Execution & Work Ethic
Hard work, discipline, and getting things done.
All this will not be finished in the first one hundred days. Nor will it be finished in the first one thousand days, nor in the life of this Administration, nor even perhaps in our lifetime on this planet. But let us begin.
Verified sourceInaugural Address · Watch at 10:59 · John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum
10:59 of 15:11All quotes from this speech →
If you make your bed every morning you will have accomplished the first task of the day. It will give you a small sense of pride, and it will encourage you to do another task and another and another. By the end of the day, that one task completed will have turned into many tasks completed.
Verified source2014 Commencement Address at the University of Texas at Austin · Watch at 5:22 · UT News, The University of Texas at Austin
5:22 of 19:29All quotes from this speech →
As delivered If you make your bed every morning you will have accomplished the first task of the day. It will give you a small sense of pride and it will encourage you to do another task, and another, and another. And by the end of the day, that one task completed will have turned into many tasks completed.
Making your bed will also reinforce the fact that little things in life matter. If you can’t do the little things right, you will never do the big things right.
Verified source2014 Commencement Address at the University of Texas at Austin · Watch at 5:41 · UT News, The University of Texas at Austin
5:41 of 19:29All quotes from this speech →
As delivered Making your bed will also reinforce the fact that the little things in life matter. If you can't do the little things right, you will never be able to do the big things right.
If you want to change the world don’t ever, ever ring the bell.
Verified source2014 Commencement Address at the University of Texas at Austin · Watch at 18:22 · UT News, The University of Texas at Austin
18:22 of 19:29All quotes from this speech →
What I believe unites the people of this nation, regardless of race or region or party, young or old, rich or poor, is the simple, profound belief in opportunity for all - the notion that if you work hard and take responsibility, you can get ahead.
SourceSixth State of the Union Address (January 2014) · via Wikiquote
There are millions of Americans outside Washington who are tired of stale political arguments and are moving this country forward. They believe, and I believe, that here in America, our success should depend not on accident of birth, but the strength of our work ethic and the scope of our dreams.
SourceSixth State of the Union Address (January 2014) · via Wikiquote
System in all things is the soul of business. To deliberate maturely, & execute promptly is the way to conduct it to advantage. With me, it has always been a maxim, rather to let my designs appear from my works, than by my expressions.
SourceGeorge Washington to James Anderson · National Archives on Founders Online
Before everything else, getting ready is the secret of success.
SourceMy Life and Work (1922) · via Wikiquote
For you to sleep well at night, the aesthetic, the quality, has to be carried all the way through.
SourcePlayboy interview (1985) · via Wikiquote
The system is that there is no system. That doesn't mean we don't have process. Apple is a very disciplined company, and we have great processes. But that's not what it's about. Process makes you more efficient.
SourceAs quoted in "The Seed of Apple's Innovation" in BusinessWeek (12 October 2004) · via Wikiquote
When you're a carpenter making a beautiful chest of drawers, you're not going to use a piece of plywood on the back, even though it faces the wall and nobody will ever see it. You'll know it's there, so you're going to use a beautiful piece of wood on the back.
SourcePlayboy interview (1985) · via Wikiquote
Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.
SourceAs quoted in An Enemy Called Average (1990) by John L. Mason, p. 55 · via Wikiquote
There seems to be some perverse human characteristic that likes to make easy things difficult.
Source(Fall, 1984) · via Wikiquote
Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.
I do the very best I know how - the very best I can; and I mean to keep on doing so until the end.
Let not him who is houseless pull down the house of another, but let him work diligently and build one for himself, thus by example assuring that his own shall be safe from violence when built.
The leading rule for the lawyer, as for the man of every calling, is diligence.
I never had a policy; I have just tried to do my very best each and every day.
A man watches his pear tree day after day, impatient for the ripening of the fruit. Let him attempt to force the process, and he may spoil both fruit and tree. But let him patiently wait, and the ripe pear at length falls into his lap.
There are so many people working so hard and achieving so little.
We need to internalize this idea of excellence. Not many folks spend a lot of time trying to be excellent.
We proved that we are still a people capable of doing big things and tackling our biggest challenges.
We can choose a future where we export more products and outsource fewer jobs. After a decade that was defined by what we bought and borrowed, we're getting back to basics, and doing what America has always done best: We're making things again.
Now we're in the midst of not just advocating for change, not just calling for change - we're doing the grinding, sometimes frustrating work of delivering change - inch by inch, day by day.
