140 Performance Quotes to Inspire and Motivate Employees

High-performance – modified to give superior performance; Better, faster, or more efficient than others

In a practical sense, qualities of a good performer is about achieving consistent success through sustained actions and behaviours, which go above and beyond the norm.

According to Brendon Burchard, High Performers have five characteristics.

Clarity.  High Performers have absolute clarity on who they are, what they want and what actions they need to take to get what they want.

Energy. High Performers behave in a heightened state with sustained levels of energy activated by training, discipline and focus.

Courage: High Performers have a higher probability to stand up for themselves and go outside their comfort zone taking more risks and bolder actions.

Productivity: High Performers deliver more results in any given amount of time compared to the norm

Influence: High Performers have excellent interpersonal skills; offering more time, attention and empathy, resulting in people admiring, respecting and helping them.

To inspire high performance in you, here’s a list of 125 self inspirational quotes from the shiniest minds! It also includes punctuality quotes and being on time quote that helps to encourage your employees.

1. ‘Absorb what is useful, discard what is not, add what is uniquely your own’ – Bruce Lee
2. ‘The best way to predict the future is to create it.’ – Peter Drucker
3. ‘I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.’ – Nelson Mandela
4. ‘It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change’ – Charles Darwin
5. ‘If we practice being spectacular long enough, spectacular will become our way of being.’ – Robin Sharma
6. ‘The entrepreneur always searches for change, responds to it, and exploits it as an opportunity.’ – Peter Drucker
7. “When people are financially invested, they want a return When people are emotionally invested, they want to contribute.’ – Simon Sinek
8. ‘The critical ingredient is getting off your butt and doing something It’s as simple as that. A lot of people have ideas, but there are few who decide to do something about them now. Not tomorrow. Not next week. But today. The true entrepreneur is a doer, not a dreamer,’ – Nolan Bushnell
9. ‘Where focus goes, energy flows.’ – Tony Robbins
10. ‘Leadership is a potent combination of strategy and character. But if you must be without one, be without the strategy.’ – Norman Schwarzkopf
11. ‘ Our greatest glory is not in never failing, but in getting up every time we do.’ – Confucius
12. ‘ The golden rule for every business man is this: Put yourself in your customer’s place.’ – Orison Swett Marden
13. ‘Success is blocked by concentrating on it and planning for it… Success won’t come out while you’re watching.’ – Tennessee Williams
14. ‘Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning.’ – Bill Gates
15. ‘A leader is best when people barely know he exists, when his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say: we did it ourselves.’ – Lao Tzu
16. ‘The important thing is not being afraid to take a chance Remember, the greatest failure is to not try.’ – Debbi Fields
17. ‘Business opportunities are like buses, there’s always another one coming.’ – Richard Branson
18. ‘Empty your mind, be formless shapeless, be like water If you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle and it becomes the bottle. You put it in a teapot, it becomes the teapot Now, water can flow or it can crash.’ – Bruce Lee
19. ‘What we fear doing most is usually what we most need to do.’ –Tim Ferris
20. ‘Leadership is doing what is right when no one is watching.’ – George Van Valkenburg
21. ‘Change is inevitable Progress is optional.’ – Wayne Dwyer
22. ‘Remember that failure is an event, not a person.’ – Zig Ziglar
23. ‘Let every man be respected as an individual and no man idolised.’ –Albert Einstein
24. ‘The only limits are, as always, those of vision.’ –James Broughton
25. ‘What you habitually think largely determines what you will ultimately become’ – Bruce Lee
26. ‘To think is easy. To act is difficult. To act as one thinks is the most difficult.’ –Johann Wolfgang Von Goeth
