"Life is a narrative that you have a hand in writing."
-- Henriette Anne Klauser
A designer knows he has achieved perfection, not when there is nothing left to add,
but when there is nothing left to take away.
Antoine de Saint-Exupery
"Happiness cannot be traveled to, owned, earned, worn or consumed. Happiness is the spiritual experience of living every minute with love, grace, and gratitude."
-- Denis Waitley
The virtue of all achievement is victory over oneself. Those who know this can never know defeat.
A. J. Cronin
It's been a long time since I read A.J. Cronin. Nice to see this quote just in memory of enjoying his books. Regarding this particular piece - I certainly believe it applies to achieving mastery and certainly mastery of public speaking. We overcome nerves, we develop "muscle memory" through rehearsal, we learn to interact with an audience rather than just speak at them, and so much more. What has been your greatest victory over yourself in becoming a speaker?
"Learn to enjoy every minute of your life. Be happy now. Don't wait for something outside of yourself to make you happy in the future. Think how really precious is the time you have to spend, whether it's at work or with your family. Every minute should be enjoyed and savored."
Earl Nightingale
"You have to find something that you love enough to be able to take risks, jump over the hurdles and break through the brick walls that are always going to be placed in front of you. If you don't have that kind of feeling for what it is you're doing, you'll stop at the first giant hurdle."
-- George Lucas
“Vague and mysterious forms of speech, and abuse of language, have so long passed for mysteries of science; and hard or misapplied words with little or no meaning have, by prescription, such a right to be mistaken for deep learning and height of specu”
John Locke
"Be mindful of how you approach time. Watching the clock is not the same as watching the sun rise."
-- Sophia Bedford-Pierce
"The secret of joy in work is contained in one word - excellence. To know how to do something well is to enjoy it."
Pearl S. Buck
... and it applies as well to public speaking as it does to any other kind of "work". I like to call it mastery and it's a great feeling.
"The first step toward change is acceptance. Once you accept yourself, you open the door to change. That's all you have to do. Change is not something you do, it's something you allow."
-- Will Garcia
