Quotes about Challenge

We can change. People say we can't, but we do when the the stakes or the pain is high enough.

The easiest thing is to react. The second easiest thing is to respond. But the hardest thing is to initiate.

Heretics must believe. More than anyone else in an organization, it's the person who's challenging the status quo, the one who is daring to be great, who is truly present and not just punching a clock who must have confidence in her beliefs. Can you imagine Steve Jobs showing up for the paycheck? It's nice to get paid. It's essential to believe.

It's uncomfortable to stand up in front of strangers. It's uncomfortable to propose an idea that might fail. It's uncomfortable to challenge the status quo. It's uncomfortable to resist the urge to settle. When you identify the discomfort, you've found the place where a leader is needed.

This is an addictive pastime. You take no real risk, touch the world, and it responds. Repeat.

The challenge is to focus on the work, not on the fear that comes from doing the work.

If you're not uncomfortable in your work as a leader, it's almost certain you're not reaching your potential as a leader.

The Dip is the long slog between starting and mastery. A long slog that's actually a shortcut, because it gets you where you want to go faster than any other path.

Commit to the frightening work of flying blind.

If you took organic chemistry in college, you've experienced the Dip. Academia doesn't want too many unmotivated people to attempt medical school, so they set up a screen. Organic chemistry is the killer class, the screen that separates the doctors from the psychologists. If you can't handle organic chemistry, well, then, you can't go to med school.

Deep change is difficult, and worth it

Eye contact, all by itself, is enough to throw your lizard brain into a tizzy. Imagine how scary it must be to set out to do something that will get you noticed, or perhaps even criticized.