“Often we allow ourselves to get all worked up about things that, upon closer examination, aren't really that big a deal. We focus on little problems and blow them out of proportion.”

—  Richard Carlson

Lesson 1, Don't Sweat the Small Stuff
Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff…and it’s all Small Stuff (1997)
Context: Often we allow ourselves to get all worked up about things that, upon closer examination, aren't really that big a deal. We focus on little problems and blow them out of proportion. … Whether we had to wait in line, listen to unfair criticism, or do the lion's share of the work, it pays enormous dividends if we learn not to worry about little things. So many people spend so much of their life energy "sweating the small stuff" that they completely lose touch with the magic and beauty of life.

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "Often we allow ourselves to get all worked up about things that, upon closer examination, aren't really that big a deal…" by Richard Carlson?
Richard Carlson photo
Richard Carlson 35
Author, psychotherapist and motivational speaker 1961–2006

Related quotes

Buckminster Fuller photo

“Integrity of the individual is what we're being judged for and if we are not passing that examination, we don't really have the guts, we'll blow ourselves up.”

Buckminster Fuller (1895–1983) American architect, systems theorist, author, designer, inventor and futurist

From 1980s onwards, Only Integrity is Going to Count (1983)
Context: Integrity of the individual is what we're being judged for and if we are not passing that examination, we don't really have the guts, we'll blow ourselves up. It will be all over. I think it's all the difference in the world.

“The things we hate about ourselves aren't more real than things we like about ourselves.”

Ellen Goodman (1941) American journalist and writer

Attributed

Ward Cunningham photo

“Often, the program ends up amazing. You'll say, "This is beautifully architected." Well, where did that architecture come from?
In this case, architecture means the systematic way we deal with diverse requirements. Architecture allows us, when we go to do work we need to do on the program, to find where things go. It is a system that was worked into the program by all the little decisions we made — little decisions that were right, and little decisions that were wrong and corrected. In a sense we get the architecture without really trying. All the decisions in the context of the other decisions simply gel into an architecture.”

Ward Cunningham (1949) American computer programmer who developed the first wiki

A Conversation with Ward Cunningham (2003), Working the Program

Alfie Kohn photo

“The value of a book about dealing with children is inversely proportional to the number of times it contains the word behavior. When our primary focus is on discrete behaviors, we end up ignoring the whole child.”

Alfie Kohn (1957) American author and lecturer

"Unconditional Teaching," Educational Leadership

Paul Krugman photo

“There is no economic policy. That's really important to say. The general modus operandi of the Bushies is that they don't make policies to deal with problems. They use problems to justify things they wanted to do anyway. So there is no policy to deal with the lack of jobs. There really isn't even a policy to deal with terrorism. It's all about how can we spin what's happening out there to do what we want to do.”

Paul Krugman (1953) American economist

When asked to define the economic policy of the Bush administration in a BuzzFlash interview http://www.buzzflash.com/interviews/03/09/11_krugman.html, 11 September 2003

“Sometimes we get sad about things and we don't like to tell other people that we are sad about them. We like to keep it a secret. Or sometimes, we are sad but we really don't know why we are sad, so we say we aren't sad but we really are.”

Mark Haddon book The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

Source: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

Steven Novella photo

“… most scientists are really quite happy to talk about their work. It's often hard to get them to shut up, actually.”

Steven Novella (1964) American neurologist, skepticist

SGU, Podcast #148, May 21st, 2008 http://www.theskepticsguide.org/podcast/sgu/148
The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe, Podcast, 2000s

Douglas Engelbart photo

“The key thing about all the world's big problems is that they have to be dealt with collectively. If we don't get collectively smarter, we're doomed.”

Douglas Engelbart (1925–2013) American engineer and inventor

Intelligence in the Internet Age, New York Times, 9/19/05 http://www.nytimes.com/cnet/CNET_2100-11395_3-5869719.html?pagewanted=print

Douglas Engelbart photo

“The key thing about all the world’s big problems is that they have to be dealt with collectively. If we don’t get collectively smarter, we’re doomed.”

Douglas Engelbart (1925–2013) American engineer and inventor

Source: https://www.cnet.com/news/intelligence-in-the-internet-age/

Robert A. Heinlein photo

“If we blow ourselves up we will do it by misapplication of science; if we manage to keep from blowing ourselves up, it will be through intelligent application of science.”

Robert A. Heinlein (1907–1988) American science fiction author

The Pragmatics of Patriotism (1973)
Context: In this complex world, science, the scientific method, and the consequences of the scientific method are central to everything the human race is doing and to wherever we are going. If we blow ourselves up we will do it by misapplication of science; if we manage to keep from blowing ourselves up, it will be through intelligent application of science.

Related topics