Marshall Goldsmith Quotes

You need to take a long, hard look in the mirror and not come away thinking, "Hey, there's something wrong with this mirror."

No man has a chance to enjoy permanent success until he begins to look in a mirror for the real cause of all his mistakes.

I wish I could say confidently that pacing remains my weak point, if you could talk about your own stuff without sounding like you're self-obsessed. But I think you kind of have to be.

It's more important to know your weaknesses than your strengths.

I've been criticized for not having perspective in the past and I thought that of myself many times but not there.

You have to attempt to be objective about yourself.

I'm not good at watching myself.

I think a lot about my own game.

I evaluate myself at the end of every year.

Part and parcel of trying to understand and recognise your strengths and weaknesses is to be brutally honest with how you reflect on what you are yourself. I can't fundamentally change what I am.

I am not a very good man, Effie, but I think that I am a better one than you have given me credit for being.

I guess I am conscious of my weaknesses, and I think pacing is probably my biggest. I don't know if I think the clarity thing is actually a weakness. It was a stylistic choice.

I think it's important for people like me to evaluate and reevaluate.

Little mirrors were attached to the front of their cars, at which they glanced to see where they had been; then they stared ahead again. I had thought that only beetles had this delusion of Progress.

If you think everything you've done is great, you're probably dumb.

One problem people have is that they lie to themselves. Rarely is talent enough. You have to find ways to make yourself standout. You do so by playing to your strengths and making people aware of those strengths.

It's rare for artists to really stare deeply at themselves in the mirror, literally, because there's constantly a mirror on you. But figuratively speaking, I'm really into growth, so when I look in the mirror, I see somebody who's just trying to get better everyday.

educators best serve students by helping them be more self-reflective. The only way any of us can improve—as Coach Graham taught me—is if we develop a real ability to assess ourselves. If we can’t accurately do that, how can we tell if we’re getting better or worse?

It's hard to do, but I think it's really important to go back and watch yourself.

I used to be weird about it, but I think sometimes you can learn from watching yourself and all the mistakes you make and try to continue growing. But I'm completely uncomfortable for sure.

The many speak highly of you, but have you really any grounds for satisfaction with yourself if you are the kind of person the many understand?

If someone is self-aware, then they can always continue to grow. If they're not self-aware, I think it's harder for them to evolve or adapt beyond who they already are.

I try to be self-analytical, both to outline the mistakes I made in my life and try to explain why I did, and the things that on balance I did pretty well on.

A great man la an abstraction of some one excellence; but whoever fancies himself an abstraction of excellence, so far from being great, may be sure that he is a blockhead, equally ignorant of excellence or defect of himself or others.

Know your strengths, weaknesses, and needs.