John C. Maxwell Quotations | Page 3

If you do the things you need to do when you need to do them, then someday you can do the things you want do when you want to do them.

Failure should be our teacher, not our undertaker

Leadership is developed daily, not in a day.

When you finish reading the book [Today Matters], take the daily dozen and list them in order of how well you do them. For example, the one that I would put at the highest for me is attitude or relationships because I'm really strong at both of those. At the bottom would be health. What I tell people is, "Take one month and work on one of the daily dozen for a whole year." And so it's really a one-year personal growth plan.

Leaders will not experience long-term success unless a lot of people want them to.

There is absolutely no way to increase your income quicker than reading 30 minutes a day

There are two kinds of people in this world: those who want to get things done, and those who don't want to make mistakes.

We cannot accomplish as much as we think we can in one day and we can accomplish more than we think we can in a year. Isn't that true?

To collaborative team members, completing one another is more important than competing with one another.

The whole idea of motivation is a trap, forget motivation, just do it

When you find your spiritual gift, God will give you an opportunity to use it.

I think passion gives you the energy to do what is right, and discipline makes sure you do what is right. So I look at them as kind of cousins maybe.

You build trust with others each time you choose integrity over image, truth over convenience, or honor over personal gain.

Find something you like to do so much that you would gladly do it for nothing; then learn to do it so well that people are happy to pay you for it.

You can't be a smart cookie if you have a crummy attitude.

When I made that statement that the person discovers the secret of their success by their daily agenda, all of a sudden it hit me that if I could teach people to make today count; if I could really teach them what they need to do today to have a good day, that tomorrow would really take care of itself.

No one stands taller in the climb to success than when he bends over to help up someone else.

You are the only person who can label what you do a failure. Failure is subjective.

A person who has a dream knows what he is willing to give up in order to go up.

We over-exaggerate yesterday. We either think it was better or worse than it was - you know, the good old days. We over-estimate tomorrow; we think we can do more than we can - always. And that's why we put off everything till tomorrow.

Character makes trust possible, and trust is the foundation of leadership.

Earn the right to be heard by listening to others. Seek to understand a situation before making judgments about it.

A successful person finds the right place for himself. But a successful leader finds the right place for others. Few things in life are better than seeing people realize their potential. If you invest in people by helping individuals improve themselves, showing them the way to their “right place”, they will never be the same again. And neither will you. It is impossible to help others without helping yourself.

What you give to help others, builds them up enough that they are able to give to others. It's a cycle that can continue on long after you're dead and gone.

Only those who see their dream are able to seize their dream.

Leaders never outgrow the need to change.

The true test of relationships is not only how loyal someone is when we fail, but how thrilled they are when we succeed.

For many many years, I've taught, not only leadership, but I've taught people that they need a personal growth plan. Growth is not an automatic process for you or me or anybody.

Reaching the top is a monumental achievement, but remaining there may be the most spectacular feat of all.

Leaders don't rise to the pinnacle of success without developing the right set of attitudes and habits; they make every day a masterpiece.

Often people fail to start or complete a task because they don't see any connection between what they're doing and what they really want to accomplish in life.

I think passion and discipline are wonderful, complementary things.

Although it's admirable to be ambitious and hard-working, it's more desirable to be smart-working.

Failing forward is the ability to get back up after you've been knocked down, learn from your mistake, and move forward in a better direction.

Never open a can of worms unless you plan to go fishing.

I think that self-discipline has to be accompanied by passion.

We have many years to eat and sleep, but how many years do we have to make a difference in the lives of others? That's the highest calling any of us can have: Living our life so as to intentionally add value to others. But to do this, we have to make ourselves more valuable. We have to keep learning, growing, developing as leaders and taking responsibility for being the change we want to see in the world.

Never underestimate the power of an encouraging word.

Be better tomorrow than you are today.

People say, "John, what's your personal growth?" And ask "How do you grow?" And I tell them. I thought, "Why do I keep telling them, why don't I just write a book on what I call personal growth?" And that's what this [Today Matters] book is.

Your life expands in proportion to your courage. Fear limits a leader.

You have to know who you are to grow to your potential. But you have to grow in order to know who you are.

If you want to attract people, you need to be like people you enjoy being with.

A leader who develops people adds; a leader who develops leaders multiplies.

I had a horrible life habit that I had to change. And I think it's very true, the later we make decisions in life that are important, the harder it is to manage those decisions.

Decision-making takes care of goal-setting, but discipline also takes care of goal-getting. Decisions and discipline can't be separated; one is worthless without the other.

