Quotes About Self-direction

Human beings aren't supposed to be controlled and told what to do.

Soap operas are like TV boot camp. You have to be able to self-direct, learn a ton of dialogue in a short amount of time, and deliver a performance in one or two takes.

Let people move themselves. Don't insist on doing it for them.

Rebels often seek out careers that give them the flexibility to choose their work, set their own schedules, and avoid having to answer to other people.

Don't rely on others to show you the way. Carry your own map.

The capacity for consistent self-direction is one of the most valuable that a human being can possess. It is practically unknown in young children, and is never developed either by a very rigid discipline or by complete freedom.

Socialism as a panacea seems to me to be mistaken in this way, since it is too ready to suppose that better economic conditions will of themselves make men happy. It is not only more material goods that men need, but more freedom, more self-direction, more outlet for creativeness, more opportunity for the joy of life, more voluntary coöperation, and less involuntary subservience to purposes not their own.

I was never good at taking instructions.

It is extraordinarily difficult, even in academia, to find a job that will let you do whatever you want with your time. If you are determined to spend your time following your own interests, you pretty much have to do it on your own.

Choose your own way. Do not follow me, or anyone else.

I just go my own way. If my agent calls and presents me with something, and I find it refreshing or illuminating, yeah, I'll do it.

the hardest person you will ever have to lead is yourself.

Every man paddle his own canoe.

No one can construct for you the bridge upon which precisely you must cross the stream of life, no one but you yourself alone.

Management did not emanate from nature. Management is not a tree: it's a television set. Somebody invented it. It doesn't mean it's going to work forever. Management is great. Traditional notions of management are great if you want compliance. But if you want engagement, self-direction works better.

On bikeback, there is a delightful sense of self-direction and autonomy. Lately, I have taken to cycling slowly, more fun than the fast, competitive commuter cycling I used to do. No longer do I jump lights or attempt that irritating wobbling thing that semi-professional cyclists like to indulge in.

I've never been told to do anything. I've never been hurried along by anybody - the kind of so-called 'pressure' of record labels doesn't really exist in my case.

I have a mind that belongs wholly to itself, and is accustomed to go its own way. Having never until this hour had a master or governor imposed on me, I have advanced as far as I pleased, and at my own pace. This has made me slack and unfit for the service of others; it has made me useless to any but myself.

I follow my own mind and judgment.

Find the autonomy in your work. Autonomy is key to feeling good about the work you do, no matter what kind of work it is.

There comes a time when you have to grow up and start thinking for yourself.

What someone else does or doesn't do has no effect on me and what I do.

At the end of the day all I've ever asked for is to be allowed to succeed and fail on my own merits. Not based on what somebody else wants me to do or thinks I should do. Or, what they want me to say or what they think I should say.

In which I argue that control over what you do, and how you do it, is one of the most powerful traits you can acquire when creating work you love.