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189 quotes, page 1 of 7For everybody: work, effort and keeping going
Lines for the early start, the long shift and the tenth application with no reply.
We say who really said each one, and where the credit is uncertain we tell you. Every card is ours to share.
“You don't have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great.”
Often attributed to Zig Ziglar. John C. Maxwell and many others credit Zig Ziglar; it is also credited to Les Brown, and we could not find the first time it was said.
The first application, the first shift, the first advert: none of them has to be perfect. It has to be sent.
“You will get all you want in life if you help enough other people get what they want.”
Zig Ziglar
It is the whole idea of a good agency and a good job board: get the worker the job and the employer the worker, and the business follows.
“Eat that frog.”
Brian Tracy, the title of his book Eat That Frog! (2001). Tracy's advice: do the hardest task of the day first. He credits the frog to Mark Twain, but there is no record Twain said it; the idea goes back to the French writer Nicolas Chamfort in the 1700s.
Ring the employer you are nervous about first thing in the morning. The rest of the day is easier.
“Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishment.”
Jim Rohn
The goal is the new job. The discipline is the CV updated tonight and the three applications sent before the shift.
“Either you run the day, or the day runs you.”
Jim Rohn
Plan tomorrow's route, bag and break tonight. A calm morning is half a good shift.
“Work hard. Have fun. Make history.”
Amazon's early motto, from Jeff Bezos's first years. Printed on the company's early materials and repeated by Bezos in letters and talks.
Three honest lines for any shift: do the job properly, enjoy the people you do it with, and build something you can point at.
“You got a dream, you gotta protect it.”
Chris Gardner, as played by Will Smith in The Pursuit of Happyness (2006). A line from the film, based on the true story of a man who went from homelessness to his own firm.
People will tell you it cannot be done, usually the ones who never tried. Keep going.
“You don't build a great life by accident. You build it by the choices you make every day.”
Often shared as Jim Rohn's. Passed round widely under his name in this wording; we have not found it in his books or talks, though the idea is his throughout.
Tonight: the CV, the alarm, the packed lunch. Tomorrow is built out of small choices like those.
“If you have an idea that you genuinely think is good, don't let some idiot talk you out of it.”
Stan Lee, as widely quoted. Repeated in his name everywhere since his death in 2018; we have not found the interview it first came from.
Every new business, every change of trade, every first application gets its doubters. Listen to advice. Not to sneering.
“A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.”
Laozi, Tao Te Ching, chapter 64. An English rendering; the original line is closer to "a journey of a thousand li starts beneath one's feet".
Every driver knows it: the long run starts with the walk round the vehicle.
“Far and away the best prize that life offers is the chance to work hard at work worth doing.”
Theodore Roosevelt, Labor Day address, 1903
Pay matters, and every advert here shows it. So does doing a job you can be proud of at the end of the shift.
“Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.”
Squire Bill Widener, quoted by Theodore Roosevelt in his autobiography (1913). Usually credited to Roosevelt himself; he said he was quoting a neighbour.
No degree, no car, no experience yet? Start with the jobs you can reach and the skills you already have.
“Genius is one per cent inspiration and ninety-nine per cent perspiration.”
Thomas Edison. He gave versions of this line in interviews from around 1900, with the numbers changing a little each time.
Nobody is handed a good reference. It is built one reliable shift at a time.
“Fall seven times, stand up eight.”
Japanese proverb
Ten applications and no reply is not the end. Look at the CV again, and send the eleventh.
“Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day in and day out.”
Attributed to Robert Collier
Turning up on time, every time, is the small effort that every employer notices.
“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.”
Will Durant, The Story of Philosophy (1926). Durant's summary of Aristotle, and very often wrongly quoted as Aristotle's own words.
Checking the load twice, every time, is what a good warehouse is built on.
“Whether you think you can, or you think you can't, you're right.”
Attributed to Henry Ford. Printed as Ford's in 1947; there is no earlier record of him saying it.
Apply for the job you are nearly ready for. Employers train people who show up willing.
“Hard work beats talent when talent doesn't work hard.”
Tim Notke, a high school basketball coach. Made famous by others who repeated it; the line is his.
The most experienced person on the team is not always the one who gets kept on.
“Well begun is half done.”
A proverb usually traced to Aristotle's Politics. Mary Poppins made it famous in English; the idea is Greek.
A clean CV and a clear first message do half the work of getting the interview.
“Nothing in the world is worth having or worth doing unless it means effort, pain, difficulty.”
Theodore Roosevelt
Night shifts, early starts, long runs. They are hard, and they are how a lot of people build a life.
“Whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve.”
Napoleon Hill. He repeated it in several books; it is in Success Through a Positive Mental Attitude (1960), written with W. Clement Stone.
Picture yourself in the job first: the uniform, the route, the team. Then write the application that gets you there.
“Every adversity, every failure, every heartache carries with it the seed of an equivalent or a greater benefit.”
Napoleon Hill, Think and Grow Rich (1937)
The job you did not get often shows you what to fix on the CV for the one you will.
“A winner never quits and a quitter never wins.”
Napoleon Hill, Think and Grow Rich (1937). Often credited to the American football coach Vince Lombardi, who made it famous; Hill printed it decades earlier.
The search that ends in a job is usually the one that kept going a week longer than felt comfortable.
“Patience, persistence and perspiration make an unbeatable combination for success.”
Napoleon Hill, as widely quoted
Patience for the reply, persistence with the follow-up, and the sweat of the first month in the new job.
“If you cannot do great things, do small things in a great way.”
Attributed to Napoleon Hill. Widely credited to him; we could not find it in his books in these words.
A tidy cab, a swept bay, a till that balances: small things done well are what supervisors remember.
“Don't wish it were easier; wish you were better.”
Jim Rohn
The forklift ticket, the CSCS card, the course on a Saturday: each one makes the next job easier to get.
“Success is nothing more than a few simple disciplines, practiced every day.”
Jim Rohn
Alarm set, bag packed, CV updated, two applications sent. Simple, and most people skip them.
“Work harder on yourself than you do on your job.”
Jim Rohn
Ten minutes a day learning the next skill is how the warehouse operative becomes the shift manager.
“Take care of your body. It's the only place you have to live.”
Jim Rohn
Long shifts need sleep, water and proper food. The best worker on the floor is the one who is still well in year five.
“If you don't design your own life plan, chances are you'll fall into someone else's plan.”
Jim Rohn
Decide what job you want next year, then pick this year's job because it leads there.
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