27. ‘Nobody talks about entrepreneurship as survival, but that’s exactly what it is and what nurtures creative thinking. Running that first shop taught me business is not financial science; it’s about trading: buying and selling.’ – Anita Roddick
28. ‘Life is found in the dance between your deepest desire and your greatest fear.’ –Wayne Dyer
29. ‘None of us is as smart as all of us.’ – Ken Blanchard
30. ‘To waken interest and kindle enthusiasm is the sure way to teach easily and successfully.’ – Tryon Edwards
31. ‘When you’re a manager, you work for your company When you’re a leader, your company works for you.’ –Stan Slap
32. ‘I’ve always found that the speed of the boss is the speed of the team.’ – Lee Iacocca
33. ‘Success is often achieved by those who don’t know that failure is inevitable.’ – Coco Chanel
34. ‘The fears we don’t face become our limits.’ –Robin Sharma
35.  ‘The competitor to be feared is one who never bothers about you at all, but goes on making his own business better all the time.’ –Henry Ford
36. ‘The good or ill of a man lies within his own will.’ –Epictetus
37. ‘Sometimes when you innovate, you make mistakes It is best to admit them quickly and get on with improving your other innovations.’ – Steve Jobs
38. ‘You’ve got to say, I think that if I keep working at this and want it badly enough I can have it It’s called perseverance.’ – Lee Iacocca
39. ‘The desire of knowledge, like the thirst for riches, increases ever with the acquisition of it.’ – Laurence Sterne
40. ‘Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it.’ – Dwight Eisenhower
41. ‘If you did not look after today’s business then you might as well forget about tomorrow.’ – Isaac Mophatlane 
42. ‘The great accomplishments of man have resulted from the transmission of ideas of enthusiasm.’ –Thomas J Watson
43. ‘’Transformation literally means going beyond your form. ‘ –Wayne Dyer
44. ‘Yesterday’s home runs don’t win today’s games.’ –Babe Ruth
45. ‘The enemy of the truth is very often not the lie deliberate, contrived, and dishonest but the myth persistent, persuasive, and unrealistic.’ –John F Kennedy
46. ‘A business has to be involving, it has to be fun, and it has to exercise your creative instincts.’ –Richard Branson
47. ‘The secret of success is learning how to use pain and pleasure instead of having pain and pleasure use you If you do that, you’re in control of your life If you don’t, life controls you.’ –Wayne Dyer
48. ‘A dream without goals is just a fantasy’. –Lewis Howes
49. ‘A total commitment is paramount to reaching the ultimate in performance.’ –Tim Flores
50. ‘Leadership’s not a title, It’s a behaviour. Live it.’ –Robin Sharma
51.  ‘Live daringly, boldly, fearlessly Taste the relish to be found in competition in having put forth the best within you.’ –Henry J Kaiser
52. ‘In all realms of life, it takes courage to stretch your limits, express your power, and fulfil your potential It’s no different in the financial realm’ –Suze Orman
53. ‘‘Your excuses are just the lies your fears have sold you.’ –Robin Sharma
54. The expectations of life depend upon diligence; the mechanic that would perfect his work must first sharpen his tools.’ –Confucius
55. ‘Hire character. Train skill.’ – Peter Schutz
56. ‘The first rule of any technology used in a business is that automation applied to an efficient operation will magnify the efficiency. The second is that automation applied to an inefficient operation will magnify the inefficiency. ‘- Bill Gates
57. ‘Surviving a failure gives you more self-confidence. Failures are great learning tools’ –Jeffrey Immelt
58. ‘Don’t die with your music still inside you Listen to your intuitive inner voice and find what passion stirs your soul.’ –Wayne Dyer
59. ‘People are definitely a company’s greatest asset It doesn’t make any difference whether the product is cars or cosmetics A company is only as good as the people it keeps.’ –Mary Kay Ash
60. ‘Be the change you wish to see in the world.’ –Mahatma Gandhi
61. ‘If you are not willing to learn, no one can help you If you are determined to learn, no one can stop you’ – Zig Ziglar
62. ‘Where there is an open mind, there will always be a frontier.’ –Charles F Kettering
63. ‘Whether you think you can or whether you think you can’t, you’re right!’ –Henry Ford
