Success

Talks

Quotes

Whatever you do always give 100% – Unless you’re donating blood.

One way to tell if you’re successful – Are you having fun?

There are no shortcuts to any place worth going. – Beverly Sills

All men are born equal, but some outgrow it. – Evan Esar

Greatness is measured not as much by what you do but by what others do because of you.

We cannot become what we need to be by remaining what we are. – Max De Pree, Leadership Is an Art (DoubleDay)

Elbert Hubbard. Continually being afraid of making a mistake is the greatest mistake you can make.

Live one day at a time and make it a masterpiece.

Many people go through life letting things happen to them, but a few go through their lives happening to things.  They are the shakers, the movers, the directors, the programmers not only of their own lives, but also of the lives of those with whom they come in contact.

Remember only good things from the past, and let go of any bad feelings.  Especially bad feelings toward others.  For if you carry bad feelings with you they will become a heavier and heavier load as time passes and in the end, they will bear you down.

            About the future – Isn’t it wonderful that we can’t see into the future?  All we can do is plan the best we can, follow the admonition of those who have earned the right to admonish and have faith.  Life is the grand adventure, but you can’t wait for things to happen.  You have to make each day, even each hour, an adventure in your life.  “Life is what happens while you are making other plans.”  Always associate with those who are wiser than yourself.  Strive for high ideals and never lose yours for anyone, rather help them raise theirs.  Be gentle with yourself, be at peace with God, and strive to be happy. 

For a long time it seemed to me that real life was about to begin, but there was always some obstacle in the way.  Something had to be got through first, some unfinished business; time still to be served, a debt to be paid.  Then life would begin.  At last it dawned on me that these obstacles were my life. – Alfred D. Souza

We’d better think about the future because that’s where we’ll spend most of our lives.

We, the unwilling, led by the unqualified have been doing the unbelievable for so long with so little, we now attempt the impossible with nothing.  Rand

In the beginning of any project there was enthusiasm followed by doubt, then panic, then search for the guilty party, punishing of the innocent and rewarding of the uninvolved.

The late John F. Heidenreich, served for several years as a Protestant minister before his conversion to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  He shared with many of his friends his “Morning Resolve,” which illustrates an attitude and frame of mind that can be most helpful at the beginning of a day:  

            This day is the day that I resolve to live a happy, serene, and useful life, repelling promptly every thought of antagonism, discontent, anxiety, discouragement, impurity, and self-seeking.  I will cultivate a spirit of tolerance, cheerfulness, magnanimity, charity, and a love for serving others.  I will reserve a time each day for reading some uplifting literature, and the practice of quiet medication.  I will exercise generosity in giving, economy in expenditure, carefulness in conversation, diligence in appointed service, faithfulness in every trust, and child-like faith in God!

            In particular, I will be faithful every day in those habits of prayer, work, the study of the scriptures, physical exercise, eating, and sleeping which I believe the Holy Sprit has shown me to be right!

Sydney J. Harris;

            The art of living successfully consists of being able to hold two opposite ideas in tension at the same time; first, to make long-term plans as if we were going to live forever; and second, to conduct ourselves daily as if we were going to die tomorrow. – Field Newspaper Syndicate

Progress always involves risk.  You can’t steal second base and keep your foot on first.

Mondays are the potholes in the road of life – Tom Wilson, Universal Press Syndicate

Learn as if you were to live forever; live as if you were to die tomorrow.

Scene before the war in Henry the Fifth.  Gave a rousing speech –  “Even though we’re outnumbered……The fewer we be, the greater our share of the glory.”

Success is the ratio of your accomplishments to your capability.

Great men are said to have four things in common: They speak softly, have a capacity for hard work, a deep conviction for their cause and a consuming belief in their ability to do it…” – John D. Hess

You can count the seeds in an apple, but you can’t count the apples in a seed.

“I will study and prepare and sometime my chance will come” – Abe Lincoln

We are not always what we think we are, but what we think, we are. – Ralph Waldo Emerson

Every action in our lives touches on some chord that will vibrate eternally.

All anybody needs to know about prizes is that Mozart never won one. – Henry Mitchell in Washington Post

Do it, do it right, do it right now.

What you are to be is what you are now becoming, so change your direction or you’ll end up where you are going.

Mr. Noble, founder of Peace prizes of medicine, science and literature had the rare opportunity to read his own obituary.  It said he made ammunition enough to blow up the world then he died.  It was actually his brother that died but the small newspaper in town thought it was him.  He turned his life around, closed the ammunition shop and started the Noble Prizes.  What will you be remembered for after you die?

Courage is not the absence of fear, it is the mastery of it!

Success requires us to focus our energy.  A magnifying glass focuses sunlight to burn things.  We too need a laser focus.  “If I were a heathen I would build a statue to energy and fall down and worship it.”  Mark Twain.  You should ache and yearn toward an end.

British won Waterloo not because they were better solders but because they were brave five minutes longer.

A winner always knew he would be. 

That which we obtain easily we esteem lightly.  There is no such thing as instant gratification in nature.

