"It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat."

Theodore Roosevelt

The story is told of two men who decided to go duck hunting. They went out on a boat early

in the morning. After shooting the first duck, one of the hunters who brought along a dog,
he sent his dog to fetch the duck. The dog leaped from the boat, ran across the surface of
the water, and retrieved the duck. The dog’s owner smiled with pride, but the other hunter
said nothing. A while later, they shot another duck. Again the dog scampered across the
water and retrieved the Duck. Again the second hunter was silent. Finally the dogs owner said, “ Did you notice anything particular about my new dog.”
To which the second hunter replied, “ Yes, he can’t swim.”
It seems people find the negative in any situation.

Some people are only happy when they are unhappy. Bad attitudes are like a cold.

When someone has one it is very contagious. If we don’t take some preventative medicine.

We can catch it as well.

Most people think they have a great attitude. A great attitude is actually a discipline.

Forgotten Your Dreams?

After a change in head coaches at the University of South Carolina earlier in his career, Lou Holtz, then a defensive coach, found himself unemployed.

"I was unemployed for over a month, a long time for someone like me who had worked since he was nine.  I felt very defeated. Our savings account was down to four figures: around $10.95.  With a growing family to support, I was feeling pressure.  It would have been an unbearable period, if not for my wife.  She could not have been any more supportive or encouraging.  Beth never complained.  She went to work as an x-ray technician to help keep us in groceries.  She also brought me the motivational book, The Magic of Thinking Big, by David Schwartz, hoping it would help me feel less depressed.

In his chapter on goals, Schwartz writes that anyone who is bored by life has probably forgotten his or her dreams.  He invites readers to get back in touch with them.  As a first step, we are asked to list all the things we have ever wanted to accomplish:  I had a lot of time on my hands, so I took out a pencil and paper and divided my list into five categories:

1. As a husband/father
2. Spiritually
3. Professionally
4. Financially
5. Simply for excitement

It was the in fifth category that I let my imagination run wild.  Here are some of the things I included:

1. Jump out of an airplane
2. Land a jet fighter on an aircraft carrier
3. Travel the ocean in a submarine
4. Go white-water rafting on the Snake River at Hells Canyon
5. Be on the Tonight Show, starring Johnny Carson
6. Attend a White House dinner with the president
7. Meet the Pope
8. Go on an African safari
9. Become a scratch golfer and play the top 50 golf courses in the world
10. Run with the bulls in Pamplona (provided I was matched with a much slower person)

And on it went.  I had 107 goals on my original list.  Suddenly, I was looking at my life differently and was excited about the future.  When I told Beth that I was determined we do all of them, she said, "Gee, that's great, honey, but why don't you add "I want to find a job."  Good note-the list expanded to 108. So far, we've managed to achieve 102 of those dreams-including dining at the White House and meeting the Pope.  We're still working on the others.  From the moment I made that list, we became participants, rather than spectators, in our life.  You do the same and you'll find you don't want to spend so much time sleeping; you'll be afraid you might miss something!

Excerpt from Lou Holtz

A lesson in listening.

 A couple of rednecks are in the woods hunting. When one of them falls to the ground. He doesn’t seem to be breathing and his eyes are rolled back in his head. The other guy whips out his cell phone calls 911. He frantically tells the operator, “Bubba is dead, what can I do?”

The operator in a calm soothing voice says, “Just take it easy, I can help. First let's make sure he is dead.”

There is silence, then a gunshot is heard. The guys voice comes back on the line and says, “Okay now what.”

Attitude


The starting point is to believe that you can change. If you don’t believe it, then you wont do it. I’m not asking you to think it’s going to be easy or an overnight thing, just that in principal you’re up for the task. The hardest sales people that I have to deal with are ones that lack commitment and/or belief because most of my time is spent working on those issues and they are seldom the ones that prompted the contact.

The starting point after the original starting point that we just started is to understand that ALL your feelings stem from your thoughts. If you are in a bad mood and the attitude has climbed onboard and taken over the controls, it’s because you invited it. You thought about it and said "Come on in." In all likelihood it was done at an unconscious level, so don’t start arguing with me just because you can’t remember thinking negatively before you hurled a tirade of abuse at the Jehovah’s Witness.

