Quotes by John C. Maxwell
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Working on a weakness within a strength zone will always produce positive results. Working on a weakness outside of the strength zone will not.

Inability to make decisions is one of the principal reasons executives fail.

I believe that everyone chooses how to approach life. If you're proactive, you focus on preparing. If you're reactive, you end up focusing on repairing.

Great communication depends on two simple skills-context, which attunes a leader to the same frequency as his or her audience, and delivery, which allows a leader to phrase messages in a language the audience can understand.

You either spend your life preparing or you spend your life repairing.

One of the roles of the Presidency is to lead a political party. Having a President in office is usually a huge advantage to a party because it gives the party a mouthpiece and an advocate at the highest level.

Any leader who asks the right questions of the right people has the potential to discover and develop great ideas.

Sometimes I think it's a lack of knowing the areas. Obviously, everybody knows that health is important so that's -- but why was I not doing the right thing? Because I was deceived.

Tomorrow really will take care of itself if I do the right thing today.

Decision-making takes care of goal-setting, but discipline also takes care of goal-getting. Decisions and discipline can't be separated; one is worthless without the other.

Don't ever be impressed with goal setting. Be impressed with goal getting.

The most successful people in life are the ones who settle their critical issues early and manage them daily.

Give them your faith, and they become confident, energized, and self-reliant.

Motivation is like love and happiness. It's a by-product. When you're actively engaged in doing something, it sneaks up and zaps you when you least expect it.

You can't grow and learn if your focus is on finding someone else to blame instead of looking at your own shortcomings.

Good leaders understand that they are stewards. They must find the best people they can, giving them the opportunity to join in the journey developing them, and encouraging them to reach their potential. But they must hold on to people lightly. Those who start with you seldom finish with you.

I really didn't settle stuff spiritually until I was 17 years of age. But through my teenage years I just knew that someday I had to settle accounts and get things straightened up and move in that direction.

A proven leader always has a proven track record.

The better you are at surrounding yourself with people of high potential, the greater your chance for success.

Attitude is the first quality that marks the successful man. If he has a positive attitude and is a positive thinker, who likes challenges and difficult situations, then he has half his success achieved.

A successful person finds the right place for himself. But a successful leader finds the right place for others. By John Maxwell.

We must focus on prayer as the main thrust to accomplish God's will and purpose on earth. The forces against us have never been greater, and this is the only way we can release God's power to become victorious.

Our days are like identical suitcases. Even though they are all the same size, some people are able to pack more into them then others. The reason? They know what to pack.

Over time, is it easier or harder to sustain your influence within your organization? With charisma alone, influence becomes increasingly more difficult to sustain. With character, as time passes, influence builds and requires less work to sustain.

Failure should be our teacher, not our undertaker.

Attitude ... is the vanguard of your true self.

True success is obeying God.

A lot of people believe they are successful because they have everything they want. They have added value to themselves. But I believe significance comes when you add value to others and you can't have true success without significance.

If you want to be positive, upbeat, and passionate, you need to take responsibility for being that way.

When a leader is upbeat in the face of discouraging circumstances, others admire that quality and want to be like her.

We cannot achieve our wildest dreams by remaining who we are.

Teams make you better than you are, multiply your value, enable you to do what you do best, allow you to help others do their best, give you more time, provide you with companionship, help you fulfill the desires of your heart and compound your vision and effort.

Talent allows people to stand out, but their wrong choices make them sit down.

In most cases, those who want power probably shouldn't have it, those who enjoy it probably do so for the wrong reasons, and those who want most to hold on to it don't understand that it's only temporary.

The wrong action done at the wrong time spells disaster The right action done at the wrong time spells resistance The wrong action done at the right time spells mistake but The right action done at the right time spells a miracle.

Every person has seeds of greatness within, even though they may currently be dormant.

Leadership deals with people and their dynamics, which are continually changing. The challenge of leadership is to create change and facilitate growth.

Effective leaders sacrifice much that is good in order to dedicate themselves to what is best.

People don't care what you know until they know you care.

No one achieves greatness by becoming a generalist. You don't hone a skill by diluting your attention to its development. The only way to get to the next level is focus.

Mistakes are the stepping stones to success.