64. ‘You must either modify your dreams or magnify your skills.’ – The habits of super achievers motivation & inspiration, Jim Rohn
65. ‘Who likes not his business, his business likes not him’ –William Hazlitt
66. ‘Give more than you take. That’s how you win.’ –Gary Vaynerchuk
67. ‘The new source of power is not money in the hands of a few, but information in the hands of many.’ –John Naisbitt
68. ‘Obliterate ‘I can’t’ from your vocabulary.’ –Gary Vaynerchuk
69. ‘The man who will use his skill and constructive imagination to see how much he can give for a dollar, instead of how little he can give for a dollar, is bound to succeed.’ –Henry Ford
70. ‘Average minds analyse. Great minds execute’ – Lewis Howes
71. ‘It’s through curiosity and looking at opportunities in new ways that we’ve always mapped our path. There’s always an opportunity to make a difference.’ –Michael Dell
72. ‘If you work just for money, you’ll never make it, but if you love what you’re doing and you always put the customer first, success will be yours.’ –Ray Kroc
73. ‘Winners take time to relish their work, knowing that scaling the mountain is what makes the view from the top so exhilarating.’ –Denis Waitley
74. ‘Greatness is my passion, but vision is my obsession A clear vision can unleash extraordinary, mind boggling power.’ –Lewis Howes
75. ‘Follow your bliss and the universe will open doors where there were only walls.’ –Joseph Campbell
76. ‘Motivation is the art of getting people to do what you want them to do because they want to do it.’ –Dwight D Eisenhower
77. ‘The most serious mistakes are not being made as a result of wrong answers The truly dangerous thing is asking the wrong question.’ –Peter Drucker
78.  ‘To succeed… You need to find something to hold on to, something to motivate you, something to inspire you.’ –Tony Dorset
79. ‘When you do more than you’re paid for, eventually you’ll be paid for more than you do’ –Zig Ziglar
80. ‘Setting goals is the first step in turning the invisible into the visible.’ –Wayne Dyer
81. ‘The mind searches, the soul calls.’ –Donny Epstein
82. ‘What tests your patience is what can help you grow your patience.’ –Robin Sharma
83. ‘Average people talk about people. Exceptional people discuss their dreams.’ –Robin Sharma
84. ‘Be persistent. Your dreams are worth more than you know.’ –Brendon Burchard
85. ‘Skills are cheap. Passion is priceless.’ –Gary Vaynerchuk
86. ‘Opportunities to find deeper powers within ourselves come when life seems most challenging.’ –Joseph Campbell
87. ‘Always treat your employees exactly as you want them to treat your best customers.’ –Stephen R Covey
88. ‘If you believe it will work out, you’ll see opportunities If you believe it won’t you will see obstacles.’ –Wayne Dyer
89. ‘When we quit thinking primarily about ourselves and our own self-preservation, we undergo a truly heroic transformation of consciousness.’ –Joseph Campbell
90. ‘Quality questions create a quality life Successful people ask better questions, and as a result, they get better answers.’ –Wayne Dyer
91. ‘The black moment is the moment when the real message of transformation is going to come At the darkest moment comes the light.’ –Joseph Campbell
92. ‘Your biggest advantage is that you are hungrier than your competitor.’ –Gary Vaynerchuk
93. ‘A hero is someone who has given his or her life to something bigger than oneself.’ –Joseph Campbell
94. ‘If you are falling, dive.’ –Joseph Campbell
95. ‘Doing what you love is the cornerstone of having abundance in your life’ –Wayne Dyer
96. ‘Your current conditions are echoes of your past choices.’ –Robin Sharma
97. ‘The goal of life is to make your heartbeat match the beat of the Universe, to match your nature with nature.’ –Joseph Campbell
98. ‘Move out of your comfort zone. You can only grow if you are willing to feel awkward and uncomfortable when you try something new.’ –Brian Tracy
99. ‘Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become Everything else is secondary.’ –Steve Jobs
100. ‘The important thing is to dare to dream big, then take action to make it come true.’ –Joe Girard
101. ‘To think is easy. To act is hard But the hardest thing in the world is to act in accordance with your thinking.’ –Goethe
