“Several years ago Dr. Maxwell Maltz’s book, Psycho-Cybernetics, was one of the most popular books on the market. Dr. Maltz was a plastic surgeon who often took disfigured faces and made them more attractive. He observed that in every case, the patient’s self-image rose with his and her physical improvement. In addition to being a successful surgeon, Dr. Maltz was a great psychologist who understood human nature. A wealthy woman was greatly concerned about her son, and she came to Dr. Maltz for advice. She had hoped that the son would assume the family business following her husband’s death, but when the son came of age, he refused to assume that responsibility and chose to enter an entirely different field. She thought Dr. Maltz could help convince the boy that he was making a grave error. The doctor agreed to see him, and he probed into the reasons for the young man’s decision. The son explained, “I would have loved to take over the family business, but you don’t understand the relationship I had with my father. He was a driven man who came up the hard way. His objective was to teach me self-reliance, but he made a drastic mistake. He tried to teach me that principle in a negative way. He thought the best way to teach me self-reliance was to never encourage or praise me. He wanted me to be tough and independent. Every day we played catch in the yard. The object was for me to catch the ball ten straight times. I would catch that ball eight or nine times, but always on that tenth throw he would do everything possible to make me miss it. He would throw it on the ground or over my head but always so I had no chance of catching it.” The young man paused for a moment and then said, “He never let me catch the tenth ball—never! And I guess that’s why I have to get away from his business; I want to catch that tenth ball!”

“En lugar de compararse con otros, enfóquese en ser lo mejor que pueda ser.”

“Life is now in session. Are you present?”

“If a team is to accomplish its goals, it has to know where it stands.”

“But what price do you put on a great memory?”

“We cannot become what we need by remaining what we are.”

“Pocas cosas ayudan a una persona como el ánimo. George M. Adams lo llamó «el oxígeno del alma».”

“Any married man should forget his mistakes—there’s no use in two people remembering the same thing.”

“No, none of these things are the key. When it comes right down to it, I know of only one factor that separates those who consistently shine from those who don't: The difference between average people and achieving people is their perception of and response to failure. Nothing else has the same kind of impact on people's ability to achieve and to accomplish whatever their minds and hearts desire.”

“Every person has a longing to be significant, to make a contribution, to be a part of something noble and purposeful.”

“One of the quickest ways to gain credibility with an individual, a group, or an audience is to borrow it from someone who already has credibility with them.”

“Am I Making Myself Clear?”

“Adapt to them—don’t expect them to adapt to you.”

“To succeed, you have to be open to problems. You have to be open to failure. And as you go up the ladder, you gain the right to get more problems.”

“Advice is what we ask for when we already knew the answer but wish we didn't.”