The Failure To Be True To Oneself

"Without self-knowledge there can be no authentic success, no authentic happiness, and no authentic living. If you do not know who you are, how can you know what success really is? Without self-knowledge you may end up chasing other people’s definitions of success, but not your own. The failure to be true to oneself, to be faithful to core values, and to listen to innate wisdom leaves even the most accomplished person feeling unsuccessful and as if something is missing."

-- Robert Holden

How Can You Make Things Better

"When it comes to imagining what your future at work could look like, take the lead from Elon Musk, co-founder of PayPal, founder of SpaceX and CEO of Tesla. Ask yourself one simple question: ‘How can I make things better?’ Musk is a serial entrepreneur and innovator but he doesn’t believe in translating new ideas into reality just to be different. In fact, he questions whether this is innovation at all. Rather, Musk implores his team to make a difference, to create a service or product that is better and delivers more value to people, organizations or the planet. When you work on envisioning your future, start with what you can do to make things better."

-- Gemma Leigh Roberts

Passion the First Step to Achievement

"Your desire determines your destiny. Anyone who lives beyond an ordinary life has great desire. It's true in any field: weak desire brings weak results, just as a small fire creates little heat. The stronger your fire, the greater the desire and the greater the potential."

--  John C. Maxwell

Great Way To Increase Joy

"Another great way to increase joy is to journal or read about joy. The research on the impact of gratitude journaling on our happiness is overwhelming. I worked with a basketball player who used to read an encouraging letter from his grandfather before every game.  Writing and reading about joy can often overwhelm the stress of a big event. It’s very hard to be grateful and stressed at the same time. When we tap into gratitude, we tap into joy, which allows us to tap into our play mind for performance."

-- Brian Levenson

Please Try To Relax

"That’s basically what we all do—all of us who spend our days making and doing interesting things for no particularly rational reason. As a creator, you can design any sort of jewelry that you like for the inside of other people’s minds (or simply for the inside of your own mind). You can make work that’s provocative, aggressive, sacred, edgy, traditional, earnest, devastating, entertaining, brutal, fanciful . . . but when all is said and done, it’s still just intracranial jewelry-making. It’s still just decoration. And that’s glorious. But it’s seriously not something that anybody needs to hurt themselves over, okay? So relax a bit, is what I’m saying. Please try to relax. Otherwise, what’s the point of having all these wonderful senses in the first place?"

-- Elizabeth Gilbert