What we can control is our performance and our execution, and that's what we're going to focus on.
If you're well-prepared, you know what you're doing, and you have an idea what the opponents can do - what their strengths and weaknesses are - once you get into the game, those adjustments will be - I won't say easy, but relatively easier and more manageable.
We don't talk about next year. We talk about today, and we talk about the next game. And that's all we can really control. The rest of it will take care of itself.
A lot of performance is based on confidence, knowing what you're doing, and being familiar, and not thinking too much and trying to play at confident game speed.
In business, the idea of measuring what you are doing, picking the measurements that count like customer satisfaction and performance... you thrive on that.
I never took a day off in my twenties. Not one. And I'm still fanatical, but now I'm a little less fanatical.
On my desk I have three screens, synchronized to form a single desktop. I can drag items from one screen to the next. Once you have that large display area, you'll never go back, because it has a direct impact on productivity.
I have been struck again and again by how important measurement is to improving the human condition.
I'm not big on to-do lists. Instead, I use e-mail and desktop folders and my online calendar. So when I walk up to my desk, I can focus on the e-mails I've flagged and check the folders that are monitoring particular projects and particular blogs.
I am results-oriented.
The world has been very careful to pick very few diseases for eradication, because it is very tough.
In poor countries, we still need better ways to measure the effectiveness of the many government workers providing health services. They are the crucial link bringing tools such as vaccines and education to the people who need them most. How well trained are they? Are they showing up to work?
Eradications are special. Zero is a magic number. You either do what it takes to get to zero and you're glad you did it; or you get close, give up and it goes back to where it was before, in which case you wasted all that credibility, activity, money that could have been applied to other things.
You have to have a certain realism that government is a pretty blunt instrument, and without the constant attention of highly qualified people with the right metrics, it will fall into not doing things very well.
The typical project design time for a large company like IBM - and they keep track of this - is a little over four years.
If you're trying to create a company, it's like baking a cake. You have to have all the ingredients in the right proportion.
I don't create companies for the sake of creating companies, but to get things done.
I don't spend my time pontificating about high-concept things; I spend my time solving engineering and manufacturing problems.
If you want to grow a giant redwood, you need to make sure the seeds are ok, nurture the sapling, and work out what might potentially stop it from growing all the way along. Anything that breaks it at any point stops that growth.
If you look at space companies, they've failed either because they've had a technical solution where success was not a possible outcome, they were unable to attract a critical mass of talent, or they just ran out of money. The finish line is usually a lot further away than you think.
I think the high-tech industry is used to developing new things very quickly. It's the Silicon Valley way of doing business: You either move very quickly and you work hard to improve your product technology, or you get destroyed by some other company.
So we originally expected to make about 35 gigawatt hours at the cell level and about 50 gigawatt hours at the module or pack level. Now we are expecting to do about 150 gigawatt hours in the same volumetric space as the original design.
You simply have to put one foot in front of the other and keep going. Put blinders on and plow right ahead.
Working hard is very important. You're not going to get anywhere without working extremely hard.
It's hard work making movies. It's like being a doctor: you work long hours, very hard hours, and it's emotional, tense work. If you don't really love it, then it ain't worth it.
Making a film is like putting out a fire with sieve. There are so many elements, and it gets so complicated.
Quality means doing it right when no one is looking.
Don't find fault, find a remedy.
Nothing is particularly hard if you divide it into small jobs.
Enthusiasm is the yeast that makes your hopes shine to the stars. Enthusiasm is the sparkle in your eyes, the swing in your gait. The grip of your hand, the irresistible surge of will and energy to execute your ideas.
There is joy in work. There is no happiness except in the realization that we have accomplished something.
There are no big problems, there are just a lot of little problems.
It has been my observation that most people get ahead during the time that others waste.
Most people spend more time and energy going around problems than in trying to solve them.
Whatever you have, you must either use or lose.
I do not believe a man can ever leave his business. He ought to think of it by day and dream of it by night.
A brand for a company is like a reputation for a person. You earn reputation by trying to do hard things well.
If you don't understand the details of your business you are going to fail.
The special ops guys and the firefighters around the world have this great phrase. They say, 'Slow is smooth, and smooth is fast,' and that is true. Everything I've accomplished in my life has been because of that attitude.
Our motto at Blue Origin is 'Gradatim Ferociter': 'Step by Step, Ferociously.'
One of the things that I'm very excited about with New Shepard, which is our suborbital tourism vehicle, is using that to get a lot of practice. One of the equilibria that we're at today with space launch is that we don't get to practice enough.