When you’re average, you’re as close to the bottom as you are to the top.

Perfect behavior, even when we brush against it, is pretty hard to perform 100% of the time.  But being consistent in striving for perfection is something we can accomplish every day. 

We are continually faced by great opportunities brilliantly disguised as insolvable problems.

Experience is what you get when you didn’t get what you want. – Randy Pausch

There are three kinds of people – those who make things happen, those who watch things happen, and those who ask, “What happened?” – Casey Stengel

If you’re careful enough nothing bad or good will ever happen to you.

A ship in port is safe, but that’s not what ships are built for – Grace Hoper, Inventor

Just remember that when you see a man on top of a mountain he didn’t just fall there.

Some are buried at 75 who were dead at 30.  Don’t quit learning.

The secret of genius is to carry the spirit of childhood into old age, with boundless curiosity about the future, flexibility, growing, hoping, trying and ready at all times for any worthwhile change. – Carlyle

In his book Life Strategies Dr. Phil McGraw shares ten life laws.  Life law #2 states: “You Create Your Own Experience.”  The law is simple: you are accountable for your life.  Good or bad, successful or unsuccessful, happy or sad, fair or unfair, you own your life.  You create the results in your life, not some of the time, but all of the time.  If you don’t like your job, you are accountable.  If your relationships are on the rocks, you are accountable.  If you are not happy, you are accountable.  Whatever your life circumstance is, accepting this law means that you can no longer dodge responsibility for how and why your life is the way it is. 

Dr. Phil goes on to say “Let me tell you why this is so important.  If you don’t accept accountability, you will misdiagnose every problem you have.  If you misdiagnose, you will mistreat.  If you mistreat, things won’t get better, plain and simple.”

Dr. Phil gives this excellent analogy that helps us realize how critical it is to look for the solutions to our problems within ourselves.  He says ““Imagine losing your keys and looking all over the house to find them.  You look in every drawer, pocket, nook and cranny, high and low.  You go to heroic lengths to find those keys – you transform yourself into an expert key hunter.  Now suppose that the keys are actually in the ignition of your car, not in the house.  No matter how thoroughly, no matter how hard or how long you look, you will never find those keys in the house, because they aren’t there.  Likewise, when you set out to find the causes to your problems in other people, you’ll never find them, because they aren’t there.  They’re in you.”

Bruce Hafen explained it so well: “It should be observed, of course, that the value of learning though experience does not mean that we must make every human mistake ourselves in order to learn the lessons of life.  We can learn vividly and permanently through vicarious experience, as we observe the good and bad consequences that flow from the choices other people make.”

The following poem called “Autobiography in Five Short Chapters” by Portia Nelson illustrates so well the experience of those who must learn from their own mistakes.

I – I walk down the street.  There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.  I fall in.  I am lost…I am helpless.  It isn’t my fault.  It takes forever to find a way out.

II – I walk down the same street.  There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.  I pretend I don’t see it.  I fall in again.  I can’t believe I am in the same place.  But, it isn’t my fault.  It still takes a long time to get out.

III – I walk down the same street.  There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.  I see it is there.  I still fall in.  It’s a habit.  My eyes are open.  I know where I am.  It is my fault.  I get out immediately.

IV  – I walk down the same street.  There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.  I walk around it.

V – I walk down another street.

“Recently I met an intelligent young man with outstanding parents.  There are exceptional material and spiritual resources available to him.  He attends a community college because it is easier than going to a university.  In his free time he does only those things that he likes to do.  He doesn’t work because he doesn’t need to, and it would take time away from his pleasures.  I ask him “Can I speak to you from my heart?  I don’t want to offend but rather to point out something.  You are making choices today that seem very reasonable to you.  They seem to give you what you want: an easy life with abundant enjoyment and not much sacrifice on your part.  You can do that for a while, but what you don’t realize is that every decision you make is narrowing your future.  You are eliminating possibilities and options.  There will come a time, and it won’t be too distant, where you are going to spend the rest of your life doing things you don’t want to do, in places you don’t want to be, because you have not prepared yourself.  You are not taking advantages of your opportunities.” – Richard G. Scott

Each of us are constantly growing and changing.  What is important, vitally important, eternally and everlastingly important is what direction are you going in?  Where is the constant change in your life taking you?  Are you better today than you were yesterday and will you be better tomorrow than you are today?  If not, then the irrevocable law of change will eventually take you and make you what you would not like to be. I’d like to share a poem called “About Me.”

About Me

I’ve worried and wondered and pondered and thought

Of my future and what lies ahead.

Will the sum of my living be counted as naught

When my living is done and I’m dead?

“Will there be any me anymore?” I cried,

“Will there be any me any more?

When my mortal existence is done and I’ve died,

Will I have what I’m living for?”

The response to my questions came quickly and clear,

As clear as a winter night’s air.

The me that I make of myself while I’m here

Is the me that I’ll be when I’m there.

What a job it will be just to fashion my me

With the help of my Father above,

For that me I will be through eternity-

How I hope I’m a me I can love!