Wise Quotes From Highly Successful People to Motivate You Based on Your Personality Type
Have you ever seen a quote you loved, shared it with someone else and then wondered why it didn’t impact them in the same way?
This is because what we need to hear (and when we need to hear it) to get motivated is different based on our personality type and our energy levels.
Today I am going to share wise quotes (from history’s most successful people) which are strategically selected to help each Myers-Briggs personality type get motivated. If you haven’t taken the test, here it is.
Don’t have time to take the test?
Many people are able to pick out which type they are without taking the test. Try picking from the following quotes and personality descriptions and decide which you find most helpful. You may be surprised to find you’ve accurately identified your personality out of the 16 Myers-Briggs types.
I and E Stand for Introvert/Extrovert
N and S Stand for Intuitive/Sensing
F and T Stand for Feeling/Thinking
J and P Stand for Judging/Perceiving
Wise Quotes From Highly Successful People
For the Cooperative and Empathetic ‘Diplomats’ (INFJ, INFP, ENFP, ENFJ)
INFJ: The “Advocate”
INFJs value meaning in their lives and thrive when they have the support of others. These individuals tend to be very hard on themselves and are held back when they receive criticism. They need to develop compassion for themselves in order to be productive:
Love yourself first and everything else falls into line. You really have to love yourself to get anything done in this world.
INFJs need to know they are valued but also need to look beyond what people think of them:
A successful man is one who can lay a firm foundation with the bricks others have thrown at him.
No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.
When the going gets tough, they need to be reminded of why their tasks matter:
Hard work is painful when life is devoid of purpose. But when you live for something greater than yourself and the gratification of your own ego, then hard work becomes a labor of love.
INFP: The “Mediator”
INFJs value meaning in their lives and thrive when they have the support of others. These individuals tend to be very hard on themselves and are held back when they receive criticism. They need to develop compassion for themselves in order to be productive:
All our dreams can come true if we have the courage to pursue them.
The whole secret of a successful life is to find out what is one’s destiny to do, and then do it.
It does not matter how slowly you go, so long as you do not stop.
Though it is hard to get INFPs motivated, being encouraged to share their ideas and work is especially helpful:
Hide not your talents. They for use were made. What’s a sundial in the shade?
If only you could sense how important you are to the lives of those you meet; how important you can be to people you may never even dream of. There is something of yourself that you leave at every meeting with another person.
ENFJ: The “Protagonist”
ENFJs are very motivated and giving people. They are uniquely able to warmly offer healing and warmth to others. Unfortunately, as sensitive individuals they can be easily impacted by negative events in their lives and can need extra encouragement during these times:
Success is not built on success. It’s built on failure. It’s built on frustration. Sometimes it’s built on catastrophe.
Failure is another stepping-stone to greatness.
Challenges are what make life interesting and overcoming them is what makes life meaningful.
There are far, far better things ahead than any we leave behind.
Success is walking from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm.
There is no easy walk to freedom anywhere, and many of us will have to pass through the valley of the shadow of death again and again before we reach the mountaintop of our desires.
If you’re going through hell, keep going.
ENFP: The “Campaigner”
ENFPs are curious individuals who thrive when exploring a new idea or place. However, they become intensely frustrated with monotony and need to switch up tasks and generate interest to stay motivated. They may need encouragement when things are feeling samey and boring:
Success is the child of drudgery and perseverance. It cannot be coaxed or bribed; pay the price and it is yours.
If you really want to do something, you will find a way. If you don’t, you’ll find an excuse.
It is also important that they are encouraged to embrace their initiative and follow through on their ideas:
The young do not know enough to be prudent, and therefore they attempt the impossible — and achieve it, generation after generation.
Real success is being totally indulgent about your own trip. You put your blinders on about the garbage and go full speed ahead.
For the Intellectual and Creative ‘Analysts’ (INTJ, INTP, ENTJ, ENTP)
INTJ: The “Architect”
INTJs are constantly looking to better themselves and the world around them. They are goal oriented and love learning which usually makes them great achievers. Because of their ambition, they tend to get frustrated when things become stagnant and find it useful to re-evaluate themselves and their plans for the future:
Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.
If you’re not stubborn, you’ll give up on experiments too soon. And if you’re not flexible, you’ll pound your head against the wall and you won’t see a different solution to a problem you’re trying to solve.
