The 10 quotes that go with me in my business life
The first time I heard the term “personal development” was right after I was honorably discharged from my military service, and since I was attracted to business and entrepreneurship – I signed for the “Business Entrepreneurship” course to become an entrepreneur.
During the course I realized immediately and in no uncertain terms how much our personal development as entrepreneurs and business people is just as important as our performance. Furthermore – the performance in the field cannot be realized without good and correct personal development.
As someone who believes strongly in karma, I can attest that inspirational, clever sayings always caused me and my mindset to be filled with positive energies and to carry on with implementing the ideas in practice.
These sayings led me to believe that anything is possible since people came up with those saying out of their business experience and life experience.
- “A ship in port is safe, but that’s not what ships are built for” (Grace Hopper) – Society’s biggest problem today is fear of daring. Everyone prefers to be in the safe and comfortable zone, the port, rather than sailing far on the ship.
When sailing we study the ship, learn to handle it in stormy weather and on the high seas, learn to operate it to steer and lead us to where we want to be. That’s what ships are for.
- “It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop.” (Confucius) – The worst thing you can do is stop. Many areas of life are a kind of a process. Sometimes it’s quick and short and sometimes it’s slow and long. In any case, it’s important to stop and look at the journey and at the process itself, even if it’s slow, as long as we don’t stop.
This is valid in both our personal and our professional life. Whether it’s a new project that needs diverse solutions or whether it’s learning how to drive and getting your driver’s license – in both these examples, keep going toward your end goal, no matter how slowly you go, it’s better than stopping!
- “Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion” (Mohammad Ali) – “suffer” is a harsh word. Personally I don’t like it that much, however, I understand it well. The journey is full of challenges and hurdles, some of them very unpleasant, difficult situation, emotional crises, background noise, or exhaustion.
These periods should always do the exact opposite – lift us up and make us internalize that the current suffering will pay off in the future. - “There is no substitute for hard work” (Thomas Edison) – shortcuts, not at our school. I don’t think they work in any school. An entrepreneur works hard, get this into your head!
- “I have not failed, I simply found 10,000 ways it didn’t work” (Thomas Edison) – these words go with me down the entire journey. In the significant project I made (Fashanga) I have gone a long way where I made quite a few mistakes, but I always preferred to see these mistakes as tuition rather than failure.
- “Never give up on a dream because of the time it will take to accomplish it. The time will pass anyway.” (Earl Nightingale) – some quotesI adopt along the way are usually saying that came from experience and hard facts, it is incontrovertible that time passes anyway and sometimes time seems to be fleeting. Never give up on a dream or a goal if the reason is that it will take time. The time will pass either way, whether you like it or not.
- “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do.” ( Mark Twain) – an entrepreneur hears a lot of people who they regret things they have done, however I hear a lot of mature people who look back on their lives and regret things they didn’t get to do, things they prevented themselves from doing or didn’t have the guts to do.
- “Keep your eyes on the stars, and your feet on the ground. “ (Theodore Roosevelt) – keep on dreaming and no matter how far you want to go, just always keep your feet on the ground!
- “Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass; it’s about learning to dance in the rain.” (Anthony Robbins) – one of the saying I strongly identify with. Our life in general and our business life in particular, often encounter storms. Some storms are emotional, some are within your team, sometime it’s a storm facing the investors.
In my opinion, the great wisdom is to know to continue and handle things and make it look like it’s business as usual, to keep on smiling and let the world know that everything is fine and dandy. Sometimes it’s difficult, but as the saying goes, part of the wisdom is to dance and enjoy it even while the weather is not so great. - “Being the richest man in the cemetery doesn’t matter to me. Going to bed at night saying we’ve done something wonderful…, that’s what matters to me.” (Steve Jobs) – I chose to end this with this quote Steve Jobs is an entrepreneur and one of the people I admire most in this sphere. Steve Jobs stands as the proof for all entrepreneurs that where there is a will there is a way and as he said “The People Who Are Crazy Enough To Think They Can Change The World Are The Ones That Do”
My supreme goal every morning is to be satisfied with my actions, the daily feeling of satisfaction that comes from doing things according to your goals and your own way is worth every conceivable fortune.
I was delighted to share with you the ten most inspirational quotes I adopted along my journey.
Which one speak to you the most?
