There's nothing quite like a qood quote to inspire growth. In fact, technically speaking, quotes are the original "snackable" growth. I used to quietly roll my eyes at people that had quotes framed and plastered on their walls. Now, my office desk is covered in a quilt of sticky note quotes. I have no idea who this woman is. 🤷🏽♀️
Anywho, in this week's video, I share 7 of my favorite (and lesser known) quotes. These aren't the cheeky ones that you get on overpriced pieces of jewelry. Believe in yourself! Dream big! Instead, these are quotes that shook me -- quotes I stumbled upon in the middle of books, and had to stop to write down so I could hold onto them as life-long mantras.
If you enjoy the quotes in this video, you may want to consider dipping your toes into the self-help sphere. The books by the authors quoted are a good starting point -- namely:
7 Habits of Highly Effective People: the mega-famous handbook on principle-based living by Stephen Covey
The Happiness Project: a practical approach to incrementally improving joy in daily life by Gretchen Ruben
The Art of Work: a guide to uncovering your calling by Jeff Goins
While I tend to gravitate towards more philosophic pieces on life, I still found these books highly valuable. They're easy reads with some nice hidden gems.
The quote that changed my life
If there's one quote that I would seriously consider transferring from a sticky note on my desk to a tattoo on my forehead, it would have to be the first one in this video:
"How we spend our days is of course, how we spend our lives." -- Annie Dillard
This is my favorite quote of all time. It changed my life because it's just so... simple. It's not spewing life advice or beating you over the head with better habits. Instead, it's merely sharing a reminder: our life is lived in each day.
And that shizzle is scary.
We prefer to think of our life in distant, abstract terms. A long time horizon like "the rest of your life" is easy. Comforting, even. You can just forecast a hypothetically "happier" future, and use it as a crutch for present unhappiness. We discount the need for daily change, because hey, you've got the rest of your life, kid!
All that changes when you realize the "rest of your life" is defined by your present life. It gets real scary, real quick. We can no longer brainwash ourselves into believing that today is just a test-run. This isn't how I'm spending my whole life. It's just how I'm spending my life right now!
Riiiiiight. This mindset is a one-way ticket to a lifelong routine that goes unchecked and unchanged. We sink deeper and deeper into the precedent of our life. Our daily habits ditch all responsibility for how our life will look holistically.
Instead, what we really need to do is reassess how we're spending each day. We need to take responsibility for how our life is spent, not in some distant future on our death bed, but today and everyday.
As scary as it is to realize our lifelong existence is defined by the atomic days, it's also deeply empowering. We can choose to change our life each day and we can tweak our life trajectory -- not in a mere handful of major life milestones, but on any day of our choosing.
So, if you're sitting there asking yourself the overwhelmingly abstract question, how am I spending my life -- consider asking yourself something more concrete:
How are you spending your days?
The answer will be illuminating. And, if you're not okay with that answer remaining for the rest of your life...well...how do I put this...
SOUND THE BLOODY ALARM.
It's time to change. And, not tomorrow, bud.
Today.
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