
Anybody that knows me knows how much I love to quote movies and draw back on quotes of others for inspiration. When I first started my real estate career I had a specific room at the office the size of a large walk in closet and that is where I would go every morning to make my prospecting calls from 8:00 til noon. Those weren’t always the easiest hours of the day and so I decorated the room with all my favorite quotes that inspire me. Over the years my favorite quotes have evolved and changed based on where I currently am in my life and what challenges I am working on. But the following are my favorites right now and they truly do encourage me to live life to its fullest. I have also included a brief explanation on each one to give them context.
For anyone that has read the amazing book, “Mans Search for Meaning” you are well aware of Viktor Frankl and his struggle as a prisoner in a Nazi concentration camp. He was stripped of every comfort a human being could possibly want and some we never realize we have til they are gone. He suffered hunger, thirst, pain, fatigue, humiliation, and shame. He suffered from the cold, the fleas, rats, death of friends and family all around him. He suffered from the actions of others as they treated him daily as less than a human. Yet through all of it he kept a great attitude and outlook on his life. An attitude that kept him and many around him alive while others were losing hope. In his book he sums up how he was able to do this, a seemingly impossible task for the circumstances that he was in…
“The one thing you can’t take away from me is the way I choose to respond to what you do to me. The last of one’s freedoms is to choose one’s attitude in any given circumstance.” – Viktor Frankl
My second favorite quote is one that many can look at as being selfish or self-serving. I want to explain why it’s not. Here is the quote and then I will explain:
“Ever loved somebody so much that you would do anything for them? Ya well, make that somebody yourself and do whatever the hell you want!”
The reason I love this quote so much is because it allows you to give yourself permission to make yourself happy. The way I look at it, if I am taking care of myself and I get myself to a good place then I can show up in a much better state and a much better energy to effect in a positive way a lot more people! There are a lot of well intended people that want to be great bosses, great employees, great husbands, dads, moms, and wives. But they forget to take care of themselves and they simply aren’t happy.
Therefore, they pass on pain and misery to others instead of brightening others days. A wise friend of mine once said,
“I want the room to light up when I walk in, not when I leave.”
So this quote is me, giving all of you, permission to take that time every day to do something for yourself. To pamper yourself, to appreciate yourself, and to do whatever the hell it is you like to do! You don’t need permission. Make sure you are happy and you will spread that love and happiness to so many others.
The third quote is much like the second only it has to do with enjoying the world around us in general. The quote speaks for itself but the bottom line is, if we don’t enjoy the very things around us, we might forget why we are so motivated to save them and enjoy them. I know for me I didn’t care about saving the oceans and the sharks until I took the time to go swimming and scuba diving with them. Seeing them in their natural environment and seeing their beauty forever changed my life and I will forever work to help #SaveSharks from extinction.
“Every morning I awake torn between a desire to save the world and an inclination to savor it. This makes it hard to plan the day. But if we forget to savor the world what possible reason do we have for saving it? In a way the savoring must come first.” – E.B. White
The fourth quote has been my business mantra for the past 10 years and it is the one thing that separates the successful from the unsuccessful. Learn this and live by it and you will never have financial or business struggles again.
“The difference between successful and unsuccessful people is successful people have merely learned to do the things that unsuccessful people don’t want to do.”
I hope you enjoy these quotes as much as I do.
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