Quotes about Direction

Careful.

“Our definitions of ‘success’ are maybe the most common way we torture ourselves with arbitrary standards and made-up problems. It’s one reason I advise people to be careful and hold their goals lightly—because while goals may motivate you in the short run, a poorly defined version of success can really make you suffer in the long run.”
Mark Manson

Fast in the wrong direction is bad.

“When I think back to my childhood, I visualize my father, my mother, and Gigi arranged as a philosophical triangle. My father was one side of the triangle: discipline. He taught me how to work, how to be relentless. He instilled in me an ethic that ‘It’s better to die than to quit.’ My mother: education. She believed that knowledge was the irrevocable key to a successful life. She wanted me to study, to learn, to grow, to cultivate a deep and broad understanding, to either ‘know what you’re talking about or be quiet.’ Gigi: love (God). Whereas I tried to please my mother and father so I wouldn’t get into trouble, I wanted to please Gigi so that I could bathe in that transcendent ecstasy of divine love. These three ideas—discipline, education, love—would fight for my attention throughout the rest of my life.”
Will Smith, Will (Page 39)

“No action should be undertaken without aim, or other than in conformity with a principle affirming the art of life.”
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations (Page 23)

Honor your ever changing truth.

Feeling Lost? Phil Stutz Says Don’t Try To Figure It Out. Here’s Why…

Phil Stutz On Activating Your Life Force To Help With Depression

Excerpt: “If you’re lost, don’t try to figure it out—activate your life force instead.” What’s life force? Let Stutz—Jonah Hill’s therapist—explain…

“Feelings do not inform you of the right decisions to make. Right decisions create the right feelings. Your feelings are not intended to guide you throughout life; that is what your mind is for. If you were to honestly follow your every impulse, you would be completely stuck, complacent, and possibly dead or at the very least in severe trouble. You aren’t, because your brain is able to intervene and instruct you on how to make choices that reflect what you want to be experiencing long-term.”
Brianna Wiest, The Mountain Is You (Page 94)

“What are the chances that the busiest person you know is actually the most productive? We tend to associate busyness with goodness and believe that spending many hours at work should be rewarded. Instead, evaluate what you are doing, why you are doing it, and where accomplishing it will take you. If you don’t have a good answer, then stop.”
Ryan Holiday, The Daily Stoic (Page 164)

“I respect the man who knows distinctly what he wishes. The greater part of all the mischief in the world arises from the fact that men do not sufficiently understand their own aims. They have undertaken to build a tower, and spend no more labor on the foundation than would be necessary to erect a hut.”
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, via Sunbeams (Page 103)

“First tell yourself what kind of person you want to be, then do what you have to do. For in nearly every pursuit we see this to be the case. Those in athletic pursuit first choose the sport they want, and then do that work.”
Epictetus, Discourses, The Daily Stoic (Page 136) | Read Matt’s Blog on this quote ➜

18 Quest Inspiring Chris Guillebeau Quotes From The Happiness Of Pursuit

Excerpt: Anyone can bring meaning into his or her life by undertaking a quest. Don’t believe it? Read these 18 quotes from The Happiness of Pursuit and find out for yourself.

“You can’t steer a stationary ship.”
Nicolas Cole | Read Matt’s Blog on this quote ➜

C. S. Lewis Quote on How You Are Never Too Old To Give Direction To Your Life

“You are never too old to set a new goal or to dream a new dream.”
C. S. Lewis

Beyond the Quote (Day 376)

I might even take it one step further and say it is precisely when you stop setting goals and dreaming new dreams that you become old. Goals and dreams give direction. Direction gives reason and purpose for movement; progress; growth. Without direction, you become directionless; stagnant; immobile. Movement is the essence of life. Stagnation is the essence of death.

Introduction: Fetch Me The Moon—A Short Zen Story

The Zen teacher’s dog loved his evening romp with his master. The dog would bound ahead to fetch a stick, then run back, wag his tail, and wait for the next game. On this particular evening, the teacher invited one of his brightest students to join him—a boy so intelligent that he became troubled by the contradictions in Buddhist doctrine.

“Don’t underestimate the power of vision and direction. These are irresistible forces, able to transform what might appear to be unconquerable obstacles into traversable pathways and expanding opportunities. Strengthen the individual. Start with yourself. Take care with yourself. Define who you are. Refine your personality. Choose your destination and articulate your Being.”
Jordan Peterson, via 12 Rules for Life (Page 63)

Beyond the Quote (141/365)

Maps are incredibly useful tools. They chart the unknown territory for us. They show us the way forward. They help us get to where we want to go. And usually, that’s one of the first things we think about when we grab a map—where they can take us. Thinking up where we want to go is easy. New York City! Yellowstone National Park! Australia! We might say. Or, if we’re thinking about where we want to go in life, we might say, “The top of the corporate ladder!” “Until I get a blue checkmark on Instagram!” “To a beautiful mansion with a white picket fence!” But, where they can take us means nothing if we don’t know where we are. And this is the imperative first question to consider—where are you?

We’re all on journeys, and sometimes we spend so much time on and invest so much energy in heading in one direction that the idea of any other direction is both foreign and frightening. Our journeys themselves become comfort zones, and sometimes hopping off one rainbow and onto the next is exactly what we need. Other times we may realize that the path we were on helped reveal the path we should be on, and that adventure of twists and turns will last our lifetime, and that’s okay. No one needs to have everything figured out, and honestly, nobody really does, even if their social media posts present a different picture.” ~ Humble the Poet, Things No One Else Can Teach Us (Page 115)

“Focusing on the rainbow instead of the pot of gold isn’t just one of many philosophies we can adapt—it’s the most sustainable way for us to keep going. The present is all we have, and we can promise ourselves only so much contentment before we realize that the story doesn’t end until we take our last breath. Once we accept that, we can enjoy the journey, celebrating every baby step we take, not toward a treasure on a map, but in a direction that steadily improves the way we feel about ourselves, our lives, and the world around us.” ~ Humble the Poet, Things No One Else Can Teach Us (Page 95)

“The past is fixed, but the future—it could be better. It could be better, some precise amount—the amount that can be achieved, perhaps, in a day, with some minimal engagement. The present is eternally flawed. But where you start might not be as important as the direction you are heading. Perhaps happiness is always to be found in the journey uphill, and not in the fleeting sense of satisfaction awaiting at the next peak. Much of happiness is hope, no matter how deep the underworld in which that hope was conceived.” ~ Jordan Peterson, via 12 Rules for Life (Page 94)

“Those who are truly enlightened know what they want out of life, emotionally, materially, physically and spiritually. Clearly defined priorities and goals for every aspect of your life will serve a role similar to that played by a lighthouse, offering you guidance and refuge when the seas become rough. You see, anyone can revolutionize their lives once they revolutionize the direction in which they are moving. But if you don’t even know where you are going, how will you ever know when you get there?”
Robin S. Sharma, The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari