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Category: Overall personal growth

Deepen your understanding of fundamental, overarching personal growth topics.

How to move from ignorance to wisdom

Wisdom is described as the quality of having knowledge, experience, understanding, and good judgment. Our journey through life can and should be a process that starts…

Bert Ackaert 2022-11-23

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21 personal growth lessons to thrive in the 21st century

The world seems to be changing faster than ever, creating both challenges and opportunities. Take our quiz and find out how future-proof you are. The …

Bert Ackaert 2020-09-11

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150 amazing personal development quotes to live by

A single quote can contain a lifetime of wisdom, but rather than just referencing quotes for inspiration, they should be pondered and applied over and…

Bert Ackaert 2020-05-29

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Personal development quotes on strategic, principles-based living

“Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.”- Albert Einstein

Albert Einstein was not only a brilliant scientist, but also published a large volume of work on non-scientific subjects.

He was a non-religious spiritualist who understood that our intellect might be too limited to unravel all of nature's mysteries.

He advocated looking at nature as a foundation for our reasoning, whether about scientific or moral topics. This insight is also the basis of our Designed to grow experience.

“We are dependent entirely on obedience to the laws of nature for our success or failure in this life.” - Raymond Holliwell

One of my favorite books of all time is Raymond Holliwell's Working With the Law: 11 Truth Principles for Successful Living. This book is all about principled living, based on the natural laws of success.

“It is important to view knowledge as sort of a semantic tree — make sure you understand the fundamental principles, i.e. the trunk and big branches, before you get into the leaves or there is nothing for them to hang on to.” - Elon Musk

As a strategic entrepreneur with a knack for innovation, Elon Musk's mind is constantly trying to connect information to underlying principles, so that he can focus on primary causes and not on their outcomes.

This is a great quote to underline the importance of strategic, principled thinking and living.

"In matters of truth and justice, there is no difference between large and small problems, for issues concerning the treatment of people are all the same." - Albert Einstein

In this great quote, Einstein refers to the essential nature of principles: they apply to all situations, no matter their size or importance.

Nothing is either big or small, but our thinking that makes it so. How we handle the little things will be reflected in how we do the large things.

Quotes on the importance of personal development

"The important thing is that we must be constantly moving forward - yes, the progressive realization of a predetermined goal. And our growth should never end." - Og Mandino

Og Mandino was an American author who wrote books such as The University of Success. As so many other great authors have pointed out, he understood that having a sense of moving forward in life is what makes humans thrive.

“In order to be knowledgeable in these changing times, we must pursue a constant program of self-improvement, a never-ending journey into new fields of knowledge and learning.” - Og Mandino

Lifelong learning is only going to increase in importance, not only as our primary tool to keep moving forward, but also to stay up-to-date with all the (r)evolutions in this ever-faster changing world.

“Learn to work harder on yourself than on your job.” - Jim Rohn

Jim Rohn was an absolutely brilliant man and a fantastic speaker in the field of personal development.

With this quote, he reminds us that who we are is more important than what we know.

This reminds me of the quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson: "Who you are speaks so loudly I can't hear a word you're saying."

“If you are moving forward in your life, If you are progressing personally, professionally emotionally, spiritually – you will be happy.” - Tony Robbins

Happiness is not the goal of your life. Growth is.

Emerson wrote: “The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well.”

Tony Robbin's quote refers to the same insight.

"Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving." - Albert Einstein

I have seen many people reference this quote to promote physical exercise, but this is of course not what Einstein meant.

He did mean to highlight the importance to keep moving forward in life (which is the origin + quadruple meaning of our company's name).

“We are all self-made, but only the successful will admit it.”- Earl Nightingale

This quote by Earl Nightingale describes one of the fundamental premises of the personal development movement: that no matter what our circumstances may be, we always have the power to choose our response and by doing so, shape our future.

The difficult thing is seeing that this is so.

“Men are anxious to improve their circumstances, but are unwilling to improve themselves; they therefore remain bound.” - James Allen

James Allen is one of my favorite authors who wrote As a Man Thinketh, one of the most influential books in the field of personal development.

