“Take the attitude of a student, never be too big to ask questions, never know too much to learn something new.”
Anyone who considers themself a student cannot say they know everything. Otherwise, they won’t be called a student. When it comes to life, we’re all students–because none of us truly knows everything; and life continues to teach us lessons whether inside or outside the classroom. This quote, by Augustine “Og” Mandino, reminds us that we’re all students in a life course. As such, we shouldn’t expect ourselves to wake up everyday knowing everything. Mistakes will be made. We may fail some exams. But in the process, we’re learning new things, no matter how big or old we are.
“Nothing in the universe can stop you from letting go and starting over.”
When an artist paints a picture, they are constantly working through mistakes. They might realize a color is slightly off, a brush stroke is too thick or in the wrong direction, or an object in the painting isn’t where they want it to be. So they adjust things–and it’s all in their power to do so. In the same way, we are the artists of our own lives. As this quote by Guy Finley reminds us, we have the power to let go and start over. And no person or thing can stop us from turning a new page, mixing new colors, and adjusting as we go. Meanwhile, we can…
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Developing Life Goals: Set, Plan, Execute, Track
“If you can’t fly then run, if you can’t run then walk, if you can’t walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward.”
“Don’t bother just to be better than your contemporaries or predecessors. Try to be better than yourself.”
“You never fail until you stop trying.”
This anonymous quote forces us to ask ourselves at which point we can legitimately say we failed at something. The simple answer? We can only say we’ve failed when we’ve stopped working at it. When we stop trying, we put and end–a full stop–to whatever it is we’re trying to accomplish. Technically, that’s when it fails. So, if there’s something you really want that you feel has failed, ask yourself if you’ve stopped trying. If not, then technically it hasn’t failed. It’s still in motion.
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I’ve missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I’ve been trusted to take the game-winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.
“If the plan doesn’t work, change the plan, but never the goal.”
“We must believe that we are gifted for something and that this thing must be attained.”
“Experience is a hard teacher because she gives the test first, the lesson afterwards.”
Sometimes the best lessons we learn in life come from the worst experiences. Unfortunately, the experiences come first–the lessons later. This makes experience a hard teacher. However, it’s the best teacher. This quote, by Vernon Sanders Law (aka Vern Law), reminds us to try to find the lessons inside the experiences in which we are “tested.”
“Have enough courage to start and enough heart to finish.”
Starting something–especially starting something new–takes courage. It’s not easy to venture into the unknown or do something that you don’t know what will be the outcome. This quote, by Jessica N.S. Yourko, reminds us that starting something can be a courageous act. But it’s only the first step. Once we do start that thing, it’s easy to lose momentum and motivation. There’re so many great work out there that will never see the light of day because they were started and not completed. Finishing takes grit and perseverance. So next time you start something, first be proud of the courage it took, but also begin to mentally prepare yourself to…
“You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, ‘I lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along’.”
This quote, by Eleanor Roosevelt, is simple. It’s about the strength, courage, and confidence we gain whenever we face our fears. Each time we face our fears, we are emboldened to face the next one because we aren’t the same person we were. Something in us changes, and we face new challenges at a higher level than before.
“Failure is success in progress.”
Imagine if how far we’ve gotten on achieving success on an endeavor was measured through a progress bar. Based on this quote by Albert Einstein, that progress bar would be filled with the word “failure”. Meaning, the more there is failure, the more we load up to success. Our failures is success in progress. So, whenever you feel like you’re not having any success on your goals due to many failures, remember that those very failures can also mean you’re moving closer toward success. Those failures are shaping and teaching you in ways you may not realize.
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“Someday soon, we’ll all be together. If the fates allow. Until then, we’ll have to muddle through somehow.”
“You can’t go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending.”
“Make a pledge to yourself right now, to declare that you are worth your time and energy.”
“We must be willing to let go of the life we planned so as to have the life that is waiting for us.”
This quote, by Joseph Campbell, talks about being willing to let go of the life you planned. This is not to say you give up easily when things don’t go according to plan or you don’t plan things out at all. There’s nothing wrong with persevering or planning your future to a T. Being able to do that is a good thing that typically sets you up for success. However, understand that sometimes things don’t work out because they aren’t meant to. They were only meant to teach you a life lesson. But the more you fixate on them, the less likely you are to see or accept any alternative,…
“Becoming is better than being.”
A common question during a job interview or performance review is “Where do you see yourself in five years?” But we seldom get asked how we’ll get there. The focus is more on being there. This quote, from the book Mindset: The New Psychology of Success by Carol Dweck, is about enjoying the process. Getting there could be a great experience in and of itself, depending how we perceive that process. On the one hand, we can perceive it as an unfortunate inconvenience or hindrance to where we want to be. But on the other hand, we can perceive the process not as an obstacle but a catalyst–as the means…
“The same boiling water that softens the potato hardens the egg. It’s what you’re made of. Not the circumstances.”
It’s interesting to note that boiling water can both soften a potato and harden an egg. If we think of the boiling water as challenges in life, then those challenges can either make us weaker (soften us) or make us stronger (harden us). This anonymous quote reminds us that the same boiling water–same circumstances–can have different effects. In other words, the circumstances are not what automatically determine our outcome. It all depends what we’re made of. It depends on the composition of our mind, body, and soul.
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“Happiness is not something you postpone for the future; it is something you design for the present.”
“You can’t go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending.”
“Anything that makes you weak–physically, intellectually and spiritually–reject it as poison.”