If your payloads cost hundreds of millions of dollars, they actually cost more than the launch. It puts a lot of pressure on the launch vehicle not to change, to be very stable. Reliability becomes much more important than the cost. It's hard to get off of that equilibrium.
The strategic objective of New Shepard is to practice, and a lot of the subcomponents of New Shepard actually get directly reused on the second stage of New Glenn.
The idea that everyone should slavishly work so they do something inefficiently so they keep their job - that just doesn't make any sense to me. That can't be the right answer.
Every night on the court I give my all, and if I'm not giving 100 percent, I criticize myself.
I treated it like every day was my last day with a basketball.
I do have motivation. A lot of motivation.
I laugh and joke, but I don't get distracted very easily.
Talent without effort is wasted talent. And while effort is the one thing you can control in your life, applying that effort intelligently is next on the list.
Sweat equity is the most valuable equity there is. Know your business and industry better than anyone else in the world. Love what you do or don't do it.
What I've learned in these 11 years is you just got to stay focused and believe in yourself and trust your own ability and judgment.
Because if you're prepared and you know what it takes, it's not a risk. You just have to figure out how to get there. There is always a way to get there.
Sweat equity is the best equity.
What I've learned is that if you really want to be successful at something, you'll find that you put the time in. You won't just ask somebody if it's a good idea, you'll go figure out if it's a good idea.
I still work hard to know my business. I'm continuously looking for ways to improve all my companies, and I'm always selling. Always.
I knew how to sell. I felt confident I could run a business. I was willing to outwork anyone. I wasn't afraid to live like a student on next to nothing. So that meant I had absolutely nothing to lose and everything to gain.
I worked hard and smarter than most people in the businesses I have been in.
Move fast and break things. Unless you are breaking stuff, you are not moving fast enough.
I think a simple rule of business is, if you do the things that are easier first, then you can actually make a lot of progress.
People don't care about what someone says about you in a movie - or even what you say, right? They care about what you build. And if you can make something that makes people's life better, then that's something that's really good.
Move fast with stable infrastructure.
The real story of Facebook is just that we've worked so hard for all this time. I mean, the real story is actually probably pretty boring, right? I mean, we just sat at our computers for six years and coded.
A lot of people are focused on taking over the world or doing the biggest thing and getting the most users. I think part of making a difference and doing something cool is focusing intensely.
Unless you are breaking stuff, you are not moving fast enough.
Working with a lot of people at the same time is a task. I really like making stuff and getting stuff done. One of the things I really liked about Facebook was that I could always move so quickly. I wrote the original application in, like, nine days at the end of January.
One of the things I do to stay healthy and fit is to make sure I exercise every single day. Aside from eating right and getting enough sleep, exercise keeps me trim and boosts my energy.
There are two kinds of people... There are the dreamers who go and buy, and there are the doers who go and make. And I've always recognized that. So the dreamers are what support our company because they will buy the product that they could make if they wanted to, had time to, or were so inclined to.
You can be the most beautiful person on Earth, and if you don't have a fitness or diet routine, you won't be beautiful.
I think baking cookies is equal to Queen Victoria running an empire. There's no difference in how seriously you take the job, how seriously you approach your whole life.
I'm a maniacal perfectionist.
I - I try to do as much as I can, wherever I am. So, at the farm, I'm always thinking of some new project, some new thing I can do.
Whether you're a programmer or a seamstress, it's all about new techniques, simplifying old techniques, and consolidating steps. Making things go faster - but not worse.
I get up really early, and I go to bed really late. Sometimes I get tired, but it's not important. I have an exciting existence, and there's so much to do.
I don't think there's any company that has the same tools as Martha Stewart Living does, and people know that. They really love the tools and, if you have the tools, you can pretty much do the craft.
I have proven that being a perfectionist can be profitable and admirable when creating content across the board: in television, books, newspapers, radio, videos.
Some people want it to happen, some wish it would happen, others make it happen.
Be true to the game, because the game will be true to you. If you try to shortcut the game, then the game will shortcut you. If you put forth the effort, good things will be bestowed upon you. That's truly about the game, and in some ways that's about life too.
The game has its ups and downs, but you can never lose focus of your individual goals and you can't let yourself be beat because of lack of effort.
I've always believed that if you put in the work, the results will come.
Sometimes, things may not go your way, but the effort should be there every single night.
I'm not out there sweating for three hours every day just to find out what it feels like to sweat.