Personal development quotes on leadership

“You must take personal responsibility. You cannot change the circumstances, the seasons, or the wind, but you can change yourself.” - Jim Rohn

In this direct reference to bearing personal responsibility for what you do with your life, Jim Rohn points out that while we might not be responsible for everything, we sure are responsible to everything. In fact, we are always responding, as even doing nothing is a response.

This quote reminds me of another quote, by Viktor Frankl, the psychiatrist who survived four Nazi concentration camps and documented his experience in Man's Search for Meaning:

"The one thing you can’t take away from me is the way I choose to respond to what you do to me. The last of one’s freedoms is to choose one’s attitude in any given circumstance.”

“Good people do not need laws to tell them to act responsibly, while bad people will find a way around the laws.” - Plato

Although Plato lived more than 200 years ago, this quote is still incredibly relevant.

Character, values, and a good attitude are all part of personal leadership and should form a solid foundation for our thoughts, feelings, and actions.

“Success seems to be connected with action. Successful people keep moving forward. They make mistakes, but they don’t quit.” - Conrad Hilton

Perseverance is an important part of effective leadership. It's equally important to stop doing the activities that contribute little or nothing to the achievement of your goals.

“Our attitude toward life determines life’s attitude toward us.” - John N. Mitchell

Having a good attitude means that your thoughts, feelings, and actions are aligned in the same direction.

If you have a positive attitude toward life, radiate positive emotions, and act constructively, you will create similar conditions in your life.

Personal development quotes on the importance of having a moving vision, goals, and plan of action.

“Definiteness of purpose is the starting point of all achievement.” - W. Clement Stone

Just as with all forms of life, the purpose of life for man is also to grow. Discovering, cultivating, and expressing your natural potential toward goals that are meaningful to you, will improve your life and the world around you.

This implies that you know what your natural talents are and have decided what you will work towards.

“It is a terrible thing to see and have no vision.”- Helen Keller

Despite the fact that Helen Keller was born deaf and blind, she had an inspiring vision for the world.

She wrote several books, was active in the political debate and inspired others with her lectures.

She worked towards a vision of more justice and equality.

She understood that an inspiring vision has the power to pull you through the most difficult of circumstances and to unite people toward the same goal.

“I saw the angel in the marble, and carved until I set him free.” - Michelangelo

Michelangelo was and still is a giant in the world of art, architecture, literature, and more.

I love this quote because it's both an art to envision an angel in a block of stone, and to slowly carve it out of the marble. As long as you keep working, piece by piece, the angel will appear and the vision becomes clear for the whole world to see.

There is a story about a boy who looked at the angel and asked Michelangelo: "How did you know it was in that block of stone?" Isn't that wonderful?

What is the vision you have for your own life, for other people, for the rest of the world?

Can you set it free, piece by piece?

“I dream my painting and then I paint my dream.” - Vincent Van Gogh

Vincent van Gogh was a Dutch painter and illustrator who is of course world famous for paintings such as the Vase with Twelve Sunflowers or The Starry Night.

This quote illustrates how each work of art is created twice: first in the mind of the artist, a second time in reality.

You should never underestimate the importance of having a clear vision in your mind of where you want to go. It is the first step toward achieving your goals in reality.

“In the absence of clearly defined goals, we become strangely loyal to performing daily trivia until ultimately we become enslaved by them.” - Robert Heinlein

This is perhaps one of the most relevant quotes for the 21st century (more personal growth lessons for the 21st century can be found in this article). Never before have we had so many opportunities to distract ourselves.

You can easily go hours and hours from one social media message to the next video, to another series, and suddenly realize that half your day is up.

Those who have clearly defined goals and a burning desire to see them become reality have no time for constant interruption by daily trivia.

How many people spend hours a week on social media when they could spend this time much more usefully?

“Success is the progressive realization of a worthy goal or ideal.” - Earl Nightingale

Earl Nightingale tells us that success does not mean acquiring fame or money, but in walking the path toward achieving worthy goals for yourself and the rest of the world.

Success is not the achievement of the goal, but the journey there, who you become and what you do along the way.

I do not think that the social image of success corresponds with this definition of success, which is regrettable.

“The greatest danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it. Rather, it’s that we aim too low and we reach it.” - Michelangelo

I think I first read this quote in Seth Godin's fantastic book The Icarus Effect.

