Great Quotes: On Constant Improvement

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I have always loved great quotes and I started collecting these bite-sized packets of wisdom since my early days as a student. Quotes encapsulate years of experience and wisdom from great thinkers in just a few words – words that inspire us to act and put things in perspective. Great quotes have always had a special place on this blog.

Improvement is a never ending journey, and anyone who seeks to improve constantly should never look for destinations. It is a journey that needs to be enjoyed and every significant improvement you make in your habits, processes or business is just a milestone. The following quote from Sir Winston Churchill nicely encapsulates this thought:

“Every day you may make progress. Every step may be fruitful. Yet there will be a stretch out before you an ever-lengthening, ever-ascending, ever-improving path. You know you will never get to the end of the journey. But this, so far from discouraging, only adds to the joy and glory of the climb.” – Sir Winston Churchill

Improvement starts with a desire (or rather a passion) to change things for better. Improvement is a quest to understand how things are happening around you, and then take an initiative to improve upon those. Unless we seek to understand and experiment, we will never be able to improve. Bertrand Russell puts it brilliantly:

‘The desire to understand the world and the desire to reform it are the two great engines of progress, without which human society would stand still or retrogress.’ – Bertrand Russell

On this fine Monday morning, these quotes have helped me gain better perspective on my work of improving processes. Your work may be programming software or managing people – know that improvement is a journey and every small win along this journey should inspire you improve further. That is the core of what we, in process management field, call “continual improvement”.

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Have a great start into the week!

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Join in the conversation: What quotes inspire you? What quotes have guided you along the way?