Passion is energy. Feel the power that comes from focusing on what excites you.
Doing the best at this moment puts you in the best place for the next moment.
Every day, you're only as good as your last show.
Excellence is the best deterrent to racism or sexism.
You know you are on the road to success if you would do your job, and not be paid for it.
I was raised to believe that excellence is the best deterrent to racism or sexism. And that's how I operate my life.
I feel that luck is preparation meeting opportunity.
My philosophy is that not only are you responsible for your life, but doing the best at this moment puts you I the best place for the next moment.
Even if you flippin' fries at McDonald's, if you are excellent, everybody wants to be in your line.
The person that turns over the most rocks wins the game. And that's always been my philosophy.
I think the most rewarding part of the job, and I think most coaches would say it, is practice. If you have it, a very good practice in which you have 12 guys participate, and they can really get something out of it, lose themselves in practice.
An exceptional company is the one that gets all the little details right. And the people out on the front line, they know when things are not going right, and they know when things need to be improved. And if you listen to them, you can soon improve all those niggly things which turns an average company into an exceptional company.
If you want to be more productive, then start at the start: get there on time. Whether it is a meeting, a flight, an appointment or a date, it's important to ensure you are there when you say you will be there. This may feel like an old-fashioned tip to give, but it has served me well for five decades in business.
It's our own ability to have an idea and go after the idea and make it happen. That's what at the end of the day defines us.
The opportunity ahead for Microsoft is vast, but to seize it, we must focus clearly, move faster, and continue to transform.
One lesson learned is you've got to finish the scenario with excellence. You just cannot stop. You have to complete this, and I think that's where Apple has taught us all what experience excellence means in the creation of categories.
A big part of my job is to accelerate our ability to bring innovative products to our customers more quickly.
The question is: How are you able to organize your information, your tasks, and get stuff done spanning those different roles? Nobody lives in isolation.
Everyone's dream can come true if you just stick to it and work hard.
Luck has nothing to do with it, because I have spent many, many hours, countless hours, on the court working for my one moment in time, not knowing when it would come.
I try not to have too many rituals because I believe that rituals don't help you win. I used to do rituals a lot and it was crazy.
We're going in really fresh. We're going to have fresh legs and bodies, we're going to be able to stay the distance, and that's our goal.
It's always good to get a smaller tournament under your belt so that by the time you get to the Slams, you have a lot of experience.
I always say that when I'm playing well, no one can beat me. I'm not just saying that to sound full of myself or anything, but it's true.
When you're playing the best player in the world, you've got to play well.
Once I serve well, my whole game goes up.
All my life I'd woken up to tennis, tennis, tennis. Even if I don't go to practise, I'm thinking about it all day.
It doesn't matter where you come from, what you have or don't have, what you lack, or what you have too much of. But all you need to have is faith in God, an undying passion for what you do and what you choose to do in this life, and a relentless drive and the will to do whatever it takes to be successful in whatever you put your mind to.
I've always believed that success for anyone is all about drive, dedication, and desire, but for me, it's also been about confidence and faith.
Shooting the ball is a part of the game. Everybody can shoot in their own way. Not everybody can make. But everybody can shoot.
I try to make it look easy, but the behind-the-scenes stuff is the challenge.
There's a reason that I have confidence out there, and it's about how I prepare for games and for series and seasons and whatnot, so we've got to stick with that kind of thought process.
You can play fast but not in a hurry. As a point guard, I can dictate that.
The more minutes you play and the more grind and physical play you endure through the course of a season, you have to re-charge and get your body right for the next season. Be in that weight room and conditioning and that kind of deal.
Your touch and your feel for the game is pretty much gone if you don't work on it - at least get some shots up or dribble the ball.
We're going to have to work. We're going to have to play well. Nothing will be given to us.
Most of the stuff I try in a game, in the moment, I have supreme confidence I'm going to execute it.
My dad has kind of been the standard for me, he played 16 years in the league, and since I've been in the league, every year that I go through and deal with the scratches, the bumps and bruises, just the grind that it is to go through one NBA season.
The biggest thing is just routine. I think that's the biggest correlation between golfers and basketball players.
When I step forward on the floor, I have the confidence that I'm the best player playing that night and that I am the most prepared at what I need to be doing.
It's crazy how fast you get out of shape if you miss a couple days of action.
I am pretty chill before games. Have a go-to routine that keeps me busy until we are ready to take the court so I'm not just sitting around anxious for the game.
To be able to finish opportunities that I do get in the paint, that makes a difference.
