Michael Hyatt Quotes

You’re never as smart as you think you are when you are winning and never as dumb as you feel when you are losing.

Those who feel satisfied with their personal lives are more satisfied with their careers and perform better.

You can’t take care of anyone else unless you first take care of yourself.

You life matters. You are here for a reason. Your job is to determine why.

You have been given a gift—your life. What will you do with it?

So many of us have settled for what is, rather than what could be.

You are in a much better position to serve others when your basic needs are met and your “tank is full”.

What we believe about something often creates the outcome we experience.

One of the best questions you can ask when something negative happens is this: What does this experience make possible?

Self-leadership always precedes team leadership.

We have more control than most of us realize. Each day is filled with thousands of opportunities to change the story of our lives.

You can’t get where you want to go unless you start with where you are.

Having clarity on where you want to go is one of the most critical components of your life.

Gratitude is where every positive attitude starts.

Making appointments with yourself and scheduling other things around them is key to proactive self-management.

People at any stage will profit by taking the wheel and getting pointed in the right direction.

You will never see the full path. The important thing is to do the next right thing.

Courage is the willingness to act in spite of fear.

This is the day that everything can change for you.

How we lead ourselves in life impacts how we lead those around us.

By keeping the truly important things front and center, we often get the perspective we need to make better decisions.

We can’t improve what we don’t assess.

In life, you often get what you expect.

Perfectionism is the mother of procrastination.

Watch your mouth: The language we use creates the reality we experience.

From a Christian perspective Jesus not only knew what these people needed, he could instantly heal them. But he didn’t. Instead, he asked them to declare what they wanted. It seems their apparent need was not their greatest need. More than healing, they needed clarity.

Unless we take the time to regain our perspective and face the reality that life is short, we risk arriving at a destination we didn’t choose—or at least one we wouldn’t prefer.

This is the day that can change everything for you.

In planning anything, the best place to begin is at the end. What outcome do you want? How do you want the story to end? How do you want to be remembered when you are gone?

Anything worthwhile is opposed.

What get’s scheduled gets done.

If you don’t have a plan for your life, someone else does.

For real productivity, however, we need to prioritize people. You're a human being, not a human doing.

In a world where information is freely available, focus becomes one of the most valuable commodities in the workplace.

Information consumes the attention of its recipients,” he explained, and “a wealth of information creates a poverty of attention.

To reach a port we must sail, sometimes with the wind, and sometimes against it. But we must not drift or lie at anchor. —Oliver Wendell Holmes

Without a clear destination in view, the challenges on the journey seem pointless.

Our lives are shaped by the questions we ask. Good questions lead to good outcomes. Bad questions lead to bad outcomes.

There is not point keeping up with the Joneses if they’re going someplace you don’t want to go.

Keeping your eye on the future is essential for making the most of today.

The good news is that we have more control than most of us realize. Each day is filled with thousands of opportunities to change the story of our lives.

The first step towards getting somewhere is to decide you’re not going to stay where you are. —John Pierpont “J.P.” Morgan

The law of diminishing intent says that the longer you delay doing something, the less probability you have of actually doing it.

One of the biggest reasons we don’t succeed with our goals is we doubt we can. We believe they’re out of reach.

progress starts only when you get clear on where you are right now.

If you design your life so that you spend most of your time working on things you are passionate about and proficient at, the discipline to do those things comes easily.

I can do anything I want. I just can’t do everything I want.

History doesn’t repeat itself, but it rhymes.

Throughout your life, you’ll meet three types of leaders. The first inspires ambition, without results. The second improves results, but ignores the spirit. In Your Best Year Ever, Michael Hyatt proves he is the rare third type of leader—one who both raises our performance and lifts our soul.” —SALLY HOGSHEAD New York Times bestselling author; creator, How to Fascinate®

The people who live and lead with the most joy and contentment are those who have clarity about their priorities. They know what they do best and fill their days with more of those activities.

