I found this quote while reading about cars on wikipedia, but when I read it, I realized that you could apply it to health, creativity, dating, looking for work, or anything really.
I took the car words out and paraphrased it to be more applicable to anything:
"What I need to do is improve myself gradually. Then, before I know it, I will have become a worthwhile person, and others will think so too. If I work hard to improve myself, I won't be bothered by whatever anyone else is doing. If all I do is worry about other people, I will definitely not get to where I want to go."
- paraphrased from Yutaka Katayama