QuoteProject
Don't be on your deathbed someday, having squandered your one chance at life, full of regret because you pursued little distractions instead of big dreams.
Derek Sivers
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

Focus on your larger goals and dreams rather than getting sidetracked by minor distractions.

This quote by Derek Sivers encourages individuals to avoid wasting their lives on trivial pursuits that lead to regret. It emphasizes the importance of prioritizing significant dreams and aspirations, suggesting that in the end, it is the big, impactful achievements that matter more than the small distractions that often consume our time and energy.

Themes

LifeDreamsRegretDistractionsGoals

In practice

Example use cases

Using this quote in a motivational speech about following your passion.

More from Derek Sivers

I realized why I need to start a new company. Not for the money. Not because I'm 'bored'. But because a company is a laboratory to try your ideas.
Derek SiversRead
Everyone who became great at something has a similar story: For years, they worked on their craft every day, even if they weren’t in the mood. Always pushing, practicing, working, and improvingYes it takes thousands of hours of practice, but that’s good news! It’s a clear path and it’s under your control.
Derek SiversRead

Similar quotes

That's the trouble with living things. Don't last very long. Kittens one day, old cats the next. And then just memories. And the memories fade and blend and smudge together.
Neil GaimanRead
Life seems but a quick succession of busy nothings.
Jane AustenRead
The birds sang, the proles sang. the Party did not sing. All round the world, in London and New York, in Africa and Brazil, and in the mysterious, forbidden lands beyond the frontiers, in the streets of Paris and Berlin, in the villages of the endless Russian plain, in the bazaars of China and Japan — everywhere stood the same solid unconquerable figure, made monstrous by work and childbearing, toiling from birth to death and still singing.
George OrwellRead
Sooner or later we all discover that the important moments in life are not the advertised ones, not the birthdays, the graduations, the weddings, not the great goals achieved. The real milestones are less prepossessing. They come to the door of memory unannounced, stray dogs that amble in, sniff around a bit and simply never leave. Our lives are measured by these.
Susan B. AnthonyRead
There was something about the island that made the girls forget who they had been. All those rules and shalt nots. They were no longer waiting for some arbitrary grade. They were no longer performing. Waiting. Hoping. They were becoming. They were.
Libba BrayRead
The worst time was 1983. Love and life and everything went wrong. I reached absolute rock bottom. I saw the Minotaur at the bottom of the abyss. I learnt of the harshness of the world and its impartiality to human failure.
Ben OkriRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.