I do have high standards. I look at everything I have done and think, 'Why wasn't that better?' Part of my motivation is from crippling self-doubt - I have got to prove myself wrong.
Interpretation
High standards drive self-improvement, despite self-doubt.
Michael Palin expresses how his high standards and critical self-reflection push him to strive for better results. He acknowledges that his motivation often stems from a deep-seated self-doubt, which compels him to prove to himself that he is capable of more than what he has achieved.
In practice
In a motivational speech addressing young professionals: 'I do have high standards...'
I've never had a particular skill. I can't cook, dance, play an instrument, speak a foreign language. This used to worry me. I'd think, when I'm grown up, at 18, then I made it 21, it will be clear what role I should have in life. It never happened. I never signed on the dotted line as the sort of adult my father wanted.
Once the travel bug bites there is no known antidote, and I know that I shall be happily infected until the end of my life
John Hall, my geography teacher at school inspired me to a lifelong interest in geography and a curiosity about our world which has stayed with me through my life. Geography is a living, breathing subject, constantly adapting itself to change. It is dynamic and relevant. For me geography is a great adventure with a purpose.
Despite having seen a fair amount of the world, I still love travelling - I just have an insatiable curiosity and like looking out of a window.
When I read profiles of myself, I sometimes think: 'I have spent my whole life struggling to understand my motivations and impulses, and I've never quite sorted them out.'
Armageddon is not around the corner. This is only what the people of violence want us to believe. The complexity and diversity of the world is the hope for the future.
Some people want it to happen, some wish it would happen, others make it happen.
I do not want to know what you will hope for. I want to know what you will work for. I do not want your sympathy for the needs of humanity. I want your muscle. As the wagon driver said when they came to a long, hard hill: ‘Them that’s going on with us, get out and push. Them that ain’t, get out of the way’.
Everybody wants to be somebody; nobody wants to grow.
When I circumnavigated the globe the outcome didn't really matter, it was about a goal I'd set myself, but sustainability is part of all our lives
It's a strange thing, you have said it thousands of times I am sure...you will never know what you can do until you try. However the sad truth is, that most people never try anything until they know they can do it.
I always worked until I had something done and I always stopped when I knew what was going to happen next. That way I could be sure of going on the next day.
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