“If you are interested in success, it’s easy to set your standards in terms of other people’s accomplishments and then let other people measure you by those standards. But the standards you set for yourself are always more important. They should be higher than the standards anyone else would set for you, because in the end you have to live with yourself, and judge yourself, and feel good about yourself. And the best way to do that is to live up to your highest potential. So set your standards high and keep them high, even if you think no one else is looking. Somebody out there will always notice, even if it’s just you.”
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John C. Maxwell
“the entire population of the world—with one minor exception—is composed of others.”
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John C. Maxwell
“Cartoonist Henri Arnold said, “The wise man questions himself, the fool others.”
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John C. Maxwell
“Failure isn't so bad if it doesn't attack the heart. Success is all right if it doesn't go to the head.”
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John C. Maxwell
“Before you attempt to set things right, make sure you see things right.”
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John C. Maxwell
“we often place too much emphasis on making decisions and too little on managing the decisions we've already made.”
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John C. Maxwell
“When I want to really get to know someone, I ask three questions. People’s answers to these give me great insight into someone’s heart. The questions are: What do you dream about? What do you sing about? What do you cry about?”
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John C. Maxwell
“what gets rewarded gets done. If you praise and honor the people who epitomize the values of the team, those values get embraced and upheld by other members of the team. There is no better reinforcement.”
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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
“As Thomas Jefferson proclaimed, “In matters of fashion, swim with the current. In matters of conscience, stand like a rock.”
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John C. Maxwell
“Good ideas must be shared, improved upon with the help of other good thinkers, and then they must be implemented and acted upon.”
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John C. Maxwell
“The bottom line is that indifference is really a form of selfishness.”
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John C. Maxwell
“People tend to become what the most important people in their lives think they will become.”
―
John C. Maxwell
