Die when I may, I want it said of me by those who know me best, that I always plucked a thistle and planted a flower when I thought a flower would grow.
—Abraham Lincoln (1809–65) American Head of State
If a man does not make new acquaintances as he advances through life, he will soon find himself left alone. A man, Sir, should keep his friendship in constant repair.
—Samuel Johnson (1709–84) British Essayist
Superstars perform so naturally and so instinctively that they seem to be able to enter a pressure-packed situation that would terrify or freeze most people as if nothing matters. They let it happen, let it go. They couldn’t care less about the results.
—John Eliot (b.1971) American Psychologist, Academic
By unlinking your money motivation from anger, fear, and the need to prove yourself, you can install new links for earning your money through purpose, contribution, and joy.
—T. Harv Eker (b.1954) American Motivational Speaker, Lecturer, Author
In my experience, there’s only one thing that will always steer you toward success: That’s to have a vision and to stick with it… Once I have a vision for a new venture, I’m going to ride that vision until the wheels come off.
—Russell Simmons (b.1957) American Music Promoter
What turns ordinary people into overachievers is the way they use their minds when they are called on to perform.
—John Eliot (b.1971) American Psychologist, Academic
Stick with your own perception of yourself—living in your own world—and letting your reality, not the reality presented by other people or particular situations, control your performance.
—John Eliot (b.1971) American Psychologist, Academic
Unlikely accomplishments are borne out of single-minded purposefulness. Future superstars don’t get there by keeping part of their heart in reserve.
—John Eliot (b.1971) American Psychologist, Academic
Unbeknownst to most fun-loving bipeds, not all stress is bad. Indeed, the New Rich don’t aim to eliminate all stress. Not in the least.
—Tim Ferriss (b.1977) American Self-help Author
How would you feel if you had no fear? Feel like that. How would you behave toward other people if you realized their powerlessness to hurt you? Behave like that. How would your react to so-called misfortune if you saw its inability to bother you? React like that. How would you think toward yourself if you knew you were really all right? Think like that.
—Vernon Howard (1918–92) American Spiritual Teacher, Philosopher
And such should be the outward biography of man in time, a putting off of dead circumstances day by day, as he renews his raiment day by day.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
To travel like a bird, lightly to view
Deserts where stone gods founder in the sand,
Ocean embraced in a white sleep with land;
To escape time, always to start anew…
Hooded by a dark sense of destination…
Travelers, we’re fabric of the road we go; We settle, but like feathers on time’s flow.
—Cecil Day-Lewis (1904–72) British Poet, Critic
A new idea must not be judged by its immediate results.
—Nikola Tesla (1856–1943) Serbian-American Electrical Engineer, Inventor
Thinking is a habit, and like any other habit, it can be changed; it just takes effort and repetition.
—John Eliot (b.1971) American Psychologist, Academic
Is that what I want? The model family, two plus two in an easy home assembly kit? I don’t want a model, I want the full-scale original. I don’t want to reproduce, I want to make something entirely new.
—Jeanette Winterson (b.1959) English Novelist, Journalist
I’ll tell you that for me, one when someone used to say something that was true, one way I knew it was true was that I immediately felt defensive. I blocked it off, and I went to war with them in my mind and suffered all that goes with it. And they were only saying what was true.
—Byron Katie (b.1942) American Speaker, Author
Like squirrels, the best in every business do what they have learned to do without questioning their abilities – they flat out trust their skills, which is why we call this high-performance state of mind the “Trusting Mindset”.
—John Eliot (b.1971) American Psychologist, Academic
All of life’s experiences are teachers in some sense, challenging us to grow and evolve. Although the Persecutor certainly provokes a reaction, the Challenger elicits a response by encouraging the Creator to acquire new knowledge, skill, or insight. Both roles provoke change, but in different ways.
—David Emerald
When everything is lost, and all seems darkness, then comes the new life and all that is needed.
—Joseph Campbell (1904–87) American Mythologist, Writer, Lecturer
There is no place in this new kind of physics both for the field and matter, for the field is the only reality.
—Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born Physicist
I have discovered that I cannot enhance anybody’s performance without getting them not only to live with the butterflies that come with high-pressure jobs but to embrace that kind of physical response, enjoy it, get into it. That’s the first real ticket to being a performer who thinks exceptionally.
—John Eliot (b.1971) American Psychologist, Academic
Elevated levels of confidence are omnipresent among history’s greatest overachievers. Benjamin Franklin, one of the most famous men in the world even before he signed the Declaration of Independence once lamented about humility, “I cannot boast of much success in acquiring the reality of this virtue”.
—John Eliot (b.1971) American Psychologist, Academic
I have discovered that in every language and every country I have visited, there are no new stories. They’re all recycled. The same stressful thoughts arise in each mind one way or another, sooner or later.
—Byron Katie (b.1942) American Speaker, Author
The best players in any high-stakes field – business, entertainment, law, surgery, as well as sport – recognize that pressure occurs at the moments when meaningful accomplishment is possible. In fact, that is the reason why performers perform: for the opportunity to tackle challenges head on, to do something significant, to demonstrate what their hard work and talent can produce.
