Tom Rath Quotes & Sayings

The key to human development is building on who you already are — Tom Rath

I would absolutely recommend against excessive positivity and optimism. Any positive emotion that you're infusing into a workplace needs to be grounded in reality. If it's not realistic, sincere, meaningful, and individualized, it won't do much good. — Tom Rath

I first found out I had cancer on my eye and lost an eye to this disease when I was 16, and I've since had cancer in my kidneys and pancreas and a host of other areas. — Tom Rath

Clearly, there aren't enough positive moments or interactions happening in the workplace. As a result, our economy suffers, companies suffer, and individual relationships suffer. — Tom Rath

I have started forcing myself to substitute thinking "I'm busy" with "I need to do a better job managing my time. — Tom Rath

I've seen the same thing emerge in the research around the interaction of sleeping and moving and eating: if you get a good night's sleep, you are significantly more likely to make the right choices about what you eat the next morning, you're more likely to work out, you're more likely to get a better night's sleep the next night. — Tom Rath

The most influential choices you make for your health occur in the grocery store. Once you put something in your cart, good or bad, it is likely to end up in your stomach. Even if you feel some remorse about your poor choice in the store, when you get home, your willpower stands little chance. After all, you paid for it, and it is only a few steps away at that point. — Tom Rath

When top scientists and psychologists talk about what's important to our overall wellbeing and how satisfied we are with our lives, the only thing that they all agree on is that social relationships are probably the single best predictor of our overall happiness. — Tom Rath

We engineered activity out of our lives in the name of convenience. We created foods that put fried, fatty, sweet, and salty ahead of fresh, natural, and healthy. We quickly sacrifice sleep to work longer hours in pursuit of the American Dream. Even when we do these things with good intentions, they have life-threatening consequences. — Tom Rath

I'm a researcher, so I'm realistic that there's nothing I'm doing that's going to prevent me from getting cancer in the future. But I can slow it down. — Tom Rath

Fortunately, going from the low end of this continuum to the recommended 10,000 steps can lead to significant health benefits in the short term as well as the long run. — Tom Rath

Spending on oneself does not boost wellbeing. However, spending money on others does
and it appears to be as important to people's happiness as the total amount of money they make. — Tom Rath

I think trust is primarily built through relationships, and it's important because it's the foundational currency that a leader has with his team or his followers. — Tom Rath

The vast knowledge we have to prevent cancer, heart disease, and other chronic illnesses is staggering. — Tom Rath

Every human being has talents that are just waiting to be uncovered. — Tom Rath

Buying experience such as going out to dinner or taking a vacation increases our own wellbeing and the wellbeing of others. Experiences last while material purchases fade. — Tom Rath

I've seen so many people - loved ones and colleagues - who jump from one diet to the next, one exercise regimen to the next . I was trying to figure out what were some of the basic things that each of us can build into a lifestyle for good, instead of bouncing from one thing to the next. — Tom Rath

What works for one person's needs is almost always very different from the next. — Tom Rath

If a school makes an effort to provide kids the right foods and help them to be more active, this benefits the student and the family's health. If you embark on a program to improve your health with a church or community group, you are more likely to stick with it over time. — Tom Rath

Far too many people spend a lifetime headed in the wrong direction. They go not only from the cradle to the cubicle, but then to the casket, without uncovering their greatest talents and potential. — Tom Rath

I think the term 'friend' itself has lost almost all of its exclusivity. Even the term 'good friend' is overused. Adding the word 'vital' provides a clear definition of what we mean. — Tom Rath

Positive words are the glue that holds relationships together. — Tom Rath

I always thought there were some people who were just destined to be disengaged in their jobs because that was their personality, and no matter how hard managers tried, there wasn't much they could do with some of those people. — Tom Rath

For wellbeing to take hold, it's got to be something that individual team members are getting excited about in their own lives. It can't be something that a company is forcing top-down through hierarchical structures. — Tom Rath

People who say they have a best friend at work are seven times as likely to be engaged in what they're doing. And if they don't have a best friend at work, the odds of being engaged are just 1 in 12. — Tom Rath

Don't worry about breaks every 20 minutes ruining your focus on a task. Contrary to what I might have guessed, taking regular breaks from mental tasks actually improves your creativity and productivity. Skipping breaks, on the other hand, leads to stress and fatigue. — Tom Rath

I've seen people be effective, even among local teams, by offering something that improves wellbeing in a small way - people who get passionate about smart investment strategies and managing finances for retirement, for example. — Tom Rath

When your boss and colleagues care enough to invest in your health, it is good for you and the business. — Tom Rath

Every day, I read about new ideas and research that could help someone I care about live a longer and healthier life. — Tom Rath

