SUCCESS IS INSIDE YOU!
Explore the possibilities, unleash the dream within you. Success is not a destination that you arrive at, it’s a journey. Success is not money, wealth and power, it’s being all that you can be with God’s help and becoming all that you can be as you take this journey called life.
“Success is knowing your purpose in life, growing to reach your maximum potential and sowing seeds to benefit others.” John Maxwell1.
KNOWING. Do you know your purpose? Have you written it down? Why are you here? What do you want out of life?
Yogi Berra: ‘If you don’t know where you are going, you might wind up someplace else.”
2. GROWING. Success comes as the result of growing to our potential. It has been said that potential is God’s gift to us and what we do with it is our gift to Him.
Henry Ford, ”There is no man living who isn’t capable of doing more than we think we can do. We have nearly limitless potential, yet few ever try to reach it.”T
TIPS: 1. CONCENTRATE ON ONE MAIN GOAL. No one ever reached their potential by scattering themselves in 20 different directions. Reaching your potential requires FOCUS.
2. CONCENTRATE ON CONTINUAL IMPROVEMENT.
Resources for your personal growth.
EACH DAY YOU CAN BECOME A LITTLE BIT BETTER THAN YOU WERE YESTERDAY.
You will find that what you GET as a result of your growth is not nearly important as what you BECOME along the way. The potential for greatness lies within you!
3.SOWING. Sow seeds that benefit others. Without that, the success journey can be a lonely and shallow experience. We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give!
Zig Ziglar: “Help enough other people get what they want and you will end up getting what you want.”
There is tremendous gratification and personal reward that cannot be measured in helping people. That’s why I am committed to helping you succeed.
In the Smithsonian Institute, Washington, DC…there's a video of speech given by President John F. Kennedy to congress, on May 25th, 1961. It records the stirring words of an impossible goal that stunned scientists and the nation.
He said, “I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal before the decade is out of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to earth.”
IT WAS RIDICULOUS, WILD, IMPOSSIBLE!
Even some people at NASA thought it couldn’t be done. The technology required to make it happen didn’t even exist, and they weren’t sure that it could exist.
Yet, NASA, despite all the doubts, took on the challenge and on July 16th , 1969, Apollo Eleven lifted off from Pad 39 at Kennedy Space Center and began a journey of 244,930 miles to the moon.
Four days later, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, Jr. landed the lunar module, Eagle on the surface of the moon...and 500 million people watched on television as Armstrong took his first step into the powder fine gray dust of the moon and uttered those famous words,
“That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”
WHAT HAPPENED? In the blink of an eye, John F. Kennedy’s speech made a lunar landing change from an impossible dream to an obtainable target.
We didn’t have the technology to do it, but it became POSSIBLE because of a change in
ATTITUDE. WHEN OUR ATTITUDES OUTDISTANCE OUR ABILITIES, EVEN THE IMPOSSIBLE BECOMES POSSIBLE!
Yogi Berra, “Life is like baseball. It’s 95 per cent mental and the other half is physical.”
Sign in office “YESTERDAY ENDED LAST NIGHT.”
“ONE THING I DO. Forgetting what is behind, and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me.” (Philippians 3:13)
Sign over locker room door of Phoenix Suns. A quote from Bill Russell, famous center for Boston Celtics: “The game is scheduled and we have to play it. WE MIGHT AS WELL WIN.”
During Russell’s time with the Celtics they won 11 NBA Title Championships in 13 years.”
You have a life to live, a mission to accomplish.
My question to you today is, what are you going to do with it? WE MIGHT AS WELL WIN!
Showing posts with label positive thinking. Show all posts
Showing posts with label positive thinking. Show all posts
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Music Makes Me Smile
Music makes me smile.
How about you?
Heh, have you ever had a not so great day where everything seems to be going wrong? Maybe your wife backed the car into the garage door?
Or the dogs ran through the house with mud on their paws right after you had the carpets cleaned?
The neighbor kid wakes you up at 5 in the morning and you’re not a morning person?
I once heard the definition of a bad day. You know you’re having a bad day if you’re following a motorcycle gang of Hell’s Angels and your car horn gets stuck.
You know you’re having a bad day if you wake up and your waterbed has sprung a leak, except you don’t own a waterbed.
You know you’re having a bad day when... you fill in the blanks.
So you say you’re having a bad day, eh? You flip on the radio and even though you’re a conservative, those right wing talk show hosts are giving you a headache.
You punch the FM button and start scanning the dial for something interesting. Next thing you know, you’re singing at the top of your lungs with the Doobie Brothers, “Listen to the Music.”
