They’re the quips that launched a thousand memes, but the real power in these inspirational quotes comes from the context in which those who first uttered them were speaking.
Uncover the real life stories and sentiments behind these famous motivational quips, and discover how you, like their originators, can put them to action on the path to your own hopes and dreams.
Do you have a favourite quote or mantra that inspires you in your career? Let us know in the comments.
“You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.”
The message here is clear: you have to take chances; strive for your goals without fear of failing, in order to have any hope of attaining them. This principle applies equally well to all walks of life, from academia to entrepreneurship, climbing the corporate ladder to making a name for yourself in the business world. But when it was first uttered in January 1983 – by Canadian sports star Wayne Gretzky – it was in relation to sporting success.
When challenged by Bob McKenzie, the then Editor of Hockey News on the volume of shots he’d taken and missed during the current ice hockey season, these are the words the professional player shot back, followed by: “Even though there is only a 1-5% probability of scoring.” In 1999, Gretzky ended a 21-year career with his nickname ‘The Great One’ well and truly intact and was immediately inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame – an honour that normally required a player to have not played professionally for at least three years.
Further reading:
Willpower: 3 principles to help you achieve your goals
Turning your biggest fear into a success story
Don’t let fear of failure get in the way – 5 steps to overcoming limiting beliefs
“Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up.”
Children instinctively love to draw and indulge in make believe. But as you age, you might find yourself defining your creativity in terms of how well you can paint or play a musical instrument, rather than your willingness to engage in play. In doing so you limit your potential to spark new ideas and find solutions to everyday problems. The speaker behind this sentiment knew all about childhood creativity – his first word was “pencil” and he went to art school aged 12. But despite going on to become one of the most influential artists of all time, Pablo Picasso also experienced bouts of creative block, most notably following the breakup of his marriage and a period of negative press, during which, his poet friend Sabartés recalled, “He no longer went to his studio, the mere sight of his paintings would exasperate him.” What brought Picasso back to his creativity was his willingness to face the blank page even in the absence of the muse. “Ideas are simply starting points,” he told the famed Hungarian photographer Brassaï. “To know what you’re going to draw, you have to begin drawing.”
Further reading:
The da Vinci career code: exercises for creative geniuses
4 ways to battle through when you’re not feeling creative
8 golden rules for running brilliant brainstorms
“It is never too late to be what you might have been.”
Too late for a career change? To start penning that novel? To launch that business your 19-year-old self dreamed off? The words of English novelist George Eliot serve to remind that success can and will be achieved at any age, if you are willing to put in the work. This sentiment is seen in the Middlemarch author’s own journey to success.
Born Mary Ann Evans in 1819 at a time when women were expected to cultivate the skills required for a marriage and little else, she lived at home until her father’s death, leaving in her early 30s in order to pursue her literary ambitions. She became assistant editor of a high profile journal before she left and began to write, publishing her first novel under the pen name George Eliot and to great acclaim in her early 40s. She challenged both the notion that only male authors belonged in the literary canon (though there were female writers at the time, they tended to write soppy romance novels; Evans’s decision to write under the male pseudonym was intended as a wakeup call to society), and that success belonged to the young. At the age of 38, she wrote: “My life has deepened unspeakably during the last year; I feel a greater capacity for moral and intellectual enjoyment; a more acute sense of my deficiencies in the past; a more solemn desire to be faithful to coming duties than I remember at any former period of my life. And my happiness has deepened too.”
Further reading:
Karen Betts: “If you can dream it, you can do it!”
Realising your career dreams: 4 stumbling blocks you can overcome
Quit talking, start doing: a guide to making your dreams a reality
