The meaning of life formula

Denis Waitley - American motivational speaker, writer and consultant

Winners are people with definite purpose in life.

William James - American philosopher and psychologist

Action may not always bring happiness, but there is no happiness without action.

Buddha - Philosopher, mendicant, meditator, spiritual teacher, and religious leader

Your purpose in life is to find your purpose and give your whole heart and soul to it.

Roy T. Bennett - Author

If you have a strong purpose in life, you don't have to be pushed. Your passion will drive you there.

Roy T. Bennett - Author

You are unique. You have different talents and abilities. You don’t have to always follow in the footsteps of others. And most important, you should always remind yourself that you don't have to do what everyone else is doing and have a responsibility to develop the talents you have been given. 

Abraham H. Maslow - American psychologist

If you deliberately plan to be less than you are capable of being, then I warn you that you’ll be deeply unhappy for the rest of your life. You will be evading your own capacities, your own possibilities.

Ralph Waldo Emerson - American essayist, lecturer, philosopher

Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm. 

Joseph Campbell - American professor of literature at Sarah Lawrence College who worked in comparative mythology and comparative religion.

Life has no meaning. Each of us has meaning and we bring it to life. It is a waste to be asking the question when you are the answer.

Joseph Campbell - American professor of literature at Sarah Lawrence College who worked in comparative mythology and comparative religion.

People say that what we’re all seeking is a meaning for life. I don’t think that’s what we’re really seeking. I think that what we’re seeking is an experience of being alive, so that our life experiences on the purely physical plane will have resonances with our own innermost being and reality, so that we actually feel the rapture of being alive. 

Orison Swett Marden - American inspirational author who wrote about achieving success in life and founded SUCCESS magazine in 1897

Believe with all your heart that you will do what you were made to do.

Ernest Holmes - American New Thought writer, teacher, and leader

Know that nothing can hinder you but yourself. If you believe you can, you can.

Kelly McGonigal - Health psychologist and lecturer at Stanford University

Go after what it is that creates meaning in your life and then trust yourself to handle the stress that follows.

Tom Rath - American consultant on employee engagement, strengths, and wellbeing, and author

Every human being has talents that are just waiting to be uncovered.

Marie Forleo - American entrepreneur and New York Times bestselling author

The secret to finding your passion is to bring it to everything you do.

T. Harv Eker - Author, businessman and motivational speaker known for his theories on wealth and motivation

Nothing has meaning except for the meaning you give it.

David Joseph Schwartz, Jr. - American motivational writer and coach, best known for authoring The Magic of Thinking Big in 1959

Believe it can be done. When you believe something can be done, really believe, your mind will find the ways to do it. Believing a solution paves the way to solution.

David Joseph Schwartz, Jr. - American motivational writer and coach, best known for authoring The Magic of Thinking Big in 1959

Hope is a start. But hope needs action to win victories.

Viktor Frankl - Austrian neurologist, psychiatrist, philosopher, author, and Holocaust survivor

Life is never made unbearable by circumstances, but only by lack of meaning and purpose.

Robin Sharma - Canadian writer, best known for his The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari book series

The purpose of life is the life of purpose.

Martin Elias Pete Seligman - American psychologist, educator, and author of self-help books. Seligman is a strong promoter within the scientific community of his theories of positive psychology and of well-being

Well-being cannot exist just in your own head. Well-being is a combination of feeling good as well as actually having meaning, good relationships and accomplishment.

Nathaniel Branden - Canadian–American psychotherapist and writer known for his work in the psychology of self-esteem

Faith is the commitment of one's consciousness to beliefs for which one has no sensory evidence or rational proof. When man rejects reason as his standard of judgement, only one alternative standard remains to him: his feelings. A mystic is a man who treats his feelings as tools of cognition. Faith is the equation of feelings with knowledge.

Wallace Delois Wattles - American New Thought writer

The very best thing you can do for the whole world is to make the most of yourself.

Don Miguel Ruiz - Mexican author of Toltec spiritualist and neoshamanistic texts

You don't need to change the world; you need to change yourself.

Daniel Jay Millman - American author and lecturer in the personal development field

Faith means living with uncertainty - feeling your way through life, letting your heart guide you like a lantern in the dark.

Melanie Robbins - American lawyer, television host, author, and motivational speaker

You can’t control how you feel. But you can always choose how you act.

Tal Ben-Shahar - American and Israeli teacher, and writer in the areas of positive psychology and leadership

Happiness is the overall experience of pleasure and meaning.

Brad Stulberg - Internationally known expert on human performance, well-being, and sustainable success

Your passion should not come from the outside. It should come from within.

