Challenging Myself Quotes & Sayings

I never go about a new project as if I'm trying ot redefine myself. I just like to work, and I'm excited by material I find challenging and - if it's a comedy - exceptionally funny. — Julia Louis-Dreyfus

I get bored quite easily, so I like to keep my mind entertained by challenging myself. — Douglas Booth

As a competitor, I want to continue to keep turning the chapters and keep challenging myself. — Abby Wambach

Just coming to terms with the fact that I got to play April Wheeler [Revolutionary Road] and Hanna Schmitz [The Reader] in one year, let alone in my lifetime. I'm very, very aware of how rare that is as an opportunity for any one person. I can't tell you how much I've been able to take away from these experiences creatively. I really, really learned so much about acting, about myself ... all of those things. It's difficult to talk about the actor's process without sounding like an arrogant asshole but they really were very challenging. — Kate Winslet

My biggest motivation? Just to keep challenging myself — Richard Branson

I've always wanted to be a communicator of ideas through music. Today, I wanna be the most effective musical communicator of social change I could be, so I try to find different ways to do it and I'm always challenging myself to find new things, learn new instruments. But I always try to find in my heart, what it is I really want to say with words. — Michael Franti

I really believe in challenging myself, pushing myself to new places. — Jonathan Evison

Being a dramatic character was more difficult for me. It was a new thing that I explored because it was challenging. But I love to challenge myself and different things. — Omar Sy

Every movie that I do, I always try and better myself in the next one and try and find a part which is more challenging. It's a little vulnerable to do that, to always push the envelope. You position yourself for a lot more flack or a lot more critique because you're trying to do something different. Sometimes you're good at it and sometimes you're not, but it's a chance you have to take to make life exciting. — Priyanka Chopra

I'd quite like to do a film but I'd also love to do more theatre. I want to keep challenging myself with good roles. It's harder for women because there aren't as many challenging roles. — Ruth Wilson

I am not one of those writers that it just flows out of effortlessly. I have to sit and write and rewrite and sometimes it's really challenging to get anything good out of myself. — Princess Superstar

Every role is challenging in its own way, but the most challenging roles are the ones that are badly written - then it's completely up to you to come up with something that is interesting to the story and myself as an actor. — Richard Schiff

I like to challenge myself not to be negative, because it's easy to take comedy to a negative place and criticize the outside world. Trying to praise something through comedy or be appreciative and making jokes about it is more challenging than cutting things down. — Kyle Kinane

Surprisingly, I came closer to really knowing myself, not because I feared death, because we were always aware of it, but rather because I was always challenging myself about what had led me there and about how strong my commitment really was. — Aleida March

When I was a child and told my mother I didn't felt this was my planet, she thought I was schizophrenic or autistic. When later I finished a college degree and started working in different countries, she called me monster and started threatening me. Nearly 40 years later, when I was making a living from the books I wrote based on what I know, and making 6 times more money than she ever will, she apologized. I'm just not sure why or what she was apologizing for. I had already forgiven her ignorance when realizing nobody would ever believe the truth but myself. I had to go the whole way alone. Nobody was going to come with me on this very long, painful and challenging journey that humans call life but for me was much more than that, it was my mission, of changing their whole future far beyond the time when I'm gone. She was never my mother but merely the human body that gave me birth. In that sense, I am a monster, because I had no love. I had to find that too, on my own. — Robin Sacredfire

I never dreamed of being an actor, but I'm beginning to love it more and more because I like challenging myself. When I feel like I'm not learning or having fun anymore, then I'll stop. — Kristin Kreuk

You're always trying to look for material that is as challenging as possible, so that's why I like stuff where the characters go through the most difficult times they've ever had in their life. It makes me push myself further and learn more about myself. — Joel Kinnaman

For me, challenging myself with this type of endeavor [ultramarathons] brings the best out in me because even at the darkest, deepest moments when I feel like I can't go on, when I feel like there's no chance I could break the record or much less finish the trail, somehow I find that strength inside of me. — Scott Jurek

I'm excited by challenging myself physically and mentally every day. — Emily VanCamp

I want to keep growing as a writer. I find myself doing unexpected projects and sort of challenging my idea of where I am in my career, or what I'm supposed to be doing. In fact, I'm not supposed to be doing anything. Just finding projects that are challenging to me. I want to be a writer who keeps growing and figuring out new things and hopefully people will follow me along as I publish these things. — Colson Whitehead

I just like to keep challenging myself, keep it varied. It's a craft, and I'm constantly trying to learn and get better at it. — Clive Owen

If I stay alert, then I can challenge myself, and by challenging myself, that helps me to stay alive and to hopefully take something away from the experience. — Thomas Jane

