Jeff Goins Quotes

#1. Are you committed to the craft, or will you quit when it gets too hard?

Jeff Goins

#2. A calling is that thing that you can't not do, an answer to the age-old question, "What should I do with my life?

Jeff Goins

#3. Think of it this way: if the practice is enjoyable, then you aren't growing.

Jeff Goins

#4. Everything is practice. Every word you write and action you take is a chance to get better.

Jeff Goins

#5. When we don't give ourselves fully to the work we were born to do, we do the world - and ourselves - a disservice.

Jeff Goins

#6. To be wrecked begins with an experience that pulls you out of your comfort zone and self-centeredness, whether you want it or not.

Jeff Goins

#7. A brand will happen whether you like it or not. Either you intentionally choose one for yourself, or one will be given to you.

Jeff Goins

#8. Nobody reaches expert status without intense preparation. Excellence, then, is a matter of practice, not talent.6

Jeff Goins

#9. This idea was first coined by Charles Handy in his book The Age of Unreason

Jeff Goins

#10. In an era of human history in which we prize comfort above nearly every other virtue, we have overlooked an important truth: comfort never leads to excellence.

Jeff Goins

#11. brave words: speak, for your servant is listening. It's as much an act of vulnerability as it is one of availability.

Jeff Goins

#12. The paradox of vocation. We think that passion comes first, that our desire is primary; but if we are truly called, the work always comes before we are ready. We will have to act in spite of feeling unprepared.

Jeff Goins

#13. Every day, somewhere, a writer is born. She comes into the world with a destiny: to share her words and proclaim a message.

Jeff Goins

#14. Climate is what we expect. Weather is what we get. - MARK TWAIN

Jeff Goins

#15. But for now, if you are intentional and willing to appreciate the fact that you don't see the whole narrative, you can enjoy more of the journey.

Jeff Goins

#16. It's a choice, writing is. One that belongs to you and me. We get to choose it (or not) every single day. So whether or not the world hears your message - whether you leave the impact you were born to make - is entirely up to you.

Jeff Goins

#17. The big moments are the tiny moments. The breakthroughs are often silent, and they happen in the most unassuming places.

Jeff Goins

#18. We who were born into privilege and opportunity were given these gifts with an expectation: to give them away.

Jeff Goins

#19. If you're trying to serve someone in need and it doesn't hurt a little, you're doing something wrong.

Jeff Goins

#20. Samuel didn't know God was speaking to him until his mentor Eli helped him understand what was happening.

Jeff Goins

#21. What you leave behind for posterity isn't a decision you make on your deathbed. It's a choice that happens right now with the resources available at this very moment.

Jeff Goins

#22. We can distract ourselves with pleasure for only so long before beginning to wonder what the point is.

Jeff Goins

#23. The challenge for any artist - and we are all creating something on the canvas of our lives - is to do our work well while letting go of the result.

Jeff Goins

#24. Life is not an inconvenience to the work we dream of; it's the reason we do it in the first place. A calling does not compete with or even complement your life.

Jeff Goins

#25. Take time to look back at all you've experienced, and listen to what your life is saying.

Jeff Goins

#26. It's time to stop waiting to be asked and start creating.

Jeff Goins

#27. More people are watching your life and ... are gaining strength in their own lives and in their own challenges because of what you're going through. I promise you: your life matters, your life is significant, and things are happening that you don't even fully understand yourself.

Jeff Goins

#28. The truth was much simpler. When do you become a writer? "When you say you are," he said. I

Jeff Goins

#29. Excellence, then, is a matter of practice, not talent.

Jeff Goins

#30. You are not just waiting on your calling; your calling is waiting on you.

Jeff Goins

#31. When you are in doubt, just remember to drive toward water. You can always change directions once you get in the car.

Jeff Goins

#32. You are a creator of content, a wizard of words. They need you. Act like it.

Jeff Goins

#33. In spite of what we say, we don't want happiness. It's simply not enough to satisfy our deepest longings. We are looking for something more, something transcendent - a reason to be happy.

Jeff Goins

#34. Before others will believe what is true about you, you'll have to believe it yourself. LET'S

Jeff Goins

#35. What if the purpose of my life is not about me? Am I willing to give up all my dreams, my aspirations and comfort to find it/ Are you willing to pay the cost? This is the pearl of great price, the abundant life we are all seeking and, at the same time, petrified to find.

