← Your daily dose of motivation
189 quotes, page 4 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.
“The secret of getting ahead is getting started.”
Often attributed to Mark Twain. There is no record of Twain writing it.
Today: one application. Tomorrow: one more.
“Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.”
Often attributed to Abraham Lincoln. No record of Lincoln saying it; it appears in print in the 1950s.
An hour on the CV saves a month of applications that go nowhere.
“Far better is it to dare mighty things.”
Theodore Roosevelt, The Strenuous Life (1899). The opening of a longer sentence in his speech.
Apply for the job that scares you a little.
“In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.”
Attributed to Albert Einstein. Quoted as his by the physicist John Wheeler; not found in his own writing.
A site closing is hard news, and also the week other employers are hiring its staff.
“Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.”
Often attributed to Confucius. Not in the Analects; it first appears in print in the 20th century.
You may not love every shift, but choose the work you would still do on a bad day.
“Pleasure in the job puts perfection in the work.”
Usually credited to Aristotle. A loose modern rendering of a thought in his Nicomachean Ethics, not his words.
People who like the work notice the small things. Employers notice them.
“The future depends on what you do today.”
Often attributed to Mahatma Gandhi. No source in his writings has been found.
Tonight's application is next month's payslip.
“Hard work keeps the wrinkles out of the mind and spirit.”
Helena Rubinstein
Plenty of people find their best work in their fifties and sixties. Employers are learning that.
“I find the harder I work, the more I have of it.”
Often attributed to Thomas Jefferson. No record of him saying it. Coleman Cox printed a close version in 1922.
Luck at work mostly looks like being ready when someone asks.
“Be so good they can't ignore you.”
Steve Martin, on The Charlie Rose Show (2007)
The best references are earned quietly, shift by shift.
“Every job is a self-portrait of the person who did it. Autograph your work with excellence.”
Author unknown. Widely shared on workplace posters; we could not find who wrote it.
The tidy finish, the clean handover, the label the right way up. That is your signature.
“Circumstance does not make the man; it reveals him to himself.”
James Allen, As a Man Thinketh (1903)
A hard week at work shows you what you are made of. Most people surprise themselves.
“A man is literally what he thinks, his character being the complete sum of all his thoughts.”
James Allen, As a Man Thinketh (1903)
Tell yourself "I am the reliable one" every morning, then prove it by lunchtime.
“You are never going to feel like it.”
Mel Robbins, The 5 Second Rule (2017)
Nobody feels like updating the CV after a shift. The people who get the job do it anyway.
“Let them.”
Mel Robbins, the title of her book The Let Them Theory (2024)
Colleagues gossiping, a manager in a mood: let them. Do your shift well and go home calm.
“Where focus goes, energy flows.”
Tony Robbins
Focus on the next application, not the last rejection.
“Success is the progressive realization of a worthy ideal.”
Earl Nightingale, The Strangest Secret (1956)
Success is not only the finish line. Moving towards a good goal, week by week, already counts.
“When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.”
Wayne Dyer
A night shift is lost sleep, or a day free for the course. Same shift, different life.
“Every thought we think is creating our future.”
Louise Hay, You Can Heal Your Life (1984)
"I will find work" leads to applications. "Nobody hires me" leads to the sofa.
“When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.”
Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist (1988, English translation 1993)
Tell people what job you want. A neighbour, a friend, a former boss: help often comes from there.
“Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms, to choose one's attitude.”
Viktor E. Frankl, Man's Search for Meaning (1946)
You cannot choose every shift, every boss or every rota. You always choose how you walk in.
“When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.”
Viktor E. Frankl, Man's Search for Meaning (1946)
The site closed. The trade changed. Learn the new skill and the next door opens.
“Always do your best.”
Don Miguel Ruiz, The Four Agreements (1997). The fourth agreement.
Your best on a tired Friday is different from a fresh Monday. Give that day's best, every day.
“You are in danger of living a life so comfortable and soft, that you will die without ever realizing your true potential.”
David Goggins, Can't Hurt Me (2018)
The course that scares you is usually the one worth doing.
“Own your morning. Elevate your life.”
Robin Sharma, The 5AM Club (2018)
Up ten minutes earlier: tea, a plan for the day, one line that lifts you. Then the shift.
“Change is hard at first, messy in the middle and gorgeous at the end.”
Robin Sharma
The first month in a new job is the messy middle. Stay for the good part.
“Believe in yourself! Have faith in your abilities!”
Norman Vincent Peale, the opening of The Power of Positive Thinking (1952)
You got this far. You can do the next step too.
“Action cures fear.”
David J. Schwartz, The Magic of Thinking Big (1959)
Scared of the phone call? Dial. The fear lasts until the second ring.
“How you wake up each day and your morning routine dramatically influences your levels of success.”
Hal Elrod, The Miracle Morning (2012)
The early start is easier with clothes laid out and lunch packed the night before.
“Enthusiasm is common. Endurance is rare.”
Angela Duckworth, Grit (2016)
Everyone is keen in week one. Employers keep the ones who are still keen in month six.
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