…and when I say “random”, I mean it! I listen to so many podcasts while I’m running and driving, and there are often little quotes I want to remember. I’ll stop running, or wait till I’m at a red light if I’m driving, and put them in my notes app. Since I’m in a hurry, I don’t bother to include the source- surely I won’t forget, right?
Hahahahaha. I have quotes in my phone going back years and no idea where they’re from. So here are five of them…
Some people would take your problems and call them blassings.
Follow a routine, not your mood.
I don’t know where I’m going, but I know how to get there. — (this is a weird one! I think they meant, you need to know the steps you’re taking to achieve your goal, even if the outcome isn’t certain).
Most of my problems are created by myself.
You don’t lack motivation, you lack a better reason.
Do you have a favorite recent quote or saying?
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28 Responses
My favorite quote, mantra, affirmation is:
I don’t have to, I get to! 🙂
Yes, that is a good one! I use it too.
Hmm, I can only think of a children’s book that I read to my tots. The train saying, “I think I can, I think I can, I think I can.”
Oh and then this one – works for us as foster/adoptive parents: “fake it till you make it.” A friend who adopted her foster kids and has bio kids too, told Coach and I that once. True words.
Some of these quotes, regardless of the sources, are good.
Yep, these are both good! Fake it till you make it is a classic for a reason.
I like the last one. You don’t lack motivation, you lack a better reason.
I find many and including myself wondering why wen don’t do something that supposedly good for us and that we want it. usually it’s because we don’t have a good and sustainable reason to go through it.
Yes, it’s definitely helpful to reframe it this way- especially for those of us who identify as “questioners.” I need a really good reason to do something.
I love a good quote! My favorite is ‘worrying does not empty tomorrow of its sorrows; it empties today of its joy.’ I try to keep that one in mind because I am a terrible worrier and almost feel like by worrying about something, it won’t happen or I will handle it better. But then I just extend the misery!
Yes I know- we somehow feel like we can control the situation by worrying about it in advance. But it doesn’t actually work that way!
I have quotes/mantras that I use to keep myself going during long runs or races! 1) Forward is a pace: it doesn’t matter how slow or fast I’m going, all that matters is I keep moving. 2) I chose to do this: nobody is making me do this race and I paid good money to do it so as long as I’m physically able to, I should keep going!
I have some more that are specifically running related- I’ll do another post on those one of these days. Yours are both good.
I LOVE quotes.
My favourite of your list is: “Some people would take your problems and call them blessings.” So true. I think perspective impacts so much in life. That reminds me of Elizabeth Craft’s mantra: Don’t make a gift a burden.
One of my favourite things to reflect on is: “What would this look like if it were easy.” I feel like certain seasons of life require me to lean into that and the last week it’s been extra helpful!
Yep- perspective is key! And I’ve heard you say yours before- “What would this look like if it were easy?” I love it.
I like “Follow your routine, not your mood.” I think my predisposition to do this is one of my better qualities. Having said that, I do try to honor how I’m feeling in some ways. Like if I have a strengh class on the docket, but am more in the mood for the elliptical (with blog writing/reading/commenting) I will let myself switch that up and tack on CG’s dead bug workout or an arms and shoulders burner afterward. Sometimes I even push back a workout. But I ALWAYS workout five times a week, so I can only push back one day! You already know my favorite sayings, as I just posted about them!
Yes- if I follow my mood, things usually don’t go well. Speaking of the CG deadbugs, I moved up to heavier dumbbells and… OUCH. That was hard!
Oh this is good. I have been collecting quotes for years. I grew up with a whole wall of quotes my parents collected and I spend hours reading them.
A favorite? “Stay hungry. Stay foolish.” by Steve Jobs.
That’s a good one. Steve Jobs had some great things to say!
I do think that you’ll be able to remember the quotes that you hear better after you write them down, Jenny.
I don’t think there is a single quote or saying that I can point to as my favorite quote or saying. You and I have both, for instance, read books that are written by Ms. Laura Vanderkam – for the record, the specific books that I’ve finished reading are “168 Hours”, “Off the Clock”, and “Tranquility by Tuesday” – which means that there are some quotes and sayings from the books that she’s written that you and I both know of. I myself sometimes come up with quotes and sayings, too. I’m just not sure if the quotes and sayings that I created count as “quotes” or “sayings”. So, there you have it.
Well, I would be interested to hear your quotes! Laura Vanderkam has some good ones too : )
I’ll list 3 of my quotes here.
1. I have time for time-tracking. I just don’t have time to track the time I spent on time-tracking.
2. Q: What did the Swedish officer say to the Swedish soldier at the border between Sweden and Finland?
A: “The next time you cross the Finnish line, you’d better get prepared first.”
3. No bear is unbearable if it is hibernating.
Notice that I created the latter 2 quotes almost entirely out of my head without any empirical observations or digging through any literature. So now, how would anyone be able to take those 3 quotes and apply them to their own situations? I have no idea. But those are 3 examples of quotes that I came up with in the past.
I’m terrible at remembering quotes. Even if I like something enough I write it down or save it somewhere, I hardly ever come across it again.
Well, I come across these in my notes and I’m like “Huh?” It’s kind of fun though.
I can get on board with most of yours, but maybe not “most of my problems are created by myself”. Like, there’s overthinking and getting in my own way, but I don’t think my major problems are caused by me.
I need to keep a list of quotes in my notes app. I am disorganized and can never think of ones I like when I want to. Some random ones I can call up: If it can be changed, there no point worrying. If it can be changed, there is also no point worrying. I am just watching the documentary about Andrea Gibson, and I love the quote “happiness is easier to find when you realize you don’t have forever to find it.”
Allison- I REALLY like that! I haven’t heard it before, and it fits in with a lot of things I’ve been thinking about lately. I’m writing it down…
“Some people would take your problems and call them blassings.”
That has a lot of power to it! Good perspective to keep in mind all the time we’re going through things in our lives.
Lisa’s about worry sucking the joy out of life hits me hard, and is something I struggle with.
My favorite quote is probably the one I have on my blog:
“The cure for anything is salt water – sweat, tears, or the sea” Isak Dinesen
One that I think about a lot is “comparison is a thief of joy.” Of yours, I gravitate a lot towards “some people would take your problems and call them blessings.”
Here’s my fave Andrea Gibson:
I know most people try hard
to do good and find out too late
they should have tried softer.