"Never lose hope. You never know what tomorrow may bring" - Zig Ziglar
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“Time is what we want most, but what we use worst.” -- William Penn
When I saw this quote, it came on the heels of watching a FANTASTIC movie with my wife on Sunday night. We saw "About Time" and then saw a Christmas Tree lighting ceremony and then we made our way to dinner. The movie was one of the best ones I have ever watched as it had so many important messages that I guess I needed to see and hear at that time in my life. The messages are similar to others that I've had before, but I guess it stood out to me more at that time than ever before. I tell my students over and over again that time is really our most important resource. Unlike most other resources, including money that can be re-used or we can get more of; time is not like that at all. Once it's gone, we can't get it back. As we walked out of the movie I remember thinking that I wanted to really notice what was going on around me. I looked a little bit more at things going on around us that night. At the people, the kids especially - their faces, what they were saying, the gentle smiles that were all around at this outdoor mall's Christmas Tree lighting ceremony. The dinner that Sunday night with my wife - one of the best we ever had at TGI Fridays no less. I had to fight back the tears that started as I watched the movie (and as I am typing this now) as I thought about how blessed I am and what I have in my life. Like the movie (without giving too much away) - we all have our issues, but the one thing that we have for such a brief period of time it seems is our families and friends, both young ones and the older ones. First off... see this movie. Secondly, see how you spend your time throughout your days and nights. How we do that dictates a lot of what happens in our lives. The one resource we can't get back is the most valuable to us. We see that some times too late. The key is I think to realize that as we are in those moments so that we can enjoy it while we are in it. Then looking back we will hopefully have less regrets and worries on how we spent those years that seem to go by oh so fast. I sure wish I spent a lot of my past years differently than I did, but I've learned from them that's for sure. What about you? Spend some of your precious time thinking about how we spend it. Then start making some changes; in our thinking, what we say, how we react to others, how we spend our time on our own and with our loved ones. Such an in depth topic here, I know I need some help in some feedback discussions - so, what do you think? Let me and others know. "I expect to pass through this world but once. Any good thing, therefore, that I can do or any kindness I can show to any fellow human being let me do it now. Let me not defer nor neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again." ~ Stephen Grellet - a missionary who lived from 1773-1855. Just got back from a get-away - stayed off the computer for a few days and survived. Had a GREAT time with family - wonderful especially to reconnect with my wife on a fabulous date night. Reading the paper this morning I found a great poem that Catherine Galasso-Vigorito put in her article - this is the Quote of the Week that I will have some thoughts on later - actually, I would like to hear some thoughts from you that I could use in my writings. Let me know what you think. I guess as the years go on in our lives, it becomes easier to see that Stephen was right on with his statement above. We do only come through here one time and we need not to waste our time when it comes to us having the ability to help others. We can (and should) look to be a difference maker in many areas throughout our lifetime. Just think if everyone would look a little more to helping others instead of always being focused on themselves, this world would be so much better off. There are plenty of times when something comes up and if we don't act on it or do something with it, that event will not ever come back to us again. Certain doors only remain open for so long. I think we all fall for the fallacy that we will always have a chance to do certain things when we get around to it. I love the line above "... Let me not defer nor neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again." It's that action part of success that he is talking about. I'm sure glad too, since I need to be reminded about that again and again. When things present themselves to us in our lives, and we have to make a choice - we need to step in and do just that. When it comes to helping others, it becomes even more apparent for us to step in and do just that when the chance comes. What do you think? Any stories to share on this idea that can HELP others?? ;-) Let me and others know here. Happy August too! "Sharpen your interest in two major subjects: life and people. You will only gather information from a source if you are interested in it." -- Jim Rohn What a great quote - summertime or during the school year, it doesn't matter. We all should "major" in these two subjects. The key is - where to find the info on these two important topics? One is from the man that gave us this quote. I suggest that you find him on Twitter (@OfficialJimRohn), find his pages on Facebook, check out his website (http://www.jimrohn.com) and find any of his outstanding books that are out there too. These two subjects should be something that we are all passionate about. Getting good in these two areas will open up the doors for so many other areas. Since we only get one shot at life, we might as well do all we can to make our journey the best it can be. Along with the idea that so many people come in and out of our lives throughout our lifetime, it too is something we might as well handle the best we can by learning as much as we can about people. As I tell my students and my two kids all the time about finding things to be passionate about and then chase after those things. Study, read, learn all you can about these two subjects. They are simple by just the words - but oh so difficult to really learn about. There is not a better time to learn and study - it's summer! A perfect time to do some reading, thinking and learning. In fact, I will be doing just that. Look for some more things coming out that not only might help you, but I know for sure it will help me. Speaking about help, help me and others by letting me know what you think about this quote. Leave some thoughts here or get in touch with me. "You may have a fresh start any moment you choose, for this thing that we call 'failure' is not the falling down, but the staying down." - Mary Pickford
