← Your daily dose of motivation
144 quotes, page 4 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.
“We can be blind to the obvious, and we are also blind to our blindness.”
Daniel Kahneman, Thinking, Fast and Slow (2011)
This is why a second pair of eyes checks the load plan and the CV. Ask someone to read yours.
“What you see is all there is.”
Daniel Kahneman, Thinking, Fast and Slow (2011). Kahneman named this bias WYSIATI: we judge on what is in front of us and forget what is missing.
For employers: a confident interview is not the whole person. Use the same questions and a skills test for everyone.
“A reliable way to make people believe in falsehoods is frequent repetition, because familiarity is not easily distinguished from truth.”
Daniel Kahneman, Thinking, Fast and Slow (2011)
"Agencies can charge you to find work" gets repeated a lot. It is not true in the UK: check the rules before you pay anyone.
“Organizations are better than individuals when it comes to avoiding errors, because they naturally think more slowly and have the power to impose orderly procedures.”
Daniel Kahneman, Thinking, Fast and Slow (2011)
Checklists on the yard and in the care home are not red tape. They are how a tired team avoids the tired mistake.
“The confidence that individuals have in their beliefs depends mostly on the quality of the story they can tell about what they see, even if they see little.”
Daniel Kahneman, Thinking, Fast and Slow (2011)
Hiring on gut feeling is hiring on a good story. Check references and right to work every time.
“We are prone to overestimate how much we understand about the world and to underestimate the role of chance in events.”
Daniel Kahneman, Thinking, Fast and Slow (2011)
Sometimes the job went to someone else for reasons nobody controls. Do not rewrite your whole CV over one rejection.
“Formulate and stamp indelibly on your mind a mental picture of yourself as succeeding.”
Norman Vincent Peale, The Power of Positive Thinking (1952)
Before the interview, picture walking in, shaking hands and answering the first question calmly. Then go and do it.
“Live in day-tight compartments.”
Dale Carnegie, How to Stop Worrying and Start Living (1948). Carnegie took the phrase from the physician Sir William Osler.
Long job search? Plan today's three applications and stop there. Tomorrow has its own list.
“If you have a lemon, make a lemonade.”
Dale Carnegie, How to Stop Worrying and Start Living (1948), a chapter title. Carnegie credits Julius Rosenwald of Sears, Roebuck; Elbert Hubbard printed a similar line in 1915.
Made redundant? Some people use the notice period to get the forklift ticket or the licence they always meant to.
“Don't try to saw sawdust.”
Dale Carnegie, How to Stop Worrying and Start Living (1948), a chapter title. His point: the past is finished, like wood already sawn.
The interview that went badly is done. Note one lesson and stop replaying it.
“Co-operate with the inevitable.”
Dale Carnegie, How to Stop Worrying and Start Living (1948), a chapter title
Site closing, shift pattern changing? Spend the energy on the next move rather than fighting what is already decided.
“Put a "stop-loss" order on your worries.”
Dale Carnegie, How to Stop Worrying and Start Living (1948), a chapter title
Give a worry ten minutes: write down what you can do about it, do the first step, then get on with the shift.
“Remember that no one ever kicks a dead dog.”
Dale Carnegie, How to Stop Worrying and Start Living (1948), a chapter title. He meant that criticism is often a sign you are doing something that matters.
Promoted to supervisor and getting stick for it? That usually means you are making a difference.
“Our fatigue is often caused not by work, but by worry, frustration and resentment.”
Dale Carnegie, How to Stop Worrying and Start Living (1948)
If every shift drains you, look at what is worrying you as well as the hours. Sometimes one honest conversation fixes it.
“You'll see it when you believe it.”
Wayne W. Dyer, the title of his book You'll See It When You Believe It (1989)
Belief alone pays no bills, but nobody applies for the supervisor job they are sure they cannot do.
“It is in your moments of decision that your destiny is shaped.”
Tony Robbins, Awaken the Giant Within (1991)
Saying yes to the night shift training or the first aid course takes a minute. It can shape the next five years.
“There is no such thing as failure. There are only results.”
Tony Robbins, Unlimited Power (1986)
No callback from ten applications is a result. Change one thing, the CV, the jobs or the sector, and measure again.
“Repetition is the mother of skill.”
Tony Robbins, as he often says in his seminars. It echoes the old Latin saying "repetitio est mater studiorum" (repetition is the mother of learning).
Reversing onto a bay feels impossible on day one and normal by week three. The only trick is doing it again.
“If you do what you've always done, you'll get what you've always gotten.”
Often attributed to Tony Robbins. It is also credited to Henry Ford, Mark Twain and others; no one has found who said it first.
Same CV, same jobs, same silence? Something has to change before the answer does.
“It's not over until you win.”
Les Brown, the title of his book It's Not Over Until You Win (1997)
A rejection from one depot is not the end. Different site, different manager, different day.
“Today I begin a new life.”
Og Mandino, The Greatest Salesman in the World (1968), the first scroll
First day in a new job: nobody there knows your past mistakes. Use it.
“I will form good habits and become their slave.”
Og Mandino, The Greatest Salesman in the World (1968), the first scroll
Turning up ten minutes early, every shift, is the habit that gets noticed first.
“I will greet this day with love in my heart.”
Og Mandino, The Greatest Salesman in the World (1968), the second scroll
For anyone in sales or care: the customer or resident can tell how you walked in. Leave the bad morning at the door.
“I will live this day as if it is my last.”
Og Mandino, The Greatest Salesman in the World (1968), the fifth scroll
Make the call to the employer today, not next week. Postponed applications rarely get sent.
“I will act now.”
Og Mandino, The Greatest Salesman in the World (1968), the ninth scroll
Saw the advert at lunch? Apply at lunch. Good jobs close early.
“Victims recite problems. Leaders present solutions.”
Robin Sharma, The Leader Who Had No Title (2010)
Telling the shift manager the scanner is broken is useful. Telling them and which spare works is leadership, whatever your title.
“Whatever the present moment contains, accept it as if you had chosen it.”
Eckhart Tolle, The Power of Now (1997)
The traffic, the late trailer, the rain on the yard: fighting it in your head just makes the shift longer.
“Any action is often better than no action, especially if you have been stuck in an unhappy situation for a long time.”
Eckhart Tolle, The Power of Now (1997)
Stuck in a job you hate? One application this week is still a start.
“Who you are is defined by what you're willing to struggle for.”
Mark Manson, The Subtle Art... (2016)
Everyone wants the HGV wages. Fewer want the study, the tests and the first year of nights. That is what decides it.
“Action isn't just the effect of motivation; it's also the cause of it.”
Mark Manson, The Subtle Art... (2016)
Do not wait to feel like job hunting. Open the laptop, apply for one, and the second comes easier.
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