“You are better equipped to deal with stress when you are moving. When you feel tense or frustrated or worried, it is difficult to think your way into feeling better. The more you think about the situation, the larger it becomes in your mind. Trying to think your way out of it often leads to a spiral of overthinking and rumination. The first step is not to think something different, but to do something different. It doesn’t matter what. Stretch on the floor, go for a walk, work on a project. Get out of your mind and move your body.”
James Clear
“Love is the most luxurious thing in the world. It is not a need—it is the last luxury, the ultimate in luxuries. If you are needing it, it is just as other needs; one needs food, one needs shelter, one needs clothes, one needs this and that. Then love is also part of this world. When there is no need and you are simply flowing with energy and would like to share with somebody, and somebody is also flowing with energy and would like to share with you, then you both offer your energies to an unknown God of love. And it is sheer luxury, because it is purposeless. It has no business to do. It is intrinsic—it is not a means to anything else. It is a great play.”
Osho, Everyday Osho (Page 350)
“[Lou Gehrig] knew that getting comfortable was the enemy, and that success is an endless series of invitations to get comfortable. It’s easy to be disciplined when you have nothing. What about when you have everything? What about when you’re so talented that you can get away with not giving everything? The thing about Lou Gehrig is that he chose to be in control. This wasn’t discipline enforced from above or by the team. His temperance was an interior force, emanating from deep within his soul. He chose it, despite the sacrifices, despite the fact that others allowed themselves to forgo such penance and got away with it. Despite the face that it usually wasn’t recognized—not until long after he was gone anyway.”
Ryan Holiday, Discipline Is Destiny (Page 9)
“[Lou] Gehrig was fully ready to admit that his discipline meant he missed out on a few pleasures. He also knew that those who live the fast or the easy life miss something too—they fail to full realize their own potential. Discipline isn’t deprivation… it brings rewards.”
Ryan Holiday, Discipline Is Destiny (Page 8)
“Whenever you participate in creating beauty, it is there; whenever you stop creating, it is not. Beauty is a creation; so is ugliness. Happiness is a creation; so is misery. You get only that which you create, and you never get anything else. That is the whole philosophy of karma: You get only that which you do. Life is just a blank canvas—you can paint a beautiful scene, a landscape, or you can paint black ghosts and dangerous people. It’s up to you. You can make a beautiful dream or a nightmare. Once this is understood, things are very simple. You are the master; it is your responsibility.”
Osho, Everyday Osho (Page 349)
“As a rookie, Joe DiMaggio once asked [Lou] Gehrig who he though was going to pitch for the opposing team, hoping perhaps, to hear it was someone easy to hit. ‘Never worry about that, Joe,’ Gehrig explained. ‘Just remember they always save the best for the Yankees.’ And by extension, he expected every member of the Yankees to bring their best with them too. That was the deal: To whom much is given, much is expected. The obligation of a champion is to act like a champion… while working as hard as somebody with something to prove.”
Ryan Holiday, Discipline Is Destiny (Page 7)
“Once you start compromising, well, now you’re compromised…”
Ryan Holiday, Discipline Is Destiny (Page 7)
“The conspiracy theorist in your Facebook feed. The politically radicalized family member. The angry stranger looking for an argument. Crazy people and crazy situations are opportunities to practice virtue. To show courage by standing firm in your principles. To demonstrate justice by treating them fairly despite their unfairness to you. To exercise temperance by controlling your emotions when they’re trying to provoke you. To insist on what’s right. To fight for change where you can. To put your efforts where they make a positive difference.”
Ryan Holiday
“Two simple rules: (1) You get better at what you practice. (2) Everything is practice. Look around and you may be surprised by what people are “practicing” each day. If you consider each moment a repetition, what are most people training for all day long? Many people are practicing getting mad on social media. Others are practicing the fine art of noticing how they have been wronged. Still more have mastered the craft of making plans (but never following through). But, of course, it doesn’t have to be that way. What are you practicing?”
