“Striving for success without hard work is like trying to harvest where you haven’t planted.”

Posted on September 5, 2014 by Barry

“Striving for success without hard work is like trying to harvest where you haven’t planted.”

– David Bly, American politician and member of the House of Representatives

Photo from Flickr by Tim Buss

The world is filled with “get rich quick” schemes, like the miracle diet that will let you lose weight effortlessly, and many other supposedly low-effort, high-result strategies. The problem with just about all of them is that they simply do not work.

I really like the word “striving.” It causes me to think of pursuing a noble and passionate cause when I’m “all in” and won’t stop until the goal is reached.

For me, though, it is not simply the goal that is the source of this striving. My passion, inspiration, and fundamental purpose for being mobilized into action are also essential.

Exercise:

What are the important goals and hoped-for harvests in your professional and personal life that inspire you to strive and do the hard and challenging work required of you today?

“Don’t ask yourself what the world needs; ask yourself what makes you come alive…”

Posted on August 10, 2012 by Barry

“Don’t ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and then go and do that. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.”

—Howard Thurman, 20th Century African-American author, educator, and civil rights leader.

Image from Unsplash by Jakob Owens

I support a strength-based approach to work performance and life in general.

The work of many individuals, including Marcus Buckingham, has established that the average person works in their area of strength perhaps only 20 – 25% of the time. However, some of the most satisfied and highly-successful people work in their areas of strength and unique abilities 40 – 50% of the time.

Exercise:

How could you design your life and career to shoot for spending 60%, 70% or 80% of your time in your areas of strength?

If you did this, how alive would you be and what difference would you make in your life and the lives of those around you?

#2: “Do not follow where the path may lead; go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.”

Posted on May 10, 2012 by Barry

– Ralph Waldo Emerson

We’re wired to doing what other people expect of us. We learn (from parents, teachers, and other influencers) that we should try to fit in and not stand out.

Yet many of us regret that we did not follow our own muse, passions and visions.

Ask yourself:

What inspires me?
What am I passionate about?
Where do I lose all my sense of time?
Where and when am I the happiest?
What are my unique abilities and talents?

Exercise:

How will you find the courage to chart your own life journey? Where will you go and what will you do?

Quotes are posted on The Quotable Coach a week after being sent out by email. To get the latest quotes straight to your inbox, pop your email address in the sidebar to the right.