You can think very quickly and very efficiently at an unconscious level. You’ve had years and years of practice. Imagine how good you would be if you did nothing but practice filleting fish 8 hours a day for 5 years. You’d be a fish filleter par excellence and people would be traveling from far and wide to see you remove dem bones, dem bones, dem, wet bones…probably. Well forget the fish, because you’ve been practicing your thinking 24 hours per day for however many years you’ve been alive, so you’re even better at THAT. There’s always stuff going on at an unconscious level unless you are either a very good meditator or a bit dead, so the practice keeps building on itself.
Remember to be aware of what your thoughts are.

Take a chance
" To many people are having what you might call, "a near life experience.' They go thru life bunting, so afraid of failure that they never try to win the big prize, never knowing the thrill of hitting a home run or even taking a swing at one."
Guillarme Apollinaire wrote,
Come to the edge
No, we will fall
Come to the edge
No, we will fall
They came to the edge
He pushed them and they flew.

FLY

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”

Mark Twain

I've been around and I've seen some things
People moving faster than the speed of sound
Faster than the speeding bullet
People living like Superman
All day and all night
And I won't say if it's wrong or if it's right
I'm pretty fast myself
But I do have some advice to pass along
Along in the chorus of this song

Better not look down
If you want to keep on flying
Put the hammer down
Keep it full speed ahead
Better not look back
Or you might just wind up crying
You can keep it moving
If you don't look down

An old girl friend of mine showed up the other day
That girl have lived in love and for love
And over love, and under love all her life
If the arrows from cupid's bow that had
Passed through her heart had been sticking
Out of her body she would have looked like
A porcupine, and she asked me
Bob, do you think I've lived my life all wrong?
And I said: The only advice I have to pass
Along in the chorus of this song
Girl

Better not look down
If you want to keep on flying
Put the hammer down
Keep it full speed ahead
Better not look back
Or you might just wind up crying
You can keep it moving
If you don't look down

I was walking down the street at sunrise one morning
In London, England
And there was a very large Rolls Royce Limousine
Pulling slowly along the street
And in that Rolls Royce was the Queen of England
Looking tired
Just got back from a party, and the Queen leaned out and
She said: Aren't you Bob Morgan? She said:
Oh Bob., sometimes it's so hard to pull things together
Could you tell me what you think I ought to do?
And I said:

Better not look down
If you want to keep on flying
Put the hammer down
Keep it full speed ahead
Better not look back
Or you might just wind up crying
You can keep it moving
If you don't look down

Respect to B.B. King

One choice, just one, can change your life forever. Simply put, your life today is what your choices have made it, but with new choices, you can change directions this very moment. For me, that idea alone is highly motivational because it offers tremendous hope, regardless of circumstances, for a better tomorrow.

Your life-changing choice may be to leave an abusive relationship, to go back to school, to stop drinking, to adopt a child, to start a business, to lose weight, to start a charity...to name a few. If you have the courage to do so, you could make any one of those choices, or others, today. And you would change your life.

Sometimes it's a different kind of choice. It can be to not quit, to not give up in the face of adversity. We've all been there.

Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen received 77 rejections for their idea Chicken Soup for the Soul. They had to make a decision each time...should they throw in the towel and say enough is enough, or should they keep trying to pursue their dreams? You know the rest of the story. The 78th publisher said “Yes” and they went on to sell over 100 million books.

So never forget that you are only one choice away from changing your life. Do you have the courage to make it?

It is not surprising that most managers are mediocre at best. We throw them to the wolves and expect them to be a counselor, mediator, actor, friend, boss and much more. Why are they not successful?

We give them no foundation, except their own experiences, to build on. Think back to your own career, you can count on one hand the great managers you had. They still have a tremendous effect on your thought process and actions

A thankful spirit is a healthy spirit. As the twists and turns of life lead to feelings of being out of control, sometimes our attitude is all that we have control over...the following reflection may help you develop a thankful attitude. Sometimes life is all about how we look at it!

I am thankful for...

the mess to clean after a party because it means I have been surrounded by friends.

the taxes I pay because it means that I am employed.

a lawn that needs mowing, windows that need cleaning and gutters that need fixing because it means I have a home.

my shadow who watches me work because it means I am out in the sunshine.

the spot I find at the far end of the parking lot because it means I am capable of walking.

all of the complaining I hear about our government because it means we have freedom of speech.

my huge heating bill because it means I am warm.

the lady behind me in church who sings off key because it means that I can hear.

the alarm that goes off early in the morning hours because it means that I am alive.

the piles of laundry and ironing because it means my loved ones are nearby.

weariness and aching muscles at the end of the day because it means I have been productive.