Jeff Goins

#36. Life is too short to do what doesn't matter, to waste your time on things that don't amount to much.

Jeff Goins

#37. Work, it seems, was never meant to be something we do just to make a living. It was meant to be a means of making a difference - in our own lives and in the lives of others.

Jeff Goins

#38. True abundance is about giving away your life, about letting go and giving up.

Jeff Goins

#39. I used to think that your calling was about doing something good in this world. Now I understand it's about becoming someone good - and letting that goodness impact the world around you.

Jeff Goins

#40. Where does motivation come from? "It starts with a spark," Daniel Coyle told me in an interview. "You get a vision of your future self. You see someone you want to become ... It's a very mysterious process.

Jeff Goins

#41. You will have to step out into the unknown, listening for direction as you go.

Jeff Goins

#42. Struggle shapes our character. And character dictates what we will become.

Jeff Goins

#43. And when you are presented with an opportunity, you may not just know.

Jeff Goins

#44. As you begin to see the patterns, don't move too quickly. Just take one step at a time, trusting that opportunities will open at the right time.

Jeff Goins

#45. Real artists risk failure every time they release their work into the world. If your words are going to matter, you will have to do the same. You will have to let go. Until you do, you're not creating art. You're just screwing around.

Jeff Goins

#46. When the passion goes away, it's the practice that sustains us. This is the fruit of commitment, the reason it's worth the hardship. When you commit to something, anything, it allows you to practice what you love.

Jeff Goins

#47. A calling may be many things, but it is not fair. Still, you must answer it.

Jeff Goins

#48. Each wrong choice grows your character and strengthens your resilience, readying you for what comes next.

Jeff Goins

#49. We've been conditioned to think of work as drudgery, a chore you endure in exchange for a paycheck. And this is a problem. When

Jeff Goins

#50. Sensible people reinvent themselves every ten years.

Jeff Goins

#51. Handy then encourages what he calls "portfolio people" to organize their time not based on hours in a week, but rather days in a year. For example, if you need to make $50,000 per year and can figure out a way to make $250 a day, then you only need to work 200 days a year.

Jeff Goins

#52. Look, it's easy to dump words on a page and tuck it away in a drawer. But to be a real writer, you have to take some risks. You have to put your work out there. Throw it against the wall, and see if it sticks.

Jeff Goins

#53. We always assume someone else will come to the rescue, but it's never us. Surely somebody will have the decency to be the hero. Right? It doesn't work like that. Not when everyone assumes someone else will do the right thing.

Jeff Goins

#54. When a person is determined to not just succeed but to do work that matters, the world makes room for such ambition.

Jeff Goins

#55. A calling isn't something new and shiny. Often it's something old and predictable, a familiar face that's easily taken for granted, an old habit or hobby that comes back into our lives.

Jeff Goins

#56. We all want to begin with ability, with what we can do. But when have you ever been a good judge of what you're capable of? People are always doing things that amaze themselves.

Jeff Goins

#57. It's not enough to be good. You have to be great.

Jeff Goins

#58. Find what you love and what the world needs, then combine them.

Jeff Goins

#59. Answering a call will sometimes feel that way. It won't make sense and may even open you up to rejection and criticism, but in your heart you will know it's right. How? There will be confirmation. You will take a step, and things will happen.

Jeff Goins

#60. We have been raised to believe that anything is possible, that our potential is unlimited, and that we are entitled to our dreams.

Jeff Goins

#61. We are either becoming more of our true selves or drifting into a false self. In

Jeff Goins

#62. If you're not feeling a little insecure about taking such a leap, then you probably haven't considered the cost.

Jeff Goins

#63. Serving people is the best way to earn influence.

Jeff Goins

#64. Your journey, though unique, is full of fellow sojourners, as well as teachers who will help along the way. Your job is not to find them but to recognize them when they appear.

Jeff Goins

#65. We find our vocations not by focusing on ourselves, but by focusing on others.

Jeff Goins

#66. Such findings do not prove that talent doesn't exist," he wrote. "But they do suggest an intriguing possibility: that if it does, it may be irrelevant.

