We deify willpower and self-control - and mock its absence. People who achieve through remarkable willpower are 'strong' and 'heroic.' People who need help or structure are 'weak.' This is crazy - because few of us can accurately gauge or predict our willpower.
Interpretation
This quote critiques society's view on willpower, suggesting that reliance on it is often misleading and unfair.
Marshall Goldsmith highlights the societal tendency to idolize willpower and self-control while stigmatizing those who struggle with these traits. He argues that such views are irrational, as they ignore the inherent unpredictability of human willpower and the complex factors that contribute to personal achievement. Goldsmith urges a more compassionate understanding of human behavior rather than a binary judgment of strength or weakness.
In practice
In a motivational speech about personal growth.
Active questions are the alternative to passive questions. There is a huge difference between, 'Do you have clear goals?' and 'Did you do your best to set clear goals for yourself?' The former is trying to determine the employee's state of mind; the latter challenges the employee to describe or defend a course of action.
Treat every piece of advice as a gift or a compliment and simply say, “Thank you.
The only thing I don't think people don't understand about good leaders is that they're both good and lucky. A lot of it is timing.
Life is short. Do whatever you can to help people - not for status, but because the 95-year-old you will be proud if you did help people and disappointed if you didn't.
If we become aware of what's happening before we act, behaviour becomes a function of choice rather than a result of an impulse or trigger. You begin to control your world more as opposed to the outside world controlling you.
A leader who is self-aware enough to know that he or she is not adept at everything is one who has taken the first step toward being a great leader.
I am not like a pebble on the beach - a grain of sand on the seashore or just one of millions of human beings past, present and future. No, I am a unique human being loved by God as if I were an only child - the only fruit of his creative powers.
I am satisfied that when the Almighty wants me to do or not do any particular thing, He finds a way of letting me know it
Against eternal injustice, man must assert justice, and to protest against the universe of grief, he must create happiness.
We can forgive [the Arabs] for killing our children. We cannot forgive them for forcing us to kill their children. We will only have peace with [the Arabs] when they love their children more than they hate us...
Christ is the Word of God in person. The Bible is the Word of God in writing. Both are the Word of God in the words of men. Both have a human nature and a divine nature.
-I am not sure whether he's sane. -If there's any doubt about the matter, he is.
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