“I learned that good judgment comes from experience and that experience grows out of mistakes.”
– Omar Bradley, general

“Trouble is only opportunity in work clothes.”
– Henry Kaiser, industrialist

“Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers. Pray for powers equal to your tasks.”
– Phillips Brooks, clergyman

“Courage is rarely reckless or foolish. Courage usually involves a highly realistic estimate of the odds that must be faced.”
– Margaret Truman, author

“You can’t do it unless you can imagine it.”
– George Lucas, director

“You are not beaten until you admit it.”
– George Patton, general

“Wisdom is knowing what to do; virtue is doing it.”
– David Jordan, scientist

“Dreams never hurt anybody if he keeps working right behind the dream to make as much of it become real as he can.”
– Frank Woolworth, Entrepreneur

“Knowledge has to be improved, challenged and increased constantly, or it vanishes.”
– Peter Drucker, management expert

“Problems should be solved on the spot, as soon as they arise. No frontline employee should have to wait for a supervisor’s permission.”
– Jan Carlzon, airline executive

“Instead of comparing our lot with that of those who are more fortunate than we are, we should compare it with the lot of the great majority of our fellow men. It then appears that we are among the privileged.”
– Helen Keller, lecturer

“All men who deliberate on controversial matters should do it free of hate, friendship, anger and pity.”
– Sallust, historian

“We can learn from past failures and mistakes, but we shouldn’t get stuck there. We can keep future goals in mind, but we shouldn’t get stuck there, either. The only way to reach our potential is to focus on what we must do now – this moment, this day – to perform effectively and win.”
– Joe Torre

“The successful man is the one who had the chance and took it.”
– Roger Babson, executive

“Small opportunities are often the beginning of great enterprises.”
– Demosthenes, statesman

“The virtue you would like to have, assume it is already yours, appropriate it, enter into the part and live the character just as the great actor is absorbed in… the part he plays.”
– Ralph Waldo Emerson, poet

“Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless.”
– Mother Teresa, charity worker

“All achievements, all earned riches, have their beginning in an idea.”
– Napolean Hill, author

“Our minds can shape the way a thing will be because we act according to our expectations.”
– Federico Fellini, director

“A man may fulfill the object of his existence by asking a question he cannot answer and attempting a task he cannot achieve.”
– Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr., physician

“No matter what it is, pick yourself up and go on to the next project.”
– Shelley Duvall, actress

“Deal first with whatever is causing you the greatest emotional distress. Often this will break the logjam in your work and free you up mentally to complete (the) other tasks.”
– Brian Tracy, motivational coach

“Be more concerned with your character than your reputation, because your character is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are.”
– John Wooden, basketball coach

“If you want to conquer fear, don’t sit at home and think about it. Go out and get busy. ”
– Dale Carnegie, motivational expert

“I am willing to put myself through anything; temporary pain or discomfort means nothing to me as long as I can see that the experience will take me to a new level.”
– Diana Nyad, swimmer

“Don’t ever be afraid to admit you were wrong. It’s like saying you’re wiser today than you were yesterday.”
– Robert Newell, humorist

“Character is built daily by the way one thinks and acts – thought by thought, action by action.”
– Helen Douglas, legislator

“I don’t think that once you get to one level, you can relax. You’ve got to keep pushing. ”
– Larry Bird, basketball player

“Life is the sum of all your choices.”
– Albert Camus, Author

“All men who have achieved great things have been great dreamers.”
– Orison Swett Marden, writer

“You can easily judge the character of others by how they treat those who can do nothing for them or to them.”
– Malcolm Forbes, publisher

“The real winners in life are the people who look at every situation with an expectation that they can make it work or make it better.”
– Barbara Pletcher, author

“If life was so easy that you could just go buy success, there would be a lot more successful companies in the world. Successful enterprises are built from the ground up.”
– Lou Gerstner, IBM CEO

“If you want to get the best out of a person you must look for the best that is in him.”
– Bernard Haldane

“Deliberation is the work of many men. Action, of one alone.”
– Charles de Gaulle, statesman

“Character is the ability to carry out a good resolution long after the excitement of the moment has passed.”
– Cavett Robert

“The chains of habit are too weak to be felt until they are too strong to be broken.”
– Samuel Johnson, Lexicographer

“There is no such thing as a minor lapse of integrity.”
– Tom Peters, Author

“No great performance ever came from holding back.”
– Don Greene, performance coach

