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2 Quotes That Will Help You Be (Truly) Productive

by Mike Vardy

Yep. It’s an ugly title. But I wanted to make sure that you offer up some attention to the following 2 quotes. You can do that in whatever order you choose:

“To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Here’s a wonderful blog post written by fellow Canadian Bob Desautels that was inspired by that Emerson quote.

“Between stimulus and response, there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response.”

Viktor Frankl

And here’s a short (but equally wonderful) blog post over at The Daily Stoic about this Frankl quote.

Take both of these 2 quotes. Think on them simultaneously. It will help you live up to both of them… and be the best version of yourself at any given moment.

Think About The 2 Quotes

If you take a moment when dealing with anything that comes at you over the course of the day (aka stimulus) and use that space between it showing up and how you deal with it to do your best to be yourself in that space, you’ll be all the better for it. (Go back and read that sentence again. It’s a bit of a thinker.)

You will find yourself doing for the sake of doing less often. You’ll have less regret over choices you make. You’ll be more aware of the consequences of those choices.

Best of all, you’ll be giving your greatest intention – being yourself – the attention it truly deserves.

John Cleese says you need two things to be creative: time and space. I think it goes beyond that. You need time and space to make better decisions. Time and space will help you to take right action.

You need time and space to be yourself.

Keep these 2 quotes from Emerson and Frankl (or Frankl and Emerson) close at hand until they become fully integrated into your life. Use them as waypoints for your decisions.

Do that and you’ll be in a far better position to stop doing productive and start being productive.

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About Mike Vardy

Mike Vardy is a writer, speaker, productivity strategist, and founder of Productivityist. He is the author of The Front Nine: How to Start the Year You Want Anytime You Want and The Productivityist Playbook.

Categories: Intention and Attention Tagged: attention, awareness, be productive, clarity, focus, intention, productivity, quotes, time management

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