“The man who never makes a mistake always takes orders from one who does.”   – Daisy Bates

Commentary: If you are terrified of failing or making mistakes, then you simply will not have the fortitude to do anything beyond mediocre. Great people tend to fail - a LOT - but when they succeed, they win big because they are willing to risk big. Great people see “failures” as “learning opportunities”.

When starting a business, it’s important to realize the value of mistakes. The key is learning from your failures and pressing forward.

“Give me a stock clerk with a goal and I’ll give you a man who will make history. Give me a man with no goals and I’ll give you a stock clerk.”

– J.C. Penney, businessman

“Nothing can add more power to your life than concentrating all of your energies on a limited set of targets.”  - Nido Qubein

Commentary:

If you focus on too many targets at once, you tend to not put enough energy in each to make any real progress. Instead, take a maximum of 5 (probably 1-3 is better) and brutally concentrate on them. This applies to goals, to-do lists, relationships, business, etc.

“Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.”

- Abraham Lincoln

Commentary: So many people simply jump into something without any kind of plan of attack. Literally billions of man-hours are wasted every year by those who simply do the same thing over and over because “that’s how we do things around here” or no one has bothered to re-think anything they do on a daily basis by “sharpening the axe”. I would imagine there are millions of people out there chopping at a tree with a dull axe.

“Sharpen the axe” by asking:

• Can this be done easier?
• Why do we do it like this in the first place?
• If I simply prepare a little more, can I make this task easier?
• What is the easiest way to fix this problem?

“My dreams are worthless, my plans are dust, my goals are impossible. All are of no value unless they are followed by action.”  - Og Mandino

Commentary: Most people don’t have any plans or goals whatsoever, they simply glide through life hoping others or fate will make their lives great. Another form of this is actually having goals and dreams but doing nothing about them, which is probably psychologically more disheartening than having no goals at all as you’ve taken the time to make goals, you just haven’t done anything to accomplish them.

Start that business, call that girl, sign up for that class, take action today!

“There is hardly anything in the world that some man can’t make a little worse and sell a little cheaper, and the people who consider price only are this man’s lawful prey.” – John Ruskin

Commentary: This quote is fantastic as it clearly shows the problem with simply having lower prices as the main feature of your product or service. Someone can always make what you sell worse, charge less and basically make your business life miserable. Make a better product that your clients love and you’ll never have to worry about this problem.