“It is dangerous to go into eternity with possibilities that oneself has prevented from becoming realities. A possibility is a hint from God. One must follow it. ”
– Soren Kierkegaard, Philosopher

“It’s not what you do once in a while; it’s what you do day in and day out that makes the difference.”
– Jenny Craig, diet guru

“A strong imagination begetteth opportunity.”
– Michel de Montaigne, writer

“I love the man who can smile in trouble, gather strength from distress and grow brave by reflection.”
– Thomas Paine, Statesman

“I have never known a really successful man who deep in his heart did not understand the grind, the discipline it takes to win.”
– Vince Lombardi, American Football Coach

“What will your children remember? Moments spent listening, talking, playing and sharing together may be the most important times of all.”
– Gloria Gaither

“The important thing is to learn a lesson every time you lose.”
– John McEnroe, tennis champion

“Life without risk is not worth living.”
– Chuck Lindbergh, aviator

“Managing is getting paid for home runs someone else hits.”
– Casey Stengel, baseball manager

“The starting point of all achievement is desire. Keep this constantly in mind. Weak desires bring weak results, just as a small fire makes a small amount of heat.”
– Napoleon Hill, author

“You have set yourself a difficult task, but you will succeed if you persevere.”
– Helen Adams Keller, American Author and Lecturer

“Lost time is never found again.”
– Benjamin Franklin, inventor

“Until you make peace with who you are you will never be content with what you have.”
– Doris Mortman

“Experience is valuable only if it’s imbued with meaning from which one can draw salient conclusions. Otherwise, experience becomes imprisoning.”
– Barry McCaffrey, general

“Rowing harder doesn’t help if the boat is headed in the wrong direction.”
– Kenichi Ohmae, business coach

“Every man, however wise, needs the advice of some sagacious friend in the affairs of life.”
– Plautus, Playwright

“Each man (is) the architect of his own fortune.”
– Appius Caecus, builder

“For every disadvantage there is a corresponding advantage.”
– Clement Stone, executive

“We either make ourselves miserable or we make ourselves strong. The amount of work is the same.”
– Carlos Castaneda, author

“Before you begin a thing, remind yourself that difficulties and delays quite impossible to foresee are ahead… You can only see one thing clearly, and that is your goal. Form a mental vision of that and cling to it through thick and thin.”
– Kathleen Norris, Writer

“Create a definite plan for carrying out your desire, and begin at once, whether you’re ready or not, to put it into action.”
– Napoleon Hill, motivational expert

“I’ve come to believe that each of us has a personal calling that’s as unique as a fingerprint–and that the best way to succeed is to discover what you love and then find a way to offer it to others in the form of service, working hard, and also allowing ”
– Oprah Winfrey, Talk Show Host

“Leaders get out front and stay there by raising the standards by which they judge themselves – and by which they are willing to be judged.”
– Frederick Smith, Federal Express founder

“Success is waking up in the morning and bounding out of bed because there’s something out there that you love to do, that you believe in, that you’re good at – something that’s bigger than you are, and you can hardly wait to get at it again.”
– Whit Hobbs

“Before a person can achieve the kind of life he wants, he must think, act, walk, talk and conduct himself in all of his affairs as would the person he wishes to become.”
– Zig Ziglar, Author

“Be like a postage stamp. Stick to one thing until you get there.”
– Josh Billings, humorist

“In real estate, it’s location, location, location. In business, it’s differentiate, differentiate, differentiate.”
– Robert Goizueta, executive

“To be prepared is half the victory.”
– Miguel de Cervantes

“Stay committed to your decisions, but stay flexible in your approach. It’s the end you’re after.”
– Anthony Robbins, Motivational Speaker

“The more informative your advertising, the more persuasive it will be.”
– David Ogilvy, Advertising Executive

“The person who pays an ounce of principle for a pound of popularity gets badly cheated.”
– Ronald Reagan, 40th U.S. president

“If you don’t fail now and again, it’s a sign you’re playing it safe.”
– Woody Allen, Director

“Setting a goal is not the main thing. It is deciding how you will go about achieving it and staying with that plan.”
– Tom Landry, football coach

“Giving up is the ultimate tragedy.”
– Robert Donovan, writer

“Keep your sense of humor. There’s enough stress in the rest of your life to let bad shots ruin a game you’re supposed to enjoy.”
– Amy Alcott, golfer

