20 thoughts from Self-improvement 101 by John C Maxwell

20 thoughts from Self-improvement 101—John C Maxwell

Ever read a book full of good vibes and you couldn’t keep it all in? So much juice, you gotta spill? Lol

That’s how I felt after reading this book here. I shared about it on my #tgifnreadabook campaign via IG and FB and there was still too much to write about.

John Maxwell gets me every time!

So, I decided to share some notes I made as I read, with y’all.

If you’ve read the book before, I'd like to know your views?

Enjoy!

1.    The ironic thing is that change is inevitable. Everybody has to deal with it. On the other hand, growth is optional. You can choose to grow or fight it. But know this: people unwilling to grow will never reach their potential.

2.    There is no sure way to make other people in your environment improve. The only thing you truly have the ability to improve is yourself.

3.    Good leaders help others find their strength zones and empower them to work in them. In fact, the best leaders are characterized by the ability to recognize the special abilities and limitations of others, and the capacity to fit their people into the jobs where they will do best.

4.    People naturally tend toward inertia. That’s why self-improvement is such a struggle.

5.    Many unsuccessful people have what I call “someday sickness” because they could do some things to bring value to their lives right now. But they put them off and say they’ll do them someday. Their motto is “One of these days.” But as the old English proverb says, “One of these days means none of these days.” The best way to ensure success is to start growing today.

6.    Oliver Wendell Holmes offered this insight: “Man’s mind, once stretched by new ideas, never regains its original dimensions.”

7.    Retired General Electric CEO Jack Welch said, “Before you are a leader, success is all about growing yourself. When you become a leader, success is all about growing others.”

And the time to start is today.

8.    Frank A. Clark stated, “Most of us must learn a great deal every day in order to keep ahead of what we forget.” Learning something every day is the essence of being a continual learner. You must keep improving yourself, not only acquiring knowledge to replace what you forget or what’s out-of-date, but building on what you learned yesterday.

9.    Warren Bennis and Bert Nanus, authors of Leaders: The Strategies for Taking Charge, said, “It is the capacity to develop and improve their skills that distinguishes leaders from followers.”

10. An investment in your growth is an investment in your ability, your adaptability, and your promotability. No matter how much it costs you to keep growing and learning, the cost of doing nothing is greater.

11. If you desire to keep growing, you cannot sit back in a comfort zone. You need to make learning your goal. Do that and you will never run out of gas mentally, and your motivation will be strong. And don’t worry about having people to teach you. Greek philosopher Plato said, “When the pupil is ready, the teacher will appear.”

12. German philosopher Goethe advised, “Never let a day pass without looking at some perfect work of art, hearing some great piece of music and reading, in part, some great book.”

13. It’s truly remarkable how much a person has to learn before he realizes how little he knows.

14. Every stage of life presents lessons to be learned. We can choose to be teachable and continue to learn them, or we can be closed-minded and stop growing. The decision is ours.

15. A trade-off of growth is that it is sometimes uncomfortable. It requires discipline. It takes time that you could spend on leisure activities. It costs money to buy materials. You have to face constant change and take risks. And sometimes it’s just plain lonely. That’s why many people stop growing when the price gets high. But growth is always worth the price you pay because the alternative is a limited life with unfulfilled potential. Success takes effort, and you can’t make the journey if you’re sitting back waiting for life to come along and improve you. President Theodore Roosevelt boldly stated, “There has not yet been a person in our history who led a life of ease whose name is worth remembering.”

16. If what you are doing does not in some way contribute to what you or others are doing in life, then question its value and be prepared to make changes.

17. Rick Warren says, “The greatest detriment to tomorrow’s success is today’s success.”

18. Fred Smith, passed on the following thoughts to me: Something in human nature tempts us to stay where we’re comfortable. We try to find a plateau, a resting place, where we have comfortable stress and adequate finances. Where we have comfortable associations with people, without the intimidation of meeting new people and entering strange situations. Of course, all of us need to plateau for a time. We climb and then plateau for assimilation. But once we’ve assimilated what we’ve learned, we climb again. It’s unfortunate when we’ve done our last climb. When we have made our last climb, we are old, whether forty or eighty.

19. TRADE ACCEPTABLE FOR EXCELLENT

This one is so obvious that it almost goes without saying. People do not pay for average. They are not impressed by anything that is merely acceptable. Leaders cannot rise up on the wings of mediocrity. If something is worth doing, give it your best—or don’t do it at all.

20. For everything you gain, you have to give up something.

Any one strike you nicely?

NB: These numbered words were lifted exactly, from the book. References are made to the sources; where no name is mentioned, quote John Maxwell.

Here's it! I hope you grab a thing or more. got any favorites? which number?

I feel fulfilled sharing these with you, thanks for stopping by, Have a beautiful week.

I love you!

Remember, you are light. Shine!