Earlier this year, in a post titled Remain Calm…and other writing on my wall, I wrote about collections of sayings, mantras, and quotes, we have at our desks. It’s time to share a few more.

The more you work, the more talented you get. – This one is everywhere, particularly with the small business, entrepreneur crowd I’ve been following lately. Ever notice how the hardest working people are the “luckiest”, too? Skill, talent, luck – it’s the same thing with these three. The more time and effort you put into something, like instructional design, the better you and your projects will get. So…press on, keep moving forward, and read this Copyblogger post by Sonia Simone for more.

Play it out. – Sometimes you’ve done all you can do in terms of planning, design, and development. When it is time to implement, I believe in pilot testing, but there’s a point where you have to put it out there and let it see what it will do. When that time comes, be ready to evaluate and make updates as needed.

Bounce off the wall. – We’ve all hit walls at some point, right? Personal walls, professional walls, they seem to stop us in our tracks bringing our momentum to a halt. Consider the action of the bounce. How can we cushion the blow and keep moving, redirecting energy in a new direction? On a design project these walls can be new requirements, changes, delays. Instead of grinding to a halt consider other options. I can’t remember where I got this one, but maybe Tigger was onto something.

Check path! – Yes, this one has an exclamation mark. Its practical function is to remind me to check the path when tinkering with file transfers. A couple of days ago I finished reading Switch and one of the three main components of change presented is the need to  “shape the path”. In other words, we need to change our environments and develop habits that will help us get from point A to point B. Are we on the right track? If not, how do we get there? Check your project’s path, your team’s path. Help to shape them so you get where you need to go.

I know you collect these things, too. Once again I ask you to share the wealth and positive vibes.