“If you want to leave your footprints on the sands of time, be sure you’re wearing work shoes.”
– Author Unknown

“Begin challenging your own assumptions. Your assumptions are your windows on the world. Scrub them off every once in a while, or the light won’t come in.”
– Alan Alda, Actor

“It is the studying that you do after your school days that really counts. Otherwise, you know only that which everyone else knows.”
– Henry Doherty

“If your actions create a legacy that inspires others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, then you are an excellent leader.”
– Dolly Parton, Singer

“In times like these, it helps to recall that there have always been times like these.”
– Paul Harvey, broadcaster

“Not only strike when the iron is hot, but make it hot by striking.”
– Oliver Cromwell, military leader

“Never say no when a client asks for something, even if it is the moon. You can always try, and anyhow there is plenty of time afterward to explain that it was not possible.”
– Cesar Ritz, hotelier

“The entrepreneur is… the most important player in the building of the global economy. So much so that big companies are reconstituting themselves as networks of entrepreneurs.”
– John Naisbitt, writer

“It’s the little things that make the big things possible. Only close attention to the fine details of any operation makes the operation first class.”
– J. Willard Marriott Sr., hotel executive

The greatest conflicts are not between two people, but between one person and himself.
– Garth Brooks

Find something you’re passionate about and keep tremendously interested in it.
– Julia Child

A person can succeed at almost anything for which they have unlimited enthusiasm.
– Charles M. Schwab

Happiness is mostly a byproduct of doing what makes us feel fulfilled.
– Benjamin Spock

Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world.
– Harriet Tubman

Pressure is a word that is misused in our vocabulary. When you start thinking of pressure, it’s because you’ve started to think of failure.
– Tommy Lasorda

Never give up, for that is just the place and time that the tide will turn.
– Harriet Beecher Stowe

Who has not served cannot command.
– John Florio

Nothing great will ever be achieved without great men, and men are great only if they are determined to be so.
– Charles de Gaulle

Strategic advantage lies in the leverage of knowledge.
– Robert Buckman

It’s better to hang out with people better than you. Pick out associates whose behavior is better than yours, and you’ll drift in that direction.
– Warren Buffett

There is only one way to make a great deal of money, and that is in a business of your own.
– J. Paul Getty

Freedom lies in being bold.
– Robert Frost

People often say that this or that person has not yet found himself. But the self is not something one finds. It is something one creates.
– Thomas Szasz

Happy are those who dream dreams and are ready to pay the price to make them come true.
– Leon Suenens

No great performance ever came from holding back.
– Don Greene

A bold, vigorous assault has won many a faltering cause.
– Ira Eaker

Nothing great has ever been achieved except by those who dared believe that something inside them was superior to circumstances.
– Bruce Barton

In prosperity our friends know us; in adversity we know our friends.
– John Churton Collins

I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.
– Maya Angelou

If anything terrifies me, I must try to conquer it.
– Francis Chichester

One should count each day a separate life.
– Seneca

Bachelors should be heavily taxed. It is not fair that some men should be happier than others.
– Oscar Wilde

If two men agree on everything, you may be sure that one of them is doing the thinking.
– Lyndon B. Johnson

Friends may come and go, but enemies accumulate.
– Thomas Jones

What we call ‘Progress’ is the exchange of one nuisance for another nuisance.
– Havelock Ellis

Silly things do cease to be silly if they are done by sensible people in an impudent way.
– Jane Austen

Love is not blind — it sees more, not less. But because it sees more, it is willing to see less.
– Rabbi Julius Gordon

One of the keys to happiness is a bad memory.
– Rita Mae Brown

Trying to determine what is going on in the world by reading newspapers is like trying to tell the time by watching the second hand of a clock.
– Ben Hecht

Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I’m not sure about the former.
– Albert Einstein

Silence is the virtue of fools.
– Sir Francis Bacon

Never go to bed mad. Stay up and fight.
– Phyllis Diller

Literature is an occupation in which you have to keep proving your talent to people who have none.
– Jules Renard

The prospect of a long day at the beach makes me panic. There is no harder work I can think of than taking myself off to somewhere pleasant, where I am forced to stay for hours and ‘have fun.’
– Phillip Lopate

A good novel tells us the truth about its hero; but a bad novel tells us the truth about its author.
– G.K. Chesterton

That all men are equal is a proposition which, at ordinary times, no sane individual has ever given his assent.
– Aldous Huxley

