“We should all feel ownership of the history of our species and understand that the very specific genetic makeup that helped our ancestors succeed is still very much present in us. When we start regarding ourselves as born athletes and natural survivors, we’re in a better position to overcome the challenges of life and reach our peaks.”
Bert R. Mandelbaum, MD, via The Win Within (Page 19)
Success Quotes
“Our minds are all we have. They are all we have ever had. And they are all we can offer others. This might not be obvious, especially when there are aspects of your life that seem in need of improvement—when your goals are unrealized, or you are struggling to find a career, or you have relationships that need repairing. But it’s the truth. Every experience you have ever had has been shaped by your mind. Every relationship is as good or as bad as it is because of the minds involved. If you are perpetually angry, depressed, confused, and unloving, or your attention is elsewhere, it won’t matter how successful you become or who is in your life—you won’t enjoy any of it.”
Sam Harris, Waking Up (Page 2)
“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)
“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)
“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)
“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)
No Excuses [Book]
Book Overview: Most people think success comes from good luck or enormous talent, but many successful people achieve their accomplishments in a simpler way: through self-discipline. No Excuses! shows you how you can achieve success in all three major areas of your life, including your personal goals, business and money goals, and overall happiness. Each of the 21 chapters in this book shows you how to be more disciplined in one aspect of your life, with end-of-chapter exercises to help you apply the “no excuses” approach to your own life. With these guidelines, you can learn how to be more successful in everything you do –instead of wistfully envying others you think are just “luckier” than you. A little self-discipline goes a long way — so stop making excuses and read this book!
“College can help you be externally successful in life but you have to find ways to be internally successful too. Finding ways to cultivate you inner balance, your peace, and your mental clarity are just as important as getting a good job. When I started meditating daily, it helped my mind feel more peaceful and it opened up my creativity. It also helped deepen my relationship with my wife and friends and family. I didn’t know I was a writer until I started meditating. Even if meditating is not your thing, your inner peace requires you to develop self-awareness, which will help you be less reactive. Find your own way to be self-reflective – journaling, therapy, mindfulness, there is a lot out there that can help you get in touch with your emotional history and your inner world.”
Yung Pueblo
“Inner success is the ability to love yourself completely, to do the work to feel whole and at home within your being, and to decrease the tension in your mind that you have accumulated over the years. Inner success is a deep sense of inner peace and joy that emerges after you have unbound the layers of trauma and old hurt that get in the way of you feeling like the best version of yourself. Outer success is the ability to accomplish the goals that arise in your mind. Specifically, the goals that stand above simple desires, goals that have the power to move your life in a more positive direction. Usually, these goals are in reference to external things like your professional life, creating a good community for yourself, pursuing healthy relationships, and more. Outer success is when you deeply realize that all you can control are your own actions and you turn this into your superpower so you can design your life in the way that you think is ideal. “
Yung Pueblo
“What’s the point of success if it doesn’t free you up to do the right thing? If your money doesn’t give you the security to tell a jerk or a racist to go to hell, how much is it actually worth? The Stoics said that money, like power, was neither good nor bad—that having it was not itself virtuous—but they also believed it was better to have than not, especially if it facilitated being able to act on your virtues”
Ryan Holiday
“If I imagine what a miserable working week would be (within the context of my existing business), it would be Zoom calls all day, no creative work, strict deadlines from sponsors, and the feeling that I’m making videos that I don’t actually think are useful just for the sake of an algorithm or a sponsor. I’m also staying in the house all day, not doing any exercise, eating unhealthy takeaway food, and not seeing any friends. Okay great, I’ve just defined what my nightmare work week would look like. So now I can just make sure to avoid having work days that look like that.”
Ali Abdaal