In the book, Godin describes how Icarus's father made him wings and told him not to fly too close to the sun; a warning that Icarus ignored, which made him plunge to his doom. The lesson: Play it safe.

But we tend to forget that Icarus was also warned not to fly too low, because seawater would ruin the lift in his wings. Flying too low is even more dangerous than flying too high, because it feels deceptively safe.

I think most people are mainly afraid not to fly too high and therefore stay low, where everything feels safe and comfortable, but where the view and the adventure is not so great.

“Get into a line that you will find to be a deep personal interest, something you really enjoy spending twelve to fifteen hours a day working at, and the rest of the time thinking about.” - Earl Nightingale

Consistent with the previous quote, people are afraid to follow their passion, for fear of losing safety and security.

It's not always wise to drop everything and go for your dreams, but you shouldn't ignore a passionate, consistent urge inside of you. Your passion clearly desires to be expressed.

Perhaps you can give it expression through a side-track in your life, so that the passion is not suppressed, but given time to grow steadily. Once it has grown big enough, you can focus all your energy on it.

Working will then no longer feel like work but as a natural expression of who you are, giving meaning and direction to your life.

You won't have to look for energy anymore, you'll get energy just by being engaged in your passion. That is a wonderful state in which to live.

“Treat yourself as you are, and you will remain as you are. Treat yourself as you could be, and you will become what you should be.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Ralph Waldo Emerson was a brilliant writer in the field of personal development.

He understood that you not only need to formulate a vision for your life, but also for the kind of person you see yourself becoming.

What kind of character does this person have? What are his or her habits? How does he behave?

Once you are clear about this, start treating yourself like this person. Make your ideal as real as possible in your mind, and you'll begin to move forward toward this image step by step.

"Your most important sale in life is to sell yourself to yourself." - Maxwell Maltz

Maxwell Waltz was a doctor and surgeon who wrote a lot about the importance of self-image and personal development. His book Psycho-cybernetics is a classic in the field.

Believing in ourselves, seeing our strengths and what is possible for us is one of the most difficult and important things in life.

You can only be yourself, and you must grow in this role, because everyone else already taken.

Have you already sold yourself to yourself, or do you want to be somebody else?

"Goals are a means to an end, not the ultimate purpose of our lives. They are simply a tool to concentrate our focus and move us in a direction. The only reason we really pursue goals is to cause ourselves to expand and grow."

Getting what you want doesn't make you happy, growth makes you happy, raising your level of consciousness.

The problem with most people, they don't know what they want because they start at a very early age being programmed to think that they can't have what they want.

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“If I want to be free, I've got to be me. Not the me you think I should be. Not the me I think my wife thinks I should be. Not the me I think my kids think I should be. If I want to be free, I've got to be me. So I better know who me is.” - Bill Gove

This is an important quote because it specifically refers to the fact that your freedom does not lie in becoming more like someone else but in increasing who you are.

If you know and learn to express your own qualities in the way that best suits you, then you come across as credible, authentic, and don't have to pretend to be anything other than who you are.

You are always and everywhere the same person and you know that no one else is or needs to be like you. So you should try to learn as much about yourself as possible.

“What lies behind us and what lies ahead of us are tiny matters to what lies within us.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson

We often look at what other people have done with amazement, but we don't usually realize that the same potential lies dormant within ourselves.

The different ways in which we can express ourselves and make the world a better place are endless. Even in the most difficult moments we have the creative power within us to change our world.

“Everybody is a genius, but if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.” - Albert Einstein

This is one of those quotes you see everywhere but how many people really know and use their greatest qualities every day?

I dare to estimate that not two in a hundred people would be able to specifically describe their three biggest talents and how they use those to move towards their goals. Can you?

Each of us has a unique combination of talents. If only we could more fully recognize, cultivate, and express them, we would find so much more meaning and fulfillment.

"The richness of a life depends on finding out one’s unique combination of powers – and then discovering and living the course of life that will fulfill those powers most completely."

“The meaning of life is to find your gift. The purpose of life is to give it away.” - Pablo Picasso

What a great and insightful quote this is! The purpose of life is to express your greatest talents so that you can make the world a better place and create more life, not only for yourself but also for the world around you.

