I collect inspiring, thought-provoking, and poignant quotations by famous people. Occasionally I share them in blogs with my readers. In the past on such blogs, some of my readers wrote to me and told me how much they appreciated those quotes, but also asking me to tell them how to use them in their everyday life, other than just reading them for enjoyment or for inspiration.
In our everyday life and career battles we need the right “weapons” to help us win. One of the most potent of these is our ability to influence how we communicate and how we use our language to sway those who have the power to change our trajectory. If you do not think that language is a weapon, just remind yourself how Winston Churchill chose the right words and the apt language and weaponized them to fight on the front lines during the war.
So, now I have decided to “weaponize” these select quotations in this blog to help you in your everyday life and career matters. Please write in the Comments space below to let me know if that will work for you to get into action. Thanks!
- “Happiness often sneaks in through a door you didn’t know you left open.” – John Barrymore
In today’s zeitgeist it is difficult to find happiness, unless you decide to be happy with what you have. We often close our minds to what we already have and focus on what we don’t to be in this sorry state, which is often of our own making. So, audit your own life and look for where happiness is still lurking and start being positive about your station; it will help you further augment your own happiness, as a result.
- “Before we set our hearts too much upon anything, let us examine how happy those are who already possess it.” – Francois de La Rochefoucauld
I see this in my coaching practice frequently, where clients come to me wanting my help in pursuing some goal just because someone they know, admire, or compete with already has, what they want me to help them achieve. Just one such example—of many—of such a pursuit is getting an MBA during their “woes” early in their career, where their technical track is not helping them advance as rapidly as they would like. In most cases their own careful and objective examination of others, who already possess an MBA results in a revelation that casts doubt in their mind about their desire to pursue that goal. There are many other such pursuits that have a similar outcome, helping you save much effort, grief, and later disappointment.
- “Reading maketh a full man, conference a ready man, and writing an exact man.” – Sir Francis Bacon
A good part of my coaching practice is focused on developing the right messages for my clients: a résumé, bio, LinkedIn Profile, a cover letter, or even their Elevator Pitch (“tell me about yourself”), just to name a few. In almost every case getting such messages down in writing crystallizes their view of themselves and changes their view of how they see and present themselves to others. Having and knowing the right words and language to describe what you intend and to package it well is a critical skill, not just in career management, but also in life. So, learning how to express yourself verbally and in writing is a core skill worth your efforts.
- “The shepherd always tries to persuade the sheep that their interests and his own are the same.” -Stendhal (Marie-Henri Beyle), novelist
Many of my clients come to me because they are unable to secure what they desire in their job or in their career on their own. In exploring such cases further, I find that most of their pursuits are focused on advancing their own cause: a promotion, a higher salary, a better office, or a fancier title on their business card. What blocks or delays them from getting what they want is their selfish, myopic view and their inability to see, by getting what they desire, how, in turn, it will help their benefactor—their boss or their company. This applies in all that we pursue. So, when you want something that advances your current station, first suss out the benefit to the person who can grant you that new station.
- “You can tell whether a man is clever by his answers. You can tell whether a man is wise by his questions.” -Naguib Mahfouz, writer, Nobel laureate.
This thought is especially apt during job interviews—or in making a start-up funding pitch to an investor—where most candidates focus on delivering clever responses to the questions shot their way. Your insights are better conveyed through the questions you ask and the power they communicate to your benefactor. Asking the right questions require—and reveal—deeper insights than merely responding to programmed questions they ask.
Hope that these quotations and the explanation they provide below them will help you how you use these quotations in your everyday pursuits.
Good luck!