Motivation is a fire from within. If someone else tries to light that fire under you, chances are it will burn very briefly.
If you can hire people whose passion intersects with the job, they won’t require any supervision at all. They will manage themselves better than anyone could ever manage them. Their fire comes from within, not from without. Their motivation is internal, not external.
To achieve goals you’ve never achieved before, you need to start doing things you’ve never done before.
What you do has far greater impact than what you say.
It takes humility to seek feedback. It takes wisdom to understand it, analyze it and appropriately act on it.
Where you are headed is more important than how fast you are going. Rather than always focusing on what’s urgent, learn to focus on what is really important.
If the big rocks don’t go in first, they aren’t going to fit in later.
To begin with the end in mind means to start with a clear understanding of your destination. It means to know where you’re going so that you better understand where you are now and so that the steps you take are always in the right direction.
Accountability breeds response-ability.
Synergy is better than my way or your way. It’s our way.
Leadership is communicating people’s worth and potential so clearly that they come to see it themselves.
Management is efficiency in climbing the ladder of success; leadership determines whether the ladder is leaning against the right wall.
Many families are managed on the basis of crises, moods, quick fixes, and instant gratification – not on sound principles. Symptoms surface whenever stress and pressure mount: people become cynical, critical, or silent or they start yelling and overreacting. Children who observe these kinds of behavior grow up thinking the only way to solve problems is flight or fight.
This power of choice means that we are not merely a product of our past or of our genes; we are not a product of how other people treat us. They unquestionably influence us, but they do not determine us. We are self-determining through our choices. If we have given away our present to the past, do we need to give away our future also?
By accepting people you’re not condoning their weakness or agreeing with their opinion; you’re simply affirming their intrinsic worth.
Proactive people make love a verb. Love is something you do: the sacrifices you make, the giving of self, like a mother bringing a newborn into the world... Love is a value that is actualized through loving actions. Proactive people subordinate feeling to values. Love, the feeling, can be recaptured.
What one thing could you do in your personal and professional life that, if you did it on a regular basis, would make a tremendous positive difference in your life?
No matter how long we’ve walked life’s pathway to mediocrity, we can always choose to switch paths. Always. It’s never too late. We can find our voice.
It’s incredibly easy to get caught up in the thick of thin things.
Best way to predict your future is to create it.