“Do not fear to be your true self, for everything you want, wants you.” - Genevieve Behrend

The same desire for more life that is in you is also in the world around you. When you express your true self, you will attract the people and circumstances you need to experience life to the fullest.

Personal development quotes on unlocking your potential, on shifting paradigms

“Remember your dreams and fight for them. You must know what you want from life. There is just one thing that makes your dream become impossible: the fear of failure.”- Paulo Coelho

Paulo Coelho is a Brazilian author who wrote several masterpieces about finding your path, meaning and fulfillment in life.

His own life is a source of inspiration for the stories he tells so masterfully. This quote comes from his most famous book The Alchemist, in which a shepherd boy follows his dream in search of his personal treasure in life, but is often held back by doubt and fear.

This happens to all those who decide to follow their own path.

“We find it normal for a child to be afraid of the dark, but we should never find it normal for an adult to be afraid of the light.” - Robin Sharma

Not only are we afraid of failure, we are often afraid of what it would mean if we really reached our dreams.

What would this do to our way of life, how would we handle it practically?

We are comfortable in our comfort zone and feel resistance when we step outside of it.

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us."

“Other people’s opinion of you does not have to become your reality.”- Les Brown

How many people go through life, burdened by something from the past, by what someone has said about them? It's not what someone says about us, but what we think about what was said that determines the impact on our lives.

“Don’t let the fear of the time it will take to accomplish something stand in the way of your doing it. The time will pass anyway.” - Earl Nightingale

The reversal of this quote is also true: don't let the regret for the time that has already passed stand in the way of finally doing the things that you have put off for so long.

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“As you start to walk on the way, the way appears.” - Rumi

If you have a vision that excites you but that is so big that you absolutely don't know how to make it a reality, it's easy for fear and doubt to creep up on you.

I have learned that you don't need to know how you are going to do something, you just need to know what you really want to do.

The how will become clear as you walk the way. The rest of the path will show itself behind the next bend.

“Creation is not unwilling to open to you the doors to the beyond. It is not creation’s unwillingness that you are struggling with. You are struggling with the walls of resistance that you have built around yourself.” - Sadhguru

Sadhguru is an Indian yogi and mystic who truly excels in thinking and acting on the basis of timeless, universal principles. Through his Isha foundation, he tries to bring about change in the way people look at and experience life.

In this quote he describes the importance of breaking through the walls that we maintain around ourselves when we want to live our lives more fully.

“You drown not by falling into a river, but by staying submerged in it.” - Paulo Coelho

Negative thoughts or a bad experience will have limited power over us if we can put them aside.

When we keep playing them over and over again in our heads, we give them much more negative energy than they deserve and we drown in them little by little.

It's no problem to recognize the problems or bad experiences in our lives, but we should focus all our energy on positive, constructive things that will move us forward rather than hold us under water.

“We are powerfully imprisoned by the terms in which we have been conducted to think.”- Buckminster Fuller

We don't usually think how we want to think but how we are conditioned to think. Changing our mental paradigms is one of the most important aspects of personal development and one of the cornerstones of lasting transformation.

"It is in the school of forgiveness that the lessons of life are learned." - Raymond Holliwell

Forgiving someone for something that has happened in the past, whether it is someone else or yourself, is essential if you want to move forward.

If we cannot get over our negative experiences, they become part of the current that is holding us back, and in which we can easily drown.

You do not forgive others primarily for their own sake, but to set yourself free.

We are built to conquer the environment, solve problems, achieve goals, and we find no real satisfaction or happiness in life without obstacles to conquer and goals to achieve. - Maxwell Maltz

Obstacles are necessary to grow as a human being.

Just as our muscles need more resistance to grow as they become stronger, so we need challenges to test and improve our power.

The only way to grow is to take the journey and learn how to deal with ever-greater obstacles. Every great movie, book, or video game is an illustration of this.

Personal development quotes on tapping into the creative energy of life

“Everything moves, nothing rests. We live in an ocean of motion. Everything is the expression of the same thing: Energy, at a different rate of vibration.”

In essence, everything is energy and this energy is creative and responsive.

We have the power to attract, stir up, and direct this energy, especially from within. We just have to learn how to do this.

