Darrin Donnelly > Quotes

“It’s not about what happened in the past, it’s about how you respond to what happened in the past. It’s about the lessons you learned and how you’re going to apply those lessons going forward.”
― Darrin Donnelly, Old School Grit: Times May Change, But the Rules for Success Never Do

“It’s amazing what you can achieve when you start focusing on the reasons why you can do something instead of the reasons why you can’t.”
― Darrin Donnelly, Think Like a Warrior: The Five Inner Beliefs That Make You Unstoppable

“As soon as you stop trying to move forward and you set your sights on maintaining, you start slipping backwards.”
― Darrin Donnelly, Think Like a Warrior: The Five Inner Beliefs That Make You Unstoppable

“Success is not something others can give you,” Wooden said. “True success can only be attained by knowing you did your very best to become the best you’re capable of becoming. That is how I define success.”
― Darrin Donnelly, Think Like a Warrior: The Five Inner Beliefs That Make You Unstoppable

“Here’s the most important thing to understand: your life will move in the direction of your thoughts and you’ll never achieve more than you believe you can.”
― Darrin Donnelly, Old School Grit: Times May Change, But the Rules for Success Never Do

“Every night when you go to bed, do an honest evaluation of what you did during the day. Did you give your best effort? Did you keep a positive attitude or allow yourself to get cynical or apathetic? Did you learn something important? Did you follow through on your commitments? Did you do something to push yourself closer to your goals? If the answer is no, acknowledge it and promise to not waste tomorrow. If the answer is yes, be proud of yourself and promise to not waste tomorrow.”
― Darrin Donnelly, Old School Grit: Times May Change, But the Rules for Success Never Do

“It was the process we focused on, not the results. Why? Because we have total control over the process. The results, on the other hand, aren’t always in our control.”
― Darrin Donnelly, Think Like a Warrior: The Five Inner Beliefs That Make You Unstoppable

“How you respond to the events you encounter determines your outcome. This is the secret to a successful life.”
― Darrin Donnelly, Old School Grit: Times May Change, But the Rules for Success Never Do

“Anyone can be motivated to work hard and go after something for a day, a week, or a few months. But champions are motivated to work towards something each and every day for years and years.”
― Darrin Donnelly, Old School Grit: Times May Change, But the Rules for Success Never Do

“Think about it. If you’re convinced that whether you succeed or fail at something isn’t really determined by you, then you’ll be much more likely to throw in the towel and give up when things get tough—and let me tell you, things will always get tough at times. Why continue to work at something if you’re convinced that your effort won’t ultimately make much of a difference?”
― Darrin Donnelly, Old School Grit: Times May Change, But the Rules for Success Never Do

“you allow yourself to lose track of the big picture and get distracted by things that are out of your control, you’ll never achieve your dreams.”
― Darrin Donnelly, Old School Grit: Times May Change, But the Rules for Success Never Do

“The people who achieve the most success in life are not those who somehow find a way to avoid making mistakes or encountering obstacles. No, mistakes and obstacles are an unavoidable part of life. The most successful people are those who are willing to keep moving forward after making mistakes. They find a way not to avoid life’s inevitable obstacles, but to overcome them!”
― Darrin Donnelly, Old School Grit: Times May Change, But the Rules for Success Never Do

“Optimism won’t prevent negative events from happening; optimism will ensure that you respond to those negative events in the most beneficial way possible—a way that leads to positive outcomes. Your mindset determines how you respond to the negative events that will inevitably happen to us all.”
― Darrin Donnelly, Relentless Optimism: How a Commitment to Positive Thinking Changes Everything

“If there’s one single lesson I think people today are more in need of learning than anything else it’s this: YOU control your own destiny; nobody else does. YOU are responsible for where you go from here; nobody else is.”
― Darrin Donnelly, Old School Grit: Times May Change, But the Rules for Success Never Do

“the most important decision you make is deciding how you choose to see yourself, the next most important decision is deciding who you want to surround yourself”
― Darrin Donnelly, The Turnaround: How to Build Life-Changing Confidence

“Don’t procrastinate and avoid difficult challenges. Attack and adapt.” “But what if I lose”
― Darrin Donnelly, Victory Favors the Fearless: How to Defeat the 7 Fears That Hold You Back

“Complacency is one of the worst things that can happen to a person. If you don’t have that drive and enthusiasm to always get better, you’re gonna get beat by somebody who does.”
― Darrin Donnelly, The Turnaround: How to Build Life-Changing Confidence

“It’s amazing what a man can achieve when he takes the attention off of helping himself and focuses it on helping others.”
― Darrin Donnelly, Old School Grit: Times May Change, But the Rules for Success Never Do

“Most people try to be good at lots of different things, but they never become great at any one thing. You’ll see extraordinary results when you stop trying to be good at lots of things and start trying to be great at one thing. You’ll achieve greatness when you sharpen your focus down to one, single, overriding goal.”
― Darrin Donnelly, Relentless Optimism: How a Commitment to Positive Thinking Changes Everything

“+ R = O The E stands for Events. The R stands for Responses. And the O stands for Outcomes.”
― Darrin Donnelly, Old School Grit: Times May Change, But the Rules for Success Never Do

“The man who refuses to change will never reach his full potential.”
― Darrin Donnelly, Victory Favors the Fearless: How to Defeat the 7 Fears That Hold You Back

“It’s what you do after the decision is made that matters more than the decision itself.”
― Darrin Donnelly, Victory Favors the Fearless: How to Defeat the 7 Fears That Hold You Back

“People who are insecure and loaded with self-doubt live in the past. They keep looking backwards. People who are confident are focused on the present and the future. They’re always looking forward.”
― Darrin Donnelly, The Turnaround: How to Build Life-Changing Confidence

“I focus on only the things I have total control over: MY EFFORT AND MY ATTITUDE. By focusing on only what I can control, my effort and my attitude in the present moment, I will have the peace of mind that comes from knowing the results will take care of themselves. I will not lose myself in the past or worry about the future. I will focus on the present. If I truly give my maximum effort to be the best that I can be today, I will be successful. NOTHING can take that from me.”
― Darrin Donnelly, Think Like a Warrior: The Five Inner Beliefs That Make You Unstoppable

“Within every loss—of any kind—there is a crucial lesson you’re supposed”
― Darrin Donnelly, Old School Grit: Times May Change, But the Rules for Success Never Do

“You are the culmination of all your choices up to this point.”
― Darrin Donnelly, The Turnaround: How to Build Life-Changing Confidence

“Nobody can give you success. It has to be earned.”
― Darrin Donnelly, Old School Grit: Times May Change, But the Rules for Success Never Do

“The measure of who we are is how we react to something that doesn’t go our way.”
― Darrin Donnelly, Old School Grit: Times May Change, But the Rules for Success Never Do

“You show me a weak leader and I’ll show you someone who’s afraid to make decisions. Great achievers will sometimes make poor decisions, but they’ll never make weak decisions.”
― Darrin Donnelly, Victory Favors the Fearless: How to Defeat the 7 Fears That Hold You Back

“But, I tried not to talk about winning and losing with my team. To be honest, I rarely even talked about the opponents we were facing. I did this because I wanted to keep the focus on only what we had total control over. We focused on ourselves, doing what we had to do, getting our team better. We let other teams worry about us while we only worried about ourselves.”
― Darrin Donnelly, Think Like a Warrior: The Five Inner Beliefs That Make You Unstoppable