Quotes are powerful because words are powerful. For bloggers, quotations can provide everything from motivation to inspiration.
Before the first Type-A conference, I was terrified. I had committed to spending five figures at the hotel venue. And shoot, I was lucky some days to have two figures to rub together. So, yeah. I wasn’t sleeping much at night. Risk-taking is bold, but scary. There were some days I wondered if I was crazy to even consider throwing a conference.
Then one night, one of many sleepless and anxious nights, I got out of bed in the dark all antsy and riddled with insomnia and got on my computer. Somewhere out of the vast internet, this quote stared back at me:
“We must walk consciously only part way toward our goal, and then leap in the dark to our success.”
– Henry David Thoreau
After that, I found this calm in my purpose. Whenever I would freak out about money or juggling the 40 million balls it takes to put on a conference or feel fear rising up about it being an epic failure, I would say this quote to myself. I would remind myself that I was in the middle of my leap, breathe and let the stress, terror and panic roll right over me. Today, as I reflect back on that moment and so many others, it was the leaps in my life that always led to the biggest rewards: moving to France for a year when our first was just a baby, walking away from journalism for a more family-friendly career, walking away from office life altogether to pursue my business full-time. I am a huge fan of strategic risk taking.
I survived what was my biggest leap thanks to that quote. It amazes me how intensely we can be affected by quotations.
I decided to compile a list of quotes for bloggers, and how better to do it than to crowdsource by asking bloggers their favorite quotations. I loved the responses:
From Kimberly Coleman – @foodiecitymom – Foodie City Mom
“To thine own self be true.”
– William Shakespeare
From Stacey Heneveld – @staceyheneveld – Stacey Says
[pinit url="http://typeaparent.com/quotesforbloggers.html" image_url="http://typeaparent.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/quotations-value-time.jpg" description="Quotes for Bloggers - Quotations on Business, Writing and Creativity via http://typeaparent.com/quotesforbloggers.html" float="center"](Share this quote on Pinterest)
From Dianna Brodine – @mamainpajamas – Mama in Pajamas
[pinit url="http://typeaparent.com/quotesforbloggers.html" image_url="http://typeaparent.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/quotations-she-did.jpg" description="Quotes for Bloggers - Quotations on Business, Writing and Creativity via http://typeaparent.com/quotesforbloggers.html" float="center"](Share this quote on Pinterest)
From Amanda Welbaum – @momaroo – Momaroo
“Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not.”
– Dr. Seuss
From Donna Schwartz Mills – @socalmom – SoCal Mom
“The first draft of anything is sh*t.”
– Ernest Hemingway
From Marcy Massura – @marcymassura – Marcy Writes
The harder you work, the luckier you get.
– Gary Player
From Shanaka Brown – @mamabeedoes – Mama Bee Does
[pinit url="http://typeaparent.com/quotesforbloggers.html" image_url="http://typeaparent.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/steve-jobs-quote-bloggers.jpg" description="Quotes for Bloggers - Quotations on Business, Writing and Creativity via http://typeaparent.com/quotesforbloggers.html" float="center"](Share this quote on Pinterest)
I also have a Quotes for Bloggers board on Pinterest! If you’d like to contribute it, let me know in the comments!
What is YOUR favorite quotation?
Photo credits: © Dudarev Mikhail, petarpaunchev and kornienko - Rights purchased at Fotolia.com
Kelby Carr is the founder and publisher of Type-A Parent. She also is the organizer of the Type-A Parent Conference. She is the author of Pinterest For Dummies and Pinterest Marketing For Dummies. You can follow her on Twitter at @typeamom and circle her on Google+.
