Chris Gardner
Don't wait for the perfect time to start making changes to your life; the time is now.Collection: Time
Your skills may not be anything out of the ordinary, but you can do miraculous things with what you've got. Maybe it's your parenting skills, or your compassion. It may be your curiosity, your imagination or unique style of fashion. Even if it seems to be no big deal, the lesson here is we all have unique abilities and talents.Collection: Parenting
Passion is everything. In fact, you've got to be borderline fanatical about what you do.
Be bold enough to find the one thing that you are passionate about. It might not be what you were trained to do. But be bold enough to do the one thing. Nobody needs to dig it but you.
Passion is not something you have to talk about. People feel it.
I say to people all the time, it is OK to fail. Some of the greatest successes in the history of America started out as failures.
I've never been big on sports coats and pants. I'm a suit guy. It makes it clear who's in charge.
I'm a Levi's guy.
I do one thing - I don't do it on purpose - but I always make other guys look underdressed.
One time, I was going to be in L.A. for 10 days for a business conference, and I took eight different pairs of sandals.
I've been saying to people for a long time, 'If you're not doing something you're tremendously excited about, and you're not feeling passionate about it, you're compromising yourself every day.'
The people who care the most about the folks in your community are living in the community. They don't live in Washington, D.C.
I've never considered selling anything other than profession, but it's more than that. It's one of the highest callings that you can aspire to. Not everyone can do it.
Business school professors don't take selling seriously because they don't know how to sell. It's easy to talk about business theory and production time and just-in-time development. Selling is much more difficult.
I was blessed to have the guys at Bear Stearns as mentors. They taught me a lot, but most of all, they taught me that there's nothing wrong with selling if you're selling the right product to the right person.
I grew up without a father.
Don't ever be afraid to hire people that are smarter than you. Just because they are smarter than you doesn't mean they have to make more money.
When you tell your kids they can be anything, you've got to be careful. I told my kids that, and I ended up with a music producer and an interior designer. But they're doing it.
Unfortunately, some of the best fathers are mothers.
A father is everything in the world.
Passion is the thing that won't let you sleep at night because you want to get up in the morning and go do your thing.
Baby steps count, too, as long as you're moving forward.
When you're doing something you're truly passionate about, there is no plan B.
I am very, very conscious of time. I always wear two watches. People ask me, 'Why do you do that?' Because I was late once,and it cost me a huge opportunity.
If you're passionate about something, you can develop the abilities.
Most of us have heard the saying, 'Cleanliness is next to godliness.' That's a sentiment I value, but another virtue has inspired me to revise that saying. As far as I'm concerned, what's next to godliness is resourcefulness.
As long as you have a plan for how you'll live, don't let jealous people turn their insecurities into yours.
I've been talking to a lot of young people, especially here in America. I let them know that the people who they're competing with for opportunities live all over the place. They're probably not in your city, state, or country; they are hungry, and they are grinding! Some of the things that a lot of us take for granted, these people don't.
My mom had to be resourceful. She grew up dirt poor in rural Louisiana.
Your net worth can fluctuate, but your self-worth should only appreciate.
I went through pain as a child so my children wouldn't have to.
Sometimes we are so busy helping others that we forget about ourselves. Remember, it's okay to say no and to ask others to carry their own weight.
Everybody got a dream. What's the plan?
Fortunately, our digital age has created some wonderful tools for finding employers and showing your strengths. But when it comes to discovering or keeping a job, nothing beats good old-fashioned face time and up-to-date skills.
Remember: If you don't schmooze, you lose. Used wisely, a bit of chitchat helps create a personal connection with your boss and colleagues.
I hold one thing dearer than all else: my commitment to my son.
Many have forged a path to greatness lit only by a vision in their minds.
You can blame outside factors or make excuses about why things didn't work out, but that doesn't change anything.
Probably the hardest question I get asked is, 'How do I choose between passion and practicality?' I can't answer that. I had to do both. I was passionate about pursuing a career in financial services. But I was also passionate about feeding my child.
I'm known to be aggressively early.
Racism is not new. It was not invented just for you. So get bigger than that stuff.
We can all learn something from people we admire.
I've created the life I wanted.
Long before I achieved financial success and became the subject of a Hollywood film, I was a veteran, a single father, and a working person who was homeless.
If you're having a hard time recognizing your gifts, look to someone else you know who's been resourceful. You may be surprised by how your own strengths rise to the surface by watching someone else.
When someone says, 'You can't,' what it really means is that they can't - so why should you get to?
Will Smith played Chris Gardner better than Chris Gardner ever did.
You're never too old to do something new.
In order for you to find a job, people need to know you're looking.
The hardest thing that I had to do every day as a working single parent was child care, to have to leave my child with people that I did not know and hope everything was OK, that was the most painful part of every day.