Dance as if you believe / think no one is watching.

A wise woman once said to me after I'd once been very ill and had returned to the workforce; quite provably too early and I was dissapointed in my output. I felt as if I was underperforming and had moaned and groaned to her over a breakfast coffee. She was the mother of my then Operations Manager, I said something along the lines but what will people think of me, she looked me squarely in the eyes and said you would worry less about what people think, if you knew how little they think. That simple statement has stuck with me for over 15 years. I've repeated it many times along the way, it struck such a chord with me because I knew it to be true. People think far less of anything or anyone in general, they really relate everything back to themselves so you may feature in their actual thoughts for less than 30 seconds. Life saver she was, not a day goes bye and I don't think of her and her wisdom.