“I had always known logically that I could choose not to study law. But emotionally it had never been an option. That’s when I realized that in sacrificing my power to choose I had made a choice—a bad one. By refusing to choose ‘not law school,’ I had chosen law school—not because I actually or actively wanted to be there, but by default. I think that’s when I first realized that when we surrender our ability to choose, something or someone else will step in to choose for us.”
Greg McKeown, Essentialism (Page 34)
“Everything changes when we give ourselves permission to be more selective in what we choose to do. At once, we hold the key to unlock the next level of achievement in our lives. There is tremendous freedom in learning that we can eliminate the nonessentials, that we are no longer controlled by other people’s agendas, and that we get to choose. With that invincible power we can discover our highest point of contribution, not just to our lives or careers, but to the world.”
Greg McKeown, Essentialism (Page 25)
“When we don’t purposefully and deliberately choose where to focus our energies and time, other people—our bosses, our colleagues, our clients, and even our families—will choose for us, and before long we’ll have lost sight of everything that is meaningful and important. We can either make our choices deliberately or allow other people’s agendas to control our lives.”
Greg McKeown, Essentialism (Page 16)
“If you don’t prioritize your life, someone else will.”
Greg McKeown, Essentialism (Page 10)
“Ambition is tying your well-being to what other people do and say… sanity is tying it to your own actions.”
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations
“Life is not going to go your way. You have to go your way and take life with you.”
Jay Shetty, Think Like A Monk (Page 275)
“We don’t control the vileness of the world or of other people. We do control whether we contribute to it though, whether we choose to contrast it with our own splendor and goodness. We control what we look for also–as Marcus [Aurelius] did, filling Meditations not just with somber or depressing notes but also observations about the beauty and majesty of nature and life. Will you be splendid or vile? That’s the call you get to make, always and forever.”
Ryan Holiday
“Senses recklessly transport our minds away from where we want them to be. Don’t tease your own senses. Don’t set yourself up to fail. A monk doesn’t spend time in a strip club. We want to minimize the mind’s reactive tendencies, and the easiest way to do that is for the intellect to proactively steer the senses away from stimuli that could make the mind react in ways that are hard to control. It’s up to the intellect to know when you’re vulnerable and to tighten the reins, just as a charioteer does when going through a field of tasty grass.”
Jay Shetty, Think Like A Monk (Page 153)
“As irrigators lead water where they want, as archers make their arrows straight, as carpenters carve wood, the wise shape their minds.”
Buddha, via Think Like A Monk (Page 147)
“Life is full of difficult times. But someone out there always has it worse than you do. If you fill your days with pity, sorrowful for the way you have been treated, bemoaning your lot in life, blaming your circumstances on someone or something else, then life will be long and hard. If, on the other hand, you refuse to give up on your dreams, stand tall and strong against the odds—then life will be what you make it—and you can make it great.”
William A. McRaven, Make Your Bed (Page 103) | ★ Featured on this book list.
“Life is hard and sometimes there is little you can do to affect the outcome of your day. In battle soldiers die, families grieve, your days are long and filled with anxious moments. You search for something that can give you solace, that can motivate you to begin your day, that can be a sense of pride in an oftentimes ugly world. But it is not just combat. It is daily life that needs this same sense of structure. Nothing can replace the strength and comfort of one’s faith, but sometimes the simple act of making your bed can give you the lift you need to start your day and provide you the satisfaction to end it right.”
William A. McRaven, Make Your Bed (Page 9) | ★ Featured on this book list.