Figureoutable Quotes

We may feel the world is slipping out of our hands and recognize that the core of our conceived blueprint is escaping us. Let us challenge, then, a point of resilience and get out of the weeds, clear our mind and figure out "who is who" in our lives, and gauge what is valuable in our mind. ("The dirty bike")

When our thoughts are unsettled and our inner world is in a muddle, we may sharpen our wits and try to recognize the invisible edges of our fractured stance. If we seek to figure out, what our life story is all about, we may be able to put the missing pieces in place and identify what is driving us, what we are actually up to and why we are running like mad dogs, sometimes. (“On a doggy day”)

You can do whatever you set your mind to if you just roll up your sleeves, get in there, and do it. Everything is figureoutable.

The most powerful words in the universe are the words you say to yourself.

Maybe I'm not so different from everyone else after all. It's like somebody gave me a puzzle, but I don't have the box with the picture on it. So I don't know what the final thing is supposed to look like. I'm not even sure if I have all the pieces.

I win or I learn, but I never lose.

If it’s important enough, I’ll make the time. If not, I’ll make an excuse.

Nearly two decades later, I can say that the only thing that allowed me to take that leap was because a deeper, wiser part of me believed that somehow I’d be able to figure it out.

Perfectionism at its core isn't about high standards. It's about fear. Fear of failure. Fear of looking stupid, fear of making a mistake, fear of being judged, criticized, and ridiculed. It's the fear that one simple fact might be true: You're just not good enough.

I'm trying to figure out if I love art enough to be poor.

Your potential is limitless. You are unique, valuable, capable, and worthy of the dreams in your heart. Most of all, you have what it takes to transform and transcend whatever challenges you face.

Having someone do certain things for you is like getting someone to chew your food for you. It might be easier to swallow but it loses all its flavor... And you want the flavor!

In order to get the right idea of our self, we first need to figure out who we really are.

Human interaction. The most complicated form of happiness I will never figure out.

Clarity comes from engagement, not thought!

There's a difference between owning your choices and blaming yourself.

In order to change ourselves, we must first believe we can.

Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.

insight without action is worthless. Taking action is the only path to change.

That's enough crying about the problems, let's begin killing the problems.

If you believed to your core that everything really is figureoutable, what would you now do? What would you create or heal or transform or transcend? Who would you become?

The best years of your life are the ones in which you decide your problems are your own. You do not blame them on your mother, the economy, or the president. You realize that you control your own destiny. Albert Ellis

We do not see things as they are, we see them as we are.

Just because someone doesn't like what you do doesn't mean no one else will. A person's opinion is not The Truth, it's their truth.

Even if this entire book is bullshit, can you think of a more empowering and pragmatic philosophy to embrace?

There are two types of pain you will go through in life: the pain of discipline and the pain of regret. Discipline weighs ounces, while regret weighs tons.

Remember that gal that gave up? Neither does anyone else. Unknown

Every pro starts off as an amateur. There's not one top artist, athlete, writer, scientist, architect, entrepreneur, programmer, musician, or potter who enters the field at the top of her game. To begin anything new or learn anything new means you will be a neophyte. You must go from outsider to insider. Respect that. Embrace it. Be willing to suck.

I am always trying to figure God out so that I can figure Him in. But after a while I figure that I should just let God be God, and figure that He’ll figure it all out anyway.

No matter what you’re facing, you have what it takes to figure anything out and become the person you’re meant to be.

No matter what you want to figure out, one thing is for sure: writing it down is a fundamental step to making it real.

It’s hard to become what you don’t see.

if you’re committed to figuring things out, all excuses have got to go.

Everything’s in the mind. That’s where it all starts. Knowing what you want is the first step toward getting it. Mae West

If you are possessed by an idea, you find it expressed everywhere, you even smell it. Thomas Mann

As David Deutsch says, “Everything that is not forbidden by laws of nature is achievable, given the right knowledge".

...a fall is never final unless you stay on the ground.

Remember—humans once believed the world was flat, that margarine was better than butter, and that an ice-pick lobotomy cured mental illness. Aren’t you glad those days are over?

Bullshit makes good fertilizer.

Opportunity cost is no joke. Every choice has a price. Everything you say yes to means you’re saying no to something else. Translation? Each time you pick up your brain-draining gadget and say YES to watching another cat video, you’re saying NOPE to ever reaching your biggest and most important long-term goals.

What holds us back from consistently performing at the levels we’re capable of? To find the answer, we have to look inside. No matter what we’re trying to figure out, the biggest barriers are often in our own minds:

Our brains tend to reinforce what we already believe.

All beliefs are a choice and choices can be changed.

Create before you consume.

What can I learn from this? How can this work for me?

Simple is elegant and extremely efficient.

If you’re not doing what you want to do. However, you still think about it every day. This means you have not given up. Only you know what action will make it happen and thought is an action. Keep focusing on what you want to do and figure out how to turn your thoughts into reality…

Rule 1. All problems (or dreams) are figureoutable. Rule 2. If a problem is not figureoutable, it’s not really a problem—it’s a fact of life or law of nature (e.g., death or gravity). Rule 3. You may not care enough to figure this problem out or achieve this particular dream. That’s okay. Find another problem or dream that ignites a blazing fire in your heart and go back to Rule 1.

