There are a few quotes on my office walls. I thought it would be interesting to share them with you, and perhaps start a dialog about how words influence the ways our brains work, the way our emotions react and the way we make decisions based on those words.

One of my favorites is in my line-of-sight from my computer monitor.

1. It is by Peter Drucker as he was talking about Knowledge Work. “What are the expected results from this work?” and the subheading I have on this sheet is “Manage your actions, not your stuff.”

While I didn’t source any of the quotes when I wrote them down, I think this was referenced in a book either by David Maister or David Allen.

On any given day, the clutter on my desk supports the theory that I’m not that proficient at managing my “stuff,” but I’m still a work in progress.

The next two quotes are actually taped to the only painting that hangs in my office. The painting is a watercolor print of sailboats lined up in front of what seems to me to be a row of Mediterranean row houses facing a body of water. One of the houses is orange. My old office had an orange wall. This painting doesn’t match so well here, but I have a passion for sailboats…so it stays. But I digress.

2. “If you do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you’ve always gotten.” This was written by Anthony Robbins.

This one pretty much tells it like it is. And while my default on this is to see the negative version of this: ‘you’ll get what you have coming to you,’ the inverse sentiment is also true. Find success. Rinse, wash, repeat.

3. “You are what you think about all day long.” This quote is sourced to Dr. Robert Schuller and under it I noted the “Law of Attraction: you will attract into your life whatever you focus on.”

I prefer #3 to #2. Again, direct and to the point, Schuller doesn’t spend a lot of time and words talking about the impact. He simply continually impresses on me that I have to change my mind.

So my random questions: (now that we’re taking comments, we can actually converse about this!)

a. What do you think of my quotes?
b. What are some of the words you live by?

My all-time favorite quote is by an as-yet-unpublished-author named Kelly Ferrara. And I have this printed on my business cards: “It is hard to see the ripples when you are the rock. Our words and actions have an impact, so choose them carefully.”