Catalyst Quotes

“Don’t Whine and Grumble”

“When asked how things are, don’t whine and grumble . . .  If you answer, ‘Lousy,’ then God says, ‘You call this bad?  I’ll show you what bad really is!’ 

When asked how things are and, despite hardship or suffering, if you answer, ‘Good,’ then God says, ‘You call this good?  I’ll show you what good really is!’”       (Rebbe Nachman of Bratslav)

“When one has a dream, he is a success, for the dreamer cannot be a total loser.  It is impossible to have a dream and be a total failure.  The dreamer has already succeeded over despondency, despair, cynicism and depression.  These alone can defeat many of us.  Most of us do not even dare to dream.  That is why I say that the person who has a dream is already a winner.”      (Rev. Robert A. Schuller)

“Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers; pray for powers equal to your tasks.  Then the doing of your work shall be no miracle, but you shall be the miracle.”       (Phillips Brooks)

“I am not yearning for great miracles, but for the daily change, the almost imperceptible rebirth, the insignificant miracle of growth, which is greater than all others.”      (Ulrich Schaffer)

“There is more in us than we know.  If we can be made to see it, perhaps, for the rest of our lives, we will be unwilling to settle for less.”       (Kurt Hahn)

“Rough Diamonds”

“In the industrial age, the boss defines a good job as one that meets spec. If you do what you are told, on time and on budget, it’s a good job.

A bad job, then, is one that requires repair or rescheduling or produces a shoddy output.

In the connection economy, the post-industrial age we’re moving into now, there are two other kinds of work worth mentioning:

A remarkable performance is one that exceeds expectations so much that we talk about it. (Remarkable, as in worth making a remark about). In just about every field, it’s possible to be remarkable, at least for a while, and thanks to the increasing number of connections between and among customers, remarkable work spreads your idea.

It’s difficult to be remarkable every day in every way, though, because expectations continue to rise.

Which leads to a fourth category: A personal performance.

A good job is largely anonymous and forgotten (but still important). A personal job, on the other hand, is humanized. It brings us closer together. It might not be remarkable, but it stands out as memorable because (however briefly) the recipient of the work was touched by someone else. Often, remarkable work is personal too, but personal might just be enough for today.” (Seth Godin)

“Ineffective people live day after day with unused potential. They experience synergy only in small, peripheral ways in their lives. But creative experiences can be produced regularly, consistently, almost daily in people’s lives. It requires enormous personal security and openness and a spirit of adventure.” (Stephen R. Covey)

“Rough diamonds may sometimes be mistaken for worthless pebbles.” (Sir Thomas Browne)

“Successful and unsuccessful people do not vary greatly in their abilities. They vary in their desires to reach their potential.” (John Maxwell)

“Experiencing, Reasoning, Believing”

“Suppose you are called up to a table and are blindfolded.   Suppose a bucket is placed in front of you and you are asked if it is empty or full of water.

What are three ways you can learn the answer to that question without removing the blindfold?

One way is to reach into the bucket and feel if there is water in it. In other words, you can experience firsthand if the bucket is full or empty.   This way of learning is called experiencing. It’s knowledge that we acquire by our senses.

A second way to learn if the bucket contains water or not is to drop an object, like a pebble, into it.   If the pebble hits the bottom of the bucket with a loud thud or ringing sound, you know the bucket is empty.   On the other hand, if the pebble hits with a splash, you know the bucket contains water.  This way of acquiring knowledge is called reasoning.

A third way to learn if the bucket contains water is to ask someone you trust.  The person could look into the bucket and tell you if it has water in it.  This way of learning is called believing.   It’s knowledge that we acquire by faith.

Experiencing, reasoning, believing— these are the three ways we acquire knowledge in this life.       (Mark Link, S. J.)      

“When a man has put a limit on what he will do, he has put a limit on what he can do.”      (Charles M. Schwab)

“The greatest enemy of ‘best’ is ‘good.’   If you’re willing to accept ‘good’ you’ll never be the ‘Best.’”       (Charles Kaiser, Jr.)

“To be clear, I am not suggesting that going from good to great is easy, or that every man will successfully make the shift.   By definition, it is not possible for everyone to be above average.   But I am asserting that those who strive to turn good into great find the processes no more painful or exhausting than those who settle for just letting things wallow along in mind-numbing mediocrity.”      (Good to Great, Jim Collins)

“It’s not what you’ve got; it’s what you use that makes a difference.”       (Zig Ziglar)

“Fear of Failure? Follow Your Talent.”

“I think we all have a little voice inside us that will guide us.   It may be God, I don’t know.   But I think that if we shut out all the noise and clutter from our lives and listen to that voice, it will tell us the right thing to do.”       (Christopher Reeve)

“The mystery; the essence of all life is not separate from the silent openness of simple listening.”       (Toni Packer)

“Remember that the fear of failure is the most paralyzing of all human emotions.   The fear of failure stops us from trying, from daring, from succeeding.   It must be confronted.   Don’t grow old saying, ‘I wish I had.  I should have.  Why didn’t I?’   Failure is not to be dreaded, but to confront, reject, and overcome.”      (Mark Shields)

“Everyone has talent.   What is rare is the courage to follow the talent to the dark place where it leads.”      (Erica Jong)

“I Don’t Want to Wax Philosophic, but … Flap Your Arms and Legs”

“Never let the fear of striking out get in your way.”      (Babe Ruth)

“Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in the gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat.”      (Theodore Roosevelt)

“Look, I don’t want to wax philosophic, but will say that if you’re alive you’ve got to flap your arms and legs, you’ve got to jump around a lot, for life is the very opposite of death, and therefore you must at the very least think noisy and colorfully, or you’re not alive.”      (Mel Brooks)

“Every man (and woman) is born into the world to do something unique and something distinctive, and if he or she does not do it, it will never be done.”         (Dr. Benjamin E. Mays)

“Wouldn’t It Be Interesting If … .”

“We should not judge people by their peak of excellence; but by the distance they have traveled from the point where they started.”   (Henry Ward Beecher)

“Embrace the faith that every challenge surmounted by your energy; every problem solved by your wisdom; every soul stirred by your passion; and every barrier to justice brought down by your determination will ennoble your own life, inspire others, serve your country, and explode outward the boundaries of what is achievable on this earth.”      (Madeleine Albright)

“If you’re trying to achieve, there will be roadblocks.   I’ve had them; everybody has had them.   But obstacles don’t have to stop you.   If you run into a wall, don’t turn around and give up.   Figure out how to climb it, go through it, or work around it.”      (Michael Jordan)

“Change is not a bolt of lightning that arrives with a zap.   It is a bridge built brick by brick, every day, with sweat and humility and slips.   It is hard work, and slow work, but it can be thrilling to watch it take shape.”     (Sarah Hepola)

“Trust that little voice in your head that says ‘Wouldn’t it be interesting if … .’   And then do it.”      (Duane Michals)