I have learned to avoid this. The goal is to communicate, not to impress readers with your vocabulary.

One of the biggest reasons we don’t succeed with our goals is we doubt we can.

But you should resist the temptation to provide your entire bio—at least at the beginning. One or two sentences are sufficient. 5.

Jim Rohn's law of diminishing intent says that the longer you delay something, the less probability you have of actually doing it.

Anything worthwhile is opposed. Steven Pressfield (War of Art) calls this the Resistance.

Balance is giving not equal but appropriate attention to each of the various categories of your life.

The impossible only seems so on the front end.

The little bit you know prevents you from learning the things you don’t know but need to know in order to succeed.

People lose their way when they lose their why.

The deciding vote in your life is yours, not your circumstances.

Our decisions are the one thing we can control. Today’s the day to make those choices really count.

You can’t improve what you won’t face and own.

You get what you focus on. What we see ahead impacts the actions we take right now. How we live and lead is directly connected to what we see.

Having priorities is essential. So is having them in the right order.

When we have clarity on our destination and are grounded in our current reality, we are equipped to make the best decisions possible.

The more belief and confidence we feel toward achieving our goal, the higher the probability of our making the changes required to hit our targets.

Whatever the goal, small, daily investments can bring big results.

You can do almost anything if you are willing to clarify your commitments and make incremental investments over time to achieve them.

The wise know their days are numbered and act accordingly.

People rarely get more of anything until they have learned to be grateful for what they already have.

You must create more margin so you have room for what’s important, not merely urgent.

A plan is worthless unless you review it on a regular basis.

Events in one area of our lives cascade into every other area.

When employees feel valued, and are more productive and engaged, they create a culture that can truly be a strategic advantage in today’s competitive market.

Our lives are shaped by the questions we ask. Good questions lead to good outcomes. Bad questions lead to bad outcomes. In

you don’t have to make everything a wow. But once you learn the distinction between wow and not-wow, it is difficult to be satisfied with anything less.

Never leave the scene of clarity without taking decisive action.

Great marketing only makes a bad product fail faster

The first step towards getting somewhere is to decide you’re not going to stay where you are.

As one of my favorite marketing gurus, David Ogilvy, once wrote, “Great marketing only makes a bad product fail faster.” How true.

Later I realized focusing on everything means focusing on nothing.

No matter how talented you are, if you’re not making a contribution in a certain area, you’re not truly proficient.

One speaker, Herbert Simon, was a Carnegie Mellon professor of computer science and psychology who later won a Nobel for his work in economics. In his presentation, he warned that the growth of information could become a burden. Why? “Information consumes the attention of its recipients,” he explained, and “a wealth of information creates a poverty of attention.”1

By reaching for what appears to be impossible, we often actually do the impossible; and even when we don’t quite make it, we inevitably wind up doing much better than we would have done.

buy your own domain name for ten to twenty dollars per year. You will have an e-mail address that looks like this: yourname@yourdomain.com. This makes a positive, powerful brand impression. 46

somewhere deep inside you realize that the dream has taken a hit. It hasn’t died, of course. But it has been dialed back—calibrated to the reality of deadlines, budgets, and limited resources. A similar process can happen for individuals who set out to create something, whether a book, a record album, or even a comedy routine. It’s easy to “settle.” At this very moment, you face a decision.

start and end the day with prayer. Instead of bookending the day with what I failed to get—sleep or accomplishments or whatever—I try focusing on the blessings I do have and expressing them in prayer.

Here’s the reality: Your personal life is a myth. There is no such thing as a compartmentalized life. Every area, space, category, and set of relationships is interrelated. You are a seamless whole. When

By this, I mean that the blogger starts with his or her bio, moves on to personal interests, and then (sometimes) gets to what may interest the reader. I suggest you reverse this. Start with the reader’s interests.

Draw a line down a page. On one side place your limiting beliefs. On the other write corresponding liberating truths. Consider the side with your liberating truths your new personal manifesto for achieving your goals.

