Words That Inspired Me This Week

Over the past week, the following words of wisdom has inspired me to greater financial, personal, and professional success. 
To give perspective, I have added my own commentary. Hopefully, they will inspire you as well.      
  • Henry Ford on Financial Independence
“If money is your hope for independence you will never have it. The only real security that a man will have in this world is a reserve of knowledge, experience, and ability.” – Henry Ford

If you work hard to build your knowledge, your experience, and your ability, you’re also building your independence.

  • Jeff Bezos on Reputation
“A brand for a company is like a reputation for a person. You earn reputation by trying to do hard things well.” – Jeff Bezos

Reputation isn’t about impressing others. All you have to do is take on challenges and do your best at them. Do that often enough, and not only do you build your own skills, you build a pretty powerful reputation for yourself, too.

  • Henry David Thoreau on Riches and Wants
“We make ourselves rich by making our wants few.” – Henry David Thoreau

It’s not about deprivation. It’s about simply lacking the want. The secret to financial success isn’t about doing without. It’s about simply not wanting it to begin with.

  • Joyce Lock on Strengths and Weaknesses
“Build upon strengths, and weaknesses will gradually take care of themselves.” – Joyce Lock

I’ve become a big believer in the idea that you should work to make your strengths as strong as possible so that they overshadow your weaknesses and eventually overtake them. Lock explains this idea very eloquently. Keep this in mind as you think about what to improve in yourself.

  • Churchill on putting Worry to Work
“Let our advance worrying become advance thinking and planning.” – Winston Churchill

Worrying does not accomplish anything. When you find yourself worrying, instead ask yourself what you can do about it.

  • Cecile Springer on Challenging Yourself

“Above all, challenge yourself. You may well surprise yourself at what strengths you have, what you can accomplish.” – Cecile Springer

If you don’t challenge yourself, you’ll never really get anywhere.  I have come to not like situations that come easy to me. I’d rather have a situation where I fail over and over, but sense that I’m improving a little over time. 

  • Jim Carrey on Visualization

“I would visualize things coming to me. It would just make me feel better. Visualization works if you work hard. That’s the thing. You can’t just visualize and go eat a sandwich.” – Jim Carrey

 I don’t believe in The Secret. I don’t believe that if you just visualize something, it will come true. This is much closer to what I believe. If I think about good outcomes for my hard work, I feel better, but I know it won’t happen if I don’t put in the hard work.

  • P. T. Barnum on Money’s Value
“Money is good for nothing unless you know the value of it by experience.” – P. T. Barnum

 All money does is let you align your life with the things that you value. If you are not doing that, then what value does it have?What good is money if you don’t have anything that you otherwise value?

  • Andre Maurois on Happiness and the Past
“The first recipe of happiness – avoid too lengthy meditations on the past.” – Andre Maurois

Today is a much brighter place than yesterday. Whenever I think about the past too much, I tend to feel melancholy. Similarly, whenever I feel melancholy, I tend to dwell on the past.

  • Vincent van Gogh on Things Great and Small
“Great things are done by a series of small things brought together.” – Vincent Van Gogh

Whenever something seems overwhelmingly big, it’s worth keeping in mind that even the greatest things are made up of lots of little pieces.   It’s the willingness to keep focused and keep bringing all of those little manageable things together that makes great things.

  • Nolan Bushnell on Doing Something
“The critical ingredient is getting off your butt and doing something. It’s as simple as that. A lot of people have ideas, but there are few who decide to do something about them now. Not tomorrow. Not next week. But today. The true entrepreneur is a doer, not a dreamer.” – Nolan Bushnell

Nolan Bushnell founded Atari and played a huge role in jump-starting the video game industry in the United States.   We all have dreams. The person that succeeds is the person that actually does something towards those dreams.