NOEL: And even when I don't stay up until midnight, I still enjoy the tradition of New Year's resolutions. What can I say? I like setting personal goals and challenging myself to improve. I suppose I could do it on any day of the year, but the New Year is as good a day as any. It's a fresh start. — Hillary DePiano

What I've got here are my own constraints. I'm challenging myself, using found objects and making stuff that throws all this computational capacity at, you know, these trivial problems, like car-driving Elmo clusters and seashell toaster-robots. We have so much capacity that the trivia expands to fill it. And all that capacity is junk-capacity, it's leftovers. There's enough computational capacity in a junkyard to launch a space-program, and that's by design. Remember the iPod? Why do you think it was so prone to scratching and going all gunky after a year in your pocket? Why would Apple build a handheld technology out of materials that turned to shit if you looked at them cross-eyed? It's because the iPod was only meant to last a year! — Cory Doctorow

I feel like people grow the most when they step outside of the box that they are used to. For me, it's constantly challenging myself to step outside of my comfort zone. As soon as you do that, then you grow, but then you get comfortable again. — Sanaa Lathan

Creatively I just enjoy challenging myself in different genres. — Debra Messing

I always try to put myself in the way of surprise as much as possible. My ambition is to keep challenging myself. I like that journey of discovery. — David Morrissey

I couldn't get to sleep at night without saying the Lord's Prayer because, when I was young, I felt I was touched by the hand of Jesus, and hated myself for challenging it. — Bruce Parry

I like a role that is challenging. That's what I look for and I'm certainly always looking to move further and maybe push myself into a place that might be temporarily uncomfortable so that I might learn something. — Ezra Miller

I'm always interested in challenging myself and pushing and seeing how far I can go. — Taraji P. Henson

As an artist, I think it's important to always keep growing, and I definitely want to keep challenging myself. — Ciara

People have always found me challenging - I don't know why, when I am only being myself. I don't understand why they find me so annoying but they do. It is pity, but that is how it is. — Ian Hamilton Finlay

After my second-to-last record, 'The Greatest', I had gone on tour for a while, and I didn't play an instrument for about five years. And I got kind of - it's not self-esteem or whatever, or anger toward myself - but disappointed in myself that I hadn't been challenging myself to learn musically. — Cat Power

It's challenging as an actor to let go but I had some pleasure out of it too. To not have the effort of having to present myself is quite liberating. — Juliette Binoche

I feel myself becoming the fearless person I have dreamt of being. Have I arrived? No. But I'm constantly evolving and challenging myself to be unafraid to make mistakes. — Janelle Monae

I pay attention to what's going on around me. I'm always looking for new energy, new talent, new voices. When you do that I think it's easier to come up with fresh ideas. It's not that my career has been based on surprising people, but it's been about challenging myself - to constantly do new things that are going to broaden my own mind and in the process, hopefully, connect with other people. — Madonna Ciccone

Music is my number one, it's my life, it's my everything. I'm enjoying challenging myself; I want to raise the bar and set a new standard for Australian pop artists. — Ricki-Lee Coulter

The reality is each new day and each project is another opportunity to learn, experiment and try something I haven't done before. I've found that's what keeps me motivated and moving forward - learning new things and challenging myself on a daily basis to improve as a composer, recording engineer, percussionist, guitarist, producer ... the list goes on and on! — Jason Graves

I found the structure of writing a screenplay harder than the structure of writing an essay. But it was definitely challenging to force myself to sit and write. I'm not used to having to force myself to work. — Judy Greer

Much of the time in the writer's room is spent working on story, and I was always challenging myself to make it more interesting, tighter and more surprising: to come at it sideways in a way that the audience wasn't expecting. — Maria Semple

I like to take up something that is challenging. I like to stretch myself. — Christine Lahti

I come from an art-school background, and I still feel that in my music, it's about exploration and challenging myself, about putting myself in a place that's frightening because I haven't been there before. — P.J. Harvey

Of course, every actor has their box and you have to respect and play for it, but I do love challenging myself. I love every role to be new, and I always like to bring a freshness to every character I play. — Aneurin Barnard

The thing about this business is that you always end up finding these amazing stories and these amazing people who make amazing films. I just want to work with good people and keep challenging myself with different kinds of characters. — Madhur Mittal

It's important to keep challenging myself and try to come up with some new face every now and again. — Johnny Depp

I like challenging myself. I'm not a person who likes not to work. — Tony McCoy

I think you have to be scared every morning that you go out to shoot, or you lose your edge. With actors, there has to be that adrenaline and you have to keep challenging yourself, and I certainly challenge myself, as a director. — Susanna White

