevitable puzzles and dilemmas. When we do have a sense of meaning and purpose, we can face life with hope and inner peace."
-- Arthur C Brooks and Oprah Winfrey
"Over time, I learned that success is not a race; it is a journey. I also learned that success is not an achievement; it is a discovery. The primary task, then, is to create a vision for success—one that engages your whole being. Vision is what helps you discover the truth about success. Vision is the first key to Success Intelligence."
-- Robert Holden
"Your expectations determine the next ring, your attitude—the outward manifestation or reflection of your values, beliefs, and expectations. If you have a positive attitude, others will be drawn to you, and you will be more likely to find success. Your attitude determines the fifth ring: your actions. You are happiest when your outside actions are congruent with your values on the inside."
-- Andrew Clancy
"Ninety percent of the world’s woe comes from people not knowing themselves, their abilities, their frailties, and even their real virtues. Most of us go almost all the way through life as complete strangers to ourselves."
-— Sydney J. Harris
"If we wait until we feel ready to take on a new challenge, we might never pursue it all. There may not come a day when we wake up and suddenly feel prepared. We become prepared by taking the leap anyway."
-- Adam Grant
"Success follows those who stay focused; those who can be disciplined enough to follow the same pathway until they see reward. Call it habit, ritual, routine or staying away from fads and shiny objects, the result is the same."
-- Stephen Macdonald
"By living your life open-minded to other perspectives and our shared humanity, you can be equipped to adapt once pitfalls stand in your path. Embracing diverse viewpoints and acknowledging the shared experiences that connect us all fosters resilience. When you're open to learning from others, you gain insights that can help you navigate the complexities of life more effectively. The lessons learned from other people's triumphs and struggles become tools you can use to guide your journey. This open-minded approach allows you to anticipate potential pitfalls, make informed decisions, and adjust your course."
-- Brent M. Jones
"One of my aims is to get people back to the way they should be living—back to doing real exercise, eating real food, and consuming real knowledge to shape their minds (as opposed to fear, disinformation, and control propaganda). If you are suffering from some of these challenges, whether as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic or simply due to the relentless societal drive toward ease and hyper-virtualization, then there is no time to waste in taking back your power right now. You will experience an immediate boost in positive energy, creative thinking, and overall health."
-- Mark Divine
"There's something about committing to the goal by taking the first step that says you're on your way. If you really want to kick start your goal, tell someone what your goal is - then keep them updated on your progress. This keeps you accountable and committed."
-- Stephanie Philp
"“I have the belief that when you do work that is close to your heart and you believe it is valuable in some way, it will come back in some way. So far that’s been the case.”"
-- Harriet Rubin
"Many people keep creating the same experience over and over again. This can range from deepseated patterns, learned in our childhoods, to habits that we've acquired over the years. When I was a kid, my mother often said: “If you always do what you always did, you'll always get what you always got.” She would tell me this to try to get me to make better choices, usually around school or the house. But this simple little saying is actually an important lesson for all of us."
-- Joel Fotinos
"Since you become what you think about most of the time, a major definite purpose gives you a focus for every waking moment. Having a major definite purpose helps activate your subconscious mind on your behalf. Any thought, plan, or goal that you can clearly define in your conscious mind will be brought into reality by your subconscious mind."
-- Andrew Clancy
"Often what is most precious is hidden from our eyes. Approaching what we already know with an open-mind can help us to discover much more."
-- Mario Alonso Puig
"I've learned that it's important to stay teachable. There are many people who are experts, but the experts that I admire the most probably would not describe themselves as experts. They would probably describe themselves as lifelong learners or students of life. They are always learning and growing and changing, no matter what their age. I've tried to emulate this in my life. When we believe we are experts, it's harder to be in the mindset to learn new things."
-- Joel Fotinos
"I've worked with hundreds of people who have set goals, and my experience has shown me that once they've established what they want to achieve, those people who take immediate action to get the goal underway, are often more likely to be successful."
-- Stephanie Philp
"Physical activity and healthy living heal us from the inside out, strengthening the body and boosting mental health and emotional well-being. The aim is to make the body a fit vehicle for the mind to navigate the outer world effectively."
-- Mark Divine
"By reading, the knowledge learned through hearing others’ stories gives meaning to our lives and inspires us to reach for more. Through the narratives of others, we expand our perspectives, cultivate empathy, and develop a deeper appreciation for the vast spectrum of human experiences. Reading allows us to embark on a journey of self-discovery and connection, transcending the confines of our lives to embrace the countless lives that have shaped our world. Every book, every story, and every perspective become a stepping stone in our evolution, inviting us to live a thousand lives and enriching our understanding of what it truly means to be human."
-- Brent M. Jones
"We have to understand in a deep way that having what we truly want in life contributes to the general state of human happiness and supports others in creating more happiness for themselves. To create prosperity, we need to visualize ourselves living as we desire to live, doing what we love, feeling satisfied with what we attain, in a context of other people doing the same."
-- Shakti Gawain
"We can produce new brain cells and improve our mind’s clarity and focus until we die. One way to do this is to take on daily meditation, along with new learning challenges, be it chess, the ukulele, a foreign language, knitting, or by becoming a writer at the age of one hundred and six. New skills, practiced repeatedly, stimulate brain growth. But your brain also depends on cardiovascular activity to stay mentally acute and even grow. The “move it or lose it” idiom doesn’t just apply to maintaining that fit and ferocious figure."
-- Mark Divine
"Everything you do or achieve in life —every thought, feeling, or action —is controlled and determined by your self-concept. Your self concept precedes and predicts your levels of performance and effectiveness in everything you do. It is the master program of your mental computer; everything you accomplish in your outer world is a result of your self-concept."
-- Andrew Clancy
"In order to go somewhere, first you must know where you're starting from. If you were to go on a journey using the GPS function on your smartphone, you would need both the starting point and the ending point to get the directions. It's the same with the story of your life. Let's begin by getting clear about where you are as you write this new chapter. It's the first step in creating your new prosperous story."
-- Joel Fotinos
