Dan Sullivan > Quotes

“Always make your future bigger than your past.”
― Dan Sullivan, The Quotable Dan Sullivan

“Questions are infinitely superior to answers.”
― Dan Sullivan

“People who spend most of their time putting out fires are usually also the arsonists.”
― Dan Sullivan

“A painting is never finished—it simply stops in interesting places.”
― Dan Sullivan, Who Not How: The Formula to Achieve Bigger Goals Through Accelerating Teamwork

“Someone once told me the definition of Hell: The last day you have on earth, the person you became will meet the person you could have become.”
― Dan Sullivan, Who Not How: The Formula to Achieve Bigger Goals Through Accelerating Teamwork

“Wherever you are, make sure you’re there.”
― Dan Sullivan

“Never allow someone to be your priority while allowing yourself to be their option.” —attributed to Mark Twain”
― Dan Sullivan, Who Not How: The Formula to Achieve Bigger Goals Through Accelerating Teamwork

“Surround yourself with people who reminds you more of your future than your past.”
― Dan Sullivan

“We remain young to the degree that our ambitions are greater than our memories.”
― Dan Sullivan

“Results, not effort, is the name of the game. You are rewarded in life by the results you produce, not the effort and time you put in.”
― Dan Sullivan, Who Not How: The Formula to Achieve Bigger Goals Through Accelerating Teamwork

“What are YOU trying to accomplish? Do you have Whos in your life that give you the perspectives, resources, and ability to go beyond what you could do alone? Or are you keeping your goals so small to make them easier to accomplish them on your own?”
― Dan Sullivan, Who Not How: The Formula to Achieve Bigger Goals Through Accelerating Teamwork

“That’s what real leadership is: Creating and clarifying the vision (the “what”), and giving that vision greater context and importance (the “why”) for all Whos involved. Once the “what” and “why” have clearly been established, the specified “Who” or “Whos” have all they need to go about executing the “How.” All the leader needs to do at that point is support and encourage the Who(s) through the process.”
― Dan Sullivan, Who Not How: The Formula to Achieve Bigger Goals Through Accelerating Teamwork

“It can be easy to focus on How, especially for high achievers who want to control what they can control, which is themselves. It takes vulnerability and trust to expand your efforts and build a winning team. It takes wisdom to recognize that 1) other people are more than capable enough to handle much of the Hows, and 2) that your efforts and contribution (your “Hows”) should be focused exclusively where your greatest passion and impact are. Your attention and energy should not be spread thin, but purposefully directed where you can experience extreme flow and creativity.”
― Dan Sullivan, Who Not How: The Formula to Achieve Bigger Goals Through Accelerating Teamwork

“If we were having this discussion three years from today, and you were looking back over those three years, what has to have happened in your life, both personally and professionally, for you to feel happy with your progress? Specifically, what dangers do you have now that need to be eliminated, what opportunities need to be captured, and what strengths need to be maximized?”
― Dan Sullivan, The Dan Sullivan Question

“If greatness is your goal, it can only be achieved today.”
― Dan Sullivan, Never Own Anything That Eats While You Sleep

“Happiness is not something you pursue. Happiness is not somewhere in the future. Decades of scientific research is clear on this point: happiness is where you start, not where you finish.”
― Dan Sullivan, The Gap and The Gain: The High Achievers' Guide to Happiness, Confidence, and Success

“Specifically, what dangers do you have now that need to be eliminated, what opportunities need to be captured, and what strengths need to be maximized?”
― Dan Sullivan, The Dan Sullivan Question

“So in a world where everyone is competing with their answers, how do you differentiate yourself from everyone else? With a question.”
― Dan Sullivan, The Dan Sullivan Question

“Sometimes the greatest scientific breakthroughs happen because someone ignores the prevailing pessimism.” –Nessa Carey, British biologist1”
― Dan Sullivan, The Gap and The Gain: The High Achievers' Guide to Happiness, Confidence, and Success

“The Transforming Self is different from the Authoring Self in that rather than being individualistic and competitive, it is more relational and collaborative. When at this higher level, you engage in collaborative relationships for the sake of transformation. All parties have their own perspectives, beliefs, and agendas. Yet they come together for the purpose of having their own views, and even their own identities and sense of self expand. The whole becomes new and greater than the sum of all parts.”
― Dan Sullivan, Who Not How: The Formula to Achieve Bigger Goals Through Accelerating Teamwork

“autonomy without clarity is ultimately a disaster.”
― Dan Sullivan, Who Not How: The Formula to Achieve Bigger Goals Through Accelerating Teamwork

“To make a goal effective, you’ve got to test its outer-limits. Push it out as far as you can. Only once you make your goal impossible will you stop operating based on your current assumptions and knowledge.”
― Dan Sullivan, 10x Is Easier Than 2x: How World-Class Entrepreneurs Achieve More by Doing Less

“Too much self-centered attitude, you see, brings, you see, isolation. Result: loneliness, fear, anger. The extreme self-centered attitude is the source of suffering.”
― Dan Sullivan, Who Not How: The Formula to Achieve Bigger Goals Through Accelerating Teamwork

“Nothing happens until after you commit, and it’s only after you commit that you know what freedom feels like. As the popular saying goes, “Everything you want is on the opposite side of fear.”10”
― Dan Sullivan, 10x Is Easier Than 2x: How World-Class Entrepreneurs Achieve More by Doing Less

“That’s what real leadership is: Creating and clarifying the vision (the “what”), and giving that vision greater context and importance (the “why”) for all Whos involved.”
― Dan Sullivan, Who Not How: The Formula to Achieve Bigger Goals Through Accelerating Teamwork

“When you choose freedom over security, then you embrace a life where you choose exactly what you want, rather than vying for what you think you need.”
― Dan Sullivan, 10x Is Easier Than 2x: How World-Class Entrepreneurs Achieve More by Doing Less

“Transformational Relationships, as opposed to Transactional ones, are entered into for the purpose of change and growth. In Transformational Relationships, all parties give more than they take. There is an abundance mind-set, and an openness to novelty and change. Rather than viewing people or services as a “cost,” as in the transactional mind-set, everything is viewed as an investment, with the possibility of 10X (10 times), 100X, or even bigger returns and change.”
― Dan Sullivan, Who Not How: The Formula to Achieve Bigger Goals Through Accelerating Teamwork

“Personal confidence comes from making progress toward goals that are far bigger than your present capabilities.”
― Dan Sullivan, Who Not How: The Formula to Achieve Bigger Goals Through Accelerating Teamwork

“Maybe it was because I was always trying to fill a spiritual hole with a material thing.”
― Dan Sullivan, 10x Is Easier Than 2x: How World-Class Entrepreneurs Achieve More by Doing Less

“your attention is the most valuable property you can ever possess.”
― Dan Sullivan, Your Attention: Your Property: Take back complete control of your attention for the rest of your life.