__________

RELATED CONTENT

• Index To Great Quotes

__________

Create a definite plan for carrying out your desire and begin at once, whether you ready or not, to put this plan into action.
– Napolean Hill

The most difficult thing is the decision to act; the rest is merely tenacity. The fears are paper tigers. You can do anything you decide to do.”
– Amelia Earhart

An undefined problem has an infinite number of solutions.
–Robert A. Humphrey

To try and fail is at least to learn. To fail to try is to suffer the loss of what might have been.
– Benjamin Franklin

Success comes to the man who grits his teeth, squares his jaw and says, “There is a way for me and, by jingo, I’ll find it.”
– Clifford Sloan

Every artist was first an amateur.
– Ralph Waldo Emerson

Accept the challenges so that you may feel the exhilaration of victory.
– George Patton

Sometimes we stare so long at a door that is closing that we see too late the one that is open.
– Alexander Graham Bell

It isn’t where you came from; it’s where you’re going that counts.
– Ella Fitzgerald

Small differences in your performance can lead to large differences in your results.
– Brian Tracy

I was taught that the way of progress is neither swift nor easy.
– Marie Curie

Silence is one of the great arts of conversation, as allowed by Cicero himself, who says, ‘there is not only an art, but an eloquence in it.’ A well bred woman may easily and effectually promote the most useful and elegant conversation without speaking a word. The modes of speech are scarcely more variable than the modes of silence.
– Tom Blair

I love acting. It is so much more real than life.
– Oscar Wilde

One of the many lessons that one learns in prison is, that things are what they are and will be what they will be.
– Oscar Wilde

If all else fails, immortality can always be assured by spectacular error.
– John Kenneth Galbraith

A marriage is always made up of two people who are prepared to swear that only the other one snores.
– Terry Pratchett

Whenever you find that you are on the side of the majority, it is time to reform.
– Mark Twain

Truth is more of a stranger than fiction.
– Mark Twain

After two years in Washington, I often long for the realism and sincerity of Hollywood.
– Fred Thompson

You cannot make a man by standing a sheep on its hind legs. But by standing a flock of sheep in that position you can make a crowd of men.
– Max Beerbohm

People seem to enjoy things more when they know a lot of other people have been left out of the pleasure.
– Russell Baker

Real generosity towards the future lies in giving all to the present.
– Albert Camus

The world has achieved brilliance without conscience. Ours is a world of nuclear giants and ethical infants.
– Edward Roscoe Murrow

Compassion is not weakness, and concern for the unfortunate is not socialism.”
– Hubert Horathio Humphrey

When things go wrong they like to blame the President, and that’s one of the things that Presidents are paid for.”
– John F. Kennedy

Humor is just another defense against the universe.
– Mel Brooks

If at first you don’t succeed, find out if the loser gets anything.
– Bill Lyon

I don’t know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody.
– Bill Cosby

History teaches us that men and nations behave wisely once they have exhausted all other alternatives.
– Abba Eban

The best car safety device is a rear-view mirror with a cop in it.
– Dudley Moore

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous? Actually, who are you NOT to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn’t serve the world. There’s nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We are born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some o fus, it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

__________

Related Content

• Index To Great Quotes
• Investing In Yourself

__________

“People will not bear it when advice is violently given, even if it is well founded. Hearts are flowers; they remain open to the softly falling dew, but shut up in the violent downpour of rain.”
– John Paul Richter

“The mind is its own place, and in itself can make a heav’n of hell and a hell of a heav’n.”
– John Milton, poet

“It’s the little things that make the big things possible. Only close attention to the fine details of any operation makes the operation first class.”
– J. Willard Marriot

“Without faith, nothing is possible. With it, nothing is impossible.”
– Mary Bethune, educator

“The only real security that a man will have in this world is a reserve of knowledge, experience and ability.”
– Henry Ford, carmaker

“It is not enough to fight. It is the spirit that we bring to the fight that decides the issue. It is morale that wins the victory.”
– George Marshall, general

“The most important thing about goals is… having one.”
– Geoffry F. Abert

“Without ambition, one starts nothing. Without work, one finishes nothing. The prize will not be sent to you. You have to win it.”
– Ralph Waldo Emerson, Poet

“The majority of men meet with failure because (they don’t create) new plans to take the place of those that fail.”
– Napoleon Hill, motivational expert