I just want to keep challenging myself. Keep moving the goalposts and raising my game. — Martin Henderson

I like challenging myself. I like the challenge of rapping to fast beats, rapping to beats that are super slow, whatever. I like the challenges, so I'm not afraid to take on any piece of music and create a song to it if it feels right to me. — Will Ferrell

I like to think of myself as a very passionate person, and as very determined. So, if I set my mind on something, I definitely stop at no end to find within myself the power to keep going, whether that involves thinking of a new approach to a problem, or physically challenging myself. — Lily Collins

For me, my criteria for making films is all about trying to do something different from the last time. So if I catch myself doing too much of one thing, I'm always trying to move away from that, because it's not going to be challenging enough to keep my attention and focus. — Queen Latifah

Theater is a way to keep challenging myself. — Patrick J. Adams

I don't consider myself very brave in any sense. I'm interested in this kind of behavior. My job is to try to make it realistic and emotionally resonant. That's the most challenging thing, to bring emotional resonance to what you do as an actor. — Julianne Moore

I'm challenging myself to reverse the hate. — Orlando Jones

I'm singing and dancing and playing guitar. I really enjoy pushing myself into different aspects. I'm not going to do this for the rest of my life, but I want to keep challenging myself. And if I'm fearful of something I definitely want to step into it and see how good or bad I am at it. — Dustin Clare

You might be able to get a certain sound, and in the studio you certainly look at things under a microscope a lot more. You might hear more warmth out of a thicker string gauge. But in the practical world, like with us, we're playing An Evening With ... so it's three hours of music, and our music is pretty challenging as far as the technical aspect. And I found after awhile that I was killing myself. — John Petrucci

I personally love to run outdoor fitness trails. I love the meditative value I get when out alone, challenging myself to run faster and higher. — Laurieann Gibson

I felt like challenging myself and challenging my readers with something darker and heavier. I don't know how to explain it, because I'm not a political person. I have two political stories, and that's it: 'Human Diastrophism' and 'Poison River.' — Gilbert Hernandez

I directed one of my shorts that did festivals around the world, and that was great. I've got a bit of a bug for that now. I just hope I keep challenging myself and keep doing stuff that interests me with people who I respect and who teach me stuff. If I can keep doing that in anything - acting, writing, directing or whatever - I'll do it because life is short. — Josh Lawson

I love making fiction films as well as nonfiction ones, and hope to keep challenging myself to make better and better work. — Lucy Walker

Ironman distance triathlons are a true test of oneself as a whole. Each race is a test of physical, mental and spiritual toughness that I haven't found in any other type of racing. At the end of the day, challenging myself on all levels is what it's about for me. — Timothy O'Donnell

I like big escapist films. It's odd because the type of comedian I am and the things I do when I'm writing and directing myself usually deal with the darker side of the human psyche and excruciating social faux pas. I often deal in taboos and the subjects I do as a stand-up are quite challenging. But my film roles have been much more fun and escapist. — Ricky Gervais

It's fun to get away from myself for a while when I take on these roles that have very different personalities from my own. I get to say things I normally wouldn't say or act in ways I normally wouldn't act. After all, such roles are more challenging because you really have to immerse yourself in the character. — Kelsey Chow

I've been keeping an eye on Henry throughout the fight. I glanced at him just as he stepped onto the mat.
"Alpha," he called. "I chal - "
He never got the whole word out - because I drew my foster father's SIG and shot him in the throat before he could.
For a split second everyone stared at him, as if they couldn't figure out where all that blood had come from.
"Stop the bleeding." I said. Though I made no move to do it myself. The rat could die for all I cared. "That was a lead bullet. He'll be fine." But he wouldn't be talking - or challenging Adam - for a while. "When he's stable put him in the holding cell where he can't do any more harm."
Adam looked at me. "Trust you to bring a gun into a fist fight." He said with every evidence of admiration. Then he looked at his pack. Our pack. "What she said." He told them. — Patricia Briggs

I just want to keep trying to surprise myself and I want to keep challenging myself. — Jennifer Aniston

Jesus was always challenging the dogma of religion. So, you know, it's not like I'm out there by myself. — William P. Young

I'm not scared of doing movies that are just about entertainment. I'm not scared of doing movies that are really challenging and cover difficult terrain. I just want good experiences and I want to challenge myself and I want to just keep learning, as an actor. — Joel Edgerton

I always challenged men, in foot races or whatever as a kid growing up, because it was a way of pushing myself and challenging myself against the best - but you have to know and accept that men are born with testosterone. You can beat them for so long, but eventually they'll catch up. — Katie Uhlaender

