You gain strength courage and confidence by every experience: Courage and confidence don’t come to us easily. They come with a lot of hard work and effort. Each experience we face adds to this build-up of courage that shapes our confidence and approach to fear. I love the motivation in this quote by Eleanor Roosevelt … Read more
Success is a beautiful feeling. Nothing comes close to the sense of accomplishment of your goals. It is a statement of your victory, a testament to your efforts and the glory in achieving them. Failure however is not fun, but its not the worst thing in the world!
Many times, particularly when things feel hard, we tend to blame the circumstances or people around us. Although a part of it might be true, we must ask the question so what? And this is the answer you’ll get for the so what question. Most often, the question – why does this happen to me feels us with sympathy, helplessness and blame. None of these help you find the solution. There’s only one person who can help you with this and that’s yourself.
Dreams transform into thoughts: This is such a beautiful quote about dreams by Abdul Kalam. Ever since I read his book, Wings of Fire, I’ve fallen in love with his thoughts about dreams. These quotes are usually followed by their powerful companions – perseverance and hard work. As we talk about Kalam’s quote on dreams transforming into thoughts and actions, let’s try and explore the meaning of this quote and its relevance in today’s world.
Don’t let yesterday take up too much of today, meaning: This quote is all about regrets and moving forward in life. Although we’re aware of quotes that say live life without regrets, I believe regrets are valuable. Yesterday is a beautiful reality that keeps telling us something. It is feedback to use for our future and move ahead with life. Yes, we shouldn’t dwell in the past. By that, I mean don’t worry about what has happened – worry about how to move forward from it.
Either you run the day or the day runs you: Take control, lead the day. This is in short what the quote is telling us to do. However, we all know how hard sometimes things are. We just have to follow the motions and get through the day. Although we may never be able to follow this quote to the letter, I like the principle of this quote. The main point for me is that when the day runs us, we get busy and lose track of things. This is exactly how the most important things in our life take a backseat. Because we are so busy responding to the demands of the day, we don’t have time to do what’s important for us.
What you’re thinking is what you’re becoming: We are never a finished product – instead, we’re in the constant process of becoming. These thoughts however are extremely powerful. If we ignore them, easily poisonous thoughts such as doubts, lies and disbelief will start pestering us. The best thing we can do is to be aware of these thoughts, what they are trying to tell us and think of the best ways to indulge in them.
The future belongs to the ones who dream: Our dreams are constantly shattered by the limitations of reality. I’ve always been an ardent fan of thoughts on dreams. They make us think beyond what we have and engage, inspire a desire to do something better. In a way, these dreams get us out of our limitations and move to a world beyond these where things are possible. Such is the beauty of dreams. Another inspiring aspect of these dreams is that they don’t stop. They find a way to pester us until we do something about it. As Eleanor Roosevelt says, reality keeps us grounded in the world as is. But the future belongs to the people who show the courage to dream. For, it is these dreams that create a version of the reality for tomorrow.
Efficiency is doing things right: It’s not just important to use our time wisely to become productive. It is most important to ensure that we are spending our time on the right things. This quote by Peter Drucker beautifully talks about the difference between efficiency and effectiveness. It is so easy to get caught up in the idea of being productive with time. However, effectiveness asks us to step out of this biased thinking. It forces us to look at the big picture and ask whether we are compromising effectiveness for the sake of efficiency.
The key is in not spending time: Time is lost, even before we start thinking about it. Unfortunately, most times we don’t treat time with the same respect because something else takes priority. This quote by Stephen Covey, makes us pause and rethink about time as an investment for the future. As much as I like the idea of investing time in the future, I’m conflicted with the thought that disregards the present and treats it as a tool for the future.