Matthew Kelly

Regardless of what area of your life you would like to transform, I want to show you how we bridge the gap between our desire for change and actually creating real and sustainable change in our lives.

Think about it. In what moments over the past week or two were you at your very best? What were the contributing factors? How can you increase the number of those moments?

Problems are opportunities to build character.

Character is built one habit at a time. Good character is built one virtue at a time. Virtue is a good habit, a habit that leads us to become the-best-version-of-ourselves. The cornerstone of character is virtue.

How much discipline is enough? The answer depends on how happy you want to be, and for how long you want that happiness to last.

The key to thriving in the midst of complexity is simplicity.

Let us not seek what is easy. Let us boldly seek what is possible.

In each moment, just do the next right thing and your life will begin to flood with joy.

Whether you are sixteen or sixty, the rest of your life is ahead of you. You cannot change one moment of your past, but you can change your whole future. Now is your time.

Learn to master the moment of decision and you will live a life uncommon.

The great people of history remove all limitation from their dreams, and once they establish their dream, they seek it with unrelenting energy.

This is the great modern paradox: We know the things that make us happy; we just don’t do them.

Have you ever given your best, your all, to anything? What do you think would happen if you did?

Your character is your destiny. Building character is a task only for the brave and dedicated.

Discipline yourself to do it. Every disciplined effort has its own multiple rewards.

You cannot live without dreams. Dreams foster hope, and hope is one of the forces by which men and women live.

Your future is forged and your actions determined by your dominant thoughts.

The meaning and purpose of life is for you to be the-best-version-of-yourself.

Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body and prayer is to the soul. We become the books we read.

Success always has required and always will require sacrifice. If success were easy, it would be common. It is difficult and that is why it is rare. More people have talent than you would think. Few are willing to make the necessary sacrifices.

How is the best way to live? It is a question that challenges us to consider how we are living our one short life and what is possible. It is a question that challenges our lives to evolve.

If the next leap in human excellence will be the result of energy management, we need to become infinitely familiar with the people, places, things, and activities that energize us—and equally familiar with the people, places, things, and activities that drain our energy.

You can have a more satisfying life. You can have both personal and professional satisfaction. But nobody is going to just give it to you. It must be sought with relentless desire and commitment. Above all else, satisfaction must be sought patiently and with an overwhelming sense that we are responsible for creating satisfaction.

To lay your head on your pillow at night, knowing that who you are and what you do makes sense . . . now, that is satisfaction.

So the bad news is that you cannot have it all. The good news is that you don’t really want it all. The even better news is that you can experience incredible levels of satisfaction both personally and professionally if you take the time to work out what matters most to you.

If you had to choose between balance and satisfaction, which would you choose?