Quotes from John Maxwell

Stories tell us who we are. They… Inspire us. Connect with us. Animate our reasoning process. Give us permission to act. Fire our emotions. Give us pictures of who we aspire to be. Stories are us.

Begin your thirty-day trial of expecting the best of everything.

The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality." That can happen only when the leader is willing to hear and face the truth.

As a communicator, I spend a good portion of my days sharing stories. People don't care a lot about cold facts. They don't want to look at pie charts. They want excitement. They like drama. They care about pictures. They want to laugh. They want to see and feel what happened. Statistics don't inspire people to do great things. Stories do!

I believe that no matter what "plot" each of our stories may follow, deep down we all want one thing. We want our lives to matter. We want our stories to be of significance.

To put significance in our stories, we must also take action. Being passive may feel safe. If you do nothing, nothing can go wrong. But while inaction cannot fail, it cannot succeed either. We can wait, and hope, and wish, but if we do, we miss the stories our lives could be.

A victim is a person who suffers a loss because of the actions of others.

Successful people make right decisions early and manage those decisions daily.

Change begins on the inside.

What do I really want? What will it cost? Am I willing to pay the price? When should I start paying the price?

What's the best solution to guard against becoming a complainer? Cultivate gratitude. It is by far the most effective antidote to a negative attitude and a complaining spirit.

Once you find that idea, start moving forward and act decisively. U.S. admiral William Halsey observed, "All problems become smaller if you don't dodge them, but confront them. Touch a thistle timidly, and it pricks you; grasp it boldly, and its spines crumble.