Of course, at this point your windows are rolled up and people are staring at you at the stoplight. But heh, who cares… you just had an attitude transplant.
Historically speaking, it has been said that 'Music hath charms to soothe the savage breast, To soften rocks, or bend a knotted oak.'That’s from a play The Mourning Bride by William Congreve who lived from 1670 to 1729, right around the time Ben Franklin was born.
Think about this. The blind violinist touched the raging heart of Frankenstein’s monster.
One of my all time favorite songs quieted the fearful trembling of a lost little girl from Kansas when she sang, “Over the Rainbow,” in The Wizard of Oz. Or another favorite is the rock group Chicago’s classic, “Make Me Smile.”
There’s a lot to be said for the power of music. I happen to like all styles of music… classical, jazz, gospel, rock, folk, country, even bluegrass. There’s even a little Rap that I can slightly tolerate.
In fact, my love of music and my childhood dream of being a famous radio disk jockey came into reality several years ago when I got to get paid for having fun doing a morning drive show in Kansas City.
In my fifteen minutes of fame, I had the privilege of playing the most popular music of that day over the airwaves and interview some people a lot more famous than me.
My latest hobby is collecting music concert DVD’s. So when I heard that a local music store was going out of business, I rushed over to see what kind of deals I could get to add to my collection. Well, it just so happened that they had the vintage Lynyrd Skynyrd documentary, Freebird.
So guess what I did?
I bought it!
And also a fantastic concert by the original members of Fleetwood Mac. The encore numbers performed by Lindsay Buckingham, Stevie Nix, John and Christie McVie and Mick Fleetwood not only made me smile but made me want to get up and dance. And if you’d ever seen my dancing, it’s not a pretty sight. I’m a bad version of Steve Martin’s “Happy Feet.”
The band surprised the audience with a drum pounding rendition of Tusk, that included the entire University of Southern California marching band in full parade dress. That made me smile real big.
If that weren’t enough, they performed their hit song, Don’t Stop. It talks about jettisoning the past and moving on with hope and optimism. A very rousing anthem that reverberates with, “don’t stop thinking about tomorrow, don’t stop, it will soon be here. It’ll be here, better than before… yesterday’s gone, yesterday’s gone.”
Perhaps the most famous rendition of this song was when Fleetwood Mac sang at the first William Jefferson Clinton Presidential Inaugural. Regardless of your political affiliation, you have to admit it was pretty cool.
Okay, don’t admit it. What do I care?
Maybe you’re not a big music fan like I am, but can you imagine a world without music? Every TV show has its theme music. The Superbowl commercials often feature famous oldies and even CSI plays a tune by The Who. Music is woven into the very fabric of our society.
Even “sacred” music ain’t so sacred if you study it. Another contemporary of Ben Franklin, Englishman Charles Wesley wrote a couple hundred religious songs that are still sung today.
Guess what? Most people are unaware that these “holy” songs were sung to the tunes of popular bar songs of the 18th century. Surprise.
You may recall Charles older brother John Wesley had no small hand in starting the Methodist Church.
How is it that we humans have this inner compass that is drawn like a magnet to the North Pole called music?
The 1960’s were full of folk songs whose lyrics shaped political opinions. Lyricists have forever captured the climate of the current culture and phrased songs in a way that touched us and moved us deeply.
So my anthem for today would be this: Let the music in.
Maybe for you it’s been a long time since you let anything in to touch you in the deepest part of your soul. Maybe it’s time for you to turn a corner in your life.
Maybe it’s your time to take the strong suggestion of Fleetwood Mac, “don’t stop thinking about tomorrow… yesterday’s gone.”
Your future will always be brighter if you let the music in.
How about you?
Heh, have you ever had a not so great day where everything seems to be going wrong? Maybe your wife backed the car into the garage door?
Or the dogs ran through the house with mud on their paws right after you had the carpets cleaned?
The neighbor kid wakes you up at 5 in the morning and you’re not a morning person?
I once heard the definition of a bad day. You know you’re having a bad day if you’re following a motorcycle gang of Hell’s Angels and your car horn gets stuck.
You know you’re having a bad day if you wake up and your waterbed has sprung a leak, except you don’t own a waterbed.
You know you’re having a bad day when... you fill in the blanks.
So you say you’re having a bad day, eh? You flip on the radio and even though you’re a conservative, those right wing talk show hosts are giving you a headache.
You punch the FM button and start scanning the dial for something interesting. Next thing you know, you’re singing at the top of your lungs with the Doobie Brothers, “Listen to the Music.”
