Inky Johnson quotes: this dude turned lemons into lemonade and added vodka.
“Life is constantly testing us for our level of commitment, and life’s greatest rewards are reserved for those who demonstrate a never-ending commitment to act until they achieve. It’s the common denominator from those that live their dreams to those that live in regret.”
“Most have the will to win, few have the will to prepare to win.”
“In 2006, during a normal college football game, a routine tackle turned into a life-threatening injury. What transpired was a paralyzed right arm that ended my childhood dreams of becoming a professional instantly. Instead of thinking my life was over, I turned my life into a positive message for others. I wanted to help others not give up and show them how to keep moving forward, no matter what happens. Now I’m a mentor, speaker and I help people around the world. My videos will give you the inspiration to take action and accomplish your dreams.”
“When I played sports I would be thinking, ‘Man, I gotta go to the NFL so my family can have a better way of life.’ I would get up off that floor every morning and I would be in grind mode. I wasn’t bitter because of my circumstances, I was thankful, but it created a certain drive and a certain mindset that I have used to approach every aspect of my life.”
“At some point you just have to let go of what you thought should have happened and live in what is happening.”
“Redirection, pain, setbacks, shortcoming, highs, lows. They are all part of the process of success. Embrace it, respect it, and trust it.”
“Never complain about something you’re not willing to change!”
“Every positive change, every jump to a higher level involves a rite of passage. Each time to ascend to a higher rung on the ladder of growth, we must go through a period of discomfort or adversity.”
“Start believing in yourself. I’m proof that with the right belief and mentality, you can do anything you want in life.”
“At a certain point the old you has to die off for the new you to become.”
“Press through the struggles and appreciate what they, too, have to contribute to who you become.”
“Stop worrying how it’s going to happen and start trusting that it will.”
“So many people want success without difficult times. With social media, it’s easy to see successful people and assume they made it there without struggles or setbacks. But it wasn’t. In fact, far from it. Instead of wishing the journey will get easier, make a plan to get better. Become the person who can do the things you want to do and trust the process!”
“Show up. Don’t quit. Live it. Don’t quit. Appreciate it. Don’t quit.”
“See something. Believe in it, and go get it.”
“Don’t be upset by the results you didn’t get with the work you didn’t do.”
“I firmly believe you’re never supposed to wish for more than you’re willing to work for. Expectations should never exceed your effort. Your expectations should never be higher than your work ethic.”
“Just work! Don’t be driven by the outcome—embrace the process!”
“Give everything to everything.”
“One of the greatest pieces of advice that my mother gave me was this: ‘Son, whatever you start, you make sure you finish.'”
“And the problem with the world today is people get involved in things and if they don’t like a certain person, or if they don’t like the process, or if it’s not what they thought it was, they quit. What they don’t understand about quitting is that quitting is a habit that doesn’t just effect you… later on in life when you get a wife, and you get some kids and you’ve got a family, it’s going to come back to haunt you, and it will one day affect them.”
“That is why I tell you that the process is more important than the product. It’s not even about the outcome for me, it’s about: can you take pride in what you do as an individual?”
“What seems to us as bitter trials are often blessings in disguise.”
“Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.”
“The longer it takes to happen, the more you’ll appreciate it when it finally does.”
“We have to learn to be comfortable being uncomfortable. Pull the strip off and activate your greatness!”
“Everything we shut our eyes to, everything we run away from, everything we deny, denigrate or despise, serves to defeat us in the end. What seems nasty, painful, evil, can become a source of beauty, joy and strength, if faced with an open mind.”
“Think back to a time you set a challenging goal. If it could happen in a day or week it probably wasn’t that rewarding. But compared with something that takes months, years or even decades, how great was the celebration? Think about people who win the lottery. They squander the money because they didn’t earn it or appreciate it. So if your goal is taking longer than anticipated, hang in there. Once it happens, the celebration will be worth the wait.”
“Don’t let life get you down. Turn adversity into your success.”
“Be stronger than your strongest excuse!”
“Sometimes when things happen in life we have to remember to control the controllables.”
“Never allow life to make you forget why you started!”
“When you come out of the storm, you won’t be the same person who walked in. That’s what the storm is all about.”
“Never forget: every storm has an expiration date!”
“The most important project you can work on is molding yourself into the person you want to become.”
“People look to the outside for answers but everything you need is inside of you. You just need to take 100% responsibility and accountability for your life. To do the things you want to do in life, it’s about being that person. Imagine who your future self is and ask, ‘Would they do that?’ You have to become the person you want in your mind before you can create it into reality.”
“Courage is the commitment to being without any guarantee of success.”
“It takes courage to pursue your dreams. Most people live in a world where they’ve buried their dreams in the hopes of pleasing others. But this is no way to live your life. Make courage one of your core values in life. Have it become your guiding force. While there isn’t any guarantee of success, you will never end up with regret.”
“Perspective drives performance every day of the week.”
“It’s not where you’re trying to go in life that is the problem, it’s: what are you willing to leave behind in order to get there?”
“Ease is a greater threat to progress than hardship.”
“Be careful not to try and fast forward yourself into a future you haven’t earned. Blessings on the journey.”
“Play the hand you’re dealt like it’s the one you’ve always wanted.”
“Will you stay true to what you said you were going to do?”
“Some of my greatest lessons in life came from pain. The ability to learn is a gift, even when pain is our teacher.”
“Character is not something we inherit. Character is something we have to wake up every single day and build!”
“Character supersedes talent. Don’t allow your talent to take you where your character can’t sustain you.”
“My grandmother used to say to me, ‘Just be a good person. Right is right, and wrong is wrong.’ But that compassion piece is the key. Be open to understanding, even if you don’t get it and even if you haven’t experienced it.”
“It’s about persevering, but also paying it forward for the next person. We’re given mountains to overcome and then we have to help other people overcome their mountains by guiding them by sharing our experiences. It’s all about giving back to the world and giving back to humanity.”
“In life we realize that there is a purpose for everyone we meet. Some will test you, some will use you, and some will teach you. But most important are the ones that bring out the best in you.”
“Allow the opposition to make you better.”
“Everything we do serves as an extension of who we are.”
“Try to be better than the person you were yesterday.”
“Pride is concerned with who is right. Humility is concerned with what is right.”
“Let’s say you have a big problem, maybe you’re deep in debt or really overweight. Instead of trying to find a big solution, find a small action you can take today to make progress. Big problems don’t need big solutions, they need constant work to move in the right direction. Each day, try to be a little better than yesterday.”
“People get upset not because of the adversity they face, but because their adversity reveals who they really are.”
“If you can’t handle someone at their worst, then you don’t deserve them when they are at their best.”
“Life is a gift. Have fun and crush it this week!”
“I believe that everything happens for a reason. People change so that you can learn to let go, things go wrong so we can learn to appreciate them when they’re right. And sometimes good things fall apart so better things can fall together.”
“I never wanted to go around and share my insights and experiences. When my career changed, I fell into it. My job changed, but my mission didn’t. My mission was always to inspire people and change people’s lives. When I speak, someone in that audience needs me. Nothing happens by accident. I’m fulfilling God’s’ plan.”
“We never know what life is protecting us from. Control what you can control today.”
“Someday you will look back and understand why it all happened the way it did.”
“No amount of money ever bought a second of time. Don’t get so busy making a living that you forget to make a life!”
“Impose your will on life and life will have no choice but to give you what you want.”
“Become a champion for life. Become a Vol for Life. Be like Inky.”
Related: Eric Thomas quotes.