—John Eliot (b.1971) American Psychologist, Academic
If people knew how hard I had to work to gain my mastery, it wouldn’t seem so wonderful at all.
—Michelangelo (1475–1564) Italian Painter, Sculptor, Architect, Poet, Engineer
Arrogant S.O.B.s run the world. A performer can never have too much self-confidence. The best in every field are likely to strike most people as irrationally confident, but that’s how they got to the top.
—John Eliot (b.1971) American Psychologist, Academic
I had not found a new religion but I had found a new faith.
—Marlo Morgan (1937–98) American Novelist, Author
To be a top performer you have to be passionately committed to what you’re doing and insanely confident about your ability to pull it off.
—John Eliot (b.1971) American Psychologist, Academic
If you want to move to a new level in your life, you must break through your comfort zone and practice doing things that are not comfortable.
—T. Harv Eker (b.1954) American Motivational Speaker, Lecturer, Author
Great performers require a measure of confidence that would strike many as absurd, unfounded, and downright irrational. They believe in themselves utterly, without question, even when everyone else is questioning how good (or sane) they are.
—John Eliot (b.1971) American Psychologist, Academic
The real people nation have for centuries had the practice at birth of speaking the same first phrase to all newborns. Each person hears the same exact first human words: “We love you and support you on the journey”. At their final celebration, everyone hugs them and repeats the phrase again.
—Marlo Morgan (1937–98) American Novelist, Author
The key to every man is his thought. Sturdy and defying though he look, he has a helm which he obeys, which is the idea after which all his facts are classified. He can only be reformed by showing him a new idea which commands his own.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
The limitations of my endurance were expanded over and over. At times I felt that if I did not sit down I would collapse. Then something would happen to attract my attention…miraculously, the distraction always provided wings, carrying new strength, a second wind.
—Marlo Morgan (1937–98) American Novelist, Author
I never knew how to worship until I knew how to love.
—Henry Ward Beecher (1813–87) American Clergyman, Writer
If you really want to find out what you’re capable of, you cannot put limits on yourself, and you definitely cannot be cautious.
—John Eliot (b.1971) American Psychologist, Academic
The times of drastic change are times of passions. We can never really be prepared from that which is wholly new. We have to adjust ourselves, and every radical adjustment is a crisis in self-esteem: we undergo a test, we have to prove ourselves. A population subjected to drastic change is, thus, a population of misfits, and misfits live and breathe in an atmosphere of passion.
—Eric Hoffer (1902–83) American Philosopher, Author
In like manner the effect of every action is measured by the depth of the sentiment from which it proceeds. The great man knew not that he was great. It took a century or two for that fact to appear. What he did, he did, he did because he must; it was the most natural thing in the world, and grew out of the circumstances of the moment.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
High achievers dwell on what they do well and spend very little time evaluating themselves and their performances.
—John Eliot (b.1971) American Psychologist, Academic
When you have a thought that is not in alignment with your highest vision change to a new thought! Then and there. When you say a thing that is our of alignment with your grandest idea, make a note not to say something like that again. When you do a thing that is misaligned with your best intention, decide to make that the last time. And make it right with whomever was involved if you can.
—Marlo Morgan (1937–98) American Novelist, Author
Anyone who strays too far from the majority view or the conventional wisdom is bound to be labeled “arrogant,” “a maverick,” “a Wildman,” “weird,” or even “crazy”.
—John Eliot (b.1971) American Psychologist, Academic
History, though, shows us that the people who end up changing the world—the great political, scientific, social, technological, artistic, even sports revolutionaries—are always nuts, until they’re right, and then they’re geniuses.
—John Eliot (b.1971) American Psychologist, Academic
Great performers welcome pressure.
—John Eliot (b.1971) American Psychologist, Academic
I’ve seen the promised land, and there is good news. You can have it all.
—Tim Ferriss (b.1977) American Self-help Author
If you really want to break from the pack, you have to risk being perceived to be as eccentric as these people. You have to think exception-ally—a LOT!
—John Eliot (b.1971) American Psychologist, Academic
In this work are exhibited in a very high degree the two most engaging powers of an author. New things are made familiar, and familiar things are made new.
—Samuel Johnson (1709–84) British Essayist
Confidence is a resolute state of mind by which you believe nothing is impossible.
—John Eliot (b.1971) American Psychologist, Academic
Aristotle said, ‘Time does not exist except for change.’ The origin of the word change is the Old English cambium, which means “to become”. In other words, time does not exist except for becoming something new. What, exactly, are you choosing to become?
—Robert Cooper (b.1947) British Diplomat
No one else’s roadmap to success will get you there.
—John Eliot (b.1971) American Psychologist, Academic
The physical symptoms of fight or flight are what the human body has learned over thousands of years to operate efficiently and at the highest level…anxiety is a cognitive interpretation of that physical response.
—John Eliot (b.1971) American Psychologist, Academic
I knew it was unrealistic to think I could build an institution overnight. But if I took baby steps, eventually it would happen.
—Russell Simmons (b.1957) American Music Promoter