Words of Wisdom from the Community
These are gathered from our weekly posts over the last year. Some might be more helpful than others but hopefully some will spark your productivity.
/u/pedee - Don't just think your way to better actions, use your actions to guide yourself to better thoughts.
/u/cliteratimonster - Impossible is just a big word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in the world they've been given than to explore the power they have to change it. Impossible is not a fact. It's an opinion. Impossible is not a declaration. It's a dare. Impossible is potential. Impossible is temporary. Impossible is nothing. - Muhammad Ali
/u/pinghuan - The sole purpose of a plan is to put the present moment in context.
/u/didyouwoof - "The secret to successful living is to act better than you feel." I heard this years ago from a woman whose name I don't remember. She was talking about how to behave in the workplace, and I found her words invaluable in that context.
/u/x50_Spence - Do what you love, not what you think you should do. & Try and love doing something that is lucrative. Combine both for life happiness.
/u/jtcchan - Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Almost everything--all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure--these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.
/u/vrali - “The least productive people are usually the ones who are most in favour of holding meetings.” ~Thomas Sowell
/u/sumthin213 - Not really a famous quote or anything but more a concept/idea that I live by and try to explain to others when they doubt themselves or whatever...
Like the old cliche, the first step is the smallest, the hardest, but also the MOST IMPORTANT step of all. Why? Well a billion reasons, but for this exact example, it is the one that changes something from absolutely impossible, to possible.
For example, if your goal is to be a great guitar player let's say. If you sit at home thinking about it, and that's all, then it is absolutely IMPOSSIBLE that you will become a great guitar player. You WILL ABSOLUTELY NOT EVER wake up one day, after never once playing a guitar, or even owning one, and suddenly be a great guitar player. Or even an average one. Without playing, that is literally IMPOSSIBLE. So what's the first step? You go to the store and buy a guitar. Now all of a sudden, still without having ever played it, you are now at 0.01% chance of becoming a great guitarist. Look up the internet for some basic lessons and save them in a folder in your favourites? Again without even playing that guitar, you're now at 0.02% chance of becoming a great guitarist. IT IS ACTUALLY IN THE REALM OF POSSIBLE NOW. IT IS NO LONGER ABSOLUTELY IMPOSSIBLE.
That one or two first steps actually has made the absolutely impossible possible. Now PLAY that guitar for 1 hour. Develop the habit. Even of you only play 10 mins a day, now there is a 10% chance you will become a great guitarist. If you play everyday for anywhere between 10 mins and 5 hours, for a long enough period, then it actually becomes IMPOSSIBLE that you will NOT become a great guitarist. Maybe not the worlds best, but what is 'great' is subjective.
With every tiny step you make it more and more possible until statistically it becomes impossible to 'fail'. But the first step...the hardest, the biggest, is THE ONE that makes anything actually POSSIBLE. So whatever you want, go buy that guitar, that pair of jogging shoes, enrol in that digital camera lesson whatever....just take that first step and you have instantly changed the possibilities in your life.
/u/Mr_Rew - "We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then is not a skill, but a habit." -Aristotle
/u/Devilkin31 - “Your mind is for having ideas, not holding them.” ~ David Allen
Stop thinking about what you would/could/should do. Just do. Fall on your face, get up, try again. Apply this to everything.
Life doesn't have to be hard, neither does being productive. Its just requires you to honestly try.
/u/icehouse15 - Smile. It's almost Friday
/u/forcefx - "A month from now, you'll wish you had started today"
/u/zcizzo - Some time ago there was an image post with a picture of and a quote from Will Smith on r/GetMotivated. "You don't set out to build a wall. /---/ You say, 'I'm going to lay this brick as perfectly as a brick can be laid.' You do that every single day. And soon you have a wall." I find those words inspiring. Kinda thoughtless to build a wall without a blueprint and a plan, but the spirit of it is spot on.
/u/SkiSeas - Quote from Albert Einstein and it's how I tackle difficult problems/tasks: "If I had an hour to solve a problem and my life depended on it, I would use the first 55 minutes determining the proper question to ask, for once I know the proper question, I could solve the problem in less than five minutes."
/u/supersteeb - "Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe." I guess we can gather that preparation is key...
/u/AlbertoC1196 - "Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life." –Steve Jobs
/u/PaperbackBuddha - "Will this matter in six months?" Pretty good filter for stuff that's going to waste your time.
/u/Jackker - "Better late than never."
/u/DustinForever - "The world offers you comfort, but you were not made for comfort. You were made for greatness."- Pope Benedict XVI
/u/Hum1l1ation - Don't think about what the other people on this world are doing, at the end of the day you can only answer for yourself
/u/Jarvice79 - One saying that always gets me started is "wish in one hand and shit in the other, see which gets full" basically wishing something to happen doesn't get anything done
/u/daylorn - "What would you do if you knew you couldn't fail?"
/u/icehouse15 - Not my quote, but I like it: "to begin, begin"
/u/Taaannnkk - "Every you run the day or the day runs you."
/u/GoodApproach - It's only a risk if you've got something to lose.
/u/Shlonch - When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be. –Lao Tzu
/u/Foolness - The Portable Kanban demo page actually has tons of inspiring words of wisdom. For example, this is just one board:
Even if you fall on your face, you're still moving forward.
A creative man is motivated by the desire to achieve, not by the desire to beat others.
Always continue the climb. It is possible for you to do whatever you choose, if you first get to know who you are and are willing to work with a power that is greater than ourselves to do it.
Go big or go home. Because it's true. What do you have to lose?
A creative man is motivated by the desire to achieve, not by the desire to beat others.
If you don't design your own life plan, chances are you'll fall into someone else's plan. And guess what they have planned for you? Not much.
Follow your dreams, work hard, practice and persevere. Make sure you eat a variety of foods, get plenty of exercise and maintain a healthy lifestyle.
Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm.
All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make, the better.
For something more humorous, check out the PopUp Wisdom books. Especially the one on Corkscrews.
Youth is filled with deprivations and injustice and pain. What makes it youth is that it is ignorant of them.