“A young concert violinist was asked the secret of her success. She replied, “Planned neglect.” Then she explained, “When I was in school, there were many things that demanded my time. When I went to my room after breakfast, I made my bed, straightened the room, dusted the floor, and did whatever else came to my attention. Then I hurried to my violin practice. I found I wasn’t progressing as I thought I should, so I reversed things. Until my practice period was completed, I deliberately neglected everything else. That program of planned neglect, I believe, accounts for my success.”
―
John C. Maxwell
“It's not the position that makes the leader; it's the leader that makes the position. "
―
John C. Maxwell
“Never tell people how to do things. Tell them what to do and they will surprise you with their ingenuity.”
―
John C. Maxwell
“People’s minds are changed through observation and not argument.” People”
―
John C. Maxwell
“Risk must be evaluated not by the fear it generates in you or the probability of your success, but by the value of the goal.”
―
John C. Maxwell
“Write down somewhere in the margins on this page your answer to this question: How have you changed . . . lately? In the last week, let’s say? Or in the last month? The last year? Can you be very specific? Or must your answer be incredibly vague? You say you’re growing. Okay . . . how? “Well,” you say, “In all kinds of ways.” Great! Name one. You see, effective teaching comes only through a changed person. The more you change, the more you become an instrument of change in the lives of others. If you want to become a change agent, you also must change.2 Change the leader—change the organization.”
―
John C. Maxwell
“Successful leaders are like icebergs. When you look at an iceberg, you see only about 10 percent of it, and the rest of it is hidden under the water. When you look at successful leaders, you see only a fraction of their lives. You see the part that looks really good, but there’s usually a lot that remains hidden that’s neither exciting nor glamorous.”
―
John C. Maxwell
“It’s better to have a great team with a weak dream than a great dream with a weak team. Your team must be the size of your dream.”
―
John C. Maxwell
“The best way to become a person that others are drawn to is to develop qualities that we are attracted to in others.”
―
John C. Maxwell
“People of integrity expect to be believed. They also know time will prove them right and are willing to wait.”
―
John C. Maxwell
“People need clear objectives set before them if they are to achieve anything of value.”
―
John C. Maxwell
“The whole idea of motivation is a trap. Forget motivation.
Just do it. Exercise, lose weight, test your blood sugar, or
whatever. Do it without motivation. And then, guess what?
After you start doing the thing, that's when the motivation
comes and makes it easy for you to keep on doing it.”
―
John C. Maxwell
“A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops.”
―
John C. Maxwell
