← Your daily dose of motivation
189 quotes, page 5 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 do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems.”
James Clear, Atomic Habits (2018)
A goal is "get a job". A system is two applications every evening at seven.
“Every action you take is a vote for the type of person you wish to become.”
James Clear, Atomic Habits (2018)
Each on-time shift is a vote for "reliable". Enough votes and it is your reputation.
“Discipline equals freedom.”
Jocko Willink, Discipline Equals Freedom (2017)
Save a little, learn a little, every week. In a year that is the freedom to choose your next job.
“The professional has learned that success, like happiness, comes as a by-product of work.”
Steven Pressfield, The War of Art (2002)
Do the work well and the promotion tends to find you.
“Everything is figureoutable.”
Marie Forleo, the title of her book (2019)
No idea how to write a cover letter? You can learn it tonight. Most things work like that.
“If you want to change the world, start off by making your bed.”
Admiral William H. McRaven, University of Texas commencement address (2014)
One small job done well first thing makes the next one easier.
“We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand.”
Randy Pausch, The Last Lecture (2008)
No degree, a gap on the CV, a late start: play the hand well and it is enough.
“Don't wait for extraordinary opportunities. Seize common occasions and make them great.”
Orison Swett Marden
The ordinary shift where you help out is the one a manager remembers at review time.
“The spirit of self-help is the root of all genuine growth in the individual.”
Samuel Smiles, Self-Help (1859). The book that gave the whole genre its name.
Free courses, library cards, a friend who will check your CV: help yourself and others help you.
“The unexamined life is not worth living.”
Socrates, in Plato's Apology
Once a year, look honestly at your job: is it taking you where you want to go?
“No man is free who is not master of himself.”
Epictetus, Fragments
Self-control on a bad day is what keeps a good job.
“Realize deeply that the present moment is all you ever have.”
Eckhart Tolle, The Power of Now (1997)
Yesterday's interview is gone. Today's application is the one you can still send.
“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.”
Marianne Williamson, A Return to Love (1992). Very often passed round as Nelson Mandela's; he never said it. The words are hers.
You may be more ready for that step up than you think.
“Feel the fear and do it anyway.”
Susan Jeffers, the title of her book (1987)
Nervous before the interview? Good. It means it matters. Go.
“Life is difficult.”
M. Scott Peck, the first line of The Road Less Traveled (1978). He goes on: once we accept it, it is no longer so hard.
Accept that the search is hard and it stops feeling like a personal failure.
“Don't sweat the small stuff.”
Richard Carlson, the title of his book (1997)
A late bus, a wrong order, a grumpy customer. Small stuff. Save the energy for what matters.
“Your level of success will rarely exceed your level of personal development.”
Jim Rohn
Grow the skills and the job titles follow.
“Desire is the starting point of all achievement.”
Napoleon Hill, Think and Grow Rich (1937). He goes on: not a hope, not a wish, but a keen pulsating desire.
Know why you want the job. It shows in every line of the application.
“The early bird catches the worm.”
English proverb, recorded by John Ray in A Collection of English Proverbs (1670)
New adverts often land first thing. Checking the jobs before your shift gives you a head start.
“Look before you leap.”
English proverb, in John Heywood's collection (1546) as "look ere ye leap"
Before you accept, read the contract, the hourly rate and the travel. A better job on paper can be a worse one in practice.
“Take care of the pence and the pounds will take care of themselves.”
English proverb. Lord Chesterfield credited it to William Lowndes, Secretary to the Treasury, in a letter of 1747.
On a tight wage, the small daily spends add up most. Track them for one month and you will see.
“Many a mickle makes a muckle.”
Scottish proverb. The older form is "many a little makes a mickle": mickle and muckle both mean a large amount, so the popular version is a mix-up.
A few pounds a week into savings looks like nothing. After two years it is a deposit or a breathing space.
“What's for ye'll no go by ye.”
Scottish proverb. It means what is meant for you will not pass you by.
Missed out on the job you wanted? Keep applying. The right one is still out there.
“Better bend than break.”
Scottish proverb
Take the different shift pattern for a few months if it keeps you working. Flexibility now can be a choice later.
“A stitch in time saves nine.”
English proverb, recorded by Thomas Fuller in Gnomologia (1732)
Report the loose racking or the warning light today. Tomorrow it is a bigger job, or an accident.
“Make hay while the sun shines.”
English proverb, recorded by John Heywood (1546)
Peak season overtime is the moment to put a little aside for the quiet weeks in January.
“Every cloud has a silver lining.”
English proverb, from an image in John Milton's Comus (1634). Milton wrote of a "sable cloud" that turns forth "her silver lining on the night".
The job you did not get can free you for the one you did not know about yet.
“If at first you don't succeed, try, try again.”
English proverb. It was popularised by the American educator Thomas H. Palmer in his Teacher's Manual (1840).
Failed the theory test by two marks? Book the next one while the reading is fresh.
“Slow and steady wins the race.”
From Aesop's fable of the tortoise and the hare. The exact wording is usually traced to Robert Lloyd's poem The Hare and the Tortoise (1762).
The picker who never stops beats the one who sprints then rests. Steady pace, fewer injuries.
“A bad workman blames his tools.”
English proverb, with French versions from the 1200s
Look after your own kit, and when something goes wrong, check your part before blaming the van.
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