Many times I find it helpful to remember certain things that I have heard or read in order to keep things in perspective. I really like these quotes a lot and find them really useful from time to time.

1. “Anything worth doing is worth doing badly while you learn it.” - (friend) - Not sure if he actually coined it, but I got it from him. I really like this quote a lot because I am a very impatient learner. I want to master things right away and often get discouraged if I don’t catch on to things as quickly as I feel I should. Reminding myself of this is quite helpful in allowing me to slow down and enjoy the process of learning (and accept where I’m at at a given time) rather than thinking I’m not learning things quickly enough.
2. “If it works, it’s obsolete.” - I like this one a lot too, though I cannot for the life of me remember where I ran across it. This one hits the “Continuous Improvement” button for me. Each time I get too comfortable, I remind myself of this one, so that I can continue to push myself to improve.
3. A goal is not always meant to be reached, it often serves simply as something to aim at. - Bruce Lee
   This is also one of my favorites. Most of the books I have read on goals stress the importance of achievable or SMART goals. While these are definitely important, some goals should be set as an ideal to strive for and may never actually be achieved. However, if your moving towards it it is good enough. The best example I can think of in recent reading is the idea of the BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goal) in the book Built To Last by Jim Collins. Too many people do not do anything because they feel a goal isn’t achievable, rather than just doing their best to achieve some progress towards it.
4. Any technique, however worthy and desirable, becomes a disease when the mind is obsessed with it. - Bruce Lee
   Many times when we are learning something we get obsessed with learning the step by step “process” and lose focus on the thing we are trying to master. Obsession with the “step by step” stops us from trying new things and thereby limits our growth.
5. Absorb what is useful, reject what is useless, and add what is specifically your own. - Bruce Lee
   This, to me, relates to number 4. Too many times we get obsessed with doing things “right”, rather than making the things we are learning a part of us. I know I do. Many times we spend time doing things that worked at one time, even though they do not work anymore and do not want to change them because “that’s how we’ve always done it”. There should always be room to throw things out if they are not useful to you and to improve things with your own unique perspective of the situation.

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