Those who know me know my adoration of quotes. Over the many years at Intel I collected quotes. By the time I departed Intel, the document consisted of 79 pages and 23,978 words. Entitled “Good Quotes,” it became my touchstone as I would write my status reports.

Over a decade ago I began choosing three or four quotes to aspire to for the year. Similar to a New Year’s Resolution, the quotes related to goals. The quotes spoke to me for the skill I needed to hone, an aspiration for growth, or a reminder that this is the stuff of life.

The process I use is fairly spiritual. I don’t sit down and think “I need to listen more.” I randomly scroll down the document and look for something that speaks to me. If nothing jumps out I either scroll up or down. I typically end up with about six to choose from. Then I mull them over reflecting “What’s important for me this coming year?”

Printed out in large font, they hang in my office for the year–a visual reminder of my aspirations for the year. For 2017 the list includes:

“It isn’t that they can’t see the solution. It is that they can’t see the problem.”

–G. K. Chesterton

“Great things are done by a series of small things brought together.”

–Vincent van Gogh

“The art of life lies in constant readjustment to our surroundings.”

–Okakura Kakuzo

“We are not Human beings having a spiritual experience; we are Spiritual beings having a human experience.”

–Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

Have a Productive Day,

Anne Meixner

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