Of course, at this point your windows are rolled up and people are staring at you at the stoplight. But heh, who cares… you just had an attitude transplant.
Historically speaking, it has been said that 'Music hath charms to soothe the savage breast, To soften rocks, or bend a knotted oak.'That’s from a play The Mourning Bride by William Congreve who lived from 1670 to 1729, right around the time Ben Franklin was born.
Think about this. The blind violinist touched the raging heart of Frankenstein’s monster.
One of my all time favorite songs quieted the fearful trembling of a lost little girl from Kansas when she sang, “Over the Rainbow,” in The Wizard of Oz. Or another favorite is the rock group Chicago’s classic, “Make Me Smile.”
There’s a lot to be said for the power of music. I happen to like all styles of music… classical, jazz, gospel, rock, folk, country, even bluegrass. There’s even a little Rap that I can slightly tolerate.
In fact, my love of music and my childhood dream of being a famous radio disk jockey came into reality several years ago when I got to get paid for having fun doing a morning drive show in Kansas City.
In my fifteen minutes of fame, I had the privilege of playing the most popular music of that day over the airwaves and interview some people a lot more famous than me.
My latest hobby is collecting music concert DVD’s. So when I heard that a local music store was going out of business, I rushed over to see what kind of deals I could get to add to my collection. Well, it just so happened that they had the vintage Lynyrd Skynyrd documentary, Freebird.
So guess what I did?
I bought it!
And also a fantastic concert by the original members of Fleetwood Mac. The encore numbers performed by Lindsay Buckingham, Stevie Nix, John and Christie McVie and Mick Fleetwood not only made me smile but made me want to get up and dance. And if you’d ever seen my dancing, it’s not a pretty sight. I’m a bad version of Steve Martin’s “Happy Feet.”
The band surprised the audience with a drum pounding rendition of Tusk, that included the entire University of Southern California marching band in full parade dress. That made me smile real big.
If that weren’t enough, they performed their hit song, Don’t Stop. It talks about jettisoning the past and moving on with hope and optimism. A very rousing anthem that reverberates with, “don’t stop thinking about tomorrow, don’t stop, it will soon be here. It’ll be here, better than before… yesterday’s gone, yesterday’s gone.”
Perhaps the most famous rendition of this song was when Fleetwood Mac sang at the first William Jefferson Clinton Presidential Inaugural. Regardless of your political affiliation, you have to admit it was pretty cool.
Okay, don’t admit it. What do I care?
Maybe you’re not a big music fan like I am, but can you imagine a world without music? Every TV show has its theme music. The Superbowl commercials often feature famous oldies and even CSI plays a tune by The Who. Music is woven into the very fabric of our society.
Even “sacred” music ain’t so sacred if you study it. Another contemporary of Ben Franklin, Englishman Charles Wesley wrote a couple hundred religious songs that are still sung today.
Guess what? Most people are unaware that these “holy” songs were sung to the tunes of popular bar songs of the 18th century. Surprise.
You may recall Charles older brother John Wesley had no small hand in starting the Methodist Church.
How is it that we humans have this inner compass that is drawn like a magnet to the North Pole called music?
The 1960’s were full of folk songs whose lyrics shaped political opinions. Lyricists have forever captured the climate of the current culture and phrased songs in a way that touched us and moved us deeply.
So my anthem for today would be this: Let the music in.
Maybe for you it’s been a long time since you let anything in to touch you in the deepest part of your soul. Maybe it’s time for you to turn a corner in your life.
Maybe it’s your time to take the strong suggestion of Fleetwood Mac, “don’t stop thinking about tomorrow… yesterday’s gone.”
Your future will always be brighter if you let the music in.
Why Martha Stewart Wins
So, unless you've been off visiting another planet, you probably have heard of Martha Stewart's legal battle and her subsequent prison term. There was actually a "Save Martha" website, Martha Stewart tee shirts...
and even a book or two like, Let's Get Martha! : How the Feds Went Crime Shopping, by Alexandra Mark Ph.D.
Here's a quote from the book
"Not since the French Revolution has there been such a delight in seeing corporate heads fall. But unlike other CEO’s who had bilked their companies out of millions of dollars, Martha Stewart was targeted, prosecuted and imprisoned solely because of who she is and not for what she had done. Shares in her company, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia dropped precipitously only when the Justice Department indicted her.
But the prosecution admitted unabashedly that they intended to make an example of her as a deterrent to white collar crime. Love her or hate her, Martha’s case was all about her celebrity.The story of how the feds first attacked her reputation, and then brought her down for nothing more than retuning a phone call to her broker, is a chilling reminder that out-of-control prosecutors and courts are something we all need to be concerned with.
