A new year brings new opportunities.
Maybe watching inspiring TED Talks will make you want to work on your public speaking skills. Or maybe reading inspiring motivational quotes will make you want to set big goals for your personal growth.
No matter what your plans are for the year, take some advice from F. Scott Fitzgerald, who had this to say in Tender is the Night (also available on Audible):
You must touch life in order to spring from it.
For more inspiration, here are some of my favourite Seth Godin quotes from his 2021 blog posts, together with a recommended title from Blinkist.
The best way to break a habit is to model and then commit to a new habit. ~ The ruts
Learn more: The Achievement Habit
We can refuse to be brainwashed into accepting the status quo, and we can commit to finding the others, engaging with them and levelling up. If we care enough. ~ Why isn’t there a line at the library?
Learn more: You Are Not Your Brain
You got this far because your natural approach was helpful. But to get to the next level, you’ll need technique, which, by definition, isn’t something you come by on your own. ~ Natural technique doesn’t exist
Learn more: Outliers
Once we decide to make a difference, it’s easy for doubt to set in. Because making a difference causes change, and change is scary. One way through the fear is with community. Groups of people who not only have your back, but are on a similar journey. ~ Taking action
Learn more: Reach Out
People talk about ego like it’s a bad thing. But our desire to do a good job, our self-trust, our willingness to dance with fear–these are fuel if used properly. ~ Egomania vs. ego strength
Learn more: The Alter Ego Effect
A new habit takes at least thirty uncomfortable days to form, and a new habit is unrelated to the external forces (positive and negative) that we’re so good at finding and embracing. ~ The things we go back to
Learn more: Mini Habits
An overnight success almost never is. Might as well plan for the journey. ~ All at once and quite suddenly!
Learn more: The Law of Success
Better is possible… if we care enough to walk away from what was and brave enough to build something new. ~ The discard pile
Learn more: Your Best Just Got Better
We are either adding value by using our time to do something that’s been done before… or we’re contributing by finding out a way to do something new or create a better path forward. ~ The wayfinding premium
Learn more: Living Forward
It turns out that the people with the potential to benefit the most from a coach are often the most hesitant precisely because of what coaching involves. ~ A coaching paradox
Learn more: Designing Your Life
If we say what we want and how we hope to achieve it, two things could happen: we could fail, and that would disappoint us, or we could succeed, and that would frighten us. ~ “I don’t want to play”
Learn more: How Successful People Think
The opposite of discipline is actually laziness, and that’s often associated with fear. Fear of responsibility and fear of the truth. Responsibility and truth are required if we’re going to get on the right track. ~ Discipline vs. fairness
Learn more: Discipline Equals Freedom
It’s definitely possible to put time to good use. But if we’re without a compass and a goal, we can find it using us. ~ Clocks
Learn more: The 5 AM Club
Speculation is a great hobby if you can afford it, but it shouldn’t be confused with investment. ~ Speculation is the new luxury good
Learn more: The Last Safe Investment
We talk about risk like it’s a bad thing. But all forward motion involves risk. You can’t find a risk-free way to accomplish much of anything. ~ Appropriate risk
Learn more: You Are What You Risk
Opportunity is another word for a problem to be solved. And opportunity is often there, but it rarely knocks. ~ The chance you’ve been waiting for
Learn more: Bulletproof Problem Solving
If it’s a habit, then it’s a decision, made consciously or not. And if we decided, we could decide to make a new decision about how we’ll act going forward. ~ When did you decide?
Learn more: How to Decide
Giving credit (or blame) to luck makes it easier to get back to the hard work of making things better. ~ Lucky charms
Learn more: Success and Luck
Often, we try to pretend that growth comes with no goodbyes, but it does. Perhaps we can go in with our eyes open, understanding that what we begin will likely end. And when we plan for it, we’ll do it better. ~ What will you leave behind?
Learn more: Necessary Endings
If we ever saw precisely how much freedom of choice we have if we were willing to sacrifice convenience for it, we’d be paralyzed. But if the choices we’re making now aren’t helping us live the way we choose, it might be worth taking a hard look at why. ~ Choice vs. convenience
Learn more: Choose Possibility
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