Quotes from "Do It Today"

Here are some quotes from one of my favorite bloggers who generally writes on productivity: Darius Foroux. He has recently published a book called "Do It Today". The book is very motivating in terms of reminding some small steps which can be taken easily and bring great results by time. Of course, some of these quotes belong to important thinkers but it is nice to find them in one book together within a harmony:

One of my personal rules is this: Never complain. Another one is: Read and exercise every day. And: Close the day every evening by setting your next day’s priorities.

At the end of each day, you should play back the tapes of your performance. The results should either applaud you or prod you.

"Always connected,” isn’t a good thing for your focus and productivity.  It’s the same as going to the gym. Or having dinner. Or having a romantic evening with your partner. You don’t do those things for 24 hours a day.

Procrastination can be a sign that you’re doing something that’s not meaningful. Don’t let procrastination become a habit. After all, the worst procrastination is putting off your dreams and goals. If you’re waiting for the right time, Benjamin Franklin says: “You may delay, but time will not.” If you don’t listen to me, listen to him.

People who make phones and apps are smarter than us. Their only goal is to get you hooked. I think it’s good to realize that. That’s why I often try to remind myself not to depend on smartphones too much because my attention matters more than productivity. It’s time to reclaim your attention. And thereby, reclaim your life. It’s worth it.

“Fools learn from experience. I prefer to learn from the experience of others.”

The further I advance in age, the more I find work necessary. It becomes in the long run the greatest of pleasures, and takes the place of the illusions of life.”

Rest reduces stress. Improves creativity and productivity.

"So, to prevent fatigue and worry, the first rule is: Rest often. Rest before you get tired.”

“People often say that motivation doesn’t last. Well, neither does bathing — that’s why we recommend it daily.”

"A man who chases two rabbits catches neither.”

We say: “OMG! I don’t know what I want!” And then we have a full-on panic attack. Be honest — it happens to all of us. Especially, when you see that your old college friend just got married. Or that your co-worker, who started at the same time as you, just got promoted. It’s at those moments of weakness when we shine a spotlight on our own uncertainty about life. One of the biggest thinking errors that I’ve made was that I thought I needed to know what I exactly wanted to do with my life. The truth is that no one knows what they truly want.

So it’s not important to know exactly what you want to do with your life. People change. Economies change. So, it’s not even realistic to boldly claim “I know what I want!” The only thing every person needs is a sense of direction. A vision of where you’d like to go. Look, you don’t need to know your exact destination. You often read about people who say they always knew what they wanted. But that’s just a small portion of the population. I’ve personally never met someone like that. Most of us don’t have that conviction from day one. It grows over time.

Your first priority is to identify what you want and then make sure you take the path that’s going to give you that. There’s nothing sadder than to see someone get to be seventy-five or eighty years old and look back regrettably because they pursued the wrong target.

Very little is needed to make a happy life; it is all within yourself, in your way of thinking.

Stay close to yourself—there’s no point in pushing yourself so badly that your life becomes miserable. In the end, we all need comfort: It’s one of our basic needs as human beings. But we also need growth. So whatever you do, don’t stay in your comfort zone for too long. Try to keep moving forward every day: Even if it’s just a tiny step. No magic.

Belief will help create the fact.

You don’t get to the highest levels of the sport without having the basics in order.

It’s the repetition of affirmations that leads to belief. And once that belief becomes a deep conviction, things begin to happen.” When you repeat the basics, you don’t only become great; you will stay great. It’s a challenge that all high performers face. I repeat the basics of many things in my life: Fitness, philosophy, kindness, business, writing.

In order to really find happiness, you need to continue looking for opportunities that you believe are meaningful, in which you will be able to learn new things, to succeed, and be given more and more responsibility to shoulder.

Think of yourself as dead. You have lived your life. Now take what’s left and live properly.

Where I’d had huge success, I had narrowed my concentration to one thing, and where my success varied, my focus had too.” Are you working on a lot of things? Is your attention not on one thing? There’s a big chance that you will not achieve the best possible results. Or worse: You might fail if you try to achieve many things at the same time The reason is simple: Most of us believe that success happens all at once. Real life is different. Keller and Papasan put it well: “Success is sequential, not simultaneous.”