"According to news stories the homemaking diva was sentenced to five months in prison and two years probation in July of 2004 for lying to investigators about her sale of ImClone Systems stock in late 2001.
Can you remember anything you did or said specifically from 2001? I know I can't. I have a hard enough time remembering where I put my car keys.
Federal Judge Miriam Goldman Cedarbaum ordered Stewart to serve five months of home confinement after release from prison and slapped a $30,000 fine on top of that. Well, Martha served her time under the watchful eye of the media. She's had her share of jokes from Letterman and Leno and the minor league talk show hosts.
But guess what? Martha is doing just fine. She's still a savvy business woman and came out positive and ready to take on the next challenge.
"I had hoped for, at the most, some confinement, community service," Stewart told Barbara Walters in an interview. "And instead I have five months of incarceration, and five months of house arrest that's monitored. ... But it could have been worse...
Five months versus 10 months or 16 months ... That's a good thing."
When all is said and done, ATTITUDE IS EVERYTHING.
I heard this week a great quote from Jim Rohn. He originally heard it from his mentor I think maybe 45 years ago. Well, it's still true today.
Here it is:"Your income is determined by your PHILOSOPHY, not by the economy."
Think about it.
Martha Stewart isn't the only celeb to be jerked around and tarred and feathered in public in an attempt to disgrace her reputation and credibility, and "put her in her place."
The Federal government "players," I like to call them to keep it clean, always claim to be watching out for the "little guy," the "common folks." Trying to position themselves as our guardian angels.
But if they put the big guy out of business, the "little guy" doesn't have a job, health insurance, a pension or any other benefits and will be out selling apples on a street corner like they did in 1929.
So, and this is a pet peeve of mine, here comes another Congressional hearing. It's broadcast on television, sound bitten on the national news and waved around as if it were the crucial stop-gap measure to prevent the end of the world as we know it.
The Senators drag someone into their kangaroo court and use it as a bully pulpit to rant and rave in the name of social justice or to grandstand with some mini-political speech.
If you didn't already know, here's what a kangaroo court is defined as:"an unofficial or mock court set up spontaneously for the purpose of delivering a judgment arrived at in advance, usually one in which a disloyal cohort’s fate is decided"
The Washington Post reports "Finger-pointing," like "partisanship" or "influence-peddling," is one of those ubiquitous Washington pastimes that is done only by other people. They play "the blame game" in order to "score political points…"
Here's a few names you'll recognize for falling victim to this perfectly legal national crime.
Bill Gates, Henry Ford, Howard Hughes, baseball's Barry Bonds, Mark McGuire, Rafael Palmero.
For example, Howard Hughes is busy supplying vital equipment to the U.S. military after a terrorist attack on Pearl Harbor plunged America into World War II.
He is accused of corruption and called on the carpet by a federal investigating committee. Hughes leaks information to the press that Senator Owen Brewster, chairman of the Senate War Investigating Committee was being paid by none other than Pan American Airways to cause trouble.
According to Hughes, Pan Am was trying to persuade the United States government to set up an "official" worldwide monopoly under its control. Part of this plan was to force all existing American carriers with overseas operations to close down or merge with Pan Am.
Hughes, as the owner of TWA, wasn't going for it. Hughes claimed that Senator Brewster had approached him and suggested he merge TWA with Pan Am. When Hughes refused, Senator Brewster began a smear campaign against him.
Check out this 1974 headline. "Ford and GM Scrutinized for Alleged Nazi Collaboration.
The Ford Motor Co. has mobilized dozens of historians, lawyers and researchers to fight a civil case brought by lawyers in Washington and New York who specialize in extracting large cash settlements from banks and insurance companies accused of defrauding Holocaust victims"
Bottom line? As the Proverbs say, there is nothing new under the sun. Power, greed and publicity do strange things to a man (or woman).
However, you have a choice. Integrity, fair dealings and honesty in an unfair world are still your best option. Be a positive force in your world of influence.
As Mark Twain said, "Always do right. This will gratify some people and astonish the rest." So here's to you Martha. Keep fighting the good fight.
Disclaimer: I confess that some congressional hearings may actually benefit the American public, although I can't prove it.
and even a book or two like, Let's Get Martha! : How the Feds Went Crime Shopping, by Alexandra Mark Ph.D.
Here's a quote from the book
"Not since the French Revolution has there been such a delight in seeing corporate heads fall. But unlike other CEO’s who had bilked their companies out of millions of dollars, Martha Stewart was targeted, prosecuted and imprisoned solely because of who she is and not for what she had done. Shares in her company, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia dropped precipitously only when the Justice Department indicted her.
