Molly Fletcher quotes: lessons from the sports agent turned motivational speaker.
“When we own the story we tell ourselves, when we have the courage to change the story we tell ourselves, we can do some amazing things.”
“Get clear on your personal mission. Purpose is everything. My personal mission statement is this: ‘To connect, inspire, and lead with creative courage and optimism.'”
“I believe whatever you chase chases you back.”
“My father taught me success is something you have to wait for; it doesn’t all happen at once.”
“Success rarely comes with a lightning bolt. It’s usually the product of showing up every day and chipping away at the tasks and challenges that stand between you and your goal.”
“Sometimes hard work is not fun, especially when it turns boring. But what if your process could be as fun as your result? Find a way to beat boredom through this small powerful tip for motivation: celebrating the small milestones. Appreciating incremental progress is so important.”
“Suspense is part of play. Sensor wristbands, poetic words and countless other workarounds can help sustain your sense of play and keep drudgery away. We owe it to ourselves to protect the sense of joy and fun doing what we love, so our own unique passions never become a grind.”
“Everyone has to find the small inspirations that help each of us push through the obstacles. Avoid being stuck by looking for ways to simply quantify your progress, and keep your passion and sense of play going. Celebrate the small milestones!”
“Have you started out strong? Are some of your goals already history? Or are you still waiting to get going? Procrastination is such a big problem that there is a full-time study of it.”
“Do what you need to do first. Then do what you want to do.”
“We’ve got to step into our opportunities. They’re not always going to come to us. Inside of those opportunities we grow.”
“When we ask for advice we get a job. When we ask for a job we get advice. When we ask for advice we get business. When we ask for business we get advice.”
“Little moments create really big moments.”
“Negotiating success begins by acquiring great knowledge. Collect as much data about what is at stake and the person or organization that controls what you want. The data you collect allow you to seamlessly navigate the natural ebbs and flows inside of a negotiation.”
“Assertiveness and fearlessness are two keys to success. It’s important to stay curious and learn how to step into uncomfortable moments.”
“Nothing extraordinary has ever happened by staying comfortable. What would happen if we traded comfort for courage? What if we traded obstacles for opportunity? What if we traded circumstances for vision? We would fear less and innovate more.”
“Prepare yourself to act with less fear and more intention. More authenticity. Especially if the life you want is not the one you are living right now.”
“Fear is real, and it is powerful. But it doesn’t have to rule us. Here’s what I wholeheartedly believe when it comes to fear: by practicing acts of fearlessness in the small moments of daily life, we prepare ourselves for big outcomes.”
“Fear paralyzes people, and the higher the stakes, the greater the fear. Fear usually enters the picture when a decision is within reach or a deadline is looming. There’s so much on the line that it’s easy for people to get anxious and defensive.”
“We cannot be fearless without taking ownership of the things in our lives. To be fearless we must own our mistakes.”
“Being fearless, the first step is finding our purpose because it suffocates fear.”
“Being fearless means taking calculated risks.”
“Fearlessness is a process, not a single passage. It is achieved breath by breath. It’s not a question of moving fast or far or perfectly. It is about having the ability to look at your fears squarely, learn to stay there, and find your inner resources that will help you move around fears. Fearlessness is about keeping going.”
“What if I couldn’t make a living from speaking and consulting? What if those fears came true? It was my turn to say no to fear and yes to fearlessness. It was time to act fearlessly. From the field of sports representation, I reinvented myself as my own boss, in another world where fear is a deal breaker: public speaking.”
“We can’t be fearless without being curious about what is possible in our lives.”
“When we have a clear purpose it changes our behavior.”
“If you don’t have a clear purpose, you are more likely to sacrifice your time, energy, and resources to the desires of others and to stay in a place of passivity and fear. I can’t say enough about how hard this is, how much commitment it takes, and how satisfying it is to embrace and follow your unique purpose, not to mention how much of an edge it gives you over your competitors who don’t want to or can’t do this rigorous work.”
“A strong mission statement that captures your passion and individuality will become an important lens through which to view everything. You will use it to clearly identify the small opportunities to change your behavior and trade for fearlessness. You will be free to say no when everyone around you thinks you should say yes.”
“Pay attention to small opportunities to practice your values. Maybe take a risk to create a new ritual that will push you toward your purpose. Thinking small can lead to taking small steps in a new direction. All those steps make up a journey to big moments—and your highest performance. It’s up to you to identify these small moments and seize their potential, especially if you want to make big moves. This is the easiest, most consistent way to become fearless.”
“Embrace vulnerability. The greatest change happens when we surrender completely. This requires being vulnerable. It takes a great deal of strength to say that your previous way of doing things isn’t working anymore. You cannot do this by yourself. Vulnerability does not mean being weak or submissive. On the contrary, it implies the courage to be yourself. It means ‘replacing professional distance and cool’ with uncertainty, risk and emotional exposure.”
