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January
2011
Don’t be content with being average. Average is as close to the bottom as it is to the top.
A good example is a lesson anyone can read.
Cooperation is doing with a smile what you have to do anyway.
Better to ask twice than to lose your way once.
Excuses are the tools with which people with no purpose in view build for themselves great monuments of nothing.
Habit is like a soft bed, easy to get into but hard to get out of.
If you want your dreams to come true, don’t oversleep.
Knock the T off can’t. You can if you think you can.
Life is like a ladder. Every step we take is either up or down.
A wish is a desire without any attempt to attain its end.
Challenge your own mind – stretch and exercise it like any other part of your body.
High expectations are the key to everything.
Anger is often more harmful than the injury that caused it.
A person can run away from his troubles just as easily as he can run away from his shadow.
Success depends on your backbone not your wishbone.
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February 2011
The other day, someone at a store in our town read that a methamphetamine lab had been found in an old farmhouse in the adjoining county and he asked me a rhetorical question, “Why didn’t we have a drug problem when you and I were growing up?”
I replied, “I had a drug problem when I was young: I was drug to church on Sunday morning. I was drug to church for weddings and funerals. I was drug to family reunions and community socials no matter the weather.
I was drug by my ears when I was disrespectful to adults. I was also drug to the woodshed when I disobeyed my parents, told a lie, brought home a bad report card, did not speak with respect, spoke ill of the teacher or the preacher, or if I didn’t put forth my best effort in everything that was asked of me.
I was drug to the kitchen sink to have my mouth washed out with soap if I uttered a profanity. I was drug out to pull weeds in Mom’s garden and flower beds and cockleburs out of Dad’s fields. I was drug to the homes of family, friends and neighbors to help out some poor soul who had no one to mow the yard, repair the clothesline, or chop some firewood, and, if my mother had ever known that I took a single dime as a tip for this kindness, she would have drug me back to the woodshed.
Those drugs are still in my veins and they affect my behavior in everything I do, say, or think. They are stronger than cocaine, crack, or heroin; and, if today’s children had this kind of drug problem, America would be a better place.
God bless the parents who drugged us.” – A concerned citizen
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March 2011
Triumph --umph added to try.
To belittle is to be little.
The two best times to keep your mouth shut are when you're swimming and when you're angry.
We can't all be shining examples, but we can at least twinkle a little.
You can't hug your kids too much.
A winner is a person who asks questions and listens to the answers; a loser never listens.
Character is the sum total of all our everyday choices.
Dreams and dedication are a powerful combination.
Failures are a normal part of life. They are not disasters.
Ideas are the great moving forces of history.
Life is like a ladder. Every step we take is either up or down.
Luck may sometimes help; work always helps.
Never let a day go by without a dream.
People are lonely because they build walls instead of bridges.
Solitude is a good place to visit but a poor place to stay.
Improvement begins with "I."
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April
2011
OPPORTUNITY: The secret of success in life is for a man to be ready for his opportunity when it comes. – Earl of Beaconsfield
SUCCESS: Success is seizing the day and accepting responsibility for your future. It’s seeing what other people don’t see, and pursuing that vision, no matter who tells you not to. – Howard Schultz
FOCUS: Concentrate all your thoughts on the task at hand. The sun’s rays do not burn until brought to a focus. – Alexander Graham Bell
COMMITMENT: Commitment unlocks the doors of imagination, allows vision, and gives us the right stuff to turn our dreams into reality. – James Womack
ACHIEVEMENT: The greatest achievement of the human spirit is to live up to one’s opportunities and make the most of one’s resources. – Vauvenargues
GOALS: Desire is the key to motivation, but it is determination and commitment to an unrelenting pursuit of your goal – a commitment to excellence – that will enable you to attain the success you seek. – Mario Andretti
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May 2011
EXCELLENCE: If you are going to achieve excellence in big things, you develop the habit in little matters. Excellence is not an exception, it is a prevailing attitude. – Colin Powell
DESTINY: It is in your moments of decision that your destiny is shaped. – Anthony Robbins
CONFIDENCE: The old saying that “success breeds success” has something to it. It’s that feeling of confidence that can banish negativity and procrastination and get you going the right way. – Donald Trump
TEAMWORK: Teamwork is so important that it is virtually impossible for you to reach the heights of your capabilities or make the money that you want without becoming very good at it. – Brian Tracy
POWER: Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. Begin it now. – Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe
CHALLENGE: The spirit, the will to win, and the will to excel are the things that endure. These qualities are so much more important than the events that occur. – Vince Lombardi
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June 2011
Bill Gates recently gave a speech at a High School about 11 things they did not and will not learn in school. He talks about how feel-good, politically correct teachings created a generation of kids with no concept of reality and how this concept set them up for failure in the real world.
Rule 1: Life is not fair – get used to it!
Rule 2: The world doesn’t care about your self-esteem. The world will expect you to accomplish something BEFORE you feel good about yourself.
Rule 3: You will NOT make $60,000 a year right out of high school. You won’t be a vice-president with a car phone until you earn both.
Rule 4: If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get a boss.
Rule 5: Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your Grandparents had a different word for burger flipping: They called it opportunity.
Rule 6: If you mess up, it’s not your parents’ fault, so don’t whine about your mistakes, learn from them.
Rule 7: Before you were born, your parents weren’t as boring as they are now. They got that way from paying your bills, cleaning your clothes and listening to you talk about how cool you thought you were…So before you save the rain forest from the parasites of your parent’s generation, try delousing the closet in your own room.
