Enhancing your Quotability

Want to make yourself more quotable? Go back through your written works -- everything you've ever written and saved -- and this includes letters, emails, and routine correspondence, as well as tweets, Powerpoint slides, formal reports, and possibly any articles or books you've written.

Highlight Them

With your "proverbial" highlighter, single out those phrases that capture your attention for their relevance, pithiness, insight, or verbal excellence and list them on a single page. For example, from by book Breathing Space, I extracted the following 14 notable passages, among dozens of others:

        * "Time flies whether you attempt to manage it or not.
Breathing space is available whenever you choose it."

        * "When you possess a clear sense of self-worth, you realize
that there is nothing you must do other than what you choose."

        * "No one is a born expert at organizing his or her life;
everybody has to learn along the way."

        * "A keen sense of history is more enlightening than the
nightly news."

        * "The more items of temporary interest you can drop or ignore,
the more breathing space you will enjoy.'

        * "Action is invigorating.  Get out of your armchair and into
life."

        * "Forget about what you no longer have and instead cherish
what you do have, so that you won't miss the present and all the magic
it holds."

        * "Invest in yourself: read the books, take the courses, and
listen to the teachers who can make a dramatic difference in your life."

        * "Rather than seek more time, seek more clear, uncluttered,
open space."

        * "A complete, fulfilled, and stress-free life is lived moment
to moment, and it starts right now."

        * "Don't beat yourself up for what you didn't do; you're doing
the best you can.  If you can do better, you will, maybe not at once,
but soon enough."

        * "Don't be discouraged if you occasionally lose momentum when
pursuing your goals.  Keeping a proper perspective is vital in
maintaining your efforts.

        * "You are not your tasks; they do not define or constrain you."

        * "Control the space in your life, and control of your time
will follow."

You, Too, Are Quoatable

I then submitted these quotes to various quote websites as a way of "formalizing" and documenting that the quotes are mine. Yes, book authors have an advantage but, in reality, everyone, including you, has ample written material to draw from.

After you've consolidated your "personal quote file," refer to it often and draw upon your brilliant phrases for use: in future correspondence, in formal written documents, and whenever you might happen to be interviewed by a reporter, journalist, author, blogger, or show host of any nature. They will be amazed at your quotability!