“Several years ago Dr. Maxwell Maltz’s book, Psycho-Cybernetics, was one of the most popular books on the market. Dr. Maltz was a plastic surgeon who often took disfigured faces and made them more attractive. He observed that in every case, the patient’s self-image rose with his and her physical improvement. In addition to being a successful surgeon, Dr. Maltz was a great psychologist who understood human nature. A wealthy woman was greatly concerned about her son, and she came to Dr. Maltz for advice. She had hoped that the son would assume the family business following her husband’s death, but when the son came of age, he refused to assume that responsibility and chose to enter an entirely different field. She thought Dr. Maltz could help convince the boy that he was making a grave error. The doctor agreed to see him, and he probed into the reasons for the young man’s decision. The son explained, “I would have loved to take over the family business, but you don’t understand the relationship I had with my father. He was a driven man who came up the hard way. His objective was to teach me self-reliance, but he made a drastic mistake. He tried to teach me that principle in a negative way. He thought the best way to teach me self-reliance was to never encourage or praise me. He wanted me to be tough and independent. Every day we played catch in the yard. The object was for me to catch the ball ten straight times. I would catch that ball eight or nine times, but always on that tenth throw he would do everything possible to make me miss it. He would throw it on the ground or over my head but always so I had no chance of catching it.” The young man paused for a moment and then said, “He never let me catch the tenth ball—never! And I guess that’s why I have to get away from his business; I want to catch that tenth ball!”

“Vision isn’t enough—it must be combined with venture. It is not enough to stare up the steps; we must step up the stairs.”

“You will never change your life until you change something you do daily.”

“If we despise the position we have, it may be because of what I call “destination disease,” which can also be called the greener grass syndrome. If we focus on being some other place because we think it’s better, then we will neither enjoy where we are nor do what we must to succeed.

“The reason most major goals are not achieved is that we spend our time doing second things first.”

“Management is the process of assuring that the program and objectives of the organization are implemented. Leadership, on the other hand, has to do with casting vision and motivating people.”

“As long as you are hanging around amateurs, you will think like an amateur, and you will not improve your skills.”

“only secure leaders exhibit servanthood.”

“Any married man should forget his mistakes—there’s no use in two people remembering the same thing.”

“EXAMPLES OF THE PARETO PRINCIPLE: TIME 20 percent of our time produces 80 percent of the results. COUNSELING 20 percent of the people take up 80 percent of our time. PRODUCTS 20 percent of the products bring in 80 percent of the profit. READING 20 percent of the book contains 80 percent of the content. JOB 20 percent of our work gives us 80 percent of our satisfaction. SPEECH 20 percent of the presentation produces 80 percent of the impact. DONATIONS 20 percent of the people will give 80 percent of the money. LEADERSHIP 20 percent of the people will make 80 percent of the decisions. PICNIC 20 percent of the people will eat 80 percent of the food!” 

“Do not take the agenda that someone else has mapped out for your life.”

“capítulo quinze A lei da vitória Líderes descobrem uma forma de a equipe vencer Você já pensou sobre o que diferencia os líderes que vencem dos que sofrem derrotas? O que é preciso para tornar uma equipe vencedora? É difícil identificar”

“People like people who like them.”

“If a man hasn’t discovered something he will die for, he isn’t fit to live.” —Martin Luther King Jr.”

“The difference between average people and achieving people is their perception of and response to failure.”