At this fundamental level, everything is connected like one color of the rainbow is connected to the next.

"All the borders in the world are man-made. There are no borders, we are all hooked together. Everything is connected. There is no line of demarcation. We are hooked together like the colors of a rainbow, our problem is ignorance, we don't understand that."

“The past is history, the future is a mystery, and this moment is a gift. That is why this moment is called ‘the present” - Alice Morse Earle

The energies of life constitute the spiritual dimension. They are a more fundamental to who we are than our minds and bodies.

By getting out of our minds and bodies, we can connect to this source of energy. We can do this by expressing gratitude, and by living in the present moment.

"I'm grateful for the opportunity to live on this beautiful and astonishing planet Earth. Nothing has to happen for me to feel good. I feel good because I'm alive. Life is a gift, and I revel in it."

When you're grateful, fear disappears. When you're grateful lack disappears. You feel a sense that life is uniquely blessed, but at the same time, you feel like you're a part of everything that exists and you know that you are not the source of it.

“When you want something bad enough, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.” - Paulo Coelho

You are living on purpose when what you think, say, and do is an expressing of who you truly are and serves not only yourself but the greater good.

Your life energies, thoughts, feelings, and actions flow in the same direction. Nothing is blocking the flow.

People, resources, and opportunities start to naturally gravitate toward you, because life always supports more life.

“The moment one definitely commits oneself, then providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred… Unforeseen incidents, meetings, and material assistance, which no man could have dreamed would have come his way.” - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Personal development quotes on mastering your mind

"Man is buffeted by circumstances so long as he believes himself to be the creature of outside conditions, but when he realizes that he is a creative power, and that he may command the hidden soil and seeds of his being out of which circumstances grow, he then becomes the rightful master of himself." - James Allen

An oak must produce a thousand acorns to increase the odds that one of them will hit fertile soil, sprout and grow.

However, when we take control of the growth process and provide the right conditions for the acorn to thrive, we only need one.

The same principle is true in our own lives. We can command the hidden soil and seeds out of which our own circumstances grow, and we do this by providing a fertile soil in our mind for our dreams to sprout and grow.

My mind is a centre of Divine operation - Thomas Troward

The mind is the central element in the creative process. It has creative power, because life energy expresses itself based on the operations of the mind.

The mind forms the mold for our creative energies to flow through, just like water flows through a pipe based on the pipe's shape.

Our job is to learn how to operate our mind so that this energy gets expressed toward the conditions that we desire, and not toward what we fear.

We don't things as they are, we see them as we are. - Anais Nin

It is impossible to see the world objectively, because your mind creates an impression of the world and evaluates the input of your senses based on conditioning from the past.

Your subconscious mind is constantly scanning the environment and interprets what it hears, sees, smells, tastes, and touches by how it's been programmed in the past.

Even an instinct is a strong mental program that exists in your subconscious mind because it has been essential for your survival for ages.

“The world is your kaleidoscope, and the varying combinations of colours which at every succeeding moment it presents to you, are the exquisitely adjusted pictures of your ever-moving thoughts.” - James Allen

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“Qualities die for want of attention, so any unlovely state might best be rubbed out by imagining “beauty for ashes and joy for mourning” rather than by direct attacks on the state from which we would be free.” - Neville Goddard

Some people think that we must deal with two forces; that is, to attract the good we must do away with the bad, but this is not true. All our thoughts must be directed to that one thing which we desire in order that our desire may be fulfilled. We think about plenty, and as we think of it, lack, its opposite, will become absorbed or disappear.

To attract the good and improve any area of our life, we must not do away with the bad. We must focus all our thoughts and attention on our desire.

"Where focus goes, energy flows. And where energy flows, whatever you're focusing on grows."

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Don't be victim of negative self-talk. Remember, you are listening.

Most people wouldn't dare to say to someone else what they are saying to themselves. With every negative, self-punishing thought, you condition a belief system in your subconscious mind to become stronger and stronger, and your feelings and actions will be the result of that conditioned response.

If you do the opposite, you will build a positive self-image, and the quality of your life will improve. This is guaranteed. Think positive and feelings and actions of the same kind will be the result.