Once a decision is made, you should stop worrying and start working. It’s not always what we know that makes it a good decision. It is what we do to implement and execute it that makes it a good decision.

People buy into the leader before they buy into the vision. Many people who approach the area of vision in leadership have it backwards. They believe that if the cause is good enough, people will automatically buy in and follow. But that's not how leadership works. People don't follow worthy causes; they follow worthy leaders with a cause they can believe in. They buy into the leader first.

If you wait until you feel like doing something, you will likely never accomplish it.

The ultimate step in taking responsibility is making sure our actions line up with our words.

We are so blessed, we get hundreds of emails a day that say, "John, I've worked this plan for one year and I can really see my growth." So what I would love is for readers [of Today Matters] to do that for a year and then email me.

You can't build a relationship with everybody in the room when you don't care about anybody in the room.

Doing the right thing daily, compounds over time.

Growth inside fuels growth outside.

I say, make the decision, and as soon as you make the decision, the rest of your life you just manage that decision on a daily basis.

Success each day should be judged by the seeds sown, not the harvest reaped.

If we are growing we are always going to be outside our comfort zone.

To Stay Focused in Life: You can't know everyone You can't do everything You can't go everywhere We have to pick and choose between good and a little bit better.

A person sometimes can't make a decision unless they know what decision to make.

We feel unhappy and confused with our life when we don't do the focus or calling that God has on our life.

Stay focused instead of getting offended or off track by others.

He that thinketh he leadeth and hath no one following him is only taking a walk.

You cannot manage a decision you haven't made.

Question for God every morning: What is the main event today? What do you want me to focus on today?

Have to sow excellent seeds to have an excellent life. Must start with sowing excellent thoughts.

Most People have a desire to look for the exception instead of the desire to become exceptional.

You cannot overestimate the unimportance of practically everything.

In the book [Today Matters] I talk about successful people make important decisions early in their life, and then they manage those decisions the rest of their life.

Stay focus on what God has assigned me to do. Keep my mind on what I am doing/

A dream worth pursuing is a picture and blueprint of a person's purpose and potential

Don't wait until you feel positive to move forward. Act your way into feeling good.

One is too small a number to achieve greatness.

Real leadership is being the person others will gladly and confidently follow.

Image is what people think we are; integrity is whar we really are.

Your life today is a result of your thinking yesterday. Your life tomorrow will be determined by what you think today.

Tomorrow really will take care of itself if I do the right thing today.

The leader’s Attitude is like a thermostat for the place she works. If her attitude is good, the atmosphere is pleasant, and the environment is easy to work in. But if her attitude is bad, the temperature is insufferable.

The bottom line in managing your emotions is that you should put others – not yourself – first in how you handle and process them. Whether you delay or display your emotions should not be for your own gratification. You should ask yourself, What does the team need? Not, What will make me feel better?

I think we impress people by our success, but I think we impact them by our failures.

People naturally tend toward inertia. That's why self improvement is such a struggle. But that's also why adversity lies at the heart of every success. The process of achievement comes through repeated failures and the constant struggle to climb to a higher level.

Life is a matter of choices, and every choice you make makes you.

Your talk talks and your walk talks, but your walk talks louder than your talk talks.

In the corporate community the key word is respect. In the corporate community you don't get a relationship until they respect you first.

if you don't have peace, it isn't because someone took it from you; you gave it away. You cannot always control what happens to you, but you can control what happens in you.

Good character improves every aspect of a person’s life.

Do not take the agenda that someone else has mapped out for your life.

If I'm halfway to the dream, at best, half of my resources are there. Your resources to fulfill the dream will come during the last step of the dream.

Nothing separates successful people from unsuccessful people more than how they use their time!

To connect with people, be yourself, at your best.

Effective leaders sacrifice much that is good in order to dedicate themselves to what is best

Show me a person who sees himself negatively and I will show you a person who sees others in a negative way.

People are not going to give you a vision, but God can.

Be intentional to add value to every person you meet everyday.

Nobody ever got ready by waiting. You only get ready by starting.

Competence goes beyond words. It's the leader's ability to say it, plan it, and do it in such a way that others know that you know how - and know that they want to follow you.

Leadership has less to do with position than it does with disposition.

The only way a church is going to be relevant is to get out of its comfort zone and connect with unchurched people.

When you are bigger than your purpose you have a career. When your purpose is bigger than you, you have a calling.

The strength of any organization is a direct result of the strength of its leaders.

Nothing speaks like results. If you want to build the kind of credibility that connects with people, then deliver results before you deliver a message. Get out and do what you advise others to do. Communicate from experience.