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    “If you toss a stone into water, it takes the swiftest way to the bottom. And Siddhartha is like that when he has a goal, makes a resolve. Siddhartha does nothing, he waits, he thinks, he fasts, but he passes through the things of the world like the stone through the water, never acting, never stirring. He is drawn, he lets himself drop. His goal draws him, for he lets nothing into his soul that could go against his goal.”

    Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha (Page 56)

      “The moment you decide you want that life, really want it, then everything that exists in your head now, will eventually be a memory so vague and intangible it will hardly be there at all.”

      Matt Haig, The Midnight Library (Page 39)

        “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

          “For my entire career, I have been absolutely relentless. I’ve been committed to a work ethic of uncompromising intensity. And the secret to my success is as boring as it is unsurprising: You show up and you lay another brick. Pissed off? Lay another brick. Bad opening weekend? Lay another brick. Album sales dropping? Get up and lay another brick. Marriage failing? Lay another brick.”

          Will Smith, Will (Page ix)

            “No one is perfect. We all have bad days. It’s okay to feel a little discouraged. But to give up? To not even try? That is criminal. ‘Disgraceful,’ Marcus Aurelius would say, ‘for the soul to give up when the body is still going strong.’ All of us have fallen short in the last year…and the years before that. We broke our resolutions. We made the same mistakes again and again. We were ‘jarred, unavoidably, by circumstances,’ as Marcus said. But now it’s time to pick ourselves up and try again. We have to keep going. We can’t give up. Because the alternative is unthinkable.”

            Ryan Holiday, Daily Stoic Blog

              “You just have to go on when it is worst and most helpless. There is only one thing to do with a novel and that is to go straight on through to the end of the damn thing.”

              Ernest Hemingway

                “Almost everybody can stay excited for 2 or 3 months. A few people can stay excited for 2 or 3 years. But a winner will stay excited for 30 years or however long it takes to win.”

                Art Williams

                  “When life brings you to the floor, there is a choice: You can allow the worst thing that’s ever happened to you to hijack your remaining days, or you can claw your way back into motion.”

                  Suleika Jaouad, Between Two Kingdoms (Page 224)

                  Tony Robbins Quote on Staying Committed to Decisions, But Flexible in Approach

                    “Stay committed to your decisions, but stay flexible in your approach.”

                    Tony Robbins

                    Beyond the Quote (316/365)

                    This young man was told he wouldn’t be able to attend his Martial Arts tournament because he was exposed to someone who tested positive for COVID-19. He was told he would be quarantining at home for 2 weeks instead. But, rather than miss the tournament altogether, the team who orchestrated the tournament offered him and his family a virtual option instead. The family agreed.

                    Read More »Tony Robbins Quote on Staying Committed to Decisions, But Flexible in Approach

                    Seth Godin Quote on Quitting—Quitting More So You Can Focus More On What Matters [Plus 30 Things to Consider Quitting]

                      “Sticking things out is overrated, particularly if you stick out the wrong things.  In fact, I think you’d be much better off quitting most of what you do so you have the resources to get through the hard slog I call the Dip.  The challenge, then, is to not quit in the Dip, but instead to quit everything else so you have the focus to get through the slog of what matters.”

                      Seth Godin, Whatcha Gonna Do With That Duck?

                      Beyond the Quote (71/365)

                      What should we stick out and what should we quit?  I can tell you that the list of things we should stick out is far smaller than the list of things we should quit.  And after some reflection, what you might find is that your list of things that you’ve been sticking out is WAY bigger than you might have imagined it to be and the things you SHOULD be sticking out might not even be making it to your daily to-do list at all.  My instinct tells me that the follow 6 things are worth sticking out without explaination: Reading, Writing, Exercising, Meditating, Learning, and Connecting. 

                      Read More »Seth Godin Quote on Quitting—Quitting More So You Can Focus More On What Matters [Plus 30 Things to Consider Quitting]

                        “Life is one long motherf*cking imaginary game that has no scoreboard, no referee, and isn’t over until we’re dead and buried.  And all I’d ever wanted from it was to become successful in my own eyes.  That didn’t mean wealth or celebrity, a garage full of hot cars, or a harem of beautiful women trailing after me.  It meant becoming the hardest motherf*cker who ever lived.  Sure, I stacked up some failures along the way, but in my mind the record proved that I was close.  Only the game wasn’t over, and being hard came with the requirement to drain every drop of ability from my mind, body, and soul before the whistle blew.  I would remain in constant pursuit.  I wouldn’t leave anything on the table.  I wanted to earn my final resting place.” ~ David Goggins, Can’t Hurt Me

                          “Drive is fueled by desire, belief, and expectation that we can achieve something extraordinary through our efforts.  It feeds on discipline in that it becomes stronger as we commit ourselves at deeper levels to our pursuits.” ~ Mark Divine, The Way of the Seal