102. ‘You will never plow a field if you only turn it over in your mind.’ –Irish Proverb
103. ‘Some people want it to happen, some wish it would happen, others make it happen.’ – Michael Jordan
104. ‘We must be willing to let go of the life we’ve planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us.’ –Joseph Campbell
105.  ‘Prepare for every game like you just lost your last game.’ –Lon Kruger
106. ‘Leaders are made, they are not born. They are made by hard effort, which is the price which all of us must pay to achieve any goal that is worthwhile.’ –Vince Lombardi
107. ‘Everything depends upon execution; having just a vision is no solution.’ –Stephen Sondheim
108. ‘The secret to achievement is getting started The secret of getting started is breaking your complex overwhelming tasks into small manageable tasks, and then waste no time starting on the first one.’ –Mark Twain
109. ‘Never mistake activity for achievement.’ –John Wooden
110. ‘There are only three measurements that tell you nearly everything you need to know about your organization’s overall performance: employee engagement, customer satisfaction, and cash flow It goes without saying that no company, small or large, can win over the long run without energized employees who believe in the mission and understand how to achieve it.’ – Jack Welch
111. ‘There is something that is much more scarce, something rarer than ability It is the ability to recognise ability.’ –Robert Half
112. ‘Leadership is the ability to get people to do what they don’t want to do and like it.’ – Harry Truman
113. ‘Don’t let your ego get too close to your position so that if your position gets shot down, your ego doesn’t go with it.’ –Colin Powell
114. ‘To be successful, innovation is not just about value creation, but value capture.’ –Jay Samit
115. ‘An effective leader is also an effective listener.’ –Artika Tyner
116. ‘When I hear people complaining about how hard life is I always ask them Compared to what?’ –Sydney Justin Harris
117. ‘Curious that we spend more time congratulating people who have succeeded than encouraging people who have not.’ – Neil deGrasse Tyson
118. ‘When you prohibit failure, you kill innovation.’ –Dan Pallotta
119. ‘In a battery, strive to maximise electrical potential When mentoring, strive to maximise human potential.’ –Donald Sadoway
120. ‘Leaders can let you fail and yet not let you be a failure.’ –Stanley McChrystal
121. ‘The key to successful leadership today is influence, not authority.’ –Ken Blanchard
122. ‘Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.’ –Sun Tzu
123. ‘We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.’ –Aristotle
124. ‘Judgements prevent us from seeing the good that lies beyond appearances.’ – Wayne Dyer
125. ‘Hope is not a strategy. Luck is not a factor. Fear is not an option.’ – James Cameron
126. “It is hard to fail, but it is worse never to have tried to succeed.” ― Theodore Roosevelt
127. .”When you reach the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on.” – Abraham Lincoln
128. “If you don’t like something, change it. If you can’t change it, change your attitude.” – Maya Angelou
129. “Turn your wounds into wisdom.”- Oprah Winfrey
130. .“The ladder of success is never crowded at the top.” – Napoleon Hill
131. “Success usually comes to those who are too busy to be looking for it.” – Henry David Thoreau
132. ..”There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve: the fear of failure.” – Paulo Coelho
133. .”Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.” – Thomas Edison
134. .”Don’t talk about what you have done or what you are going to do.” – Thomas Jefferson
135. .“Experience is merely the name men gave to their mistakes.” – Oscar Wilde
136. .”Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference.” – Winston Churchill
137. .“The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.” – Eleanor Roosevelt
138. .“Punctuality is not just limited to arriving at a place at right time, it is also about taking actions at right time.” ― Amit Kalantri
139. . “You cannot respect someone but disrespect their time.” ― Mokokoma Mokhonoana
140. . “It is no use running; to set out betimes is the main point.”― Jean De La Fontaine