Intentional Living John Maxwell Quotes

Nobody finishes well by accident.

Dreams often come one size too big so that we can grow into them.

An unintentional life accepts everything and does nothing. An intentional life embraces only the things that will add to the mission of significance.

A dream requires a partner: commitment.

To reach your potential you must grow. And to grow, you must be highly intentional about it.

Action is what converts human dreams into significance.

John Wesley: “Do all the good you can. By all the means you can. In all the ways you can. In all the places you can. At all the times you can. To all the people you can. As long as ever you can.

There isn’t anyone you couldn’t learn to love once you’ve heard their story.” —Fred Rogers

Poet Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well.

If I wanted to make a difference… Wishing for things to change wouldn’t make them change. Hoping for improvements wouldn’t bring them. Dreaming wouldn’t provide all the answers I needed. Vision wouldn’t be enough to bring transformation to me or others. Only by managing my thinking and shifting my thoughts from desire to deeds would I be able to bring about positive change. I needed to go from wanting to doing.

intentional living is about living your best story.

When you live each day with intentionality, there’s almost no limit to what you can do. You can transform yourself, your family, your community, and your nation. When enough people do that, they can change the world. When you intentionally use your everyday life to bring about positive change in the lives of others, you begin to live a life that matters.

If you’re going to grow, you have to be intentional.” —Curt Kampmeier

One of the great ironies of life is that if you give up your life, you gain it. If you help others, you benefit. If you lose yourself, you find yourself.

Most people want to hear or tell a good story. But they don’t realize they can and should be the good story. That requires intentional living.

Every time we choose action over ease we develop an increasing level of self-worth, self-respect, and self-confidence.

When you get right down to it, intentional living is about living your best story.

Henry David Thoreau wrote, “One is not born into the world to do everything, but to do something.

Hell begins on that day when God grants us a clear vision of all that we might have achieved, of all the gifts we wasted, of all that we might have done that we did not do.

ACCIDENTAL GROWTH INTENTIONAL GROWTH Plans to Start Tomorrow Insists on Starting Today Waits for Growth to Come Takes Complete Responsibility to Grow Learns Only from Mistakes Often Learns Before Mistakes Depends on Good Luck Relies on Hard Work Quits Early and Often Perseveres Long and Hard Falls into Bad Habits Fights for Good Habits Talks Big Follows Through Plays It Safe Takes Risks Thinks Like a Victim Thinks Like a Learner Relies on Talent Relies on Character Stops Learning after Graduation Never Stops Growing

Why do so many people do nothing? I think it’s because most of us look at the evils and injustice around us, and we become overwhelmed. The problems look too big for us to tackle. We say to ourselves, “What can I do? I’m just one person.” One person is a start. One person can act and make a change by helping another. One person can inspire a second person to be intentional, and another. Those people can work together. They can become a movement. They can make an impact. We should never let what we cannot do keep us from doing what we can do. A passive life does not become a meaningful life.

poet Edwin Markham wrote, There is a destiny that makes us brothers None goes his way alone. All that we send into the lives of others Comes back into our own.

The secret of your success is determined by your daily agenda.

An intentional life embraces only the things that will add to the mission of significance.

I believed that if you have the heart to make a difference, there is always an answer, but if you have a heart of indifference, there is never an answer.

La réussite d'un leader ne se mesure pas parmi le nombre de gens qui le sert, mais le nombre d'individus qu'il sert. Une fois que les gens sont convaincus de la nature de vos motivations et de votre intention de les faire passer avant vos propres intérêts égoïstes, ils sont fin prêts à s'associer à vous.

Law of Diminishing Intent, which says, “The longer you wait to do something you should do now, the greater the odds that you will never actually do it.

Successful people are good in four areas: relationships, equipping, attitude, and leadership. Those

As you start your day, are you wondering what you will reap, or are you wondering what you will sow?

