Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi Quotes - Page 3

Quotes about:

Wake up in the morning with a specific goal to look forward to.

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

Morning, Goal, Looks

16 Copy quote
For a person to become deeply involved in any activity it is essential that he knows precisely what tasks he must accomplish, moment by moment.

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

Focus, Essentials, Tasks

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (2004). “Good Business: Leadership, Flow, and the Making of Meaning”, p.37, Penguin

16 Copy quote
Take charge of your schedule. Make time for reflection and relaxation.

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

Reflection, Relaxation, Schedules

13 Copy quote
A leader will find it difficult to articulate a coherent vision unless it expresses his core values, his basic identity...one must first embark on the formidable journey of self-discovery in order to create a vision with authentic soul.

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

Leadership, Business, Journey

21 Copy quote
If there is one word that makes creative people different from others, it is the word complexity. Instead of being an individual, they are a multitude. Like the color white that includes all colors, they tend to bring together the entire range of human possibilities within themselves. Creativity allows for paradox, light, shadow, inconsistency, even chaos -and creative people experience both extremes with equal intensity.

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

Creativity, Light, Color White

11 Copy quote
It is better to look suffering straight in the eye, acknowledge and respect it’s presence, and then get busy as soon as possible focusing on things we choose to focus on.

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

Eye, Focus, Suffering

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (1997). “Finding Flow: The Psychology of Engagement with Everyday Life”, p.128, Basic Books

17 Copy quote
It does not seem to be true that work necessarily needs to be unpleasant. It may always have to be hard, or at least harder than doing nothing at all. But there is ample evidence that work can be enjoyable, and that indeed, it is often the most enjoyable part of life.

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

Joy, Doe, Needs

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (2001). “Flow: the psychology of optimal experience”

24 Copy quote
For original ideas to come about, you have to let them percolate under the level of consciousness in a place where we have no way to make them obey our own desires or our own direction. Their random combinations are driven by forces we don't know about.

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

Ideas, Intellectual, Intelligence

27 Copy quote
For better or worse, our future will be determined in large part by our dreams and by the struggle to make them real.

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

Motivational, Dream, Real

99 Copy quote
Problems are solved only when we devote a great deal of attention to them and in a creative way...to have a good life, it is not enough to remove what is wrong with it. We also need a positive goal, otherwise why keep going? Creativity is one answer to that question - It provides one of the most exciting models for living.

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

Good Life, Creativity, Goal

10 Copy quote
Some individuals have developed such strong internal standards that they no longer need the opinion of others to judge whether they have performed a task well or not. The ability to give objective feedback to oneself is in fact the mark of the expert.

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

Strong, Business, Giving

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (2004). “Good Business: Leadership, Flow, and the Making of Meaning”, p.38, Penguin

16 Copy quote
However, a good life consists of more than simply the totality of enjoyable experiences. It must also have a meaningful pattern, a trajectory of growth that results in the development of increasing emotional, cognitive, and social complexity.

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

Meaningful, Business, Good Life

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (2004). “Good Business: Leadership, Flow, and the Making of Meaning”, p.20, Penguin

15 Copy quote
For better or worse, our future is now closely tied to human creativity.

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

Creativity, Our Future, Humans

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (2009). “Creativity: Flow and the Psychology of Discovery and”, p.6, Harper Collins

15 Copy quote
Most of us become so rigidly fixed in the ruts carved out by genetic programming and social conditioning that we ignore the options of choosing any other course of action. Living exclusively by genetic and social instructions is fine as long as everything goes well. But the moment bioloical or social goals are frustrated- which in the long run is inevitable - a person must formulate new goals, and create a new flow activity for himself, or else he will always waste his energies in inner turmoil.

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

Running, Long, Goal

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (2001). “Flow: the psychology of optimal experience”

13 Copy quote
It is essential to learn to enjoy life. It really does not make sense to go through the motions of existence if one does not appreciate as much of it as possible.

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

Appreciate, Enjoy Life, Essentials

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (1993). “The evolving self: a psychology for the third millennium”, Harpercollins

14 Copy quote
Try to be surprised by something every day.

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

Trying

6 Copy quote
The foremost reason that happiness is so hard to achieve is that the universe was not designed with the comfort of human beings in mind...It seems that every time a pressing danger is avoided a new and more sophisticated threat appears on the horizon...Whether we are happy depends on inner harmony, not on the controls we are able to exert over the great forces of the universe

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

Spiritual, Mind, Comfort

7 Copy quote
Few things are sadder than encountering a person who knows exactly what he should do, yet cannot muster enough energy to do it. "He who desires but acts not," wrote Blake with his accustomed vigor, "Breeds pestilence.

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

Desire, Energy, Vigor

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (2001). “Flow: the psychology of optimal experience”

16 Copy quote
...perhaps the most distinguishing trait of visionary leaders is that they believe in a goal that benefits not only themselves, but others as well. It is such vision that attracts the psychic energy of other people, and makes them willing to work beyond the call of duty for the organization.

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

Inspirational, Business, Work

10 Copy quote
Competition is enjoyable only when it is a means to perfect one’s skills; when it becomes an end in itself, it ceases to be fun.

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

Fun, Mean, Perfect One

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (2001). “Flow: the psychology of optimal experience”

8 Copy quote
The rules themselves are clear enough, and within everyone’s reach. But many forces, both within ourselves and in the environment, stand in the way. It is a little like trying to lose weight: everyone knows what it takes, everyone wants to do it, yet it is next to impossible for so many.

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

Trying, Weight, Want

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (2001). “Flow: the psychology of optimal experience”

15 Copy quote
But it is impossible to enjoy a tennis game, a book, or a conversation unless attention is fully concentrated on the activity.

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

Book, Games, Tennis

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (2001). “Flow: the psychology of optimal experience”

17 Copy quote
One must develop skills that stretch capacities, that make one more than what one is.

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

Skills, Capacity

15 Copy quote
To live means to experience-through doing, feeling, thinking. Experience takes place in time, so time is the ultimate scarce resource we have. Over the years, the content of experience will determine the quality of life. Therefore one of the most essential decisions any of us can make is about how one's time is allocated or invested.

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

Life, Mean, Thinking

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (1997). “Finding Flow: The Psychology of Engagement with Everyday Life”, p.8, Basic Books

10 Copy quote
We can transform reality to the extent that we influence what happens in consciousness and thus free ourselves from the threats and blandishments of the outside world.

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

Reality, World, Consciousness

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (2001). “Flow: the psychology of optimal experience”

10 Copy quote

You May Also Like:

Martin Seligman

Barbara Fredrickson

Sonja Lyubomirsky

Ed Diener

Christopher Peterson

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

Follow

Born: September 29, 1934
Occupation: Professor
Cite this Page: Citation

Popular Topics