I am a reader. I read books, blogs, online articles, graffiti, and … well you get the picture. In the midst of my reading I love pulling out quotes that hit me. Some reinforce my beliefs and practices, some challenge my thinking, some start a conversation and some just make me pause. So here are a few of my favorite quotes from the past week or two.

“Insight without action is worthless.” – Marie Forleo – I love this quote because it is often easy to just state a belief but do nothing about it. Without putting the belief, or insight, into my living then that belief must not be that important.

“The leaders who make the most progress make the fewest excuses. And the leaders who make the most excuses make the least progress.” – Carey Nieuwhof – When things don’t go as we hope it is so easy to just make an excuse to justify our lack of progress. This quote is a stark reminder that as a leader my role is not to make excuses but to make progress.

“Any fool can make something complicated. It takes a genius to make it simple.” – Woody Guthrie – I am not sure about the “genius” part of this quote but I wholeheartedly agree with the meaning of this quote. It is often tempting to makes things sound complicated to make me sound like more of an expert. But the truth is that a true expert, and a good leader, will figure out a way to make things sound simple, or to break them down into simple steps. Note to self, make sure anything I am leading can be understood.

“Lost in debt, but your love came to find me.” – Brent Younker from his song “The Way”. I love the truth and power of these words.

“Requiring a lot of time does not make a task important.” – Timothy Ferriss – Setting priorities is vital for anyone who is attempting to make an impact. In this process I must fight the urge to spend too much time on something just because it is time consuming and to spend my time on what matters most. It is easy to get off track by spending too much time on the wrong things.

“Acting on the plan may not always bring success, but there is no success without some action.” – Me – This goes well with the first quote in this post. I must guard against just being busy, but I need to act to succeed.

“The only thing you need to do is the next right thing.” – Glennon Doyle Melton – I love this quote. I used in a sermon a couple of weeks ago. It is so easy to get all tied up in looking at a long list of things we need to do and then becoming paralyzed by the choices. This brings us back to the basics. Just figure out what is the next thing, the next right thing, then do it. Then the results will take care of themselves.

Here’s hoping some of these will resonate with you and that you have your own quotes that made an impact on you this week. I would love to read the quotes that have impacted you recently, leave them for me in the comments.

Dennis