But the prosecution admitted unabashedly that they intended to make an example of her as a deterrent to white collar crime. Love her or hate her, Martha’s case was all about her celebrity.The story of how the feds first attacked her reputation, and then brought her down for nothing more than retuning a phone call to her broker, is a chilling reminder that out-of-control prosecutors and courts are something we all need to be concerned with.
"According to news stories the homemaking diva was sentenced to five months in prison and two years probation in July of 2004 for lying to investigators about her sale of ImClone Systems stock in late 2001.
Can you remember anything you did or said specifically from 2001? I know I can't. I have a hard enough time remembering where I put my car keys.
Federal Judge Miriam Goldman Cedarbaum ordered Stewart to serve five months of home confinement after release from prison and slapped a $30,000 fine on top of that. Well, Martha served her time under the watchful eye of the media. She's had her share of jokes from Letterman and Leno and the minor league talk show hosts.
But guess what? Martha is doing just fine. She's still a savvy business woman and came out positive and ready to take on the next challenge.
"I had hoped for, at the most, some confinement, community service," Stewart told Barbara Walters in an interview. "And instead I have five months of incarceration, and five months of house arrest that's monitored. ... But it could have been worse...
Five months versus 10 months or 16 months ... That's a good thing."
When all is said and done, ATTITUDE IS EVERYTHING.
I heard this week a great quote from Jim Rohn. He originally heard it from his mentor I think maybe 45 years ago. Well, it's still true today.
Here it is:"Your income is determined by your PHILOSOPHY, not by the economy."
Think about it.
Martha Stewart isn't the only celeb to be jerked around and tarred and feathered in public in an attempt to disgrace her reputation and credibility, and "put her in her place."
The Federal government "players," I like to call them to keep it clean, always claim to be watching out for the "little guy," the "common folks." Trying to position themselves as our guardian angels.
But if they put the big guy out of business, the "little guy" doesn't have a job, health insurance, a pension or any other benefits and will be out selling apples on a street corner like they did in 1929.
So, and this is a pet peeve of mine, here comes another Congressional hearing. It's broadcast on television, sound bitten on the national news and waved around as if it were the crucial stop-gap measure to prevent the end of the world as we know it.
The Senators drag someone into their kangaroo court and use it as a bully pulpit to rant and rave in the name of social justice or to grandstand with some mini-political speech.
If you didn't already know, here's what a kangaroo court is defined as:"an unofficial or mock court set up spontaneously for the purpose of delivering a judgment arrived at in advance, usually one in which a disloyal cohort’s fate is decided"
The Washington Post reports "Finger-pointing," like "partisanship" or "influence-peddling," is one of those ubiquitous Washington pastimes that is done only by other people. They play "the blame game" in order to "score political points…"
Here's a few names you'll recognize for falling victim to this perfectly legal national crime.
Bill Gates, Henry Ford, Howard Hughes, baseball's Barry Bonds, Mark McGuire, Rafael Palmero.
For example, Howard Hughes is busy supplying vital equipment to the U.S. military after a terrorist attack on Pearl Harbor plunged America into World War II.
He is accused of corruption and called on the carpet by a federal investigating committee. Hughes leaks information to the press that Senator Owen Brewster, chairman of the Senate War Investigating Committee was being paid by none other than Pan American Airways to cause trouble.
According to Hughes, Pan Am was trying to persuade the United States government to set up an "official" worldwide monopoly under its control. Part of this plan was to force all existing American carriers with overseas operations to close down or merge with Pan Am.
Hughes, as the owner of TWA, wasn't going for it. Hughes claimed that Senator Brewster had approached him and suggested he merge TWA with Pan Am. When Hughes refused, Senator Brewster began a smear campaign against him.
Check out this 1974 headline. "Ford and GM Scrutinized for Alleged Nazi Collaboration.
The Ford Motor Co. has mobilized dozens of historians, lawyers and researchers to fight a civil case brought by lawyers in Washington and New York who specialize in extracting large cash settlements from banks and insurance companies accused of defrauding Holocaust victims"
Bottom line? As the Proverbs say, there is nothing new under the sun. Power, greed and publicity do strange things to a man (or woman).
However, you have a choice. Integrity, fair dealings and honesty in an unfair world are still your best option. Be a positive force in your world of influence.
As Mark Twain said, "Always do right. This will gratify some people and astonish the rest." So here's to you Martha. Keep fighting the good fight.
Disclaimer: I confess that some congressional hearings may actually benefit the American public, although I can't prove it.
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