“The barrier (to) success is not something which exists in the real world; it is composed purely and simply of doubts about ability.”
– Franklin Roosevelt, 32nd U.S. President

“As long as you’re going to be thinking anyway, think big.”
– Donald Trump, Real Estate Magnate

“When you find yourself stressed, ask yourself one question: Will this matter five years from now? If yes, then do something about the situation. If no, then let it go.”
– Catherine Pulsifer, writer

“Once men are caught up in an event, they cease to be afraid. Only the unknown frightens men.”
– Antoine de Saint-Exupery, aviator

“The measure of a man is the way he bears up under misfortune.”
– Plutarch, historian

“Courage is like a muscle. We strengthen it with use.”
– Ruth Gordon, actress

“To be conscious that you are ignorant of the facts is a great step to knowledge.”
– Benjamin Disraeli, British prime minister

“Should you find yourself in a chronically leaking boat, energy devoted to changing vessels is likely to be more productive than energy devoted to patching leaks.”
– Warren Buffett, Berkshire Hathaway, CEO

“When a man dies, if he can pass enthusiasm along to his children, he has left them an estate of incalculable value.”
– Thomas Edison, inventor

“It’s the little things that make the big things possible. Only close attention to the fine details of any operation makes the operation first class.”
– J. Willard Marriot

“If you don’t like the situation you’re in, you don’t have to settle for it. ”
– Macy Gray, Singer

“The ability to summon positive emotions during periods of intense stress lies at the heart of effective leadership.”
– Jim Loehr, psychologist

“Being miserable is a habit. Being happy is a habit. The choice is yours.”
– Tom Hopkins, sales trainer

The most important single ingredient in the formula of success is knowing how to get along with people.”
– Theodore Roosevelt, 26th U.S. president

“All glory comes from daring to begin.”
– Alexander Graham Bell, Inventor

“Believe you will be successful and you will.”
– Dale Carnegie, motivational speaker

“Too many people overvalue what they are not and undervalue what they are.”
– Malcolm Forbes, Publisher

“I’ve felt that dissatisfaction is the basis of progress. When we become satisfied in business, we become obsolete.”
– J. Willard Marriott Sr., hotel executive

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

“The world makes way for the man who knows where he is going.”
– Ralph Waldo Emerson, Poet

“Seek to do good and you will find that happiness will run after you.”
– James Freeman Clarke

“Long-range goals keep you from being frustrated by short-term failures.”
– J.C. Penney, Retailer

“Age wrinkles the body. Quitting wrinkles the soul.”
– Douglas MacArthur, General

“The making of friends who are real friends is the best token we have of a man’s success in life.”
– Edward Hale, theologian

“In playing ball, and in life, a person occasionally gets the opportunity to do something great. When that time comes, only two things matter: being prepared to seize the moment and having the courage to take your best swing.”
– Hank Aaron, Baseball Player

“I have always been driven to buck the system, to innovate, to take things beyond where they’ve been.”
– Sam Walton, Wal-Mart founder

“The majority of men meet with failure because (they don’t create) new plans to take the place of those that fail.”
– Napoleon Hill, motivational expert

“Always dream and shoot higher than you know you can do. Don’t bother just to be better than your contemporaries or predecessors. Try to be better than yourself.”
– William Faulkner, Author

__________

Related Content

• Index to Great Quotes
• Trivia Index

__________

Ideas pull the trigger, but instinct loads the gun.
~ Don Marquis

Choice, not chance, determines human destiny.
~ Robert W. Ellis

True grit is making a decision and standing by it, doing what must be done.
~ John Wayne

No matter how bad someone has it, there are others who have it worse. Remembering that makes life a lot easier and allows you to take pleasure in the blessings you have been given.
~ Lou Holtz

God gives everyone certain attributes, characteristics, talents, and then He says, “If you use what you have I’ll increase it, but if you don’t use it, you’ll lose it.” Use it or lose it; it’s a law.
~ Charlie “Tremendous” Jones

Insanity is big business. And vice versa.
~ Robyn Hitchcock

The tragedy of life is not that it ends so soon, but that we wait so long to begin it.
~ Anonymous

I am free of all prejudice. I hate everyone equally.
~ W. C. Fields

__________

RELATED CONTENT

• Index to Great Quotes
• Trivia Index

__________

The most important quality for success in entrepreneurship and in life is the quality of optimism. Optimists have an unrealistic expectation of success. As a result, they are willing to try far more things without becoming discouraged. In addition, because of their unrealistically positive attitude, they are willing to persist much longer than the average person. Optimism is a wonderful quality as long as you have it under control.

