Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi Quotes - Page 3

Quotes about:

• There are two main strategies we can try to improve the quality of life. The first is to try making external conditions match our goals. The second is to change how we experience external conditions to make them fit our goals better.

  Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

  Change, Two, Goal

  Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (2001). “Flow: the psychology of optimal experience”

  37 Copy quote

• Knowing oneself is not so much a question of discovering what is present in one's self, but rather the creation of who one wants to be.

  Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

  Business, Self, Knowing

  15 Copy quote

• If there is one word that makes creative people different from others, it is the word complexity. Instead of being an individual, they are a multitude. Like the color white that includes all colors, they tend to bring together the entire range of human possibilities within themselves. Creativity allows for paradox, light, shadow, inconsistency, even chaos -and creative people experience both extremes with equal intensity.

  Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

  Creativity, Light, Color White

  11 Copy quote

• 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.

  Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

  Business, Stress, Ocean

  Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (2004). “Good Business: Leadership, Flow, and the Making of Meaning”, p.34, Penguin

  23 Copy quote

• The ability to take misfortune and make something good come of it is a rare gift. Those who possess it are ..said to have resilience or courage.

  Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

  Teaching, Learning, Resilience

  Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (2001). “Flow: the psychology of optimal experience”

  12 Copy quote

• For better or worse, our future will be determined in large part by our dreams and by the struggle to make them real.

  Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

  Motivational, Dream, Real

  99 Copy quote

• The task is to learn how to enjoy everyday life without diminishing other people's chances to enjoy theirs.

  Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

  People, Everyday, Tasks

  Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (2001). “Flow: the psychology of optimal experience”

  36 Copy quote

• A leader will find it difficult to articulate a coherent vision unless it expresses his core values, his basic identity...one must first embark on the formidable journey of self-discovery in order to create a vision with authentic soul.

  Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

  Leadership, Business, Journey

  21 Copy quote

• Happiness does not simply happen to us. It's something that we make happen.

  Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

  Doe, Happens

  Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (2004). “Good Business: Leadership, Flow, and the Making of Meaning”, p.34, Penguin

  9 Copy quote

• Creative individuals tend to be smart, yet also naive at the same time... Creative individuals have a combination of playfulness and discipline, or responsibility and irresponsibility.

  Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

  Smart, Responsibility, Creativity

  16 Copy quote

• The foremost reason that happiness is so hard to achieve is that the universe was not designed with the comfort of human beings in mind...It seems that every time a pressing danger is avoided a new and more sophisticated threat appears on the horizon...Whether we are happy depends on inner harmony, not on the controls we are able to exert over the great forces of the universe

  Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

  Spiritual, Mind, Comfort

  7 Copy quote

• It is better to look suffering straight in the eye, acknowledge and respect it’s presence, and then get busy as soon as possible focusing on things we choose to focus on.

  Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

  Eye, Focus, Suffering

  Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (1997). “Finding Flow: The Psychology of Engagement with Everyday Life”, p.128, Basic Books

  17 Copy quote

• Develop what you lack.

  Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

  Growth

  10 Copy quote

• It is essential to learn to enjoy life. It really does not make sense to go through the motions of existence if one does not appreciate as much of it as possible.

  Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

  Appreciate, Enjoy Life, Essentials

  Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (1993). “The evolving self: a psychology for the third millennium”, Harpercollins

  14 Copy quote

• Competition is enjoyable only when it is a means to perfect one’s skills; when it becomes an end in itself, it ceases to be fun.

  Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

  Fun, Mean, Perfect One

  Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (2001). “Flow: the psychology of optimal experience”

  8 Copy quote

• Problems are solved only when we devote a great deal of attention to them and in a creative way...to have a good life, it is not enough to remove what is wrong with it. We also need a positive goal, otherwise why keep going? Creativity is one answer to that question - It provides one of the most exciting models for living.

  Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

  Good Life, Creativity, Goal

  10 Copy quote

• Take charge of your schedule. Make time for reflection and relaxation.

  Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

  Reflection, Relaxation, Schedules

  13 Copy quote

• To live means to experience-through doing, feeling, thinking. Experience takes place in time, so time is the ultimate scarce resource we have. Over the years, the content of experience will determine the quality of life. Therefore one of the most essential decisions any of us can make is about how one's time is allocated or invested.

  Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

  Life, Mean, Thinking

  Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (1997). “Finding Flow: The Psychology of Engagement with Everyday Life”, p.8, Basic Books

  10 Copy quote

• If we agree that the bottom line of life is happiness, not success, then it makes perfect sense to say that it is the journey that counts, not reaching the destination.

  Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

  Life, Happiness, Business

  Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (2004). “Good Business: Leadership, Flow, and the Making of Meaning”, p.38, Penguin

  7 Copy quote

• The more a person feels skilled, the more her moods will improve; while the more challenges that are present, the more her attention will become focused and concentrated.

  Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

  Focus, Challenges, Attention

  Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (2004). “Good Business: Leadership, Flow, and the Making of Meaning”, p.58, Penguin

  12 Copy quote

• It is how people respond to stress that determines whether they will profit from misfortune or be miserable.

  Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

  Stress, People, Miserable

  Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (2001). “Flow: the psychology of optimal experience”

  9 Copy quote

• Attention is psychic energy, and like physical energy, unless we allocate some part of it to the task at hand, no work gets done.

  Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

  Business, Work, Hands

  Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (2004). “Good Business: Leadership, Flow, and the Making of Meaning”, p.63, Penguin

  23 Copy quote

• Wake up in the morning with a specific goal to look forward to.

  Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

  Morning, Goal, Looks

  16 Copy quote

• Studying creativity is not an elite distraction, but provides one of the most exciting models for living.

  Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

  Creativity, Study, Distraction

  8 Copy quote

• One must develop skills that stretch capacities, that make one more than what one is.

  Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

  Skills, Capacity

  15 Copy quote

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