Jack Canfield - American author, motivational speaker, corporate trainer, and entrepreneur

If you love your work, if you enjoy it, you're already a success.

Brian Tracy - Canadian-American motivational public speaker and self-development author

Whatever you believe with feeling becomes your reality.

Todd Henry - Author, international speaker, consultant, and advisor

“Passion” has its roots in the Latin word pati, which means “to suffer or endure.” Therefore, at the root of passion is suffering. This is a far cry from the way we casually toss around the word in our day-to-day conversations. Instead of asking “What would bring me enjoyment?” which is how many people think about following their passion, we should instead ask “What work am I willing to suffer for today?”. Great work requires suffering for something beyond yourself. It’s created when you bend your life around a mission and spend yourself on something you deem worthy of your best effort. What is your worthwhile cause?

Dale Carnegie - American writer and lecturer, and the developer of courses in self-improvement, salesmanship, corporate training, public speaking, and interpersonal skills

People rarely succeed unless they have fun in what they are doing.

Russell Wilson - American football quarterback for the Seattle Seahawks of the National Football League

I truly believe ... that your positive mind-set gives you a more hopeful outlook, and belief that you *can* do something great means that you *will* do something great.

David Bayles - Accomplished photographer, author, workshop leader, and conservationist. He has studied with Ansel Adams and Brett Weston, among others, and has taught and written extensively in the arts for over thirty years

The only work really worth doing — the only work you can do convincingly — is the work that focuses on the things you care about. To not focus on those issues is to deny the constants in your life.

Phil Knight - American billionaire businessman. He is the co-founder and chairman emeritus of Nike, Inc., and was previously chairman and CEO of the company

Have faith in yourself, but also have faith in faith. Not faith as others define it. Faith as you define it. Faith as faith defines itself in your heart.

Jocelyn K. Glei - Obsessed with how we can find more creativity and meaning in our daily work. She created the online course RESET, a cosmic tune-up for your workday, and hosts Hurry Slowly, a podcast about how you can be more productive, creative, and resilient by slowing down

To build a career, the right question is not “What job am I passionate about doing?” but instead “What way of working and living will nurture my passion?

Angela Lee Duckworth - American academic, psychologist, and popular science author. She is the Rosa Lee and Egbert Chang Professor of Psychology at the University of Pennsylvania, where she studies grit and self-control

As much as talent counts, effort counts twice.

Cal Newport - American non-fiction author and associate professor of computer science at Georgetown University

Passion comes after you put in the hard work to become excellent at something valuable, not before. In other words, what you do for a living is much less important than how you do it.

Orison Swett Marden - American inspirational author who wrote about achieving success in life and founded SUCCESS magazine in 1897

Believe with all your heart that you will do what you were made to do.

Carol Dweck - American psychologist. She is the Lewis and Virginia Eaton Professor of Psychology at Stanford University. Dweck is known for her work on mindset

No matter what your ability is, effort is what ignites that ability and turns it into accomplishment.

Steven Pressfield - American author of historical fiction, non-fiction, and screenplays

Are you a born writer? Were you put on earth to be a painter, a scientist, an apostle of peace? In the end the question can only be answered by action. Do it or don't do it.

Brené Brown - American professor, lecturer, author, and podcast host

Faith is a place of mystery, where we find the courage to believe in what we cannot see and the strength to let go of our fear of uncertainty. 

Lanny Bassham - American sports shooter who won a gold medal in the 1976 Summer Olympics, and a silver medal in the 1972 Summer Olympics

Winners are convinced they will finish first. The others hope to finish first.

Gary Mack - Leading sports psychology consultant and counselor who has worked with athletes in the NBA, NFL, NHL, WNBA, and Major League Baseball

It’s a lack of faith that makes people afraid of meeting challenges, and I believe in myself,” Ali said. Also, “To be a great champion you must believe you are the best. If you’re not, pretend you are.

Matthew Kelly - Author, speaker, thought leader, entrepreneur, consultant, spiritual leader, and innovator

I will proactively seek out my mission in life in these four ways: by choosing the-best-version-of-myself in each moment, by doing what I can where I am right now to help others celebrate their best selves and to make the world a better place, by exploring how my talents and passions can be put to use to serve the needs of others, and by listening to the voice of God in my life.

Scott Adams - American artist and cartoonist. He is the creator of the Dilbert comic strip and the author of several nonfiction works of satire, commentary, and business. Dilbert came to national prominence during the downsizing period in 1990s America and reached a worldwide audience

Happiness has more to do with where you are heading than where you are.

