Motivation on MarkJacobsen.net

Make the choice

Tue, 26 Apr 2022 12:20:00 +0000

Found this useful insight in James Clear’s newsletter:

“What’s one decision you can make today that will save you from making ten more decisions in the future? Make the choice that eliminates other choices.”

Sometimes even if you don’t know the specific choice to make or what the future might look like, you can always at least narrow your options to provide greater clarity at a later time.

Powerful Combination

Fri, 08 Apr 2022 11:35:21 +0000

Found this gem in James Clear’s 3-2-1 newsletter, and it’s so true…

Powerful combination = Hate being bad at stuff + Willing to look like a beginner.

People who hate being bad at stuff are driven to improve. However, if they are unwilling to look like a beginner from time to time, they will avoid new challenges and struggle to reinvent themselves.

Meanwhile, people who are willing to try new things, but lack a thirst to improve will settle for mediocre results.

It’s the willingness to look foolish for a short time—but not for a long time—that leads to jumps in performance.

It’s not the critic who counts

Sun, 09 Apr 2017 11:55:00 +0000

Yesterday caused me to be reminded of this great quote by Theodore Roosevelt…

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”