Each project matters, and the only degrading part is giving less than one is capable of giving.
No need to be too hard on yourself. Hold yourself to a higher standard but not an impossible one. And forgive yourself if and when you slip up.
In the end, the only way you can appreciate your progress is to stand on the edge of the hole you dug for yourself, low down inside it, and smile fondly at the bloody claw prints that marked your journey up the walls.
At the end of a frustrating exchange, you might find yourself thinking, Ugh, this person is such an idiot. Or asking, Why can’t they just do things right? But not everyone has had the advantages that you’ve had.
Don’t seek for everything to happen as you wish it would, but rather wish that everything happens as it actually will – then your life will flow well.” – EPICTETUS, ENCHIRIDION, 8.
Let others slap each others on the back while you’re back in the lab or the gym or pounding the pavement.
In actuality, the will has a lot more to do with surrender than with strength. Try “God willing” over “the will to win” or “willing it into existence,” for even those attributes can be broken. True will is quiet humility, resilience, and flexibility; the other kind of will is weakness disguised by bluster and ambition.
So why on earth do you need thanks or recognition for having done the right thing? It’s your job.
Most rudeness, meanness, and cruelty are a mask for deep-seated weakness. Kindness in these situations is only possible for people of great strength. You have that strength. Use it.
There’s a quote from Bismarck that says, in effect, any fool can learn from experience. The trick is to learn from other people’s experience. This.
We can learn to perceive things differently, to cut through the illusions that others believe or fear. We can stop seeing the “problems” in front of us as problems. We can learn to focus on what things really are. Too often we react emotionally, get despondent, and lose our perspective. All that does is turn bad things into really bad things. Unhelpful perceptions can invade our minds – that sacred place of reason, action and will – and throw off our compass.
Adversity can harden you. Or it can loosen you up and make you better – if you let it.
People who don’t read have no advantage over those who cannot read.
Perfectionism rarely begets perfection – only disappointment.
Maintain control over your mind and perceptions, they’d say. It’s your most prized possession.
Our job is not to ‘go with our gut’ or fixate on the first impression we form about an issue. No, we need to be strong enough to resist thinking that is too neat, too plausible, and therefore almost always wrong.
Doing new things invariably means obstacles.
Whatever we face, we have a choice: Will we be blocked by obstacles, or will we advance through and over them? We might not be emperors, but the world is still constantly testing us. It asks: Are you worthy? Can you get past the things that inevitably fall in your way? Will you stand up and show us what you’re made of?
There’s no time off. There aren’t even weekends. We are always preparing for what life might throw at us – and when it does, we’re ready and don’t stop until we’ve handled it.
It is sad to consider how much time many people spend in the course of a day doing things they “have” to do – not necessary obligations like work or family, but the obligations we needlessly accept out of vanity or ignorance. Consider the actions we take in order to impress other people or the lengths we’ll go to fulfill urges or sate desires we don’t even question.