It’s never about the lack of money or time or anything else. It’s about your internal game, your commitment to do whatever it takes to be creative, get resourceful, and figure it out. To find or make a way ahead, no matter what.

Since most of us are just trying to figure it all out, why not be kind and considerate while on the journey?

If you wait to figure out everything before starting anything, it'll never happen.

Yet there can be no significant change in the world unless we first have the courage to change ourselves. In order to change ourselves, we must first believe we can.

If you had to find the time, you would.

it’s important to stay mindful of your environment, especially as you work to incorporate new, more supportive and expansive beliefs.

it was about making the time. And there’s always more time than we realize

You make time for what matters most.

You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. Eleanor Roosevelt

Knowing something intellectually is very different from doing something consistently, mastering it, and benefiting from it.

The art of eliminating excuses means embracing the fact that your dreams aren’t made or broken by anyone but you.

The fastest way out of our fear is through it.

Putting pen to paper is a mystical way to access your most profound truths.

Repetition is a key principle in neuroplasticity. It’s how we rewire our brains and turn good ideas into permanent new ways of being and behaving.

Your innate power is immense. Your potential is limitless. You are unique, valuable, capable, and worthy of the dreams in your heart. Most of all, you have what it takes to transform and transcend whatever challenges you face.

*Comparschläger: noun; a self-inflicted poison. Activates when you compare yourself to others and end up feeling worthless. Analogous to Goldschläger, the disgusting cinnamon-flavored schnapps with gold flakes that, when ingested in large quantities, makes you puke.

Beliefs create behaviors. The cumulation of those behaviors adds up to your entire life. Know what else? Every belief has a consequence. Your beliefs either heal you or harm you. They either support your aspirations or thwart them. Belief becomes the source of your limitation or your liberation. It doesn’t matter what’s true, it matters what you believe.

Look around. There’s no shortage of people hungry for a moment of connection. There’s always someone who could use a little assistance. A little attention. A little comfort. A little love. Next time you catch yourself feeling like a fraud, check yourself. Chances are, you’re shining your flashlight on yourself rather than directing it where it can make its greatest impact—caring for others.

Speaking of taking responsibility, a quick reminder about an essential universal principle: You are 100 percent responsible for your life. Always and in all ways. It’s not your parents. It’s not the economy. It’s not your husband or your wife or your family. It’s not your boss. It’s not the schools you went to. It’s not the government or society or institutions or your age. You are responsible for what you believe, how you feel, and how you behave.

Companies with billions of dollars employ some of the most intelligent, creative humans on the planet to mastermind new ways to lure us into spending our lives on their apps and in their platforms. Remember, stock prices rely on keeping engagement metrics high. Many tech companies’ survival is based on continuously inventing ways to capture an ever-growing share of your time and attention. If you think you’re a customer of these products and platforms, think again. Your time, attention, and data are their product.

Do you love me?” Diana asked. Caine’s eyes widened. She could actually see him twitch. Like a startled animal. Like a rabbit who had just heard a fox. “It’s a yes or no question,” Diana said acidly. “But I’ll accept a nod or a shake of the head or an incoherent grunt.” “I . . . I don’t know what you mean by that,” Caine said lamely. “When I jumped off the cliff, you saved me even though it meant letting Sanjit and the others escape.” “You didn’t give me much choice,” Caine said peevishly. “You had a choice. You wanted to destroy them.” “Okay.” “Why did you make that choice?” Caine swallowed and seemed to find his palms sweaty since he rubbed them on his sides. Diana walked to the door. She unlocked it and held it open. “Go away,” she said. “Come back when you figure out your answer.

I say this because deep in my bones I am that certain everything really is figureoutable. Yes, even if you’re starting from scratch. Even if you’ve already tried and failed. Even if you don’t have a clue what the hell you’re doing or why things keep going wrong. Even if the world has told you time and time again that you can’t. Even if you’ve been born into extraordinary challenges or find yourself with the deck stacked against you.

If you want, you can keep all your reasons (i.e., excuses) why you can’t make change happen. Why you can’t figure things out. You can hang on to all your reasons—your age, your parents, your genetics, your health, where you were born, ad nauseam. No one is going to come and take those reasons away. You have every right to think and believe whatever you want. But if you do hold on to the reasons why you “can’t,” know this: You’ll never experience the depth of your love, your gifts, your strength, your creativity, and your highest potential. Neither will the world.

You can scare yourself into stuckness by assuming you have to make radical life changes in order to make progress. You don’t. Real change is practically invisible as it’s happening. No trumpets sound. A marching band will not play at your door. Meaningful progress doesn’t feel particularly exciting. Most days, it feels like work. You show up, grind it out (sometimes joyfully, sometimes not), and repeat.

There is a promising idea that I will be spending the rest of my life figuring out my Self.

If it's important enough, I'll make the time. If not, I'll make an excuse".

