Barbara Sher quotes:

Real obstacles don't take you in circles. They can be overcome. Invented ones are like a maze.

Real Dreams don't require you to abandon your family, quit your job, and move to Tahiti with your paintbrush. They just require that you search your soul for that deep dream you put aside-and go for it. And watch your life light up.

The amount of good luck coming your way depends on your willingness to act.

When you start using senses you've neglected, your reward is to see the world with completely fresh eyes.

Everyone has unique gifts and talents. What you love is what you're gifted at. To be completely happy, to live a completely fulfilled life, you have to do what you love.

You must go after your wish. As soon as you start to pursue a dream, your life wakes up and everything has meaning.

When you play it too safe, you're taking the biggest risk of your life. Time is the only wealth we're given.

DO IT RIGHT, DO IT WRONG, BUT DO IT. Squeeze your eyes shut and jump. Because a wonderful thing happens then. Your focus shifts from yourself, your nervousness, and your imagined inadequacies to the task at hand.

Isolation is a dream killer.

Life isn't supposed to be an all or nothing battle between misery and bliss. Life isn't supposed to be a battle at all. And when it comes to happiness, well, sometimes life is just okay, sometimes it's comfortable, sometimes wonderful, sometimes boring, sometimes unpleasant. When your day's not perfect, it's not a failure or a terrible loss. It's just another day....

Being judgmental is cheap. Any fool can do it.

Imaginary obstacles are insurmountable. Real ones aren't.

You can learn new things at any time in your life if you're willing to be a beginner. If you actually learn to like being a beginner, the whole world opens up to you.

Doing your own thing is a generous act. Being gifted creates obligations, which means you owe the world your best effort at the work you love. You too are a natural resource.

You don't have to get it right the first time.

Irreverence is a declaration of independence.

It's essential to distinguish between events that are really beyond your control and events you caused yourself.

What you're really supposed to be doing is whatever makes your heart sing.

In the rush of daily living it's easy to forget all the remarkable people, real or fictional, who have been a part of your life. But if you just imagine they are near for a moment, you will realize that anyone who ever touched your heart is always with you, patiently waiting to emanate warmth and support whenever you remember to think of them.

Every time you worry that you could get trapped in some kind of work you don't care about, you're dealing with the problem of meaningfulness. I guarantee that in the back of your mind is the thought that somehow you have to make a contribution to something, be acknowledged, do something that matters-or you're just fooling around.

In the days before automobiles, people in horse-drawn wagons used to sleep if they were tired. They didn't worry about getting lost, because the horse knew the way home. Your heart knows the way to your gifts. You can trust it to take you to them.

We are like violins. We can be used as doorstops, or we can make music.

Every single one of us can do things that no one else can do - can love things that no one else can love. We are like violins. We can be used for doorstops, or we can make music. You know what to do.

Being judgmental about your own behavior is actually another cop-out because it makes you feel as though you're doing something virtuous.

And our dreams are who we are.

The first step is to find out what you love - and don't be practical about it. The second step is to start doing what you love immediately, in any small way possible.

Happy people have two things in common. They know exactly what they want and they feel they're moving toward getting it.

Imaginary obstacles are insurmountable. Real ones aren't. But you can't tell the difference when you have no real information. Fear can create even more imaginary obstacles than ignorance can. That's why the smallest step away from speculation and into reality can be an amazing relief...The Reality Solution means: Do it before you're ready.

Every time you have to make a choice about anything, think Does this go toward or away from what I want? Always choose what goes toward what you want.

Every time you worry that you could get trapped in some kind of work you don't care about, you're dealing with the problem of meaningfulness. I guarantee that in the back of your mind is the thought that somehow you have to make a contribution to something, be acknowledged, do something that matters--or you're just fooling around.

Doing is a quantum leap from imagining.

Resentment is weak and lowers your self-esteem.

A direct statement about yourself is considered objective only if it is negative. If it's positive, it is considered subjective. And 'objective' means it is accurate, and 'subjective' means it is conceited self-delusion.

It's only too late if you don't start now.

But who you are is not a concept in the sky, and it's not a record of you accomplishments either. The most original and creative side of you can re-emerge only when you get time of your own, free time, wide-open time, uncommitted time, time in which to go after dreams or do absolutely nothing if you choose. Without it you can't have a self.

