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I am a firm believer in the power of words.
Quotes. Sentences. Phrases. Songs.
I clip articles, Tweet quotes and highlight paragraphs.
So, when I’m in need of a pick-me-up or an extra dose of motivation, I turn to words. You can find me, Val and Miles passing books back and forth regularly, our Amazon Wish List chock-full of books that have been recommended to us by clients and colleagues.
(Cough, business owners should read THIS book).
All that being said, I decided to dedicate a mid-week blog to some quotes that inspire me to keep moving forward and, frankly, working my ass off. Most are geared toward Leadership, Entrepreneurship or Marketing, but most can be applied to virtually anything in life.
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Here’s Your Mid-Week Pick-Me-Up
“Sweat equity is the most valuable equity there is. Know your business and industry better than anyone else in the world. Love what you do, or don’t do it.”
– Mark Cuban (Entrepreneur)
“People often say that motivation doesn’t last. Well, neither does bathing — that’s why we recommend it daily.”
– Zig Ziglar
“The critical ingredient is getting off your butt and doing something. It’s as simple as that. A lot of people have ideas, but there are few who decide to do something about them now. Not tomorrow. Not next week. But today.”
– Nolan Bushnell (Entrepreneur)
“Chase the vision, not the money, the money will end up following you.”
– Tony Hsieh (Zappos Founder & CEO)
“In every position that I’ve been in, there have been naysayers who don’t believe I’m qualified or who don’t believe I can do the work. And I feel a special responsibility to prove them wrong.”
– Sonia Sotomayor (Supreme Court Justice)
“Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning.”
– Bill Gates
“Make your marketing so useful people would pay for it.”
– Jay Baer (Consultant)
“It’s not about ideas. It’s about making ideas happen.”
– Scott Belsky (Behance Co-Founder)
“When everything seems to be going against you, remember that the airplane takes off against the wind, not with it.”
– Henry Ford (Ford Motor Company Founder)
“I always did something I was a little not ready to do. I think that’s how you grow. When there’s that moment of, ‘Wow, I’m not really sure I can do this,’ and you push through those moments, that’s when you have a breakthrough.”
– Marissa Mayer (Yahoo CEO)
“Always deliver more than expected.”
– Larry Page (Google Co-Founder)
“You shouldn’t focus on why you can’t do something, which is what most people do. You should focus on why perhaps you can, and be one of the exceptions.”
– Steve Case (AOL Co-Founder)
“I’m convinced that about half of what separates the successful entrepreneurs from the non-successful ones is pure perseverance.”
– Steve Jobs (Apple Co-Founder)
“All organizations start with WHY, but only the great ones keep their WHY clear year after year. Those who forget WHY they were founded show up to the race every day to outdo someone else instead of to outdo themselves. The pursuit, for those who lose sight of WHY they are running the race, is for the medal or to beat someone else.”
– Simon Sinek (Author)
“Be undeniably good. No marketing effort or social media buzzword can be a substitute for that.”
– Anthony Volodkin (HypeMachine Founder)
“You have everything you need to build something far bigger than yourself.”
– Seth Godin (Entrepreneur)
“Don’t settle: Don’t finish crappy books. If you don’t like the menu, leave the restaurant. If you’re not on the right path, get off it.”
– Chris Brogan
“Most people are sitting on their own diamond mines. The surest ways to lose your diamond mine are to get bored, become overambitious, or start thinking that the grass is greener on the other side. Find your core focus, stick to it, and devote your time and resources to excelling at it.”
– Gino Wickman (Author, Entrepreneur)
“Striving for success without hard work is like trying to harvest where you haven’t planted.”
– David Bly (Politician)
“Good content isn’t about good storytelling. It’s about telling a true story well.”
– Ann Handley (Author)
“When you’re more valuable, the people around you will do more to make it work.”
– Sheryl Sandberg (Facebook COO, Author and Entrepreneur)
“The biggest risk is not taking any risk… In a world that’s changing really quickly, the only strategy that is guaranteed to fail is not taking risks.”
– Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook Founder)
“If you love what you do and are willing to do what it takes, it’s within your reach. And it’ll be worth every minute you spend alone at night, thinking and thinking about what it is you want to design or build.”
– Steve Wozniak (Inventor)
“It is our choices that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.”
– J. K Rowling (Author)
“Success doesn’t necessarily come from breakthrough innovation but from flawless execution.”
– Naveen Jain (Intelius CEO)
“As we look ahead into the next century, leaders will be those who empower others.”
– Bill Gates (Microsoft Co-Founder)
“Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the one’s we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.”
– Barack Obama
“The difference between winning and losing is most often not quitting.”
– Walt Disney
“Talent is cheaper than table salt. What separates the talented individual from the successful one is a lot of hard work.”
– Stephen King (Author)
“Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle.”
– Steve Jobs
“Success is simple. Do what’s right, the right way, at the right time.”
– Arnold Glascow (Author)
“Our job is to connect to people, to interact with them in a way that leaves them better than we found them, more able to get where they’d like to go.”
– Seth Godin
“Marketing’s job is never done. It’s about perpetual motion. We must continue to innovate every day.”
– Beth Comstock (General Electric Vice Chair)
“If you’re not failing now and again, it’s a sign you’re not doing anything innovative.”
– Woody Allen (Actor)
“Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing about”
– Benjamin Franklin
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I’m going to close out with the quote that I return to most regularly, the one that I remind myself of when I’m burnt out or can’t get out of bed: