Reading is one of the easiest, quickest ways to increase your knowledge. You can get the wisdom and experience of an author distilled down into a 150-300 page book.
The author pours his heart and soul into the book. He reflects back on his past experiences. And he then shares those insights to the world.
Photo by Jaredd Craig
Too often, we forget how much hard work goes into the book writing process. We neglect to think about how much the author slaved over writing something people would want to read.
Today, I want to share 18 quotes from various books and authors that have helped shape the way I view the world.
18 Quotes From Amazing Books
1. Start With Your People by Brian Dixon:
You start with your people by showing up for them.
If you want to win your people over, you have to show up for them. You don’t ditch them in the time of trouble or when you don’t feel like being there. You show up and your team will follow.
2. Win The Heart by Mark Miller:
This represents years of my dad’s life and leadership. In some ways, I feel like I have the opportunity to spend time with him again.
The main character’s dad had started piecing together a book. His father never finished it. Yet, looking through the notes that were left, he felt connected to his father. He also realized how important it was to get your ideas out into the world. When you write a book, create a course, or lead others, your life continues after you are gone.
3. Serious Writers Never Quit: They Find The Way by Bryan Hutchinson:
Your thoughts determine your performance and how you feel about your experiences.
Bryan’s book is about writing. However, his words can be applied to every aspect of our lives. As I read this, I began to think about my experiences. The way I thought about the situation at the time is often how I feel about the experience. Your thoughts will impact your feelings.
4. Pink Goldfish: Defy Normal, Exploit Imperfection and Captivate Your Customers by David Rendall and Stan Phelps:
BEING WEIRD MAKES YOU RARE…BEING NORMAL MAKES YOU ORDINARY.
We fight against what makes us unique because we think our uniqueness makes us weird. Well, it does but this doesn’t mean you shouldn’t embrace your weirdness. What makes you weird will make you stand out.
5. Mastering The Game: What Video Games Can Teach Us About Success In Life by Jon Harrison:
To easily dismiss video games in this way is a great mistake and a denial of their true potential.
Jon’s quote here goes far beyond video games. We dismiss so many forms of media that we miss out. I strongly believe we can learn about life, leadership, and relationships through video games, movies, fiction books, and more. Don’t dismiss a learning tool simply because you can’t see its value.
6. Chasing God: One Man’s Miraculous Journey in the Heart of the City by Roger Huang:
The years have taught me that everything is urgent, but not everything can be done in a day. It is time to go home.
With so much on a leader’s plate, it is easy to get caught up in the urgent. Bill needs the financials, Sally needs to talk about a raise, and you have a customer knocking on your door for an expedited shipment. All of these are urgent matters according to the askee. With everything going on, you can’t get to every concern, every urgent matter. Know when to exit the building and go home to the people you have committed your life to.
7. Born to Win: Find Your Success Code by Zig Ziglar:
You cannot control what happens to you, but you can control how you respond to what happens to you.
It’s hard not to get mad when someone wrongs you. It’s hard to let the past go. But we must if we want to move onto a successful life. You cannot control everything that happens to you. YOU can control how you respond. Choose wisely.
8. The Fearless Life: Live Worry-Free No Matter What Happens by Jentezen Franklin:
You’ll never have all the answers, so you might as well leave the risk-free “safe zone.
Not knowing all of the answers is scary. You will feel you don’t have all of the answers. You don’t. You never will. What you do have is the ability to move forward without the answers. This is how you become brave and bold. You move forward with the information you have and fix what you break along the way.
9. The Freaks Shall Inherit the Earth: Entrepreneurship for Weirdos, Misfits, and World Dominators by Chris Brogan:
Complexity serves nothing but our ego. Be able to say what you do in a way that people can understand.
Many leaders want to sound wise and all-knowing. They use industry terms and acronyms the normal person doesn’t understand. They do this to boost their ego. My mindset has been to do what Chris Brogan suggests: Be simple, speak plainly, and help people to understand.
