“If you can change your mind, you can change your life.” – William James, American philosopher and psychologist (1842-1910)
COMMENTARY: 982.5: How to Succeed by Failing Forward – Turning Stumbling Blocks to Stepping Stones
The best way to teach our children to succeed is to teach them to fail. After all, if getting everything you want on the first try is success, and everything else is failure, we all fail much more often than we succeed. People who learn how to grow from unsuccessful efforts succeed more often and at higher levels because they …
Doing What You…
Doing what you like is FUN. Doing what you love is HAPPINESS. Doing what you want is FREEDOM. Doing what you can is SERVICE. Doing what you must is DUTY. Doing what you should is CHARACTER.
COMMENTARY 982.4: Five Birds and Good Intentions
Five birds are sitting on a telephone wire. Two decide to fly south. How many are left? Most people would say three. Actually, all five are left. You see, deciding to fly isn’t the same as doing it. If a bird really wants to go somewhere, it’s got to point itself in the right direction, jump off the wire, flap …
Do Something You Haven’t Done…Get Something New
“Life begins at the end of your comfort zone.” – Neale Walsch If you want to get something you don’t have, you’ve got to do something you’ve not done.
Problems
“The problem is not that there are problems. The problem is expecting otherwise and thinking that having problems is a problem.” – Theodore Rubin
COMMENTARY 982.3: Doing Sports Right
When I was a kid playing sports, there were no clubs, travel teams, or private coaches. Except for summer baseball leagues, the primary place to play was high school. When I was in the 10th grade, I wanted to play basketball in the worst way. Unfortunately, given my size and talent, that’s how I played. But in those days, sports …
Appreciate Your Loved Ones
“The deepest craving of human nature is to be appreciated.” – William James “Expressing appreciation with words, a smile, or a hug costs so little and means so much. If can make a day or even change a life.” – Michael Josephson
A Leader’s Vision
“Great leaders are both idealistic and realistic. They have a grand vision and great goals. They seek to close the gap between what is and what can be but they have no illusions that success is either certain or simple.” – Michael Josephson
Great Leaders
“Great leaders have great character.” – Eleanor Roosevelt “Fame is a vapor, popularity an accident, and riches take wings. Only one thing endures and that is character.” – Horace Greeley
COMMENTARY 982.2: The Yuppie Lifestyle and Satisfaction
T.S. Eliot said, “Half of the harm that is done in this world is due to people who want to feel important. They do not mean to do harm … they are absorbed in the endless struggle to think well of themselves.” How do we feel important? Often, it’s by trying to obtain an image of success created by a …
Time is not something you FIND or MAKE
“Time is not something you FIND or MAKE – the clock and the calendar move on at their own pace. Your choice is how you USE IT.” – Michael Josephson
Don’t Waste Your Time or Sap Your Energy On Worry
“Worry never robs tomorrow of its sorrow, it only saps today of its joy.” – Leo Buscaglia “Worrying is like a rocking chair, it gives you something to do, but it gets you nowhere.” – Glenn Turner
The Art of Living
You have mastered the art of living when you can face. 1. Trouble with courage 2. Disappointment with cheerfulness 3. Difficulties with determination 4. Success with humility 5. The future with optimism
Do More Than…
“Do more than care: HELP. Do more than believe: PRACTICE. Do more than belong: PARTICIPATE. Do more than be fair: BE KIND. Do more than forgive: FORGET. Do more than dream: WORK.” – William Arthur Ward (adapted)
Selflessness
“I don’t want to have lived in vain… I want to be useful or bring enjoyment to all people, even those I’ve never met. I want to go on living even after my death!” – Anne Frank
Making Others Happy
Never miss an opportunity to make others happy, even if you have to leave them alone in order to do it.
COMMENTARY 982.1: Do a Little More
In 1964, a young woman named Kitty Genovese was stabbed to death outside her apartment building in Queens, New York. She was attacked repeatedly over the course of an hour and despite her screams, none of the 38 neighbors intervened or called for help. Some were afraid. Some didn’t want to get involved. Some thought someone else would do it. …
Dodging Consequences
“It’s easy to dodge our responsibilities, But we cannot dodge the consequences of dodging our responsibilities.” – Sir Josiah Stamp
COMMENTARY: The Disease of Low Expectations
The serious damage done to our economy, social institutions, and personal relationships by widespread cheating and dishonesty is bad enough. But widespread acceptance of such behavior as inevitable threatens to make our future a lot worse. In effect, our culture is being infected by a disease: the disease of low expectations.
Dance!
Don’t live your life waiting for the storm to pass, Learn to dance in the rain.
Are You Contagious?
Some people brighten a room when they enter it; Others, when they leave. Attitudes are contagious. Is yours worth catching?
COMMENTARY 981.4: I Owe It to My Family
An angry woman once approached me after a speech to tell me off. “It’s easy for you to talk about my responsibility to speak out or object to waste or wrongdoing,” she said, “but I’m a single mother and my highest duty is to keep my job. If that means occasionally looking the other way, so be it. You have …
The Perfect Life
“Life does not have to be perfect to be wonderful. You don’t need all you want to be happy, you only need to appreciate what you have.” – Michael Josephson
Who Do You Want To Be?
Find your inner dancer! Do what you want to do. Be who you want to be.
COMMENTARY: Fixing Toxic Relationships
Are there people in your life who regularly cause you to feel bad about yourself? Most of us care what others think of us, so knowing that someone doesn’t like or approve of the judgments we’ve made or how we look can be hurtful.
Be the Reason Someone Smiles Today
“Be the reason someone smiles today. An extra smile, cheerful greeting, a kind word of appreciation or encouragement – It will cost you nothing and yet it can be a great gift.” – Michael Josephson
Don’t Chase Love
“Love cannot be caught like an unwilling butterfly. Nobody loves you just because you want them to. Nobody loves you just because you ask them to. When love comes, it comes on its own wings. Be patient.” – Michael Josephson
COMMENTARY: The Illusion of Success
Reach for the stars. Pursue goals beyond your grasp. These are good life strategies. We never know how much we can accomplish until we try. But what happens when we’re told we must reach the stars or suffer consequences? A common workplace strategy to spur employee achievement is to set aggressive productivity objectives that, like mechanical rabbits that lead racing …
The Master In the Art of Living
“The master in the art of living makes little distinction between his work and his play, his labor and his leisure, his mind and his body, his information and his recreation, his love and his religion. He hardly knows which is which. He simply pursues his vision of excellence at whatever he does, leaving others to decide whether he’s working or …