Inspirational Quotations

Inspirational Quotes by Barbara Sher (American Career Coach)

Barbara Sher (1935–2020) was an American career and lifestyle coach and author. Her books sold millions of copies and were translated into many languages.

Born in Detroit, Michigan, Sher earned a B.A. in anthropology from the University of California-Berkeley. In her 20s, Sher was divorced and broke and living in a welfare hotel in New York City with two young sons. Based on helping her friends prevail over life’s difficulties, Sher launched a new company, Women’s Success Teams, that offered workshops for women stymied at home and disenchanted by intolerant partners and self-doubt.

Sher’s books include Wishcraft: How to Get What You Really Want (1978,) Teamworks: Building Support Groups That Guarantee Success, (1989,) and I Could Do Anything If I Only Knew What It Was (1994; her most successful work.)

Sher’s Refuse to Choose!: A Revolutionary Program for Doing Everything That You Love (2006) is a systematic career program designed for the “Scanner Personality;” she argues that individuals with many interests are better suited as nimble generalists, switching from interest to interest, rather than specialists.

More: Wikipedia READ: Works by Barbara Sher

Doing what you love isn’t a priviledge; It’s an obligation.
Barbara Sher

Real obstacles don’t take you in circles. They can be overcome. Invented ones are like a maze.
Barbara Sher
Topics: Difficulty, Obstacles

Change is not only likely, it’s inevitable.
Barbara Sher
Topics: Change

The amount of good luck coming your way depends on your willingness to act.
Barbara Sher
Topics: Luck

Imaginary obstacles are insurmountable. Real ones aren’t. But you can’t tell the difference when you have no real information. Fear can create even more imaginary obstacles than ignorance can. That’s why the smallest step away from speculation and into reality can be an amazing relief. The Reality Solution means: Do it before you’re ready.
Barbara Sher
Topics: Attitude, Worry, Obstacles, Difficulty

When you start using senses you’ve neglected, your reward is to see the world with completely fresh eyes.
Barbara Sher
Topics: Fresh

You must go after your wish. As soon as you start to pursue a dream, your life wakes up and everything has meaning.
Barbara Sher
Topics: Meaning

The cure for sorrow is to learn something.
Barbara Sher
Topics: Sadness, Sorrow

I believe you can have whatever you really want in this life, in one form or another, sooner or later. All you have to do is take care of your health and be lucky enough to live for a while. But you can’t have it all at once and you can’t have it forever. No life has the room for everything in it, not on the same day.
Barbara Sher
Topics: Health

You can learn new things at any time in your life if you’re willing to be a beginner. If you actually learn to like being a beginner, the whole world opens up to you.
Barbara Sher
Topics: Learning, Beginnings

And our dreams are who we are.
Barbara Sher
Topics: Dreams

Resentment is weak and lowers your self-esteem.
Barbara Sher

It’s essential to distinguish between events that are really beyond your control and events you caused yourself.
Barbara Sher
Topics: Control

We are like violins. We can be used as doorstops, or we can make music.
Barbara Sher
Topics: Music, Being True to Yourself

You don’t have to get it right the first time.
Barbara Sher
Topics: Action

Doing your own thing is a generous act. Being gifted creates obligations, which means you owe the world your best effort at the work you love. You too are a natural resource.
Barbara Sher
Topics: Effort

Now is the operative word. Everything you put in your way is just a method of putting off the hour when you could actually be doing your dream. You don’t need endless time and perfect conditions. Do it now. Do it today. Do it for twenty minutes and watch your heart start beating.
Barbara Sher
Topics: Present, The Present, Conscience, Action

Doing is a quantum leap from imagining. Thinking about swimming isn’t much like actually getting in the water. Actually getting in the water can take your breath away. The defense force inside of us wants us to be cautious, to stay away from anything as intense as a new kind of action. Its job is to protect us, and it categorically avoids anything resembling danger. But it’s often wrong. Anything worth doing is worth doing too soon.
Barbara Sher
Topics: Action

You must go after your wish. As soon as you start to pursue a dream, your life wakes up and everything has meaning.
Barbara Sher
Topics: Dreams

People have to face regrets. Becoming mature means learning to accept what you cannot change, facing unresolved sorrows and learning to love life as it really happens, not as you would have it happen. When someone attaches unkindness to criticism, she’s angry. Angry people need to criticize as an outlet for their anger. That’s why you must reject unkind criticism. Unkind criticism is never part of a meaningful critique of you. Its purpose is not to teach or to help, its purpose is to punish. Life isn’t supposed to be an all or nothing battle between misery and bliss. Life isn’t supposed to be a battle at all. And when it comes to happiness, well, sometimes life is just okay, sometimes it’s comfortable, sometimes wonderful, sometimes boring, sometimes unpleasant. When your day’s not perfect, it’s not a failure or a terrible loss. It’s just another day.
Barbara Sher
Topics: Regret

Every single one of us can do things that no one else can do—can love things that no one else can love. We are like violins. We can be used for doorstops, or we can make music. You know what to do.
Barbara Sher
Topics: Individuality

When you play it too safe, you’re taking the biggest risk of your life. Time is the only wealth we’re given.
Barbara Sher
Topics: Risk

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