Seth Godin Quotes

I still worry that I could be better. That's where standards come from, from not wanting to settle. The fear of not being good enough propels you.

I second-guess and overthink and rethink every single thing that I do.

I had such high expectations of myself. I was going to be the best mother, the best housewife, the best entertainer, the best nurse, you know - what it was, I was going to be the best. And I could never live up to my expectations.

That disturbs people when they know they didn't have the guts or integrity to stick to their dreams.

You can criticize something you strive for, and you can avoid something you dream about.

I don't like doing most things unless I can do them quite well.

Mediocrity scares me. It's the fear of not being as good as you want to be. If you give over to that fear, it will sabotage you. As much as I can, I try to use that fear to guide me.

A man would do nothing if he waited until he could do it so well that no one could find fault.

Sometimes I really wish that I could sit back and enjoy it, live in the moment more. But I am terrified, and I want to better myself, not that I want to prove anything to anyone other than myself. I am ambitious, and there are many things I want to do. It doesn't get any easier.

I've learned how my own perfectionism can cripple me.

I'm the kind of person who can paralyze myself very easily by over-thinking decisions.

I didn't have the courage to let myself think or dream of acting because I come from Luxembourg - it's a very small country, and I think it's a place you need to get away from to see how big the world is and what's possible.

I've always been like this - insecure - because I'm striving for something that can't be attained. I don't just want to be OK at this: I want to be the best at it, and I've never achieved that in my mind.

I'm supposed to be perfect.

I had to ask myself if the reason I had never asked to direct before was because I really didn't want to, or because I didn't think I deserved a spot at the table.

If your fidelity to perfectionism is too high, you never do anything.

The comfort zone takes our greatest aspirations and turns them into excuses for not bothering to aspire.

I have to have everything in my life completely fixed and perfect and cleaned up and I have to be complete with everyone in my life and I have seven days in which to do that. So I might make it to day three or four, but I've never made it all the way to day seven.

You could do anything, if only you dared. And deep down, you know it, too. That’s what scares you most.

I have a deathly fear of mediocrity and that nips at my heels and gets me into a lot of trouble.

Striving for perfection is the greatest stopper there is. You'll be afraid you can't achieve it. It's your excuse to yourself for not doing anything. Instead, strive for excellence, doing your best.

You'll never get anywhere if you go about what-iffing like that.

I am overcome by my own amazing sloth...Can you please forgive me and believe that it is really because I want to do something well that I don't do it at all?

We are always afraid to start something that we want to make very good, true, and serious.

The need to be a great artist makes it hard to be an artist. The need to produce a great work of art makes it hard to produce any art at all. . . Fear is what blocks an artist. The fear of not being good enough. The fear of not finishing. The fear of failure and of success. The fear of beginning at all.