How Successful People Think: Change Your Thinking, Change Your Life

Dont ever be impressed with goal setting; be impressed with goal getting. Reaching new goals and moving to a higher level of performance always requires change, and change feels awkward. But take comfort in the knowledge that if a change doesn't feel uncomfortable, then it's propably not really a change.

Maya Angelou observed you cant use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have. Sadly,too often creativity is smothered rather than nurtured. There has to be climate in which new ways of thinking,perceiving, questioning are encouraged.

Ideas have a short shelf life. You must act on them before the expiration date.

A person who knows how may always have a job, but the person who knows why will always be his boss.

Where success is concerned, people are not measured in inches, or pounds, or college degrees, or family background; they are measured by the size of their thinking.

Creativity requires a willingness to look stupid.

French essayist Michel Eyquem de Montaigne wrote, “The value of life lies not in the length of days, but in the use we make of them; a man may live long yet live very little.” The truth is that you can spend your life any way you want, but you can spend it only once.

Your thinking, more than anything else, shapes the way you live. It’s really true that if you change your thinking, you can change your life.

Thinking is hard work; that’s why so few do it.

People with humility don’t think less of themselves; they just think of themselves less.

Until thought is linked with purpose there is no intelligent accomplishment.

If you combine your thoughts with the thoughts of others, you will come up with thoughts you’ve never had!

Instead of trying to be great, be part of something greater than yourself.

Your life today is a result of your thinking yesterday. Your life tomorrow will be determined by what you think today.

A visionary company is like a great work of art. Think of Michelangelo’s scenes from Genesis on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel or his statue of David. Think of a great and enduring novel like Huckleberry Finn or Crime and Punishment. Think of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony or Shakespeare’s Henry V. Think of a beautifully designed building, like the masterpieces of Frank Lloyd Wright or Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. You can’t point to any one single item that makes the whole thing work; it’s the entire work—all the pieces working together to create an overall effect—that leads to enduring greatness.

Getters generally don’t get happiness; givers get it.

You could use the 80/20 rule. Give 80 percent of your effort to the top 20 percent (most important) activities. Another way is to focus on exceptional opportunities that promise a huge return. It comes down to this: give your attention to the areas that bear fruit.

There is no life as empty as the self-centered life. There is no life as centered as the self-empty life.

It is true: most people are more satisfied with old problems than committed to finding new solutions.

Earlier in my life, I have to admit, I was often guilty of this error. I wanted to take an idea from seed thought to solution before sharing it with anyone, even the people it would most impact. I did this both at work and at home. But over the years, I have learned that you can go much farther with a team than you can go alone.

We must stop assuming that a thing which has never been done before probably cannot be done at all.” —Donald M. Nelson

you can act your way into feeling long before you can feel your way into action. If you wait until you feel like doing something, you will likely never accomplish it.

The problem with popular thinking is that it doesn’t require you to think at all.” —Kevin Myers

The Right Thought plus the Right People in the Right Environment at the Right Time for the Right Reason = the Right Result

You must reject common thinking if you want to accomplish uncommon results.

experience alone does not add value to a life. It’s not necessarily experience that is valuable; it’s the insight people gain because of their experience. Reflective

greatest enemy to tomorrow’s success is sometimes today’s success.

Paul the Apostle exhorted, “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.” 74 Make a mental and emotional commitment to look out for the interests of others.

The hero is the one with ideas.

You are today where your thoughts have brought you. You will be tomorrow where your thoughts take you.” –JAMES ALLEN