Many people fail to make a difference because they are so busy. They

Stories tell us who we are. They… Inspire us. Connect with us. Animate our reasoning process. Give us permission to act. Fire our emotions. Give us pictures of who we aspire to be. Stories are us.

As a communicator, I spend a good portion of my days sharing stories. People don’t care a lot about cold facts. They don’t want to look at pie charts. They want excitement. They like drama. They care about pictures. They want to laugh. They want to see and feel what happened. Statistics don’t inspire people to do great things. Stories do!

I believe that no matter what “plot” each of our stories may follow, deep down we all want one thing. We want our lives to matter. We want our stories to be of significance.

To be significant, all you have to do is make a difference with others wherever you are, with whatever you have, day by day.

When you intentionally use your everyday life to bring about positive change in the lives of others, you begin to live a life that matters.

Don’t settle for being merely a teller of stories about significance. Decide to be the story of significance. Become the central character in your story of making a difference!

I observed that the greatest speakers didn’t just tell better stories. They actually made the stories better by living them first.

Most people don’t know this, but it’s easier to go from failure to success than from excuses to success.

To dare is to lose one’s footing momentarily. Not to dare is to lose oneself.” —SØREN KIERKEGAARD

Be the change you want to see in the world.” —MAHATMA GANDHI

know this: though not everything that we face can be changed, nothing can be changed until we face it.

Let me help you by telling you something you need to know. You won’t do well the first time you do anything. You don’t know what you’re doing when you start. Nobody is good at the beginning of doing something new. Get over it.

If you want to live a life that matters, don’t start when you get good; start now so you become good.

There are three questions you need to ask and answer to test your readiness to be a catalyst for significance,” Jim replied. “They are: Can you be the best in the world at what you do? Are you passionate about what you are doing? Do you have the resources to change your world?

While trying is filled with good intentions, doing is the result of intentional living.

Steven Pressfield, author of The War of Art, identifies this reluctance. He calls it resistance. He writes, “There is a force resisting the beautiful things in the world, and too many of us are giving in.

I love the story about the old farmer, ragged and barefooted, who sat on the steps of his tumbledown shack, chewing on a stem of grass. A passerby stopped and asked if he might have a drink of water. Wishing to be sociable, the stranger engaged the farmer in some conversation. “How is your cotton crop this year?” “Ain’t got none,” replied the farmer. “Didn’t you plant any cotton?” asked the passerby. “Nope,” said the farmer, “’fraid of boll weevils.” “Well,” asked the newcomer, “how’s your corn doing?” “Didn’t plant none,” replied the farmer, “’fraid there wasn’t going to be enough rain.” “Well,” asked the inquisitive stranger, “what did you plant?” “Nothing,” said the farmer, “I just played it safe.” A lot of well-intentioned people live by the philosophy of this farmer, and never risk upsetting the apple cart. They would prefer to “play it safe.” These people will never know the thrill of victory, because to win a victory one must risk a failure. C.

The Law of Diminishing Intent says, “The longer you wait to do something you should do now, the greater the odds that you will never actually do it.

I feel like one little fellow who knelt at the side of his bed, closed his eyes, and prayed, “God bless Mom. God bless Dad. God bless Grandma.” He said it the same way every time. But one night he added, “And please take care of yourself, God. ’Cause if anything happens to you, we’re all sunk!

growth compounds and accelerates if you remain intentional about it.

To put significance in our stories, we must also take action. Being passive may feel safe. If you do nothing, nothing can go wrong. But while inaction cannot fail, it cannot succeed either. We can wait, and hope, and wish, but if we do, we miss the stories our lives could be.

You can have reasons or results. You can’t have both.

Everyone starts out bad, regardless of what they’re practicing for. We start so we can improve. We start before we’re ready because we need and want to get better. The idea is to deliver our best each time we try until one day, we become good. And then one day, we may even have a chance to be great. That’s growth. But we can’t evolve if we don’t start.