It's no surprise that many of the wisest teachers have taught this lesson throughout the ages:

“Just as a gardener cultivates his plot, keeping it free from weeds, and growing the flowers and fruits which he requires, so may a man tend the garden of his mind, weeding out all the wrong, useless, and impure thoughts, and cultivating toward perfection the flowers and fruits of right, useful, and pure thoughts.” - James Allen

“We are shaped by our thoughts; we become what we think. When the mind is pure, joy follows like a shadow that never leaves.” - Buddha“The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts” - Marcus Aurelius

“The more man meditates upon good thoughts, the better will be his world and the world at large.” - Confucius

Personal development quotes to live by_82

“Never expect a thing you do not want, and never desire a thing you do not expect.”

Everyone desires to have or to be more, but most people don't expect those desires to ever become a reality.

Build an emotional picture of what you want, raise your consciousness to the level where you have no doubt that it will happen, and act like your desires are on their way.

If you do this, you have taken the most important step toward its realization.

“The more intensely we feel about an idea or a goal, the more assuredly the idea, buried deep in our subconscious, will direct us along the path to its fulfillment.” - Earl Nightingale

“Create an ideal of the person you want to be and assume that you are already that person. If this assumption is persisted in until it becomes your dominant feeling, the attainment of your ideal is inevitable.” - Neville Goddard

Personal development quotes to live by_123

“Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited, imagination encircles the world” – Albert Einstein

"We all possess more power and greater possibilities than we realize, and visualizing is one of the greatest of these powers. In visualizing, or making a mental picture you are not endeavoring to change the laws of nature. You are fulfilling them." - Genevieve Behrend

Your imagination is one of your strongest mental faculties. With it, you can create any condition or plan in your mind before you start to express it in physical reality.

The outer conditions of your life shape themselves based on the mental pictures that have been buried deep in your subconscious mind all along. You have the power to change these pictures, these mental concepts. And your most powerful tool is your imagination.

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"Whatever you keep hidden in your heart, God manifests in you outwardly. Whatever the root of the tree feeds on in secret, affects the bough and the leaf."

- Rumi

Personal development quotes on the physical dimension of life and the body

"Realizing that our actions, feelings and behavior are the result of our own images and beliefs gives us the level that psychology has always needed for changing personality." - Maxwell Maltz

Creative energy expresses itself through the mental dimension into the physical dimension. This is how nature works.

Your actions, feelings, and behavior don't result out of thin air, but as a result of energy flowing through the images and beliefs that exist in your subconscious mind.

Personal development quotes to live by_125

The body is the servant of the mind. It obeys the operations of the mind, whether they be deliberately chosen or automatically expressed. - James Allen

“If you don’t take care of your body, Where then will you live?” - Jim Rohn

Spirit, mind, and body are different dimensions of the same system, and all of them must be taken care of.

Physical exercise, organic food, proper breathing, and adequate rest are all essential to keep the body, mind, and spirit in proper shape. The science and practice of yoga is based on this understanding.

"To keep the body in good health is a duty... otherwise we shall not be able to keep our mind strong and clear." - Buddha

Personal development quotes on specialized know-how

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“Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at 20 or 80. Anyone who keeps learning stays young. The greatest thing in life is to keep your mind young.” - Henry Ford

Scientific studies have shown over and over again that learning and practicing new knowledge and skills keeps the mind vibrant and healthy. When you learn, you create stronger and new connections between the neurons of your nervous system. Remaining spiritually, mentally, physically, and socially engaged is a powerful potion against aging.

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"There a many things of which a wise man might wish to be ignorant."

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Learning new things is good for your brain, but if you want to move forward in life, you need be very selective about what you study and practice.

Your attention span is very very limited and the amount of information in the world is very very large. You need to be strategic and practice just-in-time learning.

If you don't know how and when you will apply what you are about to learn, reconsider whether you need to learn it now. Perhaps it can wait until later.

Our traditional schooling system is a direct violation of this principle. Learn now, apply...maybe in 6 years or so (if ever).