Temper Your Optimism
In order to be successful in business, and in any activity where your money is involved, you must temper your optimism with negativism. You must be enthusiastic about the possible upside of the investment but you must be skeptical, critical, suspicious and demanding about all the different ways that your money can be lost.

Listen to Negative Viewpoints
Seek out and listen carefully to people who are negative toward your idea. Look for negative thinkers, because their viewpoints can be invaluable and save you a fortune in time and money. I have a friend who is a lawyer. And he recommends and gives advice to many people on investments. And what he does is this. When someone comes and they want to make an investment that he’s unsure about, he says, all right, I want you to come to my office and I want you to sit behind my desk. And then I’m going to come in and I’m going to present this investment to you and I want you to critique this investment as if you were me.

Help Others to Evaluate Honestly
And he says that when his clients begin critiquing the investments they’re thinking about going into, when they begin becoming negative thinkers about the investments, he says they are astonished at how bad the investments really are. He said he has saved his clients millions of dollars by forcing them to be negative thinkers about their own ideas, simply by switching roles and sitting in front of the desk while they sit behind the desk.

Keep Your Mind Open
But don’t be overly influenced by negative thinkers. Just take their viewpoints into consideration. There’s a famous story of Mary Hudson, who started off with 200 dollars in the middle of the Depression and leased a gas station that two men had gone broke running at two different occasions. And from that she built a company called Hudson Oil, which is now the biggest independent distributor of gas and oil in the United States. From a 200 dollar investment, even though everybody told her she would fail. So remember, listen to negative thinkers, but don’t necessarily accept their advice.

Action Exercises
Here are two things you can do immediately to get these ideas into action.

First, view your idea as if you were an outside consultant. Ask, “What are all of the possible risks or flaws in this cause of action?”

Second, seek out the opinions of others. Listen without responding or defending. Thank them for their input. They may save you a lot of money.

There is a time to let things happen and a time to make things happen.
~ Hugh Prather

If you can find a path with no obstacles, it probably doesn’t lead anywhere.
~ Frank A. Clark

All the problems of the world could be settled easily if men were only willing to think.
~ Thomas J. Watson, Former President of IBM

The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The next best time is now.
~ Chinese Proverb

Today I will do what others won’t, so tomorrow I can accomplish what others can’t.
~ Jerry Rice

Going into business for yourself, becoming an entrepreneur, is the modern-day equivalent of pioneering on the old frontier.
~ Paula Nelson

A good manager is a man who isn’t worried about his own career but rather the careers of those who work for him.
~ H.S.M. Burnes

Bottom line: if you show a genuine interest in learning about how others became successful, you can open up a world of opportunities. ~ Armstrong Williams, Political Commentator

Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending.
~ Maria Robinson

Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.
~ Howard Thurman

The happiest excitement in life is to be convinced that one is fighting for all one is worth on behalf of some clearly seen and deeply felt good.
~ Ruth Benedict

Life is full of beauty. Notice it. Notice the bumble bee, the small child, and the smiling faces. Smell the rain, and feel the wind. Live your life to the fullest potential, and fight for your dreams.
~ Ashley Smith

I always read the last page of a book first so that if I die before I finish I’ll know how it turned out.
~ Nora Ephron

People, when they first come to America, whether as travelers or settlers, become aware of a new and agreeable feeling: that the whole country is their oyster.
~ Alistair Cooke

Success is always temporary. When all is said and done, the only thing you’ll have left is your character.
~ Vince Gill

I recently received the following note:

Dear Kevin,

Warren Buffett, one of the smartest and most successful businessmen of our time, was recently asked what he thought was the best investment anyone could make in these difficult times.

His answer was fast and simple …

“The most important investment you can make is in yourself.”

That could very well be the best advice Mr. Buffett has ever offered. If ever there was a time to take control of your future, it’s now.

Never before have we faced such perilous times.

A free-falling stock market is jeopardizing the comfortable retirement of millions. Once rock-solid, mainstay companies are struggling to survive. Millions of blue and white-collar jobs are on the line. In fact, a just-released government report talks about 533,000 jobs lost in November alone — the most in a single month in 34 years.

And a lot of experts agree — the worst is yet to come.