Executives must place a priority on wellbeing if they want to attract the right people, keep their best people, and drive their company's financial performance. — Tom Rath

An Australian study of more than 12,000 adults estimated that every single hour spent watching television after the age of 25 decreased the viewer's life expectancy by 22 minutes. — Tom Rath

We don't have any measures in most cases of the health of our social relationships, of what we're giving to the community. — Tom Rath

Half an hour of exercise in the morning makes for better interactions all day. Then a sound night of sleep gives me energy to tackle the next day. I am a more active parent, a better spouse, and more engaged in my work when I eat, move, and sleep well. — Tom Rath

What great leaders have in common is that each truly knows his or her strengths - and can call on the right strength at the right time. — Tom Rath

Across the board, having the opportunity to develop our strengths is more important to our success than our role, our title, or even our pay. — Tom Rath

You can intentionally choose to spend more time with the people you enjoy most and engage your strengths as much as possible. — Tom Rath

Trying to do a little bit of everything leads to doing nothing of substance. When you let the demands of a day pull you in 20 different directions, they do exactly that — Tom Rath

Talent (a natural way of thinking, feeling, or behaving) x Investment (time spent practicing, developing your skills, and building your knowledge base) = Strength (the ability to consistently provide near-perfect performance) — Tom Rath

Instead of celebrating what makes each child unique, most parents push their children to "fit in" so that they don't "stick out." This unwittingly stomps out individuality and encourages conformity, despite these parents' good intentions — Tom Rath

One's single greatest strength may be uncovering the hidden talents of another person. — Tom Rath

Friendships are among the most fundamental of human needs. — Tom Rath

You need a lot of effort and talent to produce greatness. — Tom Rath

It's tempting to work more than 60 hours a week and sacrifice sleep, not move, and eat bad foods as they are convenient. But this comes with a cost. — Tom Rath

When I was in kindergarten, I entered a competition and read 52 books in a week. — Tom Rath

Regardless of your age, you can make better choices in the moment. Small decisions - about how you eat, move, and sleep each day - count more than you think. As I have learned from personal experience, these choices shape your life. — Tom Rath

The most successful people start with dominant talent - and then add skills, knowledge, and practice to the mix. When they do this, the raw talent actually serves as a multiplier. — Tom Rath

There is nothing wrong with working on important individual milestones as long as you understand that they may not be the memories you treasure 25 years from now. — Tom Rath

From the cradle to the cubicle, we devote more time to our shortcomings than to our strengths. — Tom Rath

Doing for others may be the only way to create lasting well-being. — Tom Rath

'StrengthsFinder 2.0' is an effort to get the core message and language out to a much broader audience. We had no idea how well received the first strengths book would be by general readers - it was oriented more toward managers - or that the energy and excitement would continue to grow. — Tom Rath

Most people perceive their occupation as being a detriment to their overall wellbeing. — Tom Rath

Even if people just change two or three things that they are able to sustain over time, it makes quite a difference eventually. — Tom Rath

The quickest way to be a little bit happier and more engaged in your job is to spend some time thinking about developing closer friendships. — Tom Rath

Make it easier to do things that increase your wellbeing before you have to make a choice because a lot of our choices, though they seem small in the moment, have a big effect. — Tom Rath

At a very basic level, people need to know that there is constancy in their jobs and, more broadly, in where the organization is headed. — Tom Rath

Followers need to see how things will get better and what that future might look like. Leaders need to build that foundation of stability, and hope sits on top of that. — Tom Rath

Leaders need to be thinking constantly about what they're doing to create a basic sense of security and stability throughout an organization. — Tom Rath

When we look at what has the strongest statistical relationship to overall evaluation of your life, the first one is your career well-being, or the mission, purpose and meaning of what you're doing when you wake up each day. — Tom Rath

Positive defaults align our short-term decisions with our long-term interests. And we don't always do that. — Tom Rath

I act as if my life depends on each decision. Because it does. — Tom Rath

One challenge is that our ability to progress in our career is often determined by our effectiveness in responding to near-term needs. When high value is placed on solving these kinds of problems, it creates a culture in which leaders spend little or no time thinking about what could be done because they receive more accolades for simply doing what needs to be done. — Tom Rath

I've spoken with a few employers who have moved away from what has to be some of the least attractive language you could use about health risk to start talking about wellbeing. — Tom Rath

The absence of high-quality friendships is bad for your health, spirits, productivity, and longevity. — Tom Rath

When we asked people if they would rather have a best friend at work or a 10% pay raise, having a friend clearly won. — Tom Rath

When you ask people what affects their wellbeing most, they think of health and wealth. — Tom Rath