“You demonstrate vulnerability by letting go of perfection and the illusion of power. For many of us, that may involve acknowledging a higher power. Whatever your view of the world, vulnerability will help equip you with new rituals for a life of fearlessness.”
“You achieve a fearless mindset when you trade your typical reactions and habits for new ways of thinking and acting that position you for your greatest success and fulfillment. By adopting these small changes, over time, you will begin to see your life change. You will be more aware and motivated. You will make better decisions aligned with your true values. Tough conversations will become easier and even welcome. You will unleash your best energy. One moment at a time, you will become fearless.”
“There’s a difference between achievement and fulfillment.”
“Balance is a product of clarity. The more clarity you have, the more you can determine what to say yes or no to. The byproduct of that is balance.”
“Do you feel like you’re always running low on energy? Cut the stressors and begin to live your life renewed. It is a game-changing way to give more of yourself to what’s most important, and waste less of your time and resources on what’s not.”
“When your home or office’s heating and cooling system isn’t working efficiently, it’s time for an energy audit. The same principle applies to people who seek greater productivity. You might think of heat as the energy you need to get things done, and cooling as the energy replacement time (downtime) needed in between those bursts. Both are super important, especially to avoid burning out. You have to have the guts to ditch the things that don’t bring meaning to your life.”
“When you develop an awareness of habits that affect your energy, you can begin to strategize ways to manage your energy even better. An energy audit will help you develop and practice being intentional. High achievers know that you must prepare well to deal with people, places and things that drain your energy. Most of all, recognize that you control your energy—how you spend it, where it goes and how you can allocate it better. Awareness of energy will change how you manage your time, and change it for the better.”
“Recovery from adversity takes discipline. So the next time you think of discipline, think of it as being intentional in all areas of your life. Just like you have to have the discipline to go work out every day, you also have to practice in order to become mentally disciplined. When you become disciplined in the ways you think, it eventually becomes habit.”
“If we can get really, really clear on what matters most, then what we have to have is really the discipline and the courage, at times, to say no to the things that don’t align with what matters most.”
“You better be better than your problems.”
“Success in business is rooted in relationships, and those who cultivate relationships rise to the top.”
“Relationships are integral to our business success. It’s everything. Are you putting energy in and investing in the right relationships?”
“We can’t lead, we can’t serve, we can’t solve problems if we don’t have enough energy.”
“In order to lead, you have to inspire people to want to follow. A true leader knows that leadership extends beyond self.”
“I often find great leaders are consistently curious. And they create an environment internally with their teams, where curiosity is embraced, and where their employees feel safe. Leaning into curiosity, asking at times, maybe difficult questions, not being afraid to push the envelope because the leaders created an environment. It’s safe to do that. So curiosity to me is an incredibly powerful thing. And I don’t think it’s, I don’t think you can put it in a box and say that it comes out in certain times of the day or in certain situations, I think we can all be curious, all throughout the day in all kinds of circumstances. And that’s how we learn and grow.”
“The ability to be coachable is key.”
“You’ve got to have the courage to ask the questions and then you’ve got to be able to listen and then absorb that feedback.”
“People want to help people and work with people they like.”
“If they like you, they’ll want to help you. If you do your research, they’ll respect you.”
“Authentically give to those people who are helping you without expecting anything back. They’ll begin to feel they want to help you.”
“When you connect you can parent better; when you connect, you can lead better. The days are filled with opportunities to connect.”
“As a parent, the natural inclination is to step in and help your kid solve a problem. However, a more hands-off approach can give your kid the confidence to solve problems on their own.”
“It’s important that kids stay in love with whatever they’re doing because they learn so much more than whatever their sports record is.”
“If you stay curious about how to serve people, then you can uncover opportunities to allow you to serve them.”
“Stay curious, be a sponge and recognize that there’s mentors everywhere around you in the work that you do.”
“Along the way, just be gentle on yourself. We have a lot of people that pull on us and we won’t get it right all the time but, the more we get it right, the more we show up as our best selves.”
“A great John Wooden quote, ‘Discipline yourself and others won’t need to.’ The best athletes in the world face adversity. Sometimes we think athletes must be superhuman. They must be so confident that they never doubt themselves and certainly they must never fail. In reality, the most successful performers experience challenges too, but they are disciplined in how they respond to them. They don’t allow adversity to consume them; instead they embrace it as a challenge. They create routines that help them re-center and remain focused when otherwise they might start to slip. They root themselves in preparation and trust in their work when the game is on the line.”
“It’s not about achievement. It’s not about the chase. It’s what happens along the way.”
