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Personal Best Quotes

Breanna Morgan Quote on Growth and How It Leads To Comfort, Hope, and Better Days

    “there’s comfort

    knowing that

    today

    i am the worst

    i will ever

    be

    i will keep

    growing and

    i will be

    kinder and

    stronger and

    braver tomorrow”

    breanna morgan

    Beyond the Quote (203/365)

    Think about how utterly amazing this idea is: if you decide today, right now, that you are going to commit to growth, self-love, and personal development from this point forward then today is the worst you will ever be. That’s right—only better days from here! The only way you can get worse is if you regress. If you get better and improve, then so will your life. How could this not be the case? Growth is the antithesis of regression. Growth represents improvement, progress, and development. Ultimately, committing to growth is committing to life—a better life.

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    Steven Pressfield Quote on Creative Work and How To Overcome The Resistance To Express It

      “Are you a born writer?  Were you put on earth to be a painter, a scientist, an apostle of peace? In the end the question can only be answered by action.  Do it or don’t do it.  It may help to think of it this way.  If you were meant to cure cancer or write a symphony or crack cold fusion and you don’t do it, you not only hurt yourself, even destroy yourself.  You hurt your children.  You hurt me.  You hurt the planet.  You shame the angels who watch over you and you spite the Almighty, who created you and only you with your unique gifts, for the sole purpose of nudging the human race one millimeter farther along its path back to God.  Creative work is not a selfish act or a bid for attention on the part of the actor.  It’s a gift to the world and every being in it.  Don’t cheat us of your contribution.  Give us what you’ve got.”

      Steven Pressfield, The War of Art

      Beyond the Quote (189/365)

      Don’t think that just because I write every day that it’s easy for me. Writing is always hard. Just like sprinting is always hard. Neither ever gets easier—you just get better. Just today, for example, I sat down to write and noticed—really felt—the potency of the resistance that I had to overcome in order to begin. Here’s what the start to my writing looked like:

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      Napoleon Hill Quote on Being The Master Of Your Destiny and Controlling Influences

        “You are the master of your destiny. You can influence, direct and control your own environment. You can make your life what you want it to be.”

        Napoleon Hill

        Beyond the Quote (161/365)

        Influence is the effect one person has on another person’s thoughts and actions. Influence happens every second of every day of your life. Most notably, when you are in direct communication with another person. What another person says and what they do influences you. Either you like what you hear and see and so adjust accordingly, or you dislike what you hear and see and so adjust accordingly the other way. There is no neutral when it comes to interactions because neutral would either mean that you were looking at an exact replica of yourself or that you didn’t notice the other which implies no interaction. We are all so different and unique that we can’t help but influence each other in one way or another.

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          “Somebody who thinks they’re nothing and don’t matter because they’re not doing something for even a few days is depriving themselves of stillness, yes—but they are also closing themselves off from a higher plane of performance that comes out of it.”

          Ryan Holiday, Stillness is the Key (Page 189)

            “We will not simply think our way to peace. We can’t pray our soul into better condition. We’ve got to move and live our way there. It will take our body—our habits, our actions, our rituals, our self-care—to get our mind and our spirit in the right place, just as it takes our mind and spirit to get our body to the right place. It’s a trinity. A holy one. Each part dependent on the others.”

            Ryan Holiday, Stillness is the Key (Page 184)

            Charles Colton Quote on Uprooting Vices and Planting Virtues

              “He that has energy enough to root out a vice should go further, and try to plant a virtue in its place.”

              Charles Caleb Colton

              Beyond the Quote (107/365)

              How hard is it to dig up the roots of an old tree?  Even trying to dig up the roots of a small tree or a bush can be incredibly hard.  This is why, after a tree gets cut down, the stump is either left behind or it’s sawed down and the roots are simply left underground.  Trying to take all of the roots up from a cut down tree simply isn’t worth the time and effort it requires in most cases.

              Now, how hard is it to plant a seed for a new tree?  Even planting a seed for the mightiest of trees is a breeze.  There might be some variance in the specifics, but for the most part, you prep the land/ soil, dig a hole to the proper depth, place the seed in the hole, put the soil back on top of it, and make sure it gets enough water and sun and voila!  You’re done.

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              Anne Frank Quote on Reflection and Doing Better Each Day

                “How noble and good everyone could be if at the end of the day they were to review their own behavior and weigh up the rights and wrongs.  They would automatically try to do better at the start of each new day, and after a while, would certainly accomplish a great deal.”