In times of doubt, it is always useful to remind INTJs of their drive and capabilities:
The successful warrior is the average man, with laser-like focus.
Believe in yourself and all that you are. Know that there is something inside you that is greater than any obstacle.
And when facing problems or stagnancy approaching the difficulty through intellect tends to be greatly helpful:
Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.
I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.
INTP: The “Logician”
Motivated by their inventiveness, INTPs are full of great ideas and intelligence. INTPs often lack motivation and struggle to turn their ideas into reality. It is important for them to develop self-acceptance as well as to a way to carry out ideas in a way that is mentally stimulating for them:
The ability to convert ideas to things is the secret of outward success.
Successful people are the ones who think up things for the rest of the world to keep busy at.
Take up one idea. Make that one idea your life — think of it, dream of it, live on that idea. Let the brain, muscles, nerves, every part of your body be full of that idea, and just leave every other idea alone. This is the way to success.
The do-ers are the major thinkers. The people that really create the things that change this industry are both the doer/thinker in one person.
They also are greatly helped by meditative practices and benefit from clearing their busy minds in order to focus more on the now:
Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment.
ENTJ: The “Commander”
ENTJs are goal oriented and get their satisfaction from feeling successful. They may often turn to motivational quotes to motivate themselves and the people around them. As natural leaders they love competition and growth:
You sleep on a win and you’ll wake up with a loss.
Your ability to learn faster than your competition is your only sustainable competitive advantage.
Rarely have I seen a situation where doing less than the other guy is a good strategy.
It is also important for them to temper their ambition:
Don’t go around saying the world owes you a living. The world owes you nothing. It was here first .
Winning isn’t everything, but wanting to win is.
Because of their material drive, when an ENTJ has problems, it is often due to a need to address their own emotions:
When our emotional health is in a bad state, so is our level of self-esteem. We have to slow down and deal with what is troubling us so that we can enjoy the simple joy of being happy and at peace with ourselves.
I don’t want to be at the mercy of my emotions. I want to use them, to enjoy them, and to dominate them.
ENTP: The “Debater”
ENTPs love to try new things and come up with new ideas. They are generally motivated but struggle with required and repetitive duty. In order to overcome this, they need to be reminded of the task’s importance and value:
Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow. The important thing is not to stop questioning.
Success is doing ordinary things extraordinarily well.
Practice isn’t the thing you do once your good. It’s the thing you do that makes you good.
Success is the fruit of concentration.
For the Cooperative and Practical ‘Sentinels’ (ESTJ, ESFJ, ISFJ, ISTJ)
ISTJ: The “Logistician”
The most logical of the personality types, ISTJs are very motivated in their day to day work. They like their schedule and are good at keeping to it. Consequently, this means they usually need help pushing out of their comfort zone:
The biggest risk is not taking any risk… In a world that’s changing really quickly, the only strategy that is guaranteed to fail is not taking risks.
When you cease to dream you cease to live.
If you are not willing to risk the usual, you will have to settle for the ordinary.
Do one thing every day that scares you.
Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.
They also struggle when they don’t feel appreciated and need to work hard to develop their own self-worth.
Too many people overvalue what they are not and undervalue what they are.
ISFJ: The “Defender”
ISFJs are great at getting things done but aren’t incredibly ambitious. They enjoy the simple things. These individuals are not inspired by an internal drive but by the people around them. They aren’t likely to try to force themselves to do anything and can use encouragement to break out of their shells and strive for something bigger.
Whenever you see a successful person, you only see the public glories, never the private sacrifices to reach them.
In order to be irreplaceable one must always be different.
It is also good to remind an ISFJ to check in with encouraging people in their lives:
The person who tries to live alone will not succeed as a human being. His heart withers if it does not answer another heart. His mind shrinks away if he hears only the echoes of his own thoughts and finds no other inspiration.
The success of each of us benefits us all, and the success of us all benefits each of us individually.
Our success has really been based on partnerships from the very beginning.
ESTJ: The “Executive”
As the name Executive might give away, ESTJs are highly motivated to take care of and encourage others. They benefit highly from checking in with the value their actions have for other people:
Someone is sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago.
Being a part of success is more important than being personally indispensable.
The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little.