An elevator pitch for an information product should consist of four components: 1. Your product name and category 2. The problem you are attempting to solve 3. Your proposed solution 4. The key benefit of your solution Here’s

The undeniable reality is that how well you do in life and business depends not only on what you do and how you do it . . . but also on who is doing it with you or to you,” says psychologist Henry Cloud in The Power of the Other.

An elevator pitch for an entertainment product should also consist of four components: 1. Your product name and category 2. The main character’s ambition 3. The conflict he or she encounters 4. The real significance of the story Here’s

We have a very powerful myth in our culture, the myth of the self-made man or woman. But let’s be honest. There’s no such thing.5 Success requires help—and usually lots of it. It’s impossible to discount the influence of our social circle.

Provide guidance, samples, and a deadline. Include a brief description of your product and perhaps a sample. Then offer to send them the entire product. Tell them the kind of endorsement you are looking for. The more specific, the better. I

By the way, you don’t have to make every experience in life a wow. If everything is a wow, then pretty soon, nothing is a wow. But you must be able to identify which experiences you want to make a wow, and then have a process—or a technology—for creating that outcome.

Leadership expert Michael Hyatt reflected on Karnazes’s life and drew three conclusions about why we should embrace discomfort: 1. Comfort is overrated. It doesn’t lead to happiness. It makes us lazy—and forgetful. It often leads to self-absorption, boredom, and discontent. 2. Discomfort can be a catalyst for growth. It makes us yearn for something more. It forces us to change, stretch, and adapt. 3. Discomfort is often a sign we’re making progress. You’ve heard the expression, “no pain, no gain.” It’s true! When you push yourself to grow, you will experience discomfort.

I don’t believe things happen by accident. I think that everything that comes into our life, even the really hard things, are intended for good. That they can shape us positively if we’ll embrace them and remain teachable and purpose to use that almost like fertilizer to grow out of the experience.

We’re reminded of a story we heard about a wise old man who lived high in the Himalayan mountains. Periodically he ventured down into the local town to entertain the villagers with his special knowledge and talents. One of his skills was to psychically tell them the contents in their pockets, boxes, or minds. A few young boys decided to play a joke on the old man and discredit his special abilities. One came up with the idea to capture a bird and hide it in his hands. He knew, of course, the man would know the object in his hands was a bird. The boy devised a plan. Knowing the wise old man would correctly state the object in his hands was a bird, the boy would ask the old man if the bird was dead or alive. If the wise man said the bird was alive, the boy would crush the bird in his hands, so that when he opened his hands the bird would be dead. But if the man said the bird was dead, the boy would open his hands and let the bird fly free. No matter what the man said, the boy would prove the old man a fraud. The following week, the man came down from the mountain into the village. The boy quickly caught a bird, cupped it out of sight behind his back, walked up to the wise old man, and asked, “What is it that I have in my hands?” The man said, “You have a bird, my son.” The boy then asked, “Tell me, is the bird alive or dead?” The wise old man looked at the boy and said, “The bird is as you choose it to be.” So it is with your life.

LEAP. It’s as simple as four steps, one for each letter of the acronym: Lean into the change with expectancy. When you notice that a change is desirable or necessary, that’s your green light. Punch the gas pedal. That inkling is all you need to get going. Engage with the concept until you achieve clarity. Don’t let the feeling pass. Work with it until you’ve got a sense of what to do. That nagging thought in the back of your mind might be the start of a whole new adventure—or the ladder you need to climb out of a deep rut. Activate and do something—anything. Sometimes we wait to move until we have all the information. That’s a mistake. Clarity comes in degrees. And you only need enough light for the next step. Even if you get off on the wrong foot, the rest of the journey will become clearer as you go. Pounce and do it now. Once you’ve determined your next step, take it. Don’t wait. Waiting feels safe, but waiting kills dreams.