Disappointment is the gap that exists between expectation and reality.

To move forward today, you must learn to say good-bye to yesterday's hurts, tragedies and baggage. You can't build a monument to past problems and fail forward.

You will never change your life until you change something you do daily. The secret of your success is found in your daily routine.

Motivation gets you going, but discipline keeps you growing. That's the Law of Consistency. It doesn't matter how talented you are. It doesn't matter how many opportunities you receive. If you want to grow, consistency is key.

Change alone doesn't bring growth but you cannot have growth without change.

Others are Ahead of me. I am continually Challenged. My focus is Forward. The atmosphere is Affirming. I am often out of my Comfort Zone. I wake up Excited. Failure is not my Enemy. Others are Growing. People desire Change. Growth is Modeled and Expected.

The only way a church is going to be relevant is to get out of its comfort zone and connect with unchurched people.

It's good to be out of your comfort zone. Just don't step out of your gift zone.

If we're growing, we're always going to be out of our comfort zone.

The $50 note trick -- ask who wants it even after stomping on it -- moral is, no matter what we do to it it is still worth $50. We as human beings never lose our value either despite feeling down, flat or worthless at times.

If others work for you, give your own time only to those who are willing to learn and grow.

We overestimate the event and underestimate the process. Every fulfilled dream occurred because of dedication.

Most people who want to get ahead do it backward. They think, 'I'll get a bigger job, then I'll learn how to be a leader.' But showing leadership skill is how you get the bigger job in the first place. Leadership isn't a position, it's a process.

Once a decision is made, you should stop worrying and start working. It's not always what we know that makes it a good decision. It is what we do to implement and execute it that makes it a good decision.

Good attitudes among players do not guarantee a team's success, but bad attitudes guarantee it's failure.

Goals may give focus, but dreams give power.

Time spent with a potential leader is an investment.

The Visalus Founders are the finest and sharpest young leaders that I have ever met.

Hope is not strategy. Hope fits with vision, but we must have a strategy and a process to make our vision become a reality.

One of the greatest values of mentors is the ability to see ahead what others cannot see and to help them navigate a course to their destination.

Successful people don't have any fewer problems than unsuccessful people; they just have a different mindset in dealing with them.

I can afford to take a risk in my life. Only the insecure cannot afford to risk failure. The secure can be honest about themselves. They can admit failure. They are able to seek help and try again. They can change.

People who love life have charisma because they fill the room with positive energy.

The best way a mentor can prepare another leader is to expose him or her to other great people.

Image is what people think we are; integrity is what we really are.

Personnel determines the potential of the team. Vision determines the direction of the team. Work ethic determines the preparation of the team. Leadership determines the success of the team.

Life is now in session. Are you present?

If you start today to do the right thing, you are already a success even if it doesn't show yet.

Change means traveling in uncharted waters and this causes our securities to rise.

When your through changing, your through!

While personal maturity may mean being able to see beyond yourself, leadership maturity means considering others before yourself.

Talent is a gift, but character is a choice.

Motivation gets you going, but discipline keeps you growing.

Tend to the people, and they will tend to the business.

They can't hurt you unless you let them.

Attitudes are nothing more than habits of thought.

Circumstances do not make you what you are, they reveal what you are.

The boss inspires fear; the leader inspires enthusiasm.

When the leader lacks confidence, the followers lack commitment.

Real leadership is being the person others will gladly and confidently follow.

The single biggest way to impact an organization is to focus on leadership development. There is almost no limit to the potential of an organization that recruits good people, raises them up as leaders and continually develops them.

Leadership is influence.

Pay now, play later; play now, pay later.

We cannot become what we need by remaining what we are.

Finish every day and be done with it.

Every time you make a mistake, don't bring up everything that's wrong with yourself; tell yourself that you're paying the price for growth and that you will learn to do better next time. Every positive thing you can say to yourself will help.

Every worthwhile accomplishment has a price tag attached to it. The question is always whether you are willing to pay the price to attain it -- in hard work, sacrifice, patience, faith, and endurance.

Change is inevitable. Growth is optional.

Sometimes you win, sometimes you learn.

The truth is that teamwork is at the heart of great achievement.

Rotten Attitudes ruin a team.