You don't need endless time and perfect conditions. Do it now. Do it today. Do it for twenty minutes and watch your heart start beating.

Not fulfilling your dreams will be a loss to the world, because the world needs everyone's gift - yours and mine.

The cure for sorrow is to learn something.

Sometimes life isn't about who you were or are, but it's about who you are becoming.

Wishing and dreaming are the beginning of all human endeavor.

Change is not only likely, it's inevitable.

Down deep we really know our worth, but we don't have easy access to that knowledge. We need to hear praise coming from outside ourselves or we won't remember that we deserve it.

Unkind criticism is never part of a meaningful critique of you. Its purpose is not to teach or to help, its purpose is to punish.

Whenever you do what you really love, your heart lifts, your mind opens, and everything changes. You wake up. That's what true adventure really is.

Doing what you love isn't a priviledge; it's an obligation.

I believe you can have whatever you really want in this life, in one form or another, sooner or later. All you have to do is take care of your health and be lucky enough to live for a while. But you can't have it all at once and you can't have it forever. No life has the room for everything in it, not on the same day.

Whatever your dreams are, start taking them very, very seriously.

Find out what you love. Do it because you love it. Stick with it. Start now.

Now is the operative word. Everything you put in your way is just a method of putting off the hour when you could actually be doing your dream.

Every single one of us can do things that no one else can do can love things that no one else can love. We are like violins. We can be used for doorstops, or we can make music.

Sometimes the only thing we do to avoid success is refuse to be energetic on our own behalf

We all need to learn a new language for love - a language that speaks not in socks, pancakes, and paychecks, but in shared fascination with physics or poetry, delight in each other's uniqueness, and mutual practical and emotional support.

What you love is as unique to you as your fingerprints. You need to know that because nothing will make you really happy but doing what you love.

If you truly feared failure, you'd be very successful.

Find what you love, because greatness is based on great gifts. If you love something, you can count on the fact that you are genetically gifted at it.

Originality is genius. If you respect and care for it, it will take you on the ride of your life.

What you are is a human being, sensitive and alive, with genius inside of you. Not only that, but you are one of a kind. There has never been anyone like you before. You see the world in a unique way because you have unique gifts. That's the way nature made you. And it will feel like nothing less than fulfilling your destiny to follow those gifts to a rich and exciting life, full of purpose and meaning and enjoyment.

Isolation is the dream killer.

Action helps you think and raises your self-esteem. Good luck happens when you're in action. Ask yourself, "Does this go toward or away from what I want?" There's an animal in us, and it has great instincts. Scan for a desire and follow it. Set a goal, any goal, and start doing everything you can think of to achieve it.

Time is clay; make something.

A good work is a partnership between you and nature... Nature will help you every step of the way.

There is always a realistic way to fulfill any dream. There has never been a dream that you can't have - at least, not the heart of it, not the part you love the most.

Thinking about swimming isn't much like actually getting in the water. Actually getting in the water can take your breath away.

If you don't know how you feel, you won't know what you want.

You cannot tell your heart what it wants. Your heart will tell you

The environment that creates winners is almost always made up of winners.

Becoming mature means learning to accept what you cannot change, facing unresolved sorrows and learning to love life as it really happens, not as you would have it happen.

Your creativity is waiting for you like a dancing partner.

Doing is a quantum leap from imagining. Thinking about swimming isn't much like actually getting in the water. Actually getting in the water can take your breath away. The defense force inside of us wants us to be cautious, to stay away from anything as intense as a new kind of action. Its job is to protect us, and it categorically avoids anything resembling danger. But it's often wrong. Anything worth doing is worth doing too soon.

What you want is what you need. Your dearest wish comes straight from your core, loaded with vital information about who you are and who you can become.

A goal is the basic unit of life design.

Each destination you reach only opens out into wider horizons, new and undiscovered countries for you to explore.

Human beings are not comparable. You can't compare us any more than you can compare roses and oranges, or mountains and the sea. You might prefer living by the sea to living in the mountains. You certainly like some people better than you like others. Preferences are perfectly valid...they're just your style asserting itself again. But you'd feel pretty silly saying 'The sea is better than the mountains.' It's every bit as silly to go around saying 'I'm better than Mary, but Joe is better than me.'