James Clear
“There is a part of us that celebrates, perhaps envies, those who let themselves get away with more, who hold themselves to lower standards—the rock stars, the famous, the wicked. It seems easier. It seems like more fun. It might even be the way to get ahead. Is that right? No, it is an illusion. Under closer inspection: No one has a harder time than the lazy. No one experiences more pain than the glutton. No success is shorter lived than the reckless and endlessly ambitious. Failing to realize your full potential is a terrible punishment. Greed moves the goalposts, preventing one from ever enjoying what one has. Even if the outside world celebrates them, on the inside there is only misery, self-loathing, and dependence.”
Ryan Holiday, Discipline Is Destiny (Page xxiii)
“Modern marketing culture is designed to amplify our desires. To turn faint wants into desperate needs. As a result, we’re intimately familiar with what we want. And we strive to get it. The problem with getting what you want is that now you have a hole, because you don’t want that thing anymore, you have it. We then are on a cycle, eager to find a new thing to want. Which means that the thing you used to want but now have fades in comparison. There’s a more resilient path: To commit to wanting what you have.”
Seth Godin
“A parent who acknowledges the fragility of life understands that every moment with their child is a gift not to be wasted. A wise parent looks at the world, harsh as it is, and says, ‘I see what you’re capable of, what you might do to my family tomorrow, but today, you’ve spared us. I will not take that for granted.’ That is how we must live—not just with our children, but with our wealth, our health, the peace in our country, the clear skies above.”
Ryan Holiday
“In an age where everyone appears to be producing constantly, it’s forgivable to assume you must be producing constantly too. If you are producing content, perhaps you should be. However, I don’t think you want to produce content. I think you want to make art. I think you need to make art. Art is a different animal entirely. It’s creation doesn’t abide by the same rules as content. Content is made for the masses and it is often soulless, plastic and easily replicable. Art, on the other hand, is self-expression. It’s soaked in your own blood. It’s as rich as figs drowning in a bowl of sugar and cream. It’s as unique as the Katana.”
Cole Schafer
“We all understand what optimism means; we all know what a relationship is. But the secret to finding contentment and fulfillment in your life is not understanding optimism, but living optimistically. It is not about intellectualizing the value of relationships, but diving in and allowing yourself to connect at an emotional level with someone else. Go ahead and care about your buddies at work or the barista who makes your coffee every day. These aren’t transactions—these are the jewels of life. Allow yourself to be vulnerable and take the risk of full engagement.”
Bert R. Mandelbaum, MD, via The Win Within (Page 144)
“When adversity or temptation arises, we are met with more than one path. Which path we take depends on our character. Just because one path appears to be paved with gold does not mean that it does not eventually turn to dirt. Those who choose the golden path cut corners and fail to adhere to values that are crucial to the character-building process. The glamour of instant gratification overshadows the reality of how it can affect our future. When it all falls apart, a lack of experience in dealing with adversity can leave us in a much worse situation than before. Nothing in life is free, and which every new path we must start from dirt and build our own golden road. The adversities we face along the way are all important building blocks to help us define the kind of person we want to become.”
Bert R. Mandelbaum, MD, via The Win Within (Page 140)
“We are all born into debt, a social debt. We have been given life and the opportunities for a successful life that are in no way our own doing. So, turn it around. Take the initiative to set up the success of others, even if the favor is never returned. Take those daily, easily avoidable opportunities to reach out. Pay it forward, donate your time, resources, energy, and money to something or someone, and it will be meaningful. These acts of the heart can be small, subtle, even unnoticed; but know that you seized a chance to positively affect someone else. You will learn, and most importantly feel, that compassion and kindness are the highest form of human emotion, the form that comes with the highest dividends, taking you closer to the victorious spirit and your win within.”
Bert R. Mandelbaum, MD, via The Win Within (Page 120)
“That troublesome client—thank you, it’s helping me develop better boundaries. That traffic jam—thank you, it gave me time to call my wife and have a nice, meandering conversation. That rejection email—thank you, it forced me to reevaluate and improve my work. The political realities of our time–thank you, it’s a chance to test myself, to really stick to what I believe in. That loss—thank you, for reminding me of what truly matters in life.”
Ryan Holiday