As individuals who thrive in caring for others, they need encouragement when they feel rejected or unappreciated in order to stay successful at what they do:
The biggest hurdle is rejection. Any business you start, be ready for it. The difference between successful people and unsuccessful people is the successful people do all the things the unsuccessful people don’t want to do. When 10 doors are slammed in your face, go to door number 11 enthusiastically, with a smile on your face.
ESFJ: The “Consul”
ESFJs love to interact with other people and are extremely caring. In turn, they also have a deep need to be noticed and cared for by others. They can be overly concerned with impressing other people and have a difficult time when they don’t feel noticed:
If you always do what interests you, at least one person is pleased.
Your time is limited, don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma, which is living the result of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of other’s opinion drowned your own inner voice.
I can’t give you a sure-fire formula for success, but I can give you a formula for failure: try to please everybody all the time.
Too many people spend money they earned..to buy things they don’t want..to impress people that they don’t like.
While it is important to temper the ESFJs tendency toward people-pleasing, their enthusiasm for other people is something to be celebrated:
To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded.
Applause waits on success.
Success comes when people act together; failure tends to happen alone.
For The Enthusiastic and Flexible ‘Explorers’ (ISTP, ISFP, ESTP, ESFP)
ISTP: The “Virtuoso”
ISTPs are practical and ingenuitive. They like anything hands-on and like the world to be unpredictable and interesting. ISTPs can be easily bored and need help developing long-term focus and commitment:
There’s a difference between interest and commitment. When you’re interested in doing something, you do it only when it’s convenient. When you’re committed to something, you accept no excuses; only results.
Stay committed to your decisions but flexible in your approach.
Because ISTPs like variety and change, they don’t tend to develop their interpersonal relationships. But, in order to thrive, these individuals need to see how letting people in can be valuable to them:
The meeting of two personalities is like the contact of two chemical substances: if there is any reaction, both are transformed.
We need people in our lives with whom we can be as open as possible. To have real conversations with people may seem like such a simple, obvious suggestion, but it involves courage and risk.
ISFP: The “Adventurer”
The ever-bold ISFPs love to take risks and push boundaries. Those qualities and their charm and competitive nature usually make them highly successful in their fields. But, because of the immense amount of pressure they put on themselves, they tend to become stressed easily. ISFPs need to develop their self-esteem and try hard to be cooperative -not just competitive:
People may flatter themselves just as much by thinking that their faults are always present to other people’s minds, as if they believe that the world is always contemplating their individual charms and virtues.
Our self-respect tracks our choices. Every time we act in harmony with our authentic self and our heart, we earn our respect. It is that simple. Every choice matters.
“Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does.
The purpose of a business is to create a mutually beneficial relationship between itself and those that it serves. When it does that well, it will be around tomorrow to do it some more.
ESTP: The “Entrepreneur”
ESTPs are do-ers who love to be the center of attention. They are bright and observant and love to push boundaries. Because of this, they often struggle in regimented environments like school or the office. Entrepreneur personality types need support to deal with boredom and redirect their defiance to productivity:
Things work out best for those who make the best of how things work out.
When it comes to success, there are no shortcuts.
When you pay attention to boredom it gets unbelievably interesting.
You’ll find boredom where there is the absence of a good idea.
ESFJ: The “Consul”
ESFPs are happy, fun-loving and positive forces. Almost like children, they brighten up any room they’re in. But, just like kids, ESFPs need a firm push to avoid completing tasks at the last minute (or to get them to do it at all). They need to see how whatever they’re doing is going to lead to their enjoyment:
The way I see it, if you want the rainbow, you gotta put up with the rain.
The secret of joy in work is contained in one word — excellence. To know how to do something well is to enjoy it.
Once you can accept failure, you can have fun and success.
The world’s most successful entrepreneurs play hard, but they work even harder.
Measure your success according to fun and creativity.
Carefully Selected Wise Quotes
From the World’s Successes
Approaching your motivation in a personalized way can better your life in a significant way.
Whether you’re an ENFP who’s struggling with focus or you’re a parent or friend of an ESFJ whose self-esteem is lacking because of concern for what other people -carefully meditating on these quotes can help bring you and those around you to a better place.
Find out the personality type of yourself and your colleagues to better your workplace today with these tailored inspirational messages from history’s greats.