Quotes about Commitment

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.

You get to keep making art as long as you are willing to make the choices that let you make your art.

Here's a quote from ultramarathoner Dick Collins: Decide before the race the conditions that will cause you to stop and drop out. You don't want to be out there saying, "Well gee, my leg hurts, I'm a little dehydrated, I'm sleepy, I'm tired, and it's cold and windy." And talk yourself into quitting. If you are making a decision based on how you feel at that moment, you will probably make the wrong decision.

Everything gets easier when you walk away from the hubris of everyone. Your work is not for everyone. It's only for those who signed up for the journey.

The next time you catch yourself being average when you feel like quitting, realize that you have only two good choices: Quit or be exceptional. Average is for losers.

You really can't try to do everything, especially if you intend to be the best in the world.

The market wants to see you persist. It demands a signal from you that you're serious, powerful, accepted, and safe.

Stick with the Dips that are likely to pan out, and quit the Cul-de-Sacs to focus your resources. That's it.

When you lead without compensation, when you sacrifice without guarantees, when you take risks because you believe, then you are demonstrating your faith in the tribe and its mission.

If religion comprises rules you follow, faith is demonstrated by the actions you take.

real success goes to those who obsess. The focus that leads you through the Dip to the other side is rewarded by a marketplace in search of the best in the world. A woodpecker can tap twenty times on a thousand trees and get nowhere, but stay busy. Or he can tap twenty-thousand times on one tree and get dinner.

Tennis has a Dip. The difference between a mediocre club player and a regional champion isn't inborn talent—it's the ability to push through the moments where it's just easier to quit. Politics has a Dip as well—it's way more fun to win an election than to lose one, and the entire process is built around many people starting while most people quit.