I don’t know what the future holds, but regardless of what lies ahead the advice offered by Warren Buffet is sterling. The best investment that you can ever make is in yourself.

What does that mean for you?

We all have have different skill sets, different personalities, different hopes and dreams. It is for that reason that you are be best person to decide how to invest in yourself. It would be nice if you could simply read a book, or listen to a CD and come up with the answer. However, you must search your heart and do serious self-reflection to put together the best self-development plan for yourself.

No one can help you with the answer, but there is help to walk you through the process. If you find yourself in this situation I suggest that you start with
Strengthsfinder 2.0. It comes complete with an online assessment to help you discover your strengths and leverage them for success.

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DO YOU HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO DO WHAT YOU DO BEST EVERY DAY?

Chances are, you don’t. All too often, our natural talents go untapped. From the cradle to the cubicle, we devote more time to fixing our shortcomings than to developing our strengths.

To help people uncover their talents, Gallup introduced the first version of its online assessment, StrengthsFinder, in the 2001 management book Now, Discover Your Strengths. The book spent more than five years on the bestseller lists and ignited a global conversation, while StrengthsFinder helped millions to discover their top five talents.

In its latest national bestseller, StrengthsFinder 2.0, Gallup unveils the new and improved version of its popular assessment, language of 34 themes, and much more (see below for details). While you can read this book in one sitting, you’ll use it as a reference for decades.

Loaded with hundreds of strategies for applying your strengths, this new book and accompanying website will change the way you look at yourself — and the world around you — forever.

AVAILABLE EXCLUSIVELY IN THE NEW & UPGRADED EDITION OF STRENGTHSFINDER 2.0
(using the unique access code included with each book)

* A new and upgraded edition of the StrengthsFinder assessment

* A personalized Strengths Discovery and Action-Planning Guide for applying your strengths in the next week, month, and year

* A more customized version of your top five theme report

* 50 Ideas for Action (10 strategies for building on each of your top five themes)

* The more user-friendly StrengthsFinder 2.0 companion website, with a strengths community area, library of downloadable discussion guides and activities, a strengths screensaver, and a program for creating display cards of your top five themes

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STRENGTHS: THE NEXT GENERATION

Q&A with author Tom Rath

(From the Gallup Management Journal; interviewed by Jennifer Robison)

Last month, StrengthsFinder 2.0 hit the bookstores. Book browsers, no doubt, had many questions, and among them was probably “Didn’t I already read a book about this?”

Well, actually, yes. But the topic was worth revisiting for two reasons. In the six years since the release of Now, Discover Your Strengths, more than 2 million people have taken the Clifton StrengthsFinder assessment, which means billions of people have not yet had the opportunity. The second reason is that Gallup researchers just haven’t been able to let the topic rest. Over the past decade, they’ve done more surveys, more interviews, and more studies; they’ve prodded and poked and analyzed. And they realized that there’s a lot more to understanding human talent than most people know. Those who are familiar with the StrengthsFinder assessment know that it is designed to uncover certain key talents — patterns of thought, feeling, and behavior that can be productively applied. These patterns are categorized into 34 broad themes — such as Achiever, Ideation, and Relator — and those themes indicate and predict one’s innate and unique talents. Those talents, when multiplied by the investment of time spent practicing, developing skills, and building knowledge, can become strengths. Some of this is just common sense; it seems intuitive that your performance will be better if you’re doing what you naturally do well. But some of it seems counterintuitive and runs directly against conventional wisdom: No amount of training will help you excel in your areas of weakness. You can’t do anything you want to do — or be anything you want to be — because you’re just not going to be good at everything. But if you work with your talents, you can be extraordinary. StrengthsFinder has resonated with the business community because there’s a direct link between talent development and performance. In this interview, Tom Rath, author of StrengthsFinder 2.0, discusses what Gallup scientists have learned since the publication of the first book, what more there is to discover about your talents, and why it’s bad to focus on your employees’ weaknesses, but simply cruel to ignore them completely.

GMJ: Why the new book?