That's been one of my mantras - focus and simplicity. Simple can be harder than complex: You have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple. But it's worth it in the end because once you get there, you can move mountains.
We don't get a chance to do that many things, and every one should be really excellent. Because this is our life. Life is brief, and then you die, you know? So this is what we've chosen to do with our life.
It's hard to tell with these Internet startups if they're really interested in building companies or if they're just interested in the money. I can tell you, though: If they don't really want to build a company, they won't luck into it. That's because it's so hard that if you don't have a passion, you'll give up.
It's not about charisma and personality, it's about results and products and those very bedrock things that are why people at Apple and outside of Apple are getting more excited about the company and what Apple stands for and what its potential is to contribute to the industry.
You shouldn't dream your film, you should make it!
I go out and look for a good story to tell and if I like it enough and I decide to direct it, I become dangerously involved in becoming a part of that story.
I have a choice - I can either watch all the dailies, or I can follow the social media. I can't do both.
Making a movie and not directing the little moments is like drinking a soda and leaving the little slurp puddle for someone else.
I usually do about five cuts as a director. I haven't ever directed a film where I haven't made five passes through the movie, and that takes a long time.
You can't start a movie by having the attitude that the script is finished, because if you think the script is finished, your movie is finished before the first day of shooting.
There are different usage patterns - I never do email during the day. I don't multitask well at all. I don't know how to be in a meeting and participate and be on email at the same time. I do see some people do it more effectively. I've never quite figured that out.
We ship a new version of Google Play Services every six weeks. Typically, 90 percent of users are on the new version of that.
Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration.
There is no substitute for hard work.
The three great essentials to achieve anything worth while are: Hard work, Stick-to-itiveness, and Common sense.
Hell, there are no rules here - we're trying to accomplish something.
Being busy does not always mean real work. The object of all work is production or accomplishment and to either of these ends there must be forethought, system, planning, intelligence, and honest purpose, as well as perspiration. Seeming to do is not doing.
Everything comes to him who hustles while he waits.
Great ideas originate in the muscles.
The reason a lot of people do not recognize opportunity is because it usually goes around wearing overalls looking like hard work.
I never did anything by accident, nor did any of my inventions come by accident; they came by work.
I find my greatest pleasure, and so my reward, in the work that precedes what the world calls success.
His genius he was quite content in one brief sentence to define; Of inspiration one percent, of perspiration, ninety nine.
It is astonishing what an effort it seems to be for many people to put their brains definitely and systematically to work.
When I have fully decided that a result is worth getting I go ahead of it and make trial after trial until it comes.
One might think that the money value of an invention constitutes its reward to the man who loves his work. But... I continue to find my greatest pleasure, and so my reward, in the work that precedes what the world calls success.
Life is fragile. We're not guaranteed a tomorrow so give it everything you've got.
I learned that focus is key. Not just in your running a company, but in your personal life as well.
We try to continually push ourselves to do more and more, not just on the hardware side but also in terms of developers' tools so they can take advantage of the hardware that's there, in the best way.
We typically don't talk about something until we are about to ship. Not just for AI, but for anything: the comparison is generally what we are shipping compared to what someone else is talking about that is going to happen sometime in the future. A lot of people sell futures, I guess, is the way to think about it.
Every quarterback can throw a ball; every running back can run; every receiver is fast; but that mental toughness that you talk about translates into competitiveness.
When you're one of the leaders of the team, there are no days off.
I just love working hard. I love being part of a team; I love working toward a common goal.
There's not much time to unwind, but you know what, it's because I love what I do. I look forward to the season. I look forward to playing games. It doesn't ever feel like work.
Mentally, the only players who survive in the pros are the ones able to manage all their responsibilities. Everybody struggles in different ways.
I think the great part about what I do is that there's a scoreboard. At the end of every week, you know how you did. You know how well you prepared. You know whether you executed your game plan. There's a tangible score.
I always try to do as much as I can do. I'm never a person that does not enough, because I'd regret not doing enough and think I probably could have done more. I probably go too far and have to reel myself back in, which works in some things, and other things it doesn't work.
Because my career is so important, I think I make a lot of - I wouldn't call them sacrifices, but just concessions for my job. I love what I do, and I want to do it for a long time.
I think I've really stepped outside the box in the way I try to train, eat, hydrate, the cognitive brain games I play on a daily or weekly basis to try to build up some durability within my body, within my brain, to be able to go out there and play at a high level at age 38.
