“To succeed in the ‘outer world,’ you must discipline yourself to focus and concentrate, work hard at your job, take continuous action toward your goals, and become better and more capable as you move onward and upward in life. To succeed in the ‘inner world,’ however, requires almost the opposite abilities. To achieve inner peace, you must discipline yourself to let go of everything that can disrupt your sense of inner peace and contentment.”
Brian Tracy, No Excuses! (Page 286)
“If you want to have a friend, you must first be a friend. If you want people to like you, you should first like them. If you want people to respect you, you should first respect them. If you want to impress others, you should first be impressed by them. In this way, by approaching people indirectly, you appeal to their deepest subconscious needs.”
Brian Tracy, No Excuses! (Page 276)
“If your children lie to you, who has made them afraid to tell the truth?”
Unknown, via No Excuses! (Page 255)
“Love is by far the most important thing of all. It casts out fear. It is the fulfilling of the law. It covers a multitude of sins. Love is absolutely invincible. There is no difficulty that enough love will not cure; no disease that enough love will not heal; no door that enough love will not open; no gulf that enough love will not bridge; no wall that enough love will not throw down; no sin that enough love will not redeem. It makes no difference how deeply seated may be the trouble, how hopeless the outlook, how muddled the tangle, how great the mistake; a sufficient realization of love will dissolve it all. If only you could love enough you would be the happiest and most powerful being in the world.”
Emmet Fox, via No Excuses! (Page 256)
“On a regular basis, you should sit down with your spouse and later with your children to have the courage to ask them these four questions: (1) Is there anything that I am doing that you would like me to do more of? (2) Is there anything that I am doing that you would like me to do less of? (3) Is there anything that you would like me to start doing that I am not doing today? (4) Is there anything that I am doing that you would like me to stop doing altogether? When you have the courage and discipline to ask these four questions of your spouse and your children on a regular basis, you will be amazed at the quality and depth of the answers you receive. You will get continual guidance on how you can modify and adjust your behaviors to maintain higher levels of harmony, happiness, and love with your spouse and the other members of your family.”
Brian Tracy, via No Excuses! (Page 255)
“There is a rule that says that every large problem was once a small problem that could have been solved easily and inexpensively at that time. Sometimes, the best strategy is to ‘nip it in the bud.’ When it is clear that there is a problem and a solution, do what has to be done—and do it quickly.”
Brian Tracy, via No Excuses! (Page 207)
“In medicine, they say that ‘accurate diagnosis is half the cure.’ Therefore, you need to ask, ‘What exactly is the problem?’ It is absolutely amazing how several people can become upset about a problem in an organization, but every one of them has a different idea or definition of the exact nature of the problem they’re facing. Your job is to achieve clarity and to get everyone to agree on the definition of the problem before you move on to the business of solving it.”
Brian Tracy, via No Excuses! (Page 204)
“Setting priorities requires setting posteriorities as well. A priority is something that you do more of and sooner, whereas a posteriority is something you do less of or later. You are probably already overwhelmed with too much to do and too little time. Because of this, for you to embark on a new task, you must discontinue an old task. Getting into something new requires getting out of another activity. Before you commit to a new undertaking, ask yourself, ‘What am I going to stop doing so that I have enough time to work on this new task?'”
Brian Tracy, via No Excuses! (Page 193)
“See yourself as the president of your own ‘Personal Services Corporation.’ Imagine that you were going to take your company public on the stock market. Would you recommend your company as a growth stock, continually increasing its value and earning ability each year? Or would you describe your company as one that has leveled off in the market place, that is not really going anywhere in terms of increased value and income? Would you recommend stock in ‘You, Inc.” as an excellent investment? Why or why not?”
Brian Tracy, via No Excuses! (Page 81)
“The tragedy is that most people think that they already have goals. But what they really have are hopes and wishes. However, hope is not a strategy for success, and a wish has been defined as a ‘goal with no energy behind it.’ Goals that are not written down and developed into plans are like bullets without powder in the cartridge. People with unwritten goals go through life shooting blanks. Because they think they already have goals, they never engage in the hard, disciplined effort of goal-setting—and this is the master skill of success.”
Brian Tracy, via No Excuses! (Page 65)
“Every day is different, and if sometimes you cannot see the difference between one day and another, that simply means that you are not seeing rightly. Nothing is ever repeated. Repetition does not exist. Existence is always fresh, utterly fresh. But if we look through the past, accumulated thoughts, the mind, then it can appear like repetition. And that’s why the mind is the only source of boredom. It makes you bored, because it never allows the freshness of life to be revealed to you. It goes on seeing things in the same pattern.”
Osho, Everyday Osho (Page 261)
“To achieve something you have never achieved before, you must learn and practice qualities and skills that you have never had before.”
Brian Tracy, via No Excuses! (Page 33)
“Self-discipline is the key to personal greatness. It is the magic quality that opens all doors for you and makes everything else possible. With self-discipline, the average person can rise as far and as fast as his talents and intelligence can take him. But without self-discipline, a person with every blessing of background, education, and opportunity will seldom rise above mediocrity.”
Brian Tracy, via No Excuses! (Page 7)
“Success and failure are not the point—to enjoy whatever you are doing is the point. Each success is followed by failure, each day is followed by a night, and each love is followed by a darkness. Life is a progression, a movement; nothing is static. Now you are young; one day you will be old. Now you have so many friends, one day you will not have any. Now you have money, one day you will not. If you are playful, nothing is wrong. Just one quality has to be developed—playfulness.”
Osho, Everyday Osho (Page 260)
“One of the great mistakes in life is suffering for years because you didn’t want to feel foolish for five minutes.
- You don’t want to apologize, so you let a relationship deteriorate.
- You’re scared of the sting of rejection, so you don’t ask for what you want.
- You fear people will say your idea is dumb, so you never start the business.
Nobody likes feeling foolish, but the feeling fades quickly. The willingness to endure five minutes of discomfort turns out to be a meaningful dividing line in life.”
James Clear
“Inner work helps us rise above our old conditioning so that we decrease the harm we recreate in our interactions. The outer work of collective action makes compassion structural — it helps us build a world where people can feel safe and have their material needs met without directly or indirectly harming one another. Self-awareness that becomes collective action is the medicine this earth needs.”
Yung Pueblo
“You may ask yourself: which comes first—inner work or working to make the world a better place? the answer is both can happen at the same time. We are all deeply imperfect and full of conditioning that clouds the mind. Inner work is a lifelong journey, and so we should not wait until we get to the ‘end’ of our healing to help others.”
Yung Pueblo