• any kind of lasting success requires a solid base of health, well-being, and general life satisfaction.
• A common attribute in high performers who struggle with injury and illness—both physical and emotional—is that they neglect groundedness in favor of always pushing forward.
• Individuals who prioritize taking care of their ground, however, tend to have long, fulfilling, and successful careers.
• Wise action is very different from our default mode of reaction. Whereas reaction is rushed and rash, wise action is deliberate and considerate. Wise action emerges from internal strength, from groundedness.
• when you anchor around what truly motivates you, that is getting you on the path of fulfillment.”
• how all these principles support one another, like the roots that hold a towering redwood tree to the ground. We’ll also examine an interesting paradox: why letting go of—or at least holding more lightly—outcomes such as happiness and achievement, and instead focusing on building a durable foundation of groundedness, is the surest path to becoming happier and more successful.
• Worrying about a situation or denying it altogether does not change it, but it does waste a lot of energy.
• a big reason that all of us, including McMillan’s athletes, can’t put down our phones or log off our email is because we’ve come to associate nonstop notifications with validating our importance in the world.
• Doing stuff is only valuable if the stuff we are doing is valuable.
• He has no problem declining to engage with people and projects that don’t interest him or that would leave him feeling scattered and rushed.
• People often think about the number of years in their lives. But perhaps more important is the amount of life, the amount of presence, in those years.
• “Learning how to think really means being conscious and aware enough to choose what you pay attention to and to choose how you construct meaning from experience. Because if you cannot exercise this kind of choice in adult life, you will be totally hosed.”
• When you are fully present you aren’t thinking back or ahead.
• Sometimes you need to pound the stone over and over again before it breaks. Remember, that doesn’t mean your previous blows weren’t working. The tension may very well be building, and you just can’t see it yet. A breakthrough might be right around the corner.
• The truth about progress is this: when you don’t rush the process, when you take small and consistent steps over time, you give yourself the best chance to end up with massive gains.
• “We must distinguish happiness from excitement,” writes Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh. “Many people think of excitement as happiness. They are thinking of something, or expecting something that they consider to be happiness, and for them, that is already happiness. But when you are excited you are not peaceful. True happiness is based on peace.”
• sometimes projects had to move slowly today so that they could move faster and more efficiently tomorrow.
• doing stuff for the sake of doing stuff isn’t progress. It’s just doing stuff.
• Stopping one rep short requires discipline. You need confidence in your process, confidence that if you stay patient, show restraint when appropriate, and take consistent small steps, you’ll end up with big gains.
• Pushing away your vulnerabilities and trying to convince yourself and others that you are more certain than you are is one of the surest ways to develop impostor syndrome.