Rule 1. All problems (or dreams) are figureoutable. Rule 2. If a problem is not figureoutable, it’s not really a problem—it’s a fact of life or law of nature (e.g., death or gravity). Rule 3. You may not care enough to figure this problem out or achieve this particular dream. That’s okay. Find another problem or dream that ignites a blazing fire in your heart and go back to Rule 1. As David Deutsch says, “Everything that is not forbidden by laws of nature is achievable, given the right knowledge.

Do you realize that virtually everything that surrounds us was once only a thought? An idea? A wild, formless figment of someone’s imagination? Every movie you’ve ever seen. Every story you’ve ever heard. Every book you’ve read. Every song that’s made you sing, dance, or cry has taken the mystical journey from the world of unmanifest to the manifest. From formless idea to concrete reality. These minds of ours are magical creation machines. They’re the birthplace of every extraordinary experience we’ve ever encountered and every major breakthrough in human history. Our minds are what give us the power to manufacture reality, both for ourselves and others. That’s because . . . Everything in the material world is first created on the level of thought.

Nothing exists in our world that does not first exist in our mind. That’s the universal gift we’ve been given to help us shape our lives and, collectively, the world around us. We’re born creators with an innate power to bring our ideas and visions into reality.

It’s a force that underpins every action we take and how we interpret and respond to the world around us. This deeper, commanding force is our beliefs. Beliefs are the hidden scripts that run our lives. Like a track running underneath a train, our beliefs determine where we go and how we get there. But before we start talking about concepts without clearly defining them, let’s use this shared definition: A belief is something you know with total and absolute certainty. It’s a thought that you’ve decided—consciously or unconsciously—is The Truth. Our beliefs are the root of our reality and our results.

The Anatomy of Hope, Jerome Groopman, MD, writes: Researchers are learning that a change in mindset has the power to alter neurochemistry. Belief and expectation—the key elements of hope—can block pain by releasing the brain’s endorphins and enkephalins, mimicking the effect of morphine.

Your beliefs are THE master commanders of your behavior and your results. Beliefs control our bodies and how we respond to crises, criticisms, and opportunities. They tell us what to notice, what to focus on, what it means, and what to do about it. The fact that your beliefs shape your reality is undeniable. They affect you physically, emotionally, spiritually, financially, intellectually, and culturally. Here’s what’s important to remember: Long term, your beliefs determine your destiny. Beliefs create behaviors. The cumulation of those behaviors adds up to your entire life. Know what else? Every belief has a consequence. Your beliefs either heal you or harm you. They either support your aspirations or thwart them. Belief becomes the source of your limitation or your liberation. It doesn’t matter what’s true, it matters what you believe.

We do not see things as they are, we see them as we are. Anaïs Nin

Our brains tend to reinforce what we already believe. This well-documented phenomenon is called confirmation bias. Simply put, confirmation bias means we look for and find evidence to support our beliefs. We cherry-pick information that confirms what we already know, while ignoring (consciously and unconsciously) information that challenges our existing beliefs.

The first step to becoming free from your beliefs is noticing which ones are creating hurt or misery for you. Practice becoming aware of what you’re thinking (i.e., believing) and know that, at any moment, you get to decide if you want to continue believing that thought. Research has proven that our brains are highly adaptable. The brain is like a muscle in that it changes and gets stronger with use. Scientists often refer to this as “plasticity.” Studies in neuroscience show that we can grow new neural networks and train our brain to think in new ways. Whatever thoughts we repeat most often and with the most emotional intensity, we reinforce. Physically, we strengthen and build those neural networks. That means we can literally hardwire beliefs into our brains and nervous systems. Whatever thoughts we don’t use or reinforce will grow weak and eventually fade away.

You don't figure out everything overnight, you figure out things over time.

Your beliefs are the master commanders of your behavior and results.

Any limiting belief can be erased and replaced. Best of all, changing your beliefs doesn't have to be hard. It just takes awareness, desire, and practice.

Take back control over your mind, time, and attention. Do not allow your technology to dictate your to-do list. Other people's agendas should not derail your own.

Action is the fastest and most direct route to clarity.

You wouldn't have the dream if you didn't already have what it takes to make it happen.

My biggest mistake? Searching my head for an answer that could only be experienced through my heart.

That which you give freely, you receive instantly.

When you don't have something clear and meaningful to work toward, you can experience a host of other problems.

There's a difference between getting defensive and getting determined. This is about maturity, discernment, and most crucially, considering your source.

Ignoring our truth doesn't make it go away. It only spawns despair and dysfunction.

The clearer you are about what you want to figure out, the better chance you have of actually doing it. Clarity equals power.

Life is 10 percent what happens to me and 90 percent how I react to it.” It’s part of a longer passage, which reads:

confirmation bias means we look for and find evidence to support our beliefs. We cherry-pick information that confirms what we already know, while ignoring (consciously and unconsciously) information that challenges our existing beliefs.

There are two types of pain you will go through in life: the pain of discipline and the pain of regret. Discipline weighs ounces, while regret weighs tons. Jim Rohn

Excuses are dream killers. If we allow them, our excuses will keep us locked in a prison of our own making.

The key to demolishing the time excuse is to first embrace the fact that everything you’re doing with your twenty-four hours is a choice. Your choice. A choice that you make and a choice you can change.