"One hour per day of study in your chosen field is all it takes. One hour per day of study will put you at the top of your field within three years. Within five years you'll be a national authority. In seven years, you can be one of the best people in the world at what you do." - Earl Nightingale

1 hour x 365 days x 3 = 1095 hours = expert in your field

1 hour x 365 days x 5 = 1825 hours = national authority

1 hour x 365 days x 7 = 2555 hours = international authority

This is not so hard to do! If you are passionate about a subject, one hour might not even seem like much at all. If devote 20 minutes in the morning, 20 minutes at noon, and 20 minutes in the evening to your field of interest, and persist, you'll get there. It's not rocket science.

Personal development quotes on symbiotic social interactions

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“A candle never loses any of its light while lighting up another Candle.” - Rumi

We don't exist to just make our own life better. If that were the case, there would be little progress. As we improve ourselves, we start to impact the lives of everyone around us.

You don't lose anything if you help make someone else move forward. Nature is abundant and it is willing to provide us with more than we can ever need. We needn't feel like we are losing something when we look at someone else's success.

We need to rejoice about the fact that as one life improves, others can improve as well.

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“To the degree you give others what they need, they will give you what you need.” - Og MandinoJust like the full-grown flower will provide the bee with ample supplies for its honey, so will the bee do its work for the flower by spreading its pollen.

It is a natural, symbiotic relationship that can only exist when both the flower and the bee are expressing their potential. The same principle applies to humans.

"Happiness comes to those who are moving toward something they want very much to happen. And it almost always involves making someone else happy."

All of us sooner or later realize that whatever we achieve is a million times more fulfilling if we can share it with other people and when it has a impact on the greater good.

You feel that you have done a good thing, not just for yourself, but for the world at large.

Personal development quotes to live by_27

“Your attitude toward others will always be reflected in their attitude toward you.”

Before we criticize or condemn other people, it is wise to make sure that there attitude toward us is not a reflection of our attitude toward them. It is within our power to change our attitude, and often their attitude will change as a result of our new viewpoint. You can try this. It often works.

"Constantly look for the good in people and in situations. When you find it, tell the person."

A small simple compliment can save someone's day or even someone's life.

It's not the big praises that matter most, but the small acts of kindness; the unexpected compliments here and there that make the biggest impact.

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“Surround yourself with the dreamers and the doers, the believers and thinkers, but most of all, surround yourself with those who see the greatness within you, even when you don’t see it yourself.” - Edmund Lee

Negativity has a tendency to spread like wildfire, just as positivity does. It's not easy to remain positive in a negative environment. If some people in your life have a toxic influence on you, try to stay away from them as much as possible. You can make that choice.

Surround yourself with people who believe in your potential. You'll be much more likely to discover, develop, and express it.

"People are like dirt. They can either nourish you and help you grow as a person or they can stunt your growth and make you wilt and die." - Plato

Personal development quotes on habits and productivity

Personal development quotes to live by_9

“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not an act, but a habit.” - Aristotle

Everything that is worthwhile takes time to grow. Our job is to keep nourishing it. This takes persistence and faith. Excellence is attainable, if we only stick to what we do long enough.

"We can do anything we want to if we stick to it long enough." - Helen Keller

Personal development quotes to live by_28

“If you can't fly, then run if you can't run, then walk if you can't walk, then crawl whatever you do, you have to keep moving forward.” - Martin Luther KingAt our early stages of growth, we often feel unworthy or like a failure. Why? There's no shame in sucking at what you do at first. Everyone who is now good at something was once really bad at it.

We don't criticize a baby from falling over again and again in his or her attempts to master walking, do we? Baby steps and falling flat on your face are not bad things. They are an integral part of any natural process of growth.

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"Multitasking is nothing else than screwing up more than one thing at a time."

Our brain is notoriously bad at multitasking. It may seem like it is able to process multiple things at the same time, but this is a misconception.

Our brain carries out tasks sequentially, and continuously switching back and forward between different tasks messes with its processing efficiency. There is a reason why factories batch the same processes sequentially. It's just much more efficient.

Think about how many times you switch back and forward between different tasks during a day, before finishing any of them. Batch the same kind of work and you will become much more productive.

"Success is as much about what you should not do, as it is about what you should."

The first rule of productivity should be: "What would happen if I didn' t do this task at all?"

It's all about being strategic. Your mental and physical power are very finite resources. If you can delegate or skip a task, you can free up all that power to exert it where it can make the biggest difference.

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