Catalyst Quotes
Compiled by Alex Pena ~ ‘Catalyst’: “to spark, to ignite, energize, mobilize; something that accelerates a reaction (DDI)." Thought-provoking & motivational quotes and stories for you to read, reflect on and move forward in making creative and positive changes in your life.
“Do You Deserve It?”
“There are three kinds of people:
1) the ones that learn by reading,
2) the few who learn by observation,
3) the rest who have to pee on the electric fence.”
(Will Rogers, American humorist)
“Choose your glasses very carefully. A few years ago I ran into an old acquaintance that I hadn’t seen for awhile. Our short conversation confirmed just why I hadn’t seen him in awhile – and wouldn’t see him again soon if I could help it. I started off with, “Hey Phil. How’s it going?” His response was, “Oh, you know; same crap, different day.” His expletive-laced language was much spicier than that, but you get the picture. He then proceeded to proudly pile up the most recent crap in his life and invited me to wallow in it with him.
Our world does have an abundance of crap. There’s lots of injustice, inequality, and unfairness. The crap that hits the fan in life is often not evenly distributed. But we get to decide whether to stand in it or not. We decide if we want today to be crappy or happy. If we walk around with our “crap glasses” on, we’ll see lots of it. The more crap we look for, the more crap we see. The more crap we see, the more we look for. My friend, fellow performance improvement author/speaker, and psychologist, Peter Jensen calls this ‘opticalrectumitis,’ which he loosely translates as ‘having a shi… (crappy) outlook on life.’ ” (Jim Clemmer)
“Do you deserve it? Do you deserve the luck you’ve been handed? The place you were born, the education you were given, the job you’ve got? Do you deserve your tribe, your customer base, your brand? Not at all. “Deserve” is such a loaded word. The question shouldn’t be, “do you deserve it.” I think it should be, “what are you going to do with it now that you’ve got it?” (Seth Godin)
Imagination, Truth and Bliss
“Only in men’s imagination does every truth find an effective and undeniable existence. Imagination, not invention, is the supreme master of art, as of life.” (Joseph Conrad)
“Why abandon a belief merely because it ceases to be true? Cling to it long enough and … it will turn true again, for so it goes. Most of the change we think we see in life is due to truths being in and out of favors.” (Robert Frost)
“Follow your bliss.” (Joseph Campbell)
“Dreams Soon Become Inevitable”
“Before you can lead others, before you can help others, you have to discover yourself. Today a leader can’t impose himself on others. He makes himself available to others. And nothing is more powerful than someone who knows who they are. The traditional view of leadership talks about leadership as a package, but it looks at the outside of the package. I’m talking about starting with what’s inside the package.” (Joe Jaworski, Synchronicity)
“It’s one of the characteristics of a leader that he not doubt, for one moment, the capacity of the people he’s leading to realize whatever he’s dreaming.” (Benjamin Zander, TED – Ideas Worth Spreading)
“So many of our dreams at first seem impossible, then they seem improbable, and then, when we summon the will, they soon become inevitable.” (Christopher Reeve, aka ‘Superman’)
Think back on the leaders you have worked for or know of. What do you believe made them a success? Those that were successful knew themselves well – strengths and weaknesses, believed in their mission and trusted, cared about and had deep confidence in the people they ‘served.’ ‘Servant leadership’ – successful leaders ‘served’ the people who reported to them. As a result, the leaders’, no wait …, the teams’ dreams became inevitable. Be a ‘servant leader’ and make dreams come true. ~ GMUniverse
“What We Are in Potentiality”
“One doesn’t discover new lands without consenting to lose sight of the shore for a very long time.” (Andre Gide)
“He who knows much about others may be learned, but he who understands himself is more intelligent. He who controls others may be powerful, but he who has mastered himself is mightier still.” (Lao-Tsu)
“We are not in a position in which we have nothing to work with. We already have a start; we already have capacities, talents, direction, missions, callings. The job is, if we are willing to take it seriously, to help ourselves to be more perfectly what we already are, to be more full, more actualizing, more realizing, in fact, what we are in potentiality.” (Abraham Maslow, The Farthest Reaches of Human Nature
“Success in a Nanosecond”
“Any day we wish; we can discipline ourselves to make important changes in our lives. Any day we wish; we can open the book that will open our mind to new knowledge. We can do it immediately, or next week, or next month, or next year.
