Quotes About Progress

You cannot get off the treadmill simply by running faster. All you can do by that mechanism is temporarily pass others, until they respond by running faster too, with the long-term consequence of having the whole field increase their speed just to stand still. The victor in such a race is not the runner, but the treadmill.

In driving for cultural change, it's a mistake to become overly constrained by your desired culture as you've defined it. Are there any other, related behaviors, values, or principles that support high performance than the ones you've formally adopted? If so, don't hesitate to push these as well.

At Honeywell, we asked business leaders to think not just about the next five years when they presented strategic plans, as they traditionally did, but also to craft the following fiscal year's plan.

If you want to perform well over both the short and long term, pay close attention to executive leadership in general. As much as you might invest in areas like culture, process transformation, and M&A, you'll only make progress if you have talented senior leaders who are both committed to the company's strategies and capable of executing on them. Having the right number of those leaders matters too.

As you pursue long-term growth, don't limit yourself to the specific initiatives discussed here. Stay alert for new growth areas.

Today, almost half of our engineers company-wide are developing software—a massive change from years past.

While at General Electric, I'd noticed firsthand what a big difference it made to be in a good industry. When I ran General Electric's major appliance business, we had a great position but were in a crummy, highly competitive, low-growth industry. No matter how hard we worked, we stood little chance of excelling—the pressure on prices was just too intense. It was far easier, I found, to make progress with a business that occupied a bad position in a good industry.

An organization that is adept at constantly evolving usually won't need to take enormous risks to bring about revolutionary change, because it'll have been changing all along.

In challenging other leaders intellectually, I strove specifically to push them beyond the incrementalism that usually exists inside organizations—the tendency to consider the short-term implications of a decision exclusively and to ignore the long term.

Next I asked Maria the miracle cure question: If a miracle happened in today's session, what miracle would she be hoping for?

If you can answer yes, then you are clearly motivated to change. You will probably succeed in gaining greater inner peace and self-esteem, and you will increase your effectiveness in life. This

In my practice I find that the great majority of the depressed patients referred to me improve substantially if they try to help themselves. Sometimes it hardly seems to matter what you do as long as you do something with the attitude of self-help.

It's never going to be over, so stop waiting for the good stuff. As of now, spend a minimum of one hour a day doing whatever you are waiting to do until your finances are more secure, or until the children have grown and left home, or until you have finished your obligations and you feel free to do what you really want to do.

You may make the right decision or the wrong one, but whatever happens, it is your best shot, and you will strengthen your capacity for future action.

Every moment waited is a moment wasted, and each wasted moment degrades your clarity of purpose.

We are designed to outgrow everything

Each purpose, each mission, is meant to be fully lived to the point where it becomes empty, boring, and useless. Then it should be discarded. This is a sign of growth, but you may mistake it for a sign of failure.

Own your fear, and lean just beyond it. In every aspect of your life. Starting now.

The trouble with doing things that others said were impossible, Daniel thought, is that people keep coming up with other impossible things. Eventually they're likely to be right.

A day in which you learn something isn't a complete loss.

You're going to keep making these mistakes as long as you keep carrying your brain in the same scabbard with your sword, Lelldorin.

The quality of student work has definitely gone downhill since they discontinued the use of the whipping post. -Silk

Then you've learned something today. No day in which you learn something is a complete loss.

A day in which you learn something isn't a complete loss.