“Some dreams truly are ‘impossible dreams.’ However, many aren’t. Knowing the difference is often one of the first steps to finding your element, because if you can see the chances of making a dream come true, you can also likely see the necessary next steps you need to take toward achieving it.” ~ Ken Robinson, The Element
Archives
“It’s not what happens to us that makes the difference in our lives. What makes the difference is our attitude towards what happens. The idea of luck is a powerful way of illustrating the importance of our basic attitudes in affecting whether or not we find our Element.” ~ Ken Robinson, The Element
“I mean, really, whatever you woke up worrying about this morning, get over it. How important in the greater scheme of things can it possibly be? Make your peace and move on.”~ Ken Robinson, The Element
“Creativity is very much like literacy. We take it for granted that nearly everybody can learn to read and write. If a person can’t read or write, you don’t assume that this person is incapable of it, just that he or she hasn’t learned how to do it. The same is true of creativity.” ~ Ken Robinson, The Element
“Most people didn’t pursue their passions simply because of the promise of a paycheck. They pursued them because they couldn’t imagine doing anything else with their lives.” ~ Ken Robinson, The Element
“Never underestimate the vital importance of finding early in life the work that for you is play.” ~ Ken Robinson, The Element
“It turns out that 70% of American aging is not real aging. It’s just decay. It’s rot from the stuff that we do. All the lifestyle diseases … the diabetes, the obesity, the heart disease, much of the Alzheimer’s, lots of the cancers, and almost all of the osteoporosis, those are all decay. Nature doesn’t have that in store for any of us. We go out and buy it off the rack.” ~ Dr. Henry Lodge
“If you’re fifty, exercise your mind and body regularly, eat well, and have a general zest for life, you’re likely younger – in very real, physical terms – than your neighbor who is forty-four, works in a dead-end job, eats chicken wings twice a day, considers thinking too strenuous, and looks at lifting a beer glass as a reasonable daily workout.” ~ Ken Robinson, The Element
“One way of opening ourselves up to new opportunities is to make conscious efforts to look differently at our ordinary situations. Doing so allows a person to see the world as one rife with possibility and to take advantage of some of those possibilities if they seem worth pursuing.” ~ Dr. Ken Robinson, The Element
“It is difficult to feel accomplished when you’re not accomplishing something that matters to you. Doing something ‘for your own good’ is rarely for your own good if it causes you to be less than who you really are.” ~ Ken Robinson, The Element
“The combination of creative energies and the need to perform at the highest level to keep up with peers leads to an otherwise unattainable commitment to excellence.” ~ Ken Robinson, The Element
“…The final secret is that there is no secret. Devote yourself to your leader. Work hard. Be grateful. Act boldly. Some may deride such suggestions as commonplace, and they’d be right: They are common. But to see them successfully enacted in this world is rare indeed.” ~ Toyotomi Hideyoshi, The Swordless Samurai
“Pessimism is a losing strategy. Leadership demands both confidence and optimism in abundance.” ~ Toyotomi Hideyoshi, The Swordless Samurai
“One of the strongest signs of being in the zone is a sense of freedom and of authenticity. When we are doing something that we love and are naturally good at, we are much more likely to feel centered in our true sense of self – to be who we feel we truly are. When we are in our Element, we feel we are doing what we are meant to be doing and being who we’re meant to be.” ~ Ken Robinson, The Element