Geoff Colvin - Author of Humans Are Underrated: What High Achievers Know That Brilliant Machines Never Will; Talent is Overrated: What Really Separates World-Class Performers from Everybody Else; and The Upside of the Downturn: Management Strategies for Difficult Times

Great performance is in our hands far more than most of us ever suspected.

Ken Robinson - British author, speaker and international advisor on education in the arts to government, non-profits, education and arts bodies

Never underestimate the vital importance of finding early in life the work that for you is play. This turns possible underachievers into happy warriors.

Ken Robinson - British author, speaker and international advisor on education in the arts to government, non-profits, education and arts bodies

The fact is that given the challenges we face, education doesn't need to be reformed -- it needs to be transformed. The key to this transformation is not to standardize education, but to personalize it, to build achievement on discovering the individual talents of each child, to put students in an environment where they want to learn and where they can naturally discover their true passions.

Warren G. Bennis - American scholar, organizational consultant and author, widely regarded as a pioneer of the contemporary field of Leadership studies

Great things are accomplished by talented people who believe they will accomplish them.

Orison Swett Marden - American inspirational author who wrote about achieving success in life and founded SUCCESS magazine in 1897. His writings discuss common-sense principles and virtues that make for a well-rounded, successful life. Many of his ideas are based on New Thought philosophy

The highest happiness is the feeling of wellbeing which comes to one who is actively employed in doing what he was made to do; carrying out the great life-purpose patterned in his individual bent.

Orison Swett Marden - American inspirational author who wrote about achieving success in life and founded SUCCESS magazine in 1897. His writings discuss common-sense principles and virtues that make for a well-rounded, successful life. Many of his ideas are based on New Thought philosophy

Believe with all your heart that you will do what you were made to do.

Orison Swett Marden - American inspirational author who wrote about achieving success in life and founded SUCCESS magazine in 1897. His writings discuss common-sense principles and virtues that make for a well-rounded, successful life. Many of his ideas are based on New Thought philosophy

The Creator has not given you a longing to do that which you have no ability to do.

Neil Pasricha - Canadian author, entrepreneur, podcaster, and public speaker characterized by his advocacy of positivity and simple pleasures

“Dale Carnegie said, "Are you bored with life? Then throw yourself into some work you believe in with all your heart, live for it, die for it, and you will find happiness that you had thought could never be yours." The Saturday Morning Test asks you to lean in to your natural passion to enrich your work and personal lives.”

Thích Nhất Hạnh - Vietnamese Thiền Buddhist monk, peace activist, and founder of the Plum Village Tradition, historically recognized as the main inspiration for engaged Buddhism

To fully experience this life as a human being, we all need to connect with our desire to realize something larger than our individual selves.

John McDonald - Editor and writer for Fortune magazine for three decades

I am master of my destiny, and I can make my life anything that I wish it to be.

Dave Ramsey - American personal finance personality, radio show host, author, and businessman 

La Rochefoucauld once said, “The most untutored person with passion is more persuasive than the most eloquent without. 

Michael Hyatt - American author, podcaster, blogger, speaker, and the CEO and founder of Michael Hyatt & Company. He has written several books about leadership, productivity, and goal setting 

You life matters. You are here for a reason. Your job is to determine why. 

Michael Hyatt - American author, podcaster, blogger, speaker, and the CEO and founder of Michael Hyatt & Company. He has written several books about leadership, productivity, and goal setting 

You have been given a gift—your life. What will you do with it? 

Wallace D. Wattles - American New Thought writer. He remains personally somewhat obscure, but his writing has been widely quoted and remains in print in the New Thought and self-help movements

Without faith, it is impossible for you to become great.

Wallace D. Wattles - American New Thought writer. He remains personally somewhat obscure, but his writing has been widely quoted and remains in print in the New Thought and self-help movements

The power which is in you, is in the things around you, and when you begin to move forward by faith, the things will arrange themselves for your advantage.

Grant Cardone - Businessman and writer, the author of the bestsellers and influential expert in the sphere of SEO international company. He founded the first online university for the sellers, where they are taught how to sell goods and services effectively, how to promote them, and achieve success in this as well

Think about it: What's the worst thing that can happen to you if you just totally go for it?

Carol Dweck - American psychologist. She is the Lewis and Virginia Eaton Professor of Psychology at Stanford University. Dweck is known for her work on mindset

Many growth-minded people didn’t even plan to go to the top. They got there as a result of doing what they love. It’s ironic: The top is where the fixed-mindset people hunger to be, but it’s where many growth-minded people arrive as a by-product of their enthusiasm for what they do.