We can also do nothing. We can pretend rather than perform. And if the idea of having to change ourselves makes us uncomfortable, we can remain as we are. The choices are ours to make. But while we curse the effect, we continue to nourish the cause.
We have both the ability and the responsibility to make better choices beginning today. We cannot allow our errors in judgment, repeated every day, to lead us down the wrong path. We must keep coming back to those basics that make the biggest difference in how our life works out. And then we must make the very choices that will bring life, happiness and joy into our daily lives.
And if I may be so bold to offer my last piece of advice for someone seeking and needing to make changes in their life – If you don’t like how things are, change it! You have the ability to totally transform every area in your life – and it all begins with your very own power of choice.” (Jim Rohn)
“One of the most common things I hear is, ‘I’d like to do something remarkable like that …, but my xyz won’t let me; where xyz = my boss, my publisher, my partner, my licensor, my franchisor, etc. Well, you can fail by going along with that and not doing it, or you can do it, cause a ruckus and work things out later.
In my experience, once it’s clear you’re willing (not just willing, but itching, moving, and yes, implementing) without them, things start to happen. People are rarely willing to step up and stop you, and often just waiting to follow someone crazy enough to actually do something. I’m going. Come along if you like.” (Seth Godin)
“You can be as successful as you wish the nanosecond you decide you will not settle for anything less.” (Tom Peters)
YOU
“People travel to wonder at the height of the mountains, at the huge waves of the seas, at the long course of the rivers, at the vast compass of the ocean, at the circular motion of the stars, and yet they pass by themselves without wondering.” (St. Augustine)
“Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around.” (Leo Buscaglia)
“Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does.” (William James)
Be who you really are, show the world your uniqueness and share with everyone. ~ GMUniverse
Be Like Children
“You can understand and relate to most people better if you look at them – no matter how old or impressive they may be – as if they are children. For most of us never really grow up or mature all that much – we simply grow taller. Oh, to be sure, we laugh less and play less and wear uncomfortable disguises like adults, but beneath the costume is the child we always are, whose needs are simple, whose daily life is still best described by fairy tales.” (Leo Rosten)
“The great enemy of creativity is fear. When we’re fearful, we freeze up … . Creativity has a lot to do with a willingness to take risks. Think about how children play. They run around the playground without thinking about where they’re going. They trip, they fall down, and then they get back up again and run some more. They have a wonderful belief: that everything will be all right. They feel capable; they let go; they play … . No matter how many facts and figures you have, you can’t predict the future. There will always be surprises … . Creativity helps us realize that we don’t have to understand everything. We can enjoy something – feel it and use it – without ever fully comprehending it.” (Faith Ringgold, Fast Company, April 2000)
“All I really need to know about how to live and what to do and how to be I learned in kindergarten. Wisdom was not at the top of the graduate school mountain, but there in the sand pile …. These are the things I learned:
- Share everything.
- Play fair.
- Don’t hit people.
- Put things back where you found them.
- Clean up your own mess.
- Don’t take things that aren’t yours.
- Say you’re sorry when you hurt somebody.
- Wash your hands before you eat.
- Flush.
- Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you.
- Live a balanced life – learn some and think some and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work every day some.
- Take a nap every afternoon.
- When you go out into the world, watch out for traffic, hold hands, and stick together.
- Be aware of wonder.
- And then remember the Dick-and-Jane books and the first word you learned – the biggest word of all – LOOK.
Everything you need to know is in there somewhere. The Golden Rule and love and basic sanitation. Ecology and politics and equality and sane living.” (All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten by Robert Fulghum)
“Why Not Be Great?”
“Dreams are really the thoughts that you have hidden in your heart. When you start a brand new day, let your heart show you the way and make a dream or two come true.” (‘Land of Make Believe’ by Chuck Mangione)
“You can choose beliefs that limit you, or you can choose beliefs that support you.” (Anthony Robbins)
“The thing is, we still live in a world that’s filled with opportunity. In fact, we have more than an opportunity – we have an obligation. An obligation to spend our time doing great things. To take risks and to make the world better by being amazing. You get to make a choice. You can remake that choice every day, in fact. It’s never too late to choose optimism, to choose action, to choose excellence. The best thing is that it only takes a moment — just one second — to decide. … you have the power to change everything that’s to come. And you can do that by asking yourself (and your colleagues) the one question that every organization and every individual needs to ask today: Why not be great?” (Seth Godin, Fast Company, June 2003)
Some of the Catalyst Community
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Catalyst Quotes 