What Should I Do with My Life? Quotes

“But I'd rather help than watch. I'd rather have a heart than a mind. I'd rather expose too much than too little. I'd rather say hello to strangers than be afraid of them. I would rather know all this about myself than have more money than I need. I'd rather have something to love than a way to impress you.”
― Po Bronson, What Should I Do with My Life?: The True Story of People Who Answered the Ultimate Question

“Interests evolve into hobbies or volunteer work, which grow into passions. It takes time, more time than anyone imagines.”
― Po Bronson, What Should I Do with My Life?: The True Story of People Who Answered the Ultimate Question

“I learned that it was in hard times that people usually changed the course of their life; in good times, they frequently only talked about change. Hard times forced them to overcome the doubts that normally gave them pause.It surprised me how often we hold ourselves back until we have no choice.”
― Po Bronson, What Should I Do with My Life?: The True Story of People Who Answered the Ultimate Question

“I used to use business to make money. But I've learned that business is a tool. You can use it to support what you believe in.”
― Po Bronson, What Should I Do with My Life?: The True Story of People Who Answered the Ultimate Question

“I used to want to change the world. Now I'm open to letting it change me.”
― Po Bronson, What Should I Do with My Life?: The True Story of People Who Answered the Ultimate Question

“‎It's not easy. It's not supposed to be easy. Most people make mistakes. Most people have to learn the hardest lessons more than once.”
― Po Bronson, What Should I Do with My Life?: The True Story of People Who Answered the Ultimate Question

“The moral is to not set yourself goals which don’t leave you any freedom to maneuver.”
― Po Bronson, What Should I Do with My Life?: The True Story of People Who Answered the Ultimate Question

“Sanskrit describes five layers of self, or mind: Physical, feeling, perception, intention, and consciousness.”
― Po Bronson, What Should I Do with My Life?: The True Story of People Who Answered the Ultimate Question

“every time I am about to follow my heart, I am offered enormous temptation.”
― Po Bronson, What Should I Do with My Life?: The True Story of People Who Answered the Ultimate Question

“They want to find work they’re passionate about. Offering benefits and incentives are mere compromises. Educating people is important but not enough—far too many of our most educated people are operating at quarter-speed, unsure of their place in the world, contributing too little to the productive engine of modern civilization, still feeling like observers, like they haven’t come close to living up to their potential. Our guidance needs to be better. We need to encourage people to find their sweet spot. Productivity explodes when people love what they do. We’re sitting on a huge potential boom in productivity, which we could tap into if we got all the square pegs in the square holes and round pegs in round holes. It’s not something we can measure with statistics, but it’s a huge economic issue. It’s a great natural resource that we’re ignoring.”
― Po Bronson, What Should I Do with My Life?: The True Story of People Who Answered the Ultimate Question

“Why was I bent on encouraging people to change their lives? Because I've watched my generation stop reading books, stop reading the newspaper, stop voting in local elections? Because I've watched money/salary become a proxy for respect, and then a synonym for respect, and then the only kind of respect that counts? Because I have seen us judge books we have not read, politicians we have not heard, musicians we have not listened to, referendums we have not debated, and fellow citizens we have not met? Because I have seen us torn apart by jealousy for what others our age have accomplished, rather than celebrating those accomplishments? Because I have seen us glorify those who make decisions over those who enact decisions, prefer being a consultant to being fully engaged, being an investor to being invested in, being an advisor over being politically involved, being an expert over being partisan, being a news analyst over being a news gatherer--all in fear of the inflexible boredom of commitment?”
― Po Bronson, What Should I Do with My Life?: The True Story of People Who Answered the Ultimate Question

“A calling is not something you know, it's something you grow into, through trials and mistakes... Attack your fears, rather than shy away from them. Bring what you do in alignment with who you are...Failure's hard, but success at the wrong thing can lock you in forever.”
― Po Bronson, What Should I Do with My Life?: The True Story of People Who Answered the Ultimate Question

“You want to know where your fears are hiding? Tell me what you know about yourself. Tell me what you can't live without.”
― Po Bronson, What Should I Do with My Life?: The True Story of People Who Answered the Ultimate Question

“From our deepest wounds come our greatest gifts.”
― Po Bronson, What Should I Do with My Life?: The True Story of People Who Answered the Ultimate Question

“People who had been through a lot reported that they changed their life, or got clarity, when they became conscious of what kind of person a certain job/industry/lifestyle was turning them into.”
― Po Bronson, What Should I Do with My Life?: The True Story of People Who Answered the Ultimate Question

“We have mixed feelings about the seductive notion of destiny. There’s a persistent tension between wanting our life’s purpose to be revealed to us by some higher power and wanting to scrap and fight for it against all odds—to earn it without help. We think about destiny sort of like how we feel about inheritance—we covet its fruit but it’s sweeter if we earned it ourselves.”
― Po Bronson, What Should I Do with My Life?: The True Story of People Who Answered the Ultimate Question

“I asked him if Buddhists believe we all get a specific destiny. “We don’t think there’s a specific place in your life to go. Everybody’s destiny is to become an enlightened being and reach the everlasting state of mind.”
― Po Bronson, What Should I Do with My Life?: The True Story of People Who Answered the Ultimate Question