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144 quotes, page 3 of 5Mindset, money and thinking differently
Habits, judgement, selling honestly and seeing what others miss. About effort, never a promise of easy money.
We say who really said each one, and where the credit is uncertain we tell you. Every card is ours to share.
“As much as talent counts, effort counts twice.”
Angela Duckworth, Grit (2016). Her idea: talent times effort gives skill, and skill times effort gives achievement.
Two candidates, same experience: the one who prepared for the interview usually gets the job.
“Our potential is one thing. What we do with it is quite another.”
Angela Duckworth, Grit (2016)
Everyone on the induction day has potential. Six months later the difference is who turned up and kept learning.
“Grit is passion and perseverance for very long-term goals.”
Angela Duckworth, TED talk (2013)
Want to run your own haulage firm one day? Every year driving for someone else is part of that long-term goal.
“Grit is living life like it's a marathon, not a sprint.”
Angela Duckworth, TED talk (2013)
Twelve hour shifts in peak season are a marathon too. Pace yourself, eat properly and do not burn out in week one.
“Grit is about working on something you care about so much that you're willing to stay loyal to it.”
Angela Duckworth, Grit (2016)
Find the part of the trade you care about, whether that is the driving, the fixing or the people, and give it years.
“The ability to perform deep work is becoming increasingly rare at exactly the same time it is becoming increasingly valuable in our economy.”
Cal Newport, Deep Work (2016)
An hour with the phone in another room to finish your CV properly beats a whole evening of half attention.
“High-Quality Work Produced = (Time Spent) x (Intensity of Focus)”
Cal Newport, Deep Work (2016)
Twenty focused minutes on one application, matched to one advert, will do more than ten copied in a rush.
“Efforts to deepen your focus will struggle if you don't simultaneously wean your mind from a dependence on distraction.”
Cal Newport, Deep Work (2016)
Studying for the CPC or a ticket? Put the phone out of reach first. The willpower runs out faster than the notifications.
“Working right trumps finding the right work.”
Cal Newport, So Good They Can't Ignore You (2012)
The perfect job rarely arrives ready made. A decent job done very well tends to turn into a better one.
“Compelling careers often have complex origins that reject the simple idea that all you have to do is follow your passion.”
Cal Newport, So Good They Can't Ignore You (2012)
Plenty of site managers started as labourers who were only there for the money. Interest often follows skill.
“Change might not be fast and it isn't always easy. But with time and effort, almost any habit can be reshaped.”
Charles Duhigg, The Power of Habit (2012)
Always late for the 6am start? Change one thing at a time: the alarm across the room, the bag packed the night before.
“Habits, scientists say, emerge because the brain is constantly looking for ways to save effort.”
Charles Duhigg, The Power of Habit (2012)
That is why a safe lifting habit learnt in week one protects your back for years. Train the habit, not just the rule.
“If you believe you can change, if you make it a habit, the change becomes real.”
Charles Duhigg, The Power of Habit (2012)
Saving £10 from every payslip feels like nothing. Make it automatic and a year later it is a deposit or a cushion.
“Willpower isn't just a skill. It's a muscle, like the muscles in your arms or legs, and it gets tired as it works harder.”
Charles Duhigg, The Power of Habit (2012). The research behind this (ego depletion) has since struggled to replicate, but the practical point stands: do the hard task while you are fresh.
Do the job search before the shift, not after a ten hour night when you have nothing left.
“Champions don't do extraordinary things. They do ordinary things, but they do them without thinking, too fast for the other team to react.”
Tony Dungy, the American football coach, as quoted in Charles Duhigg, The Power of Habit (2012)
The best pickers are not heroes. They have the same safe, quick routine on every pick, every shift.
“Saving is the gap between your ego and your income.”
Morgan Housel, The Psychology of Money (2020)
On £12.71 an hour the gap is small, which is why it matters. The car or phone you do not upgrade is the saving.
“Controlling your time is the highest dividend money pays.”
Morgan Housel, The Psychology of Money (2020)
A small savings pot means you can leave a bad job and wait for a good one, instead of taking the first thing going.
“Doing well with money has a little to do with how smart you are and a lot to do with how you behave.”
Morgan Housel, The Psychology of Money (2020)
Checking every payslip and keeping a simple budget beats any clever scheme. Behaviour first.
“Spending money to show people how much money you have is the fastest way to have less money.”
Morgan Housel, The Psychology of Money (2020)
The first proper wage packet after a long gap is the moment to be careful, not the moment to show off.
“The hardest financial skill is getting the goalpost to stop moving.”
Morgan Housel, The Psychology of Money (2020)
A pay rise only helps if your spending does not rise with it. Decide what enough looks like before the rise lands.
“Wealth is just the accumulated leftovers after you spend what you take in.”
Morgan Housel, The Psychology of Money (2020)
Leftovers grow when the spending is planned. Know your fixed bills before the overtime money arrives.
“One of the most powerful ways to increase your savings isn't to raise your income. It's to raise your humility.”
Morgan Housel, The Psychology of Money (2020)
A packed lunch and a secondhand work coat are not a step down. They are money kept.
“Building wealth has little to do with your income or investment returns, and lots to do with your savings rate.”
Morgan Housel, The Psychology of Money (2020)
Even on a modest wage, a steady habit of putting a little aside counts for more than waiting until you earn more.
“Your personal experiences with money make up maybe 0.00000001% of what's happened in the world, but maybe 80% of how you think the world works.”
Morgan Housel, The Psychology of Money (2020)
Before you dismiss a pension or a savings account, check the facts on GOV.UK. Your own experience is only one view.
“In a busy marketplace, not standing out is the same as being invisible.”
Seth Godin, Purple Cow (2003)
A CV that says "hard working team player" disappears. One line about the 300 parcels a day you sorted does not.
“Winners quit all the time. They just quit the right stuff at the right time.”
Seth Godin, The Dip (2007). Godin was answering the old line that winners never quit, which he called bad advice.
Leaving a job that will never give you hours or training is not failure. Quitting the right thing frees time for the right thing.
“People like us do things like this.”
Seth Godin, This Is Marketing (2018)
Team culture works the same way. On a site where everyone wears the harness, the new starter wears it too.
“Marketing is the generous act of helping someone solve a problem. Their problem.”
Seth Godin, This Is Marketing (2018)
Starting a cleaning or van business? Talk about the customer's problem, not your logo.
“A tribe is a group of people connected to one another, connected to a leader, and connected to an idea.”
Seth Godin, Tribes (2008)
A good shift team is a tribe: people who know each other, trust the lead and share the idea of getting the trucks out on time.
“Nothing in life is as important as you think it is, while you are thinking about it.”
Daniel Kahneman, Thinking, Fast and Slow (2011)
Lying awake over tomorrow's interview? It matters, but not as much as it feels at 2am. Prepare, then sleep.
Other sections
- Work and keeping going (189)
- Starting a business (152)
- For leaders (41)
- Working with people (22)
- Mindset and habits (144)
- True stories of people who started small