                Anne Frank, via Stillness is the Key (Page 53)

                Beyond the Quote (104/365)

                How often do you just sit down at the end of a long day and reflect?  Reflect on what went well and what didn’t go so well; what could have been improved and what could have been discarded; what made you smile and what made you sad; what you might have done differently and what you think was right on point.  See, reflection isn’t just about thinking.  What really happens when you take time to reflect on your day is you are taking responsibility for what happened and you are taking control of where you’re heading.  Reflection, in this sense, is your Life GPS.

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                Oh, how different the world would look…

                  Picture quote about learning to be still from Ryan Holiday

                  “How different would the world look if people spent as much time listening to their conscience as they did to chattering broadcasts?  If they could respond to the calls of their convictions as quickly as we answer the dings and rings of technology in our pockets?  All this noise.  All this information.  All these inputs.  We are afraid of the silence.  We are afraid of looking stupid.  We are afraid of missing out.  We are afraid of being the bad guy who says, ‘Nope, not interested.’  We’d rather make ourselves miserable than make ourselves a priority, than be our best selves.  Than be still… and in charge of our own information diet.”

                  Ryan Holiday, Stillness is the Key (Page 36)

                    “None of us knows how strong we are until being strong is the only option we have left.  We spend so much of our lives avoiding discomfort that we don’t realize that in those uncomfortable situations, our best selves emerge.” ~ Humble the Poet, Things No One Else Can Teach Us (Page 63)

                    Steve Jobs Quote on Focus and Working Hard To Keep Thinking Clean

                      “That’s been one of my mantras—focus and simplicity. Simple can be harder than complex: You have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple. But it’s worth it in the end because once you get there, you can move mountains.”

                      Steve Jobs

                      Beyond the Quote (41/365) Part 1: On Focus

                      The ability to focus, or more clearly stated, the ability to block out distractions—especially in today’s world—is absolutely critical in producing the best work of your life.  Think about it.  Distractions are the things that take your attention elsewhere—away from what it should be/ could be doing.  And when your attention is over there, it’s certainly not over here—focused on the deep, thoughtful work that requires long chains of uninterrupted time for thought, flow, play, introspection, and execution.  And the more that your attention ends up over there in distraction, either deliberately or unexpectedly, the work you could be doing over here gets sidetracked and lost.

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                      Can’t Hurt Me [Book]

                        Can't Hurt Me by David Goggins

                        By:  David Goggins

                        From this Book: 37 Quotes

                        Book Overview:  For David Goggins, childhood was a nightmare – poverty, prejudice, and physical abuse colored his days and haunted his nights. But through self-discipline, mental toughness, and hard work, Goggins transformed himself from a depressed, overweight young man with no future into a US Armed Forces icon and one of the world’s top endurance athletes. The only man in history to complete elite training as a Navy SEAL, Army Ranger, and Air Force Tactical Air Controller, he went on to set records in numerous endurance events, inspiring Outside magazine to name him The Fittest (Real) Man in America.  In Can’t Hurt Me, he shares his astonishing life story and illuminates a path that anyone can follow to push past pain, demolish fear, and reach their full potential.

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                        Not enough time to read/listen to the whole book? Check out the 12 minute Blinkist version of Can’t Hurt Me and get the key insights here for free.

                        Post(s) Inspired by this Book:

                        1. 34 Intense and Powerful David Goggins Quotes from Can’t Hurt Me
                        2. The 40 Percent Rule — An Excerpt from Can’t Hurt Me by David Goggins
                        3. David Goggins on Overcoming Self Doubt and Unapologetically Chasing Your Dreams [Excerpt]
                        4. David Goggins Quote on Callousing Your Mind and How I Ran A Marathon Without Running Training (Beyond the Quote 235/365)

                          “We are all fighting the same battle.  All of us are torn between comfort and performance, between settling for mediocrity or being willing to suffer in order to become our best self, all the damn time.  We make those kinds of decisions a dozen or more times each day.” ~ David Goggins, Can’t Hurt Me

                            “Some criticize my level of passion, but I’m not down with the prevailing mentalities that tend to dominate American society these days; the ones that tell us to go with the flow or invite us to learn how to get more with less effort.  F*ck that shortcut bullsh*t.  The reason I embrace my own obsessions and demand and desire more of myself is because I’ve learned that it’s only when I push beyond pain and suffering, past my perceived limitations, that I’m capable of accomplishing more, physically and mentally—in endurance races but also in life as a whole.  And I believe the same is true for you.” ~ David Goggins, Can’t Hurt Me

                              “We habitually settle for less than our best; at work, in school, in our relationships, and on the playing field or race course.  We settle as individuals, and we teach our children to settle for less than their best, and all of that ripples out, merges, and multiplies within our communities and society as a whole.” ~ David Goggins, Can’t Hurt Me