20 Robin Williams Quotes That Apply to Business
Robin Williams was an actor and comedian who was born in Illinois on July 21, 1951. After beginning his career as a stand-up comedian, Robin Williams rose to fame in the 1970s when he played Mork in the sitcom ‘Mork & Mindy’. He went on to have a successful career in the film industry. Some of his best-known films include ‘Good Morning, Vietnam’, ‘Dead Poets Society’, ‘Awakenings’, ‘The Birdcage’, ‘Mrs. Doubtfire’, ‘Jumanji’, and the ‘Night at the Museum’ trilogy. Sadly, Robin Williams committed suicide on August 11, 2014. Throughout his life, he said many motivational and inspirational things, Here are 20 Robin Williams quotes that apply to business.
20. On Surrounding Yourself with the Right People
“Don’t associate yourself with toxic people. It’s better to be alone and love yourself than surrounded by people that make you hate yourself.”
The people around you can make a significant difference in your success and your mindset. It is always wise to surround your self by likeminded people and with people who will support your endeavors. Avoid people who try to bring you down with their negativity. This is something to remember when choosing your employees. You need to build a team that can work well together with motivation and a positive attitude.
19. On Learning Through Experience
“Time is the best teacher.”
It is impossible to learn everything straight away and reading all the books in the world will not prepare you for every aspect of running a business. Sometimes, the best way of learning is through experience, and this is something that occurs naturally over time. You cannot rush learning through experience, although you can create opportunities for yourself to learn so that you can advance your business.
18. On Always Trying your Best
“There is no shame in failing. The only shame is not giving things your best shot.”
If you can look back on your life and see that you have always tried your best in every situation, then you should feel no shame for any failures. While you may have experienced some failures in your life, you will also have enjoyed success and achievements because you were willing to put the effort into things.
17. On Following Your Dreams
“There are no rules. Just follow your heart.”
Quote Ambition lists this Robin Williams quote. Everyone’s path in life is different, and you should not just follow the crowd. You should do your own thing, and it is important that this is something about which you are passionate. Therefore, you should follow your heart and not worry about what everyone else thinks you should do with your life.
16. On Being Yourself
“You must strive to find your own voice because the longer you wait to begin, the less likely you are to find it at all.”
The most successful people are those who know what they want from life and are true to themselves. The earlier you understand who you are and what you want, the sooner you can start living your life and achieving your dreams.
15. On Not Missing Opportunities
“Seize the day. Because, believe it or not, each and every one of us in this room is one day going to die.”
Throughout life, you may find that opportunities present themselves to you. It is important that you seize these opportunities as they arise as you may not get the same opportunities again. A missed opportunity is something that you are likely to regret later. You will always wonder what you could have achieved if you had taken an opportunity when it was presented to you.
14. On Taking Action
“Carpe diem. Seize the day, boys. Make your lives extraordinary.”
Sitting around and waiting before taking action will delay your journey to success. Some people are fearful of taking the first leap into business, often because they are worried that they will fail. This quote says that you should seize the day. You will not find out if your ideas will work or if you can achieve your dreams until you are willing to take action.
15. On the Importance of Hard Work
“You have this idea that you’d better keep working otherwise people will forget.”
There are very few people who become successful in life without first putting in the hard work. If you want to achieve great things in life, then prepare yourself for a long and hard slog to get to where you want. If you are unwilling to work hard, then the best you can hope for is a mediocre amount of success.
14. On a positive Mental Attitude
“All you have to do is think one happy thought and you’ll fly like me.”
This Robin Williams quote highlights the importance of adopting a positive mental attitude. A little positivity can take you a long way. It will keep you motivated and passionate about everything you are doing. On the other hand, having a negative attitude can hold you back.
13. On Continually Learning
“There is still a lot to learn and there is always great stuff out there.”
Both life and business are a journey along which you will continually learn. You will never know everything as things will change along the way. Sometimes, you must create your own opportunities to learn, either by gaining experience, reading, or taking a course. Other times, learning opportunities will simply present themselves to you along the way. Make sure your team also has plenty of opportunities to learn so that they can fulfill their roles to the best of their abilities.
12. On Reaching Your Potential
“What do you want to be in the world? I mean the whole world. What do you want to be? Close your eyes and think about it.”