People with high levels of wellbeing have been careful to work out early in the morning and not to have heavy meals throughout the day because you kind of fall off a cliff in terms of your energy by 2 or 3:00 if you have a lunch with a lot of heavy foods. — Tom Rath

On average, spending time with your boss is consistently rated as the least pleasurable activity in a given day. — Tom Rath

You would think that when someone accepts a position with a company, they would assume that their life will be better off because they have that job rather than a different one. — Tom Rath

The data suggest that to have a thriving day, we need six hours of social time. — Tom Rath

Our relationships with people are formed by small moments - and relationships are crucial in business. — Tom Rath

If you spend your life trying to be good at everything, you will never be great at anything. — Tom Rath

Wanting a more positive environment isn't enough. You need to do something, and it doesn't require a great deal of effort or some huge change in the way you approach things at work. — Tom Rath

Make work a purpose, not just a place. — Tom Rath

It turned out that looking forward to a vacation or event provided even more happiness than the event itself. — Tom Rath

The reality is that a person who has always struggled with numbers is unlikely to be a great accountant or statistician. — Tom Rath

The real energy occurs in each connection between two people, which can bring about exponential returns. — Tom Rath

The lesson here is clear: If you want people to understand that you value their contributions and that they are important, the recognition and praise you provide must have meaning that is specific to each individual. — Tom Rath

The pursuit of meaning, not happiness, is what makes life worthwhile. — Tom Rath

Making better choices takes work. There is a daily give and take, but it is worth the effort. — Tom Rath

If you focus on people's weaknesses, they lose confidence. — Tom Rath

If you want to improve your life and the lives of those around you, you must take action. — Tom Rath

If my colleagues stop eating donuts and are more active, it saves me money on next year's insurance premium, and I get to work with people who have more energy and creativity each day. Yet most organizations fail to make health a cultural priority. Instead, they treat healthcare like any other expense. — Tom Rath

The right choices over time greatly improve your odds of a long and healthy life. — Tom Rath

When you ask people about what they enjoy doing, time spent with the boss is even worse than time spent cleaning the house. So this suggests that there are a lot of leaders out there who are not doing an adequate job. — Tom Rath

And it is likely that Rudy had teammates for whom the inverse was true - they were a 5 on talent and just a 2 on time invested, which is clearly a waste of talent. — Tom Rath

When we can see an immediate payoff, we are more likely to change our behavior in the moment. This aligns our daily actions with our long-term interests. — Tom Rath

What's more, we had discovered that people have several times more potential for growth, when they invest energy in developing their strenghts instead of correcting their deficiencies. — Tom Rath

The most important thing executives can do is send a very clear message to their employees that they care about each person's overall wellbeing and that they want to be a part of helping it improve over time. — Tom Rath

When we're able to put most of our energy into developing our natural talents, extraordinary room for growth exists. So, a revision to the "You-can-be-anything-you-want-to-be" maxim might be more accurate: You cannot be anything you want to be - but you can be a lot more of who you already are. — Tom Rath

Team members care about one another, listen, share secrets, talk about the latest news, have heated arguments, are sometimes jealous of each other, and even cry together. — Tom Rath

At its fundamentally flawed core, the aim of almost any learning program is to help us become who we are not. — Tom Rath

Positive defaults protect you from yourself - and that helps you to make decisions in the moment that are better for your long-term interests. — Tom Rath

Figure out what you really love doing and use your strengths on a daily basis. — Tom Rath

People who have at least three or four very close friendships are healthier, have higher wellbeing, and are more engaged in their jobs. But the absence of any close friendships can lead to boredom, loneliness, and depression. — Tom Rath

Washington is not a city that takes great pride in being a healthy place, necessarily. Now, I have no data. That's just my own observation. — Tom Rath

Ignoring negative things that need to be changed is destructive and does nothing to alleviate negativity. Instead, we should focus on the way we're treating other people in our brief interactions with them. — Tom Rath

When we get at least six hours of daily social time, it increases our wellbeing and minimizes stress and worry. The six hours includes time at work, at home, on the telephone, talking to friends, sending e-mail, and other communication. — Tom Rath

Perhaps the ultimate test of a leader is not what you are able to do in the here and now - but instead what continues to grow long after you're gone — Tom Rath

Followers have a very clear picture of what they want and need from the most influential leaders in their lives: trust, compassion, stability, and hope — Tom Rath

There is certainly some predisposition to wellbeing, based on the research I've looked at. There are people who have a lot more natural discipline. But for most of us, it takes a lot more in terms of social expectations, where, say, we tell people we're going to run a 5K. — Tom Rath