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Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi Quotes

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Famous Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi Quotes

“...if we expended all our energies solely on taking care of our own needs we would stop growing. In that respect what we call "soul" can be viewed as the surplus energy that can be invested into change and transformation. As such, it is the cutting edge of evolution.”

IfsNeedsSoulCareEnergyChangeBusinessCuttingGrowingEvolutionTransformationEdgesSurplusCutting Edge
Book:Good Business: Leadership, Flow, and the Making of Meaning
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“The downside, of course, is that over time religions become encrusted with precepts and ideas that are the antithesis of soul, as each faith tries to protect its doctrines and institution instead of nurturing the evolution of consciousness. If one is not careful to distinguish the genuine insights of a religion from its irrelevant accretions, one can go through life following an inappropriate moral compass.”

IfsTryingIdeasSoulFaithCoursesBusinessConsciousnessMoralEvolutionProtectInstitutionsCarefulFollowingInsightGenuineDoctrineIrrelevantCompassNurturingInappropriateAntithesisMoral Compass
Book:Good Business: Leadership, Flow, and the Making of Meaning
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“Jane Fonda, who divided her life into three acts, decided after her sixtieth birthday that she was now facing the final act, and came to the following conclusion: "I thought to myself, well if that's the case and if what I'm scared of isn't death, but getting to the end with regrets, then I've got to figure out what would be the things that I would regret when I got to the last act if I hadn't done them or achieved them by then. And they were: having an intimate relationship and having made a difference."”

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Book:Good Business: Leadership, Flow, and the Making of Meaning
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“However, a good life consists of more than simply the totality of enjoyable experiences. It must also have a meaningful pattern, a trajectory of growth that results in the development of increasing emotional, cognitive, and social complexity.”

SocialGrowthResultsBusinessEmotionalDevelopmentExperiencePatternsMeaningfulComplexityGood LifeEnjoyableTotalityCognitiveTrajectory
Book:Good Business: Leadership, Flow, and the Making of Meaning
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“To know oneself is the first step toward making flow a part of one's entire life. But just as there is no free lunch in the material economy, nothing comes free in the psychic one. If one is not willing to invest psychic energy in the internal reality of consciousness, and instead squanders it in chasing external rewards, one loses mastery of one's life, and ends up becoming a puppet of circumstances.”

IfsKnowsFirstsEndsRealityEnergyLosesBusinessConsciousnessStepsEconomyWillingMaterialsBecomingCircumstancesFlowRewardsOneselfInternalsLunchMasteryFirst StepsPsychicsChasingPuppetsKnowing OneselfFree Lunch
Book:Good Business: Leadership, Flow, and the Making of Meaning
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“...perhaps the most distinguishing trait of visionary leaders is that they believe in a goal that benefits not only themselves, but others as well. It is such vision that attracts the psychic energy of other people, and makes them willing to work beyond the call of duty for the organization.”

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Author:Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
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“When each of these three elements of vision-concern for excellence, for people and for the wider environment-are present, business is transformed from a tool for making profits into a creative, humane experiment for improving life.”

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Book:Good Business: Leadership, Flow, and the Making of Meaning
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“Our jobs determine to a large extent what our lives are like. Is what you do for a living making you ill? Does it keep you from becoming a more fully realized person? Do you feel ashamed of what you have to do at work? All too often, the answer to such questions is yes. Yet it does not have to be like that. Work can be one of the most joyful, most fulfilling aspects of life. Whether it will be or not depends on the actions we collectively take.”

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Book:Good Business: Leadership, Flow, and the Making of Meaning
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“Enjoyment, on the other hand, is not always pleasant, and it can be very stressful at times. A mountain climber, for example, may be close to freezing, utterly exhausted, and in danger of falling into a bottomless crevasse, yet he wouldn't want to be anywhere else. Sipping a piña colada under a palm tree at the edge of the turquoise ocean is idyllic, but it just doesn't compare to the exhilaration he feels on the windswept ridge.”

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Book:Good Business: Leadership, Flow, and the Making of Meaning
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“Contrary to what most of us believe, happiness does not simply happen to us. It's something that we make happen, and it results from doing our best. Feeling fulfilled when we live up to our potentialities is what motivates differentiation and leads to evolution.”

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Book:Good Business: Leadership, Flow, and the Making of Meaning
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“Some individuals have developed such strong internal standards that they no longer need the opinion of others to judge whether they have performed a task well or not. The ability to give objective feedback to oneself is in fact the mark of the expert.”

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Book:Good Business: Leadership, Flow, and the Making of Meaning
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“Half a century ago, the Austrian psychiatrist Viktor Frankl wrote that happiness cannot be attained by wanting to be happy - it must come as the unintended consequence of working for a goal greater than oneself.”

HappinessGoalBusinessHalfGreaterCenturyConsequenceOneselfPsychiatristWant To Be HappyHalf A CenturyUnintended ConsequencesViktor Frankl
Book:Good Business: Leadership, Flow, and the Making of Meaning
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“Many business leaders today view their jobs as entailing responsibility for the welfare of the wider community. These individuals do not define themselves as profit-making machines whose only reason for existing is to satisfy escalating expectation for immediate gain.”

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Book:Good Business: Leadership, Flow, and the Making of Meaning
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