Globally, proving myself working well with Adidas, showing my work could be globally distributed and loved and appreciated and still be challenging. Maybe I'm one of the first people on a larger scale to make more challenging and more unique items. — Jeremy Scott

If I ever stop challenging myself, then I am getting lazy and comfortable and I am no longer growing. I hope to use life's challenges as stepping stones to ever greater things. — Roz Savage

From a creative standpoint, I'm interested not only in the idea of helping couples and women, but challenging myself creatively, and doing each one better than the last thing I did. I think by doing that, by adding a visual element to these films, it really makes a huge difference. — Sasha Grey

Looking back at my earlier pictures, I think that the work is very much coming from the same place. I have gone through a period of challenging myself with a complicated idea to currently challenging myself with the idea of simplicity. — Tim Walker

I'm not known as a singer, but in life I like to do things that are a bit beyond my reach to keep myself from slipping. I find that technology has made it so that we don't need to have a memory system, and as I get older I want to do things that challenge me. What could be more challenging than doing this show with a knee that's been replaced, after tearing my Achilles heel with a baker's cyst on the back of my knee? And then I have to try and dance! — George Hamilton

To me, creatively challenging myself is my version of owning the Nets. — Nas

A lot of crime writing suffers from treading water. I feel an obligation to move the character on and not repeat myself. I try to fit him into a different period and a different agenda. That way, you learn slightly more about his personal history in the tradition of the unreliable narrator. It makes it more challenging to write. — Philip Kerr

I try to be careful and put things in perspective. There are people who have challenging lives and work hard physically and mentally. I consider myself a lucky person because I get to go on stage and tell jokes for an hour. If I miss a connection here and there or my room isn't ready now and then? It's not a big deal. — Brian Regan

I quit flying myself last year and that was difficult for me because I enjoy it as much as playing golf. It was an adjustment sitting in the back of the plane, rather than at the controls, but I've grown accustomed to it and enjoy reading a book, doing some work or challenging my wife to a game of dominos. — Arnold Palmer

I definitely try to broaden the scope of music. I don't know if it's pop or classical or what, but I'm religiously challenging myself all the time, for better or for worse. — Rufus Wainwright

I am all about breaking barriers and challenging myself, that is why everything I have done on my resume is different. I have never played a cop again, and I have never played a boxer again since I played Muhammad Ali. That was a challenge, being darker than him, and the film won Best Television Movie and I was a part of that. I was in Mississippi Burning, which won an Oscar. — Darius McCrary

I got into hula hooping at age six - I hula hooped all day, every day. That was something I was comfortable with, but I never tried walking or singing while hula hooping! It's actually pretty difficult and tiring. But I like challenging myself. It's hard, but it's really fun. — Patina Miller

Although I feel directing is a lot more challenging, fulfilling and satisfying, it is also far more stressful & consuming. This is why I don't see myself directing one film after another in quick succession. — Nandita Das

I love challenging myself, doing different things and exploring different areas that I haven't been to or gone to before. That's what I love about acting, and that's what I love about film. — Taylor Lautner

To the Red Drum for sets, to hear Bird, whom I saw distinctly digging Mardou several times also myself directly into my eye looking to search if really I was that great writer I thought myself to be as if he knew my thoughts and ambitions or remembered me from other night clubs and other coasts, other Chicagos - not a challenging look but the king and founder of the bop generation at least the sound of it in digging his audience digging the eyes, the secret eyes him-watching, as he just pursed his lips and let great lungs and immortal fingers work, — Jack Kerouac

It has never been my goal to impress anyone but myself. That has proven challenging enough. — Richelle E. Goodrich

I'm always trying to figure out ways to one up everyone, and that's what I love about competitions. I love challenging myself and pushing the envelope. — Ryan Sheckler

It's always my goal to be more mature-sounding, more convincing, but also more experimental, and more challenging for myself. If it's not a little bit harder every time I make a new track, then I'm being lazy. — Lotic

A lot of the time, people want to hear from someone like myself. They want to give it a shot. It's challenging, and it's driven me more than discouraged me. — Archie Panjabi

I'm definitely a fan of sort of dramas, independent sort of social dramas where you play really challenging roles. Every actor wants to play those dark roles and it's definitely true for me and I'd love to kind of challenge myself in any way possible. — Nathalie Emmanuel

I'm really passionate about things I enjoy, and I like to be out there doing things, and learning and challenging myself. So it's just more fun that way, just to get out and try and do and learn and meet people and try to do something new. — Steve Nash

Doing jobs that are completely different to the last thing I did pushes me as an actor to change as much as I can. It would be easy for me to stay in a similar vein of characters or jobs, but I'm drawn to challenging myself. — Richard Madden