Tom Rath: StrengthsFinder 2.0 is an effort to get the core message and language out to a much broader audience. We had no idea how well received the first strengths book would be by general readers — it was oriented more toward managers — or that the energy and excitement would continue to grow. More than two million people have taken the StrengthsFinder assessment, and each month, the number of people learning about their talents goes up. But readers keep asking us: “Now that I know about my strengths, what do I do next?” So we went back and surveyed hundreds of them and asked them how they apply their talents. Then we whittled their suggestions down to the ten best ideas for each theme. We also added more than five thousand Strengths Insights to version 2.0 that allow us to offer more individualized theme descriptions than we could before. So, instead of general descriptions of your top five talent themes, in 2.0, you get a talent profile so unique that you’re unlikely to share even a sentence with someone else. And as I said, the first book was really written for a business audience. People have had trouble retrofitting the theme descriptions if they are in non-management roles, but they’ve tried. This book helps readers apply strengths theory to any type of role and gives them ideas to help them apply their talents in their daily life.

GMJ: It’s been six years since the first book was published, and Gallup has done hundreds of thousands more interviews. Have you discovered anything new about talents and strengths? Have you altered your original premise?

Rath: No, but we’ve seen more and more evidence that demonstrates that focusing on your talents is important. We did a survey in 2004 that examined what happens when your manager ignores you, focuses on your strengths, or focuses on your weaknesses. We found that if your manager focuses on your strengths, your chances of being actively disengaged go down to one in one hundred. However, if your manager primarily focuses on your weaknesses, your chances of being actively disengaged are 22%, and if your manager ignores you, that percentage rises to 40%.

GMJ: Why such a high rate of disengagement among those who are ignored?

Rath: It basically mirrors the psychology of raising kids — being completely ignored is the worst possible psychological state. You would actually feel better if your manager went from ignoring you to focusing on what you do wrong all the time, because then at least she’s paying attention to you.

GMJ: Did your new research turn up anything that surprised you?

Rath: We’ve talked a lot about how strengths can help you be more of who you are, and you get more out of your best players, and all of that. But in the last ten years, we’ve also found that it’s a good strategy just to wipe out the extreme negativity in the workplace. I get this question almost every time I talk to a group: “What do I do about that one person who just drags everyone down every day?” My glib answer was to get rid of the person. I always thought there were some people who were just destined to be disengaged in their jobs because that was their personality, and no matter how hard managers tried, there wasn’t much they could do with some of those people. But the data from the last five years would suggest that much of that epidemic of disengagement is fixable. More than I ever would have guessed, it helps tremendously if a manager starts by focusing on someone’s strengths. You may not take someone who’s actively disengaged and make him into your most engaged employee, but it will help get him out of that mindset where he’s scaring off colleagues and customers.

GMJ: So is that the business case to be made for putting people in roles that play to their strengths? Rath: I think it’s the secondary business case. The main business case is that people have a lot more fun and get a lot more done if they’re able to spend time in areas where they have some natural talent. I think that’s a fundamental principle that hasn’t changed much at all. The one thing that we were clear about in StrengthsFinder 2.0 is that the American dream ideal that “You can be anything you want if you just try hard enough” is detrimental. This is especially true when people buy into it hook, line, and sinker. You may not be able to be anything you want to be, but you can be a lot more of who you already are. [Taking] StrengthsFinder is just a starting point; it’s step one of a hundred in figuring out the areas where you have the most potential for growth. GMJ: What is the most challenging aspect of your ongoing strengths research?

Rath: While hundreds of people in our organization continue to research this topic each year, our greatest challenge might be incorporating the new research while making the message even more succinct and applicable to a wider audience. So while we have hundreds of new case studies and meta-analyses about strengths — and about employee engagement and business outcomes — we tried to stay as close as we could to the basics.

GMJ: The Clifton StrengthsFinder assessment has always categorized talents into thirty-four themes. Have you ever considered adding or subtracting any, or refining them further?

Rath: Yes, we looked at that extensively as we started to review our plan for the updated version of the assessment. We found that so far, the thirty-four themes have done a good job of describing much of what we’ve learned since releasing the first version of the assessment. If enough people had made a case about a specific theme that didn’t exist, we were open to adding that theme. I think we probably will continue to investigate whether there are themes that emerge that we haven’t yet picked up on. But there wasn’t a real strong case for any additions at this time.

GMJ: What would you most like to accomplish with StrengthsFinder 2.0?

Rath: Our big goal and mission as a company is to help people do more of what they do well. We’ve topped two million completed StrengthsFinder assessments, and it’s not too hard to imagine that number getting to twenty million soon. An organization that exists to help people has a responsibility to get better and better. By reaching beyond our initial audience, we help people get the latest and greatest research. But we also hope it helps people live better lives.

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