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Work Quotes

    “Work is love made visible.
    And if you cannot work with love but only with distaste, it is better that you should leave your work and sit at the gate of the temple and take alms of those who work with joy.
    For if you bake bread with indifference, you bake a bitter bread that feeds but half man’s hunger.
    And if you grudge the crushing of the grapes, your grudge distils a poison in the wine. And if you sing though as angels, and love not the singing, you muffle man’s ears to the voices of the day and the voices of the night.”

    Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet (Page 26)

      “The older I get, the more I realize that success at most things isn’t about finding the one trick or secret nobody knows about. It’s consistently doing the boring, mundane things everyone knows about but is too unfocused/undisciplined to do. Get good at boring.”

      Mark Manson

        “Work without attachment to the outcome is worship. When you’re doing your work without attachment to the outcome, you’re on the soul level instead of the ego level. Meaning, working without attachment feeds the soul, not the ego.”

        Steven Pressfield

          “Instead of asking, ‘How much do I value this item?’ we should ask, ‘If I did not own this item, how much would I pay to obtain it?’ We can do the same for opportunities and commitment. Don’t ask, ‘How will I feel if I miss out on this opportunity?’ but rather, ‘If I did not have this opportunity, how much would I be willing to sacrifice in order to obtain it?’ Similarly, we can ask, ‘If I wasn’t already involved in this project, how hard would I work to get on it?'”

          Greg McKeown, Essentialism (Page 149)

            “Your profession should only be one part of life. It should not overlap into every dimension of your life, as ordinarily it does. A doctor becomes almost a twenty-four-hour doctor. He thinks about it, he talks about it. Even when he is eating, he is a doctor. While he is making love, he is a doctor. Then it is madness; it is insane. My suggestion is that you work for five or six hours. Use the remaining hours for other things: for sleep, for music, for poetry, for meditation, for love, or for just fooling around. That too is needed. If a person becomes too wise and cannot fool around, he becomes heavy, somber, serious. He misses life.”

            Osho, Everyday Osho (Page 87)

              “If we’re only excited when people say nice things about our work, it’s a sign that we’re not passionate about the work itself. And if we indulge our interests and skills, but nobody responds to them, then our passion is without purpose. If either piece is missing, we’re not living our dharma.”

              Jay Shetty, Think Like A Monk (Page 97)

                “In a way, overwork is selfish (no matter how much the workaholic claims they are doing it for other people). Because it deprives them and the world of that later fertility. It causes needless breakdown and injury. As Seneca observed, ‘Constant work gives rise to a certain kind of dullness and feebleness in the rational soul.’ Nobody likes the person who is all business all the time. So go out and live today. Rest from your labor. Come back better for it. Come back improved and sharper for it. That’s the idea.”

                Ryan Holiday

                  “Don’t be distracted by anything. The work is what counts. There are a lot of things that can get in your way, that take up your time and your emotional and intellectual energy; none of them account for anything. They mean nothing. The only thing, in the final analysis, at this stage of the game, that really counts, is the work. The work is everything. The years that I spent in advertising I saw an awful lot of people who had the potential to be good lose a lot of their ability to distraction, to politics, to fear, and to who has the bigger office. You’ll get the bigger office; you’ll make the money. Anything you want will happen, but sometimes it’s hard for people to see that when they’re in the middle of it. It looks like it’s incredibly complicated. Well, it’s not complicated at all. In fact, it’s so uncomplicated it’s amazing. All it is about is the work. Finally, if you do the work people will notice and you will get what you want. That’s it. It’s as simple as that.”

                  Tom McElligott

                    “Everyone around me has been telling me for years that I’m a workaholic and need to take a break, but I’ve always said: ‘Nah, I love my work, it feels like play.’ But even play can become too much without appropriate time for recharging.”

                    Ali Abdaal

                      “You can be relaxed and dedicated. Just because you worry more, doesn’t mean you care more.”

                      James Clear

                        “Our job as professionals is to show up and do the work. Not simply respond to incoming or do the chores, but to create and innovate. And yet, some days feel more conducive than others. There are moments when it simply flows. When the surf’s up, cancel everything else. Don’t waste it. Postpone the dentist, outsource the grocery shopping and leave your email for now. Make hay.”

                        Seth Godin

                          “If we never feel as though we’re enough, we can throw ourselves into our work to try and ascertain enough-ness from our output, usefulness and indispensability. But in doing so, we tend to head toward burnout — the more we do, the further away being enough feels.”

                          Jayne Hardy, TED Article

                            “There are three aspects of reality: the pain will never go away; uncertainty will never go away; and there’s no getting away from the need for constant work. Everybody has to live like that, no matter what.”

                            Phil Stutz, Stutz

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