What you become and how far you go in life is entirely up to you. There is only you that knows what you want to achieve, so you must take the responsibility of ensuring you get there. Set yourself both short-term and long-term goals that will help you progress and to achieve your full potential.
11. On the Importance of Teamwork
“Being in the same room with people and creating something together is a good thing.”
Getting your team to work together will make a significant difference to your overall chances of success. Having a team is better than working individually, as a team has the advantage of the collective strengths of the individuals within that team. To get the most out of your team, make sure they have clearly defined roles, encourage their ideas, recognize and praise their achievements, and keep them motivated towards the goals that you set.
10. On Changing Your Perspective
“I stand upon my desk to remind myself that we must constantly look at things in a different way.”
Digital GYD lists this as one of the best Robin Williams quotes that apply to business. Looking at things the same way all the time will mean that you will never try anything different. This is just one of the reasons why you should sometimes look at things with a new perspective. Another reason is that you may find problems difficult to overcome if you take the same unsuccessful approach each time, then you will get the same unsuccessful outcomes. To overcome an issue, you may need to look at things from a different perspective to find a new solution.
9. On Facing a Challenge
“Crying never helped anybody do anything, okay? You have a problem you face it like a man.”
Robin Williams said this quote in the film ‘Jumanji’. It is likely that you will face a variety of challenges on the way to making your business a success. When these happen, there is little point in getting upset. You must face each situation head-on to resolve the issue.
8. On Looking to the Future
“Imagining something is better than remembering something.”
Although there are things that you can learn from your past experiences, you shouldn’t spend too long dwelling on the past. Instead, you should focus on the future and moving your business forward. Work out what you need to do to make things happen and when you need to put things in place to get your business to the level you want to achieve.
7. On Finding Positives from Negatives
“You will have bad times, but they will wake you up to the stuff you weren’t paying attention to.”
Hitting low points in your business is almost inevitable. However, these are not always a negative experience as there are positives you can draw from bad situations. It can highlight where you have been going wrong, what you need to do to make things right, and the changes you need to make to progress. Therefore, you should take a positive approach to tackling tricky situations.
6. On Not Being Too Hard on Yourself
“Good people end up in Hell because they can’t forgive themselves.”
Everyone messes up and makes mistakes, as this is part of human nature. It is how you handle your mess-ups and mistakes that matter. You shouldn’t be too hard on yourself about it, and you should always forgive yourself. Instead of getting upset, use it as a learning experience to move forwards.
5. On Not Taking Things Too Seriously
“The only weapon we have is comedy.”
In business, it is easy to get weighed down with serious issues. This can lead to you suffering from stress. To avoid become too stressed at work, you should try to adopt a lighter approach and not take everything too seriously. Try to have a laugh occasionally and not to let the minor issues get you down.
4.On Overcoming Challenges
“For a while you get mad, then you get over it.”
According to Addicted 2 Success, this is one of the best Robin Williams quotes that apply to business. When you face a tricky situation or things are not going well, it is likely that you will react badly initially. Although it is fine to react, you must learn strategies that will help you get over your emotions so that you can move forward in a positive way.
3. On Achieving Your Dreams
“But only in their dreams can men be truly free. It was always thus and always thus will be.”
This is a line that Robin Williams says in the film ‘Dead Poets Society’. Everyone has dreams, but many people do not act on these. They keep their ideas and ambitions to themselves without ever doing anything about them. If this is the attitude you take, then you have no chance of achieving your dreams and you may live your life with regrets. To reach your full potential and feel satisfied with your life, you should do everything you can to make your dreams become a reality.
2. On Making Mistakes
“What is right is what’s left if you do everything else wrong.”
Some days everything will go right in your business, and on other days, you will make mistakes. Everyone makes mistakes and this is not something you should panic about or let bother you. It is a normal part of running a business, so don’t get too stressed about it.
1. On Making a Change
“No matter what people tell you, words and ideas can change this world.”
According to Entrepreneur, this is one of the best Robin Williams quotes that apply to business. Everyone who launches their own business is trying to make a change of some kind. For some people this is a change in their own lives, for others, it is about changing the lives of others or changing a particular sector of the market. The people who have the capacity to make these changes are the people who have ideas that they are willing to implement.