I don't think the ebbs and flows - get in great shape and then get out of shape and then see if you can get back into shape - is a good thing. So I prefer to keep my arm always ready to go.
I really love training and being in good shape, and it's so much a part of my life now, so it never really feels like work to me.
It's a real strength for me that I've never minded the training process. It's something I enjoy. I really like being in the gym or, certainly, on the field.
To score points, you need a lot of consistent effort over the course of the game. If you're throwing it or running it in, it's not a big difference in terms of the score at all, obviously. But turnovers limit your scoring. That's the problem with turnovers.
I'd be so bored if I wasn't going out there, knowing that I could still do it. So, I'm going to work hard to be ready to go, and I still plan on playing for a long time.
I love what I do. I take great pride in what I do. And I can't do something halfway, three-quarters, nine-tenths. If I'm going to do something, I go all the way.
I'm an all-or-nothing kind of person, and when I become interested in something, I give it my all.
I go without sleep, I just go hard.
Here's how I've lived my life: I've never been late to a set. I make films I believe in. I feel privileged to be able to do what I love.
I've gotten very good at scheduling my life, scheduling the scene and preparing myself for knowing, saving the energy, consuming the energy, knowing when to go for it and having the available reserves to be able to do that. You have to think about that, because it's endurance.
I've never made a film that I didn't believe in, you know? However the picture turns out, I've always given everything to it. That's kind of how I approach life. I can't help it. There's no part-way with me on anything in any area of my life.
Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence.
The price of success is hard work, dedication to the job at hand, and the determination that whether we win or lose, we have applied the best of ourselves to the task at hand.
Practice does not make perfect. Only perfect practice makes perfect.
The only place success comes before work is in the dictionary.
Winning is not a sometime thing; it's an all the time thing. You don't win once in a while... you don't do things right once in a while... you do them right all the time. Winning is habit.
The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather a lack of will.
Football is like life - it requires perseverance, self-denial, hard work, sacrifice, dedication and respect for authority.
We didn't lose the game; we just ran out of time.
Leaders are made, they are not born. They are made by hard effort, which is the price which all of us must pay to achieve any goal that is worthwhile.
Once you learn to quit, it becomes a habit.
The measure of who we are is what we do with what we have.
The quality of a person's life is in direct proportion to their commitment to excellence, regardless of their chosen field of endeavor.
The harder you work, the harder it is to surrender.
Winning is habit. Unfortunately, so is losing.
Success demands singleness of purpose.
You don't do things right once in a while. You do things right all the time.
We run to win, not just to be in the race.
Some people try to find things in this game that don't exist but football is only two things - blocking and tackling.
The difference between men is in energy, in the strong will, in the settled purpose and in the invincible determination.
Some of us will do our jobs well and some will not, but we will be judged by only one thing-the result.
Football is a great deal like life in that it teaches that work, sacrifice, perseverance, competitive drive, selflessness and respect for authority is the price that each and every one of us must pay to achieve any goal that is worthwhile.
Some guys play with their heads. That's okay. You've got to be smart to be number one in any business. But more importantly, you've got to play with your heart, with every fiber of your body.
Every time a football player goes to ply his trade, he's got to play from the ground up - from the soles of his feet right up to his head. Every inch of him has to play.
Unless a man believes in himself and makes a total commitment to his career and puts everything he has into it - his mind, his body, his heart - what's life worth to him?
A disciplined person is one who follows the will of the one who gives the orders.
There is something good in men that really yearn for discipline.
They'd better be physically tough when they start pulling on their football pants.
The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing.
Predicting rain doesn't count. Building arks does.
You only have to do a very few things right in your life so long as you don't do too many things wrong.
You do things when the opportunities come along. I've had periods in my life when I've had a bundle of ideas come along, and I've had long dry spells. If I get an idea next week, I'll do something. If not, I won't do a damn thing.
I am certainly not one of those who need to be prodded. In fact, if anything, I am the prod.
No one can guarantee success in war, but only deserve it.
It is no use saying, 'We are doing our best.' You have got to succeed in doing what is necessary.
I never worry about action, but only inaction.
In war as in life, it is often necessary when some cherished scheme has failed, to take up the best alternative open, and if so, it is folly not to work for it with all your might.
Quotes without a listed source are commonly attributed to the speaker. We add sources as we confirm them. How we source quotes
The Weekly Brief
One idea about leadership, every week. Sourced.
A short weekly email with a verified quote, the story behind it, and what it says about leading people. No noise, no hot takes.
Launching soon.