Shawn Achor Quotes

Let us not be satisfied with a mediocre life.

I want people to be inspired that I've always strived for excellence and I've always gone beyond what anybody ever thought I could do, what I thought I myself could do. And I've allowed myself to be inspired, kept my eyes open and my senses open to inspiration around me.

You don't set off in life to be mediocre. At least, I don't.

My biggest fear in life is to be average.

People who are unable to motivate themselves must be content with mediocrity, no matter how impressive their other talents.

Welcome every talent, hail every invention, cherish every gem of art—foster every gleam of authorship, honor every acquirement and every natural gift, lift ourselves to the level of our destinies...

It is a very poor thing, whether for nations or individuals, to advance the history of great deeds done in the past as an excuse for doing poorly in the present; but it is an excellent thing to study the history of the great deeds of the past, and of the great men who did them, with an earnest desire to profit thereby so as to render better service in the present.

You're never too old to start learning, and you're never too young to aim high and achieve great things.

There aren't enough people who are passionate with what they do. They're content just going through life being mediocre, being average. They don't want to thrive. They don't want to strive for greater. They're happy being where they are.

At the end of the day, the great ones - well, they rise, and that's what I want to do.

It's never too late to be great.

My ambition is to be the best I can be.

Always dream and shoot higher than you know you can do.

I marvel every day at how people can excel - and that’s what really gets me going.

You were created to excel. There’s no limit to how high you can go in life. Keep stretching to the next level.

Greatness is not the effect of which inspiration is the cause. We are all inspired, but we are all not great.

Study the greats and become greater

Let others lead small lives, but not you

I'd say Harvard graduates leave here with a sense of the possible and the limit - and a sense that there are no limits to what humans can do and that you can always be pushing, whatever limit you think might be there.

Not failure, but low aim is sin.

I'm just a young person trying to fulfil his potential and be the best he can be at what he wants to do... I guess that's why people connect with the music.

As a leader, I am tough on myself and I raise the standard for everybody; however, I am very caring because I want people to excel at what they are doing so that they can aspire to be me in the future.

Do not sit down in Satan's easy chair of do-little, but arise and aim at the elevated standard which it is your privilege to attain.

I keep setting the bar higher for myself in terms of what I'm trying to accomplish.

I want to do my hard dives really well, I want to see what my true potential in this sport really is. I want to grasp that.