“Recently I took my daughter Elizabeth out to a restaurant for lunch. The waitress, whose job it was to take care of people, made us feel that we were really inconveniencing her. She was grumpy, negative, and unhelpful. All of her customers were aware of the fact that she was having a bad day. Elizabeth looked up at me and said, “Dad, she’s a grump, isn’t she?” I could only agree with a look of disdain. Halfway through our experience I tried to change this woman’s negative attitude. Pulling out a $10 bill, I said, “Could you do me a favor? I’d like some change for this $10 bill because I want to give you a good tip today.” She looked at me, did a double take, and then ran to the cash register. After changing the money, she spent the next fifteen minutes hovering over us. I thanked her for her service, told her how important and helpful she was, and left a good tip. As we left, Elizabeth said, “Daddy, did you see how that lady changed?” Seizing this golden opportunity, I said, “Elizabeth, if you want people to act right toward you, you act right toward them. And many times you’ll change them.”
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John C. Maxwell
“If the only tool you have is a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail.”
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John C. Maxwell
“Real leaders have something to give, and they give it freely. Anthony DeMello saw a starving child shivering in the cold. Angrily he lifted his eyes to heaven and said, “God, how could you allow such suffering? Why don’t you do something?” There was a long silence and then DeMello was startled when he heard the voice of God answer him, “I certainly have done something—I made you.”
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John C. Maxwell
“Most people who don’t feel content with their lives don’t know the reason why. Often they suspect that circumstances or other people are to blame. Even honest and self-aware individuals who know the problem lies inside of them still may have trouble getting to the root of the issue. They ask themselves, “Why am I this way?” They desire to change, but they don’t do anything differently so that they can change. They merely hope things will turn out all right—and they become frustrated when they don’t. Recognize that only when you make the right changes to your thinking do other things begin to turn out right in your life.”
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John C. Maxwell
“You can’t take the team to the next level when you haven’t mastered the skills it takes to succeed on a personal level. It just doesn’t happen.”
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John C. Maxwell
“People who do not believe in themselves have trouble believing in others.”
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John C. Maxwell
“I strongly encourage you to find a place to think and to discipline yourself to pause and use it, because it has the potential to change your life. It can help you to figure out what’s really important and what isn’t. As writer and Catholic priest Henri J. M. Nouwen observed, “When you are able to create a lonely place in the middle of your actions and concerns, your successes and failures slowly can lose some of their power over you.”
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John C. Maxwell
“you can act your way into feeling long before you can feel your way into action. If you wait until you feel like doing something, you will likely never accomplish it.”
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John C. Maxwell
“One of my favorite stories is about a newly hired traveling salesman who sent his first sales report to the home office. It stunned the brass in the sales department because it was obvious that the new salesman was ignorant! This is what he wrote: “I seen this outfit which they ain’t never bot a dim’s worth of nothin from us and I sole them some goods. I’m now goin to Chicawgo.” Before the man could be given the heave-ho by the sales manager, along came this letter from Chicago: “I cum hear and sole them haff a millyon.” Fearful if he did, and afraid if he didn’t fire the ignorant salesman, the sales manager dumped the problem in the lap of the president. The following morning, the ivory-towered sales department members were amazed to see posted on the bulletin board above the two letters written by the ignorant salesman this memo from the president: “We ben spendin two much time trying to spel instead of trying to sel. Let’s watch those sails. I want everybody should read these letters from Gooch who is on the rode doin a grate job for us and you should go out and do like he done.”
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John C. Maxwell
“Ninety percent of all those who fail are not actually defeated. They simply quit.”
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John C. Maxwell
“There is no use whatever trying to help people who do not help themselves. You cannot push anyone up a ladder unless he is willing to climb himself.” —Andrew Carnegie”
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John C. Maxwell
“If you want to win over another person, first win his heart, and the rest of him is likely to follow.”
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John C. Maxwell
“You cannot grow unless you are willing to change. And you will not change unless you change something you do every day.”
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John C. Maxwell