Jeff Goins

#67. Writing is about space. It's about what's not said. About showing rather than telling. About making every word count.

Jeff Goins

#68. Believe you already are what you want to be. And then start acting like it.

Jeff Goins

#69. All is not lost, all is not lost. Become who you are It happens once in a lifetime. - SWITCHFOOT

Jeff Goins

#70. Pining for what could have been only holds people back from living their lives now. Life is full of surprises, and it doesn't help us to fixate on regrets or try to recover what has been lost.

Jeff Goins

#71. Even when others don't understand, masters recognize their allegiance is to a higher calling than pleasing the masses.

Jeff Goins

#72. You can't find your passion if you don't push through pain.

Jeff Goins

#73. In the midst of your apprenticeship, perhaps while serving someone else's dream, you will make a discovery of your own.

Jeff Goins

#74. All first drafts suck, so get it over already.

Jeff Goins

#75. One of the reasons it can be so hard to find a good mentor these days is that so few people have been mentored.

Jeff Goins

#76. But many of us fail to recognize that the best moments are the ones happening right now.

Jeff Goins

#77. Your taste in music, the kinds of books you enjoy, even your favorite foods all contribute to the person you are and the portfolio you're creating - and therefore, make up your calling.

Jeff Goins

#78. all had no idea what they were doing. There was no plan. But they acted anyway. They didn't just know. They chose.

Jeff Goins

#79. You have to choose your priorities, or they will choose you.

Jeff Goins

#80. Remember: The fear of something is always scarier than the thing itself. Yes, there is pain and rejection. But the greatest failure is to never risk at all.

Jeff Goins

#81. You already have some sense of what you're supposed to do with your life, even if you aren't sure what it is. The trick is to find your vocation hidden in your life.

Jeff Goins

#82. The unfortunate reality is we are probably missing your work. Not because it's not good, but because we've learned to tune it out.

Jeff Goins

#83. It's a choice, writing is.

Jeff Goins

#84. When I started writing every day, I realized a painful truth: I can't react and create at the same time. Neither can you.

Jeff Goins

#85. Every moment is a chance to choose.

Jeff Goins

#86. And as you attempt to uncover this mystery, consider one more question, a much more constructive one: What happens if you don't do this? That's what should really scare you.

Jeff Goins

#87. As Mother Teresa once said, you will only ever have trust.

Jeff Goins

#88. I have realized that whatever good comes to me, comes from God, whatever bad comes to me, God has allowed it, and I choose to be thankful for both.

Jeff Goins

#89. Writing is mostly a mind game. It's about tricking yourself into becoming who you are. If you do this long enough, you begin to believe it. And pretty soon, you start acting like it.

Jeff Goins

#90. The right choice isn't to retire, to simply settle in and invite death. It's to work hard and passionately, but acknowledge the limitations of what one life is capable of.

Jeff Goins

#91. Successful people are just as "lucky" as the unsuccessful. The difference is they do something remarkable with their lucky moment while the rest of the world sits around, waiting for the next lucky streak to come.

Jeff Goins

#92. Many of us are speeding up and skipping over, missing the important as we scan for the urgent. The irony is that in our anxiety toward not missing out, we are losing the most meaningful moments of life.

Jeff Goins

#93. A calling goes beyond your abilities and calls into question your potential. And when the journey is complete, even you are surprised.

Jeff Goins

#94. Most people waste the best years of their life waiting for an adventure to come to them instead of going out and finding one.

Jeff Goins

#95. The smallest moments, the ones we think are insignificant, are the ones we will cherish the most.

Jeff Goins

#96. For every hundred words I write (which might take about 10 minutes to spit out), I spend about 30 to 60 minutes of editing and rewriting.

Jeff Goins

#97. You are a writer. You just need to write.

Jeff Goins

#98. If you don't acquire the discipline to push through a personal low point, you will miss the reward that comes with persevering.

Jeff Goins

#99. As I listened to the radio tell her story, it was hard to not think education should look more like this - paint splotches and messy smocks in a cramped studio - and less like large lecture halls with passive students parked in seats for ninety minutes at a time, eyes glued to a slide presentation.

Jeff Goins

#100. Committing to the wrong thing is better than standing still.

Jeff Goins