Rule 8: Your school may have done away with winners and losers, but life HAS NOT. In some schools, they have abolished failing grades and they’ll give you as MANY TIMES as you want to get the right answer. This doesn’t bear the slightest resemblance to ANYTHING in real life.
Rule 9: Life is not divided into semesters…you don’t get summers off and very few employers are interested in helping you FIND YOURSELF. Do that on your own time.
Rule 10: Television is NOT real life. In real life people actually have to leave the coffee shop and go to jobs.
Rule 11: Be nice to nerds. Chances are you’ll end up working for one.
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July 2011
If you wait, all that happens is that you get older.
Apathy is the glove into which evil slips its hand.
The ability to beat the odds lies within us all.
Great visions often start with small dreams.
Initiative is doing the right thing without being ordered to do it.
Courage is not the absence of fear but the ability to carry on in spite of it.
It isn't our position but our disposition that makes us happy.
Art is the demonstration that the ordinary is extraordinary.
Experience is the best teacher, but the tuition is very costly.
Temper is what gets most of us into trouble, but pride is what keeps us there.
He knows not his own strength that hath not met adversity.
Forget mistakes. Organize victory out of mistakes.
If at first you don't succeed, you are running about average.
Few things are created and perfected at the same moment.
No one ever excused his way to success.
The secret of action is to begin.
Success is not how high and fast you reach the top, but how high and fast you bounce back when you hit the bottom.
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August 2011
You never plow a field by turning it over in your mind.
Whether the glass is half empty or half full depends on whether you’re drinking or pouring.
Life is an escalator: You can move forward or backward; you cannot remain still.
By the time we realize our parents were right, we have children who think we’re wrong.
The earth is about five thousand million years old. Who can afford to live in the past?
The people who say “That’s the way the ball bounces” are usually the ones who dropped it.
Building a life is like knitting a sweater…one stitch at a time with a different twist each day.
If opportunity doesn’t knock…build a door.
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September
2011
How a person plays the game shows something of his character – how he or she loses shows all of it.
Money changes people just as often as it changes hands.
An invasion of armies can be resisted, but not an idea whose time has come.
Some minds are like concrete, thoroughly mixed and permanently set.
Eagles we are not, but we can still fly. Our imaginations become our wings. The magnificent eagle is still just an eagle but we can soar as high and as far as our aspirations take us.
Improvement counts, no matter how small.
Finding fault is easy. It’s improving that’s hard.
Losers let it happen. Winners make it happen.
The miracle is this – the more we share, the more we have.
Find one thing you do extremely well.
Lots of people want to ride with you in the limo, but what you want is someone who will take the bus with you when the limo breaks down.
Football players are the only people who can go anywhere by playing both ends against the middle.
People fail because of lack of discipline.
The longer you keep your temper, the more it will improve.
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October
2011
There is no elevator to success. You have to take the stairs.
We are the architects of our own fortunes, and our happiness depends, in the end, on ourselves.
Imagination is the highest kite that one can fly.
Nothing is worth more than this day.
It doesn’t matter if you’re on the right track; you’ll still get run over if you don’t keep on moving.
Make an effort everyday to feel good about who you are and what you can be …
Success is never final, and failure is never fatal.
Like a cypress swamp whose trees persist and thrive for centuries, we can build special talents that help us persist and thrive in the ever changing world.
Spoon-feeding in the long run teaches us nothing but the shape of the spoon.
Remember when you were at your best? Now be there again.
The task ahead of us is never as great as the power behind us.
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November
2011
As the Dalai Lama says, “You should visit someplace new every year.”
I have been in many places, but I’ve never been in Cahoots. Apparently you can’t go alone. You have to be in Cahoots with someone.
I’ve also never been in Cognito. I hear no one recognizes you there.
I have, however, been in Sane. They don’t have an airport; you have to be driven there. I have made several trips, thanks to my friends, family and work.
I would like to go to Conclusions, but you have to jump, and I’m not too much on physical activity anymore.
I have also been in Doubt. That is a sad place to go, and I try not to visit there too often.
I’ve been in Flexible, but only when it was very important to stand firm.
I’ve also been in Trouble, but let’s not talk about that!
Sometimes I’m in Capable, and I go there more often as I’m getting older.
One of my favorite places to be is in Suspense! It really gets the adrenalin flowing and pumps up the old heart! At my age I need all the stimuli I can get!
So now you’re in The Know. Just thought I’d let you in on it…
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December
2011
Happy Holidays!
Courage is the first of human qualities because it is the quality that guarantees the others. – Aristotle
No matter how busy you are you must take time to make the other person feel important. – Mary Kay Ash
The art of leadership is saying no, not yes. It is very easy to say yes. – Tony Blair
You’ve achieved success in your field when you don’t know whether what you’re doing is work or play. – Warren Beatty
Before trying to keep up with the Joneses, be sure they are not trying to keep up with you. – Erma Bombeck
Most of the things worth doing in the world had been declared impossible before they were done. – Louis D. Brandeis
Stay committed to your decisions, but stay flexible in your approach. – Tony Robbins
You aren’t wealthy until you have something money can’t buy. – Garth Brooks
Be as smart as you can, but remember that it is always better to be wise than smart. – Alan Alda
A compromise is an agreement whereby both parties get what neither of them wanted. – Unknown
As I grow older, I pay less attention to what people say. I just watch what they do. – Andrew Carnegie
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