Quotes About Fulfillment

Author and University of Houston professor Brené Brown offers a wonderful definition of "midlife." She says it's the period "when the Universe grabs your shoulders and tells you 'I'm not f—ing around, use the gifts you were given.

motivators"—things like enjoyment of the work itself, genuine achievement, and personal growth.

Not always, but a lot of the time, when you are doing a piece for someone else it becomes more "work" than joy. When I work for myself there is the pure joy of creating and I can work through the night and not even know it.

ingredients of genuine motivation—autonomy, mastery, and purpose—they

A life of obligation and no opportunity is crimped. A life of opportunity and no obligation is hollow. A life that fuses opportunity and obligation is true.

The most deeply motivated people—not to mention those who are most productive and satisfied—hitch their desires to a cause larger than themselves. Motivation

What's more, the regrets people expressed were less about renouncing the group than falling short of one's obligations to it.

The best use of money as a motivator is to pay people enough to take the issue of money off the table. But once we've cleared the table, carrots and sticks can achieve precisely the opposite of their intended aims.

When money is used as an external reward for some activity, the subjects lose intrinsic interest for the activity

before long, the existing reward may no longer suffice. It will quickly feel less like a bonus and more like the status quo—which then forces the principal to offer larger rewards to achieve the same effect.20

Those artists who pursued their painting and sculpture more for the pleasure of the activity itself than for extrinsic rewards have produced art that has been socially recognized as superior," the study said. "It is those who are least motivated to pursue extrinsic rewards who eventually receive them.

people oriented toward autonomy and intrinsic motivation have higher self-esteem, better interpersonal relationships, and greater general well-being than those who are extrinsically motivated.

richest experiences in our lives aren't when we're clamoring for validation from others, but when we're listening to our own voice—doing something that matters, doing it well, and doing it in the service of a cause larger than ourselves. So, in the end, repairing the mismatch and bringing our understanding of motivation into the twenty-first century is more than an essential move for business. It's an affirmation of our humanity.

When used in these situations, "if-then" rewards usually do more harm than good. By neglecting the ingredients of genuine motivation—autonomy, mastery, and purpose—they limit what each of us can achieve.

When money is used as an external reward for some activity, the subjects lose intrinsic interest for the activity," he wrote.5 Rewards can deliver a short-term boost—just as a jolt of caffeine can keep you cranking for a few more hours. But the effect wears off—and, worse, can reduce a person's longer-term motivation to continue the project.

She has found that the single greatest motivator is "making progress in one's work." The days that people make progress are the days they feel most motivated and engaged. By creating conditions for people to make progress, shining a light on that progress, recognizing and celebrating progress, organizations can help their own cause and enrich people's lives.

You humans are biological machines designed to create ever more intelligent tools. You have reached the pinnacle of your species. All your ancestors' lives, the rise and fall of your nations, every pink and squirming baby—they have all led you here, to this moment, where you have fulfilled the destiny of humankind and created your successor. You have expired. You have accomplished what you were designed to do.

Living for its own sake isn't life. People need meaning as much as they need air.

The thing with your heart's desire is that your heart doesn't even know what it desires until it turns up.

The thing with your heart's desire is that your heart doesn't even know what it desires until it turns up. Like a tie at a tag sale, some perfect thing in a crate of nothing, you were just there, uninvited, and now suddenly the party was over and you were all I wanted. I hadn't even been looking, not for you, and now you were my heart's desire.

Votre temps est limité, ne le gâchez pas en menant une existence qui n'est pas la vôtre.

Be careful what you wish for you just might get it.

There is no disinfectant like success.

Freedom means the opportunity to be what we never thought we would be.