10. Plus or Minus: Keeping Your Life, Faith, and Love Together Through Infertility by Matt Appling and Cheri Appling:
In our search for one-size-fits-all promises, we had neglected to understand that God’s promises are often accompanied by heartache.
What many of you guys may not know is Pam and I have struggled with infertility for quite some time. We’ve been given promises and sought out other promises in the Bible. We’ve tried to apply some of these “one-size-fits-all” promises into our situation. You cannot shoehorn the promises of the Bible into your situation. The promises may be true but they may also be for a specific time, group of people, or a single person. You have to be ready for heartache.
11. Choose Yourself! by James Altucher:
The only truly safe thing you can do is to try over and over again. To go for it, to get rejected, to repeat, to strive, to wish. Without rejection there is no frontier, there is no passion, and there is no magic.
I love what James is saying here. I’ve hidden behind fear and not stepped out from behind the curtain many times. I felt it was safer to not proceed than to try and fail. This was a lie. Learning to fail has provided many more opportunities than staying safe ever did. Get out there, try something, fail, then try again.
12. Leading at a Higher Level, Revised and Expanded Edition: Blanchard on Leadership and Creating High Performing Organizations by Ken Blanchard:
To bring out the best in others, leadership must match the development level of the person being led.
As a leader, you may begin to feel you’ve made it. You’ve arrived. There’s nothing left to learn. You’d be wrong. You’d also be in trouble. Your leadership will suffer if you’re not developing yourself at the same rate (not necessarily the same areas) as those you’re leading. Your team members will see you don’t care about becoming better. They’ll see this as a weakness and their value of you will lower.
13. Run to Overcome: The Inspiring Story of an American Champion’s Long-Distance Quest to Achieve a Big Dream by Meb Keflezighi:
If you’re eager to improve, be careful about making too many changes or changes that are too severe. Be careful about adding mileage and increasing speed. Too much too soon usually leads to injury. Think gradual, not drastic. Think long…
Whenever a new opportunity presents itself or a new technique is discovered, you can easily be sucked into the “right-now” train. This train tells you everything has to change right now. You don’t have to implement change right away. You can pace yourself and the amount of change you present.
14. Wrecked: When a Broken World Slams into Your Comfortable Life by Jeff Goins
Our culture is terrible about encouraging commitment. Everything around us is about ease and convenience. If you wait too long in line, give up. If your spouse upsets you, divorce her. Life is about you, after all, and what you want. Commit to the things that matter to you and when you stop caring, move on—that’s our mentality.
There’s a tremendous amount of power in commitment. When you choose to stick with one thing for an extended period of time, even after it has lost its shine, you begin to experience the power of commitment. Stick with the things for the long run. Don’t quit just because you’re bored, tired, or upset. Commitment matters.
15. Disrupt: Think the Unthinkable to Spark Transformation in Your Business by Luke Williams:
Describe: The next step is to concisely describe the central message you want to communicate. How concise? One sentence.
There’s a beauty to simplicity. By breaking things down to the simplest, most basic ideas, you’re able to communicate the idea to those who haven’t been involved. They’re able to get the gist of it without a long explanation.
16. Moneyball by Michael Lewis:
And then something happened: the more he went out to play first base, the more comfortable he felt there.
Do you feel uncomfortable stepping into a new role? Do you sweat and fret because it’s all so new? Keep going out, keep stepping into the role. The more you play a new position, the more comfortable you will feel.
17. The Flinch by Julien Smith:
You treat mistakes as final, but they almost never are.
We let our fear of finality get in the way of us actually doing something great. We have to get over the fear of failure and realize failure isn’t final. There are going to be more attempts, more tries. Be okay with failure.
18. Be a Motivational Leader: Lasting Leadership Principles by LeRoy Eims:
Listen to criticism.
This quote from LeRoy Eims book is short and to the point. It’s also something every leader needs to get familiar with. We leaders have to be willing to listen to criticism. Someone cared enough to bring a concern to you and you should show them the courtesy of listening to the criticism. By listening to the criticism that matters, you can fix the flaws you miss in yourself.
Please note: I reserve the right to delete comments that are offensive or off-topic.