I do have high standards. I look at everything I have done and think, 'Why wasn't that better?' Part of my motivation is from crippling self-doubt - I have got to prove myself wrong.
Interpretation
High standards drive self-improvement, despite self-doubt.
Michael Palin expresses how his high standards and critical self-reflection push him to strive for better results. He acknowledges that his motivation often stems from a deep-seated self-doubt, which compels him to prove to himself that he is capable of more than what he has achieved.
In practice
In a motivational speech addressing young professionals: 'I do have high standards...'
I've never had a particular skill. I can't cook, dance, play an instrument, speak a foreign language. This used to worry me. I'd think, when I'm grown up, at 18, then I made it 21, it will be clear what role I should have in life. It never happened. I never signed on the dotted line as the sort of adult my father wanted.
Once the travel bug bites there is no known antidote, and I know that I shall be happily infected until the end of my life
John Hall, my geography teacher at school inspired me to a lifelong interest in geography and a curiosity about our world which has stayed with me through my life. Geography is a living, breathing subject, constantly adapting itself to change. It is dynamic and relevant. For me geography is a great adventure with a purpose.
Despite having seen a fair amount of the world, I still love travelling - I just have an insatiable curiosity and like looking out of a window.
When I read profiles of myself, I sometimes think: 'I have spent my whole life struggling to understand my motivations and impulses, and I've never quite sorted them out.'
Armageddon is not around the corner. This is only what the people of violence want us to believe. The complexity and diversity of the world is the hope for the future.
Man is so made that when anything fires his soul, impossibilities vanish.
Everyone can perform magic, everyone can reach his goals, if he is able to think, if he is able to wait, if he is able to fast.
If you take action, you will be judged. There's no way around it. The alternative, of course, is much safer. To be ignored. Up to you.
A positive mental attitude is an irresistible force that knows no such thing as an immovable body.
Get unstuck from whatever it is you perceive is holding you back from realizing your dreams.
No man is beaten until his hope is annihilated, his confidence gone, As long as a man faces life hopefully, confidently, triumphantly, he is not a failure; he is not beaten until he turns his back on life.
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