This quote jumped out to me as I stared my Monday off after a fun but tiring weekend. Amazing when something you kind of already know comes to you in a thought, idea, or a quote - and it seems totally brand new to you. This quote has two powerful points to it. First, the fact that we truly can have a fresh start at any time we choose - is so true and very amazing when you think about it. When we choose to actually changes our attitude or our outlook, and then start to figure out how to get better or to fix something that has gone wrong; there is a lot of power in that. That is really something that should get us very excited and inspired to get back on track to do things we really want to do. Secondly, only when we decide to quit on ourselves, a dream, a goal, or someone else even; that is what true failure is all about. When we stop, think, learn, ask questions, etc., then get back up and keep going - that is where we learn from those temporary setbacks. Failure only happens when we CHOOSE to quit. I've done plenty of this over my life, but I'm working hard to not have it happen any more. The amazing thing is that I get so inspired from others. So being connected to others can really help you with this idea. So much on this quote - but I'm always interested in learning from others what they think about this. That way I can learn more from others. Anything to share? “Never give up on a dream just because of the time it will take to accomplish it. The time will pass anyway.” - Earl Nightingale
What a great quote to not only remind us about the need to dream and to never give up on your dreams, but also there is the reminder about how precious time is. As my friend Doug Evans says "Dreaming Is Never Optional". It is easy to remember it as DINO. All great things take time to accomplish, for if they didn't take the extra time, then everyone would do great things. We all know that time goes by, and it seems more and more it's going by faster and faster as we get older. Please understand a year will go by whether you go after your dreams or not. Then it will be 5 years, and 10 and so on. This is something that personally I've been battling with and I've started to figure this out that I have to start acting on my dreams and goals because time is not waiting for me. First you have to identify some dreams and goals that you want to accomplish. Give yourself permission to do just that. No matter what age you are right now - it's the perfect time to start identifying some dreams and goals and start today to go after them. I'm trying to do something everyday, no matter how small that step is that will help me go after my dreams and goals. The sooner you start the better off you are since you will still have more time on your hands to continue to make those things happen. Go ahead... start today. Feel free to share any thoughts or ideas that you find helpful, or even things you are having trouble with. I have a feeling that we can help each other out with these ideas. “Confidence is contagious. So is the lack of confidence.” -- Vince Lombardi So many things in life are contagious if you are around it enough. The statement that Coach Lombardi made about confidence is no different, Some people are born with confidence and it translates to almost everything they do. Others, probably more of us, do not have natural confidence and it has to be learned. I for one, am still trying to learn how to be more confident in many areas of my life. This statement connects with the idea that I have always told my students, in fact it's a part of what I usually write in their yearbook if they every ask me to write in it. Part of it is always "surround yourself with good people." This is where confidence and the lack of confidence can be contagious. if the people you hang out with are confident people in the things they do, that will help you to be more confident. Especially if those things they are doing are good things. If a group of people, a team, etc., have a common goal or on the same page of helping and supporting each other - that is a very powerful connection for all of them. I think you can really substitute many different words for confidence in the quote. Dedication, teamwork, A positive attitude, etc. What are your thoughts on this quote? Did it get you thinking a little bit I hope? Even with a break from school - I still wanted to get some thoughts out.
"Learn from your failures or be conquered by them." - from livelifehappy.com This quote just jumped right out at me from two standpoints. First, learn from your failures is something that I know I need to always focus on in my life. Sure wish I had a clue about that earlier, but now I do. Failures happen, but we need to learn from them, make adjustments and move on. So many times I see myself and others making mistakes and failing... but then we don't learn from them. Ouch! Life is all about mistakes happening. Life has failures in it everyday. But we don't have to choose to keep making them over and over again, do we? Second, if we don't learn from our failures and we don't make adjustments to become better or to get through those things that we struggle with - those failures will end up holding us back, really conquering our futures. There are obviously so many different levels to this as there are different levels of failures. Another key element to this that when we don't learn from these failures, they will also affect the other people in our lives that we are connected to. Too many of my failures and shortcomings that I've had in my life have affected my family. Whereas if I would have learned from them and gotten better, things could be more positive in many ways for me and my family. These really end up getting in the way of our relationships in life. Which, if you haven't figured out by now, are really what's important in our lives. Any thoughts or ideas on this? Have you thought about how things like this might be getting in the way for you? Always looking for discussion points. "Don't let someone else's opinion of you become your reality." - Les Brown
When I first heard Les Brown talk about this - it really hit home with me and my students. Many times I think we give up control to those people in our lives that will fill our heads with doubt. Many times the critics in our lives are those that are the closest to us. Those people that love and care for us - and we for them, will sometimes be the biggest distractors for us to get through. I am also reminded by this statement that we also have to work on our own opinion of ourselves. If we hear enough negative from others in our lives and add it to our own self-doubting opinion about ourselves, that is a recipe for going nowhere. Where if we have the attitude and mental preparation to take these opinions as fuel or reasons for getting better - to use them as inspiration, well... that's another story. When you actually sit back and think about things like this, isn't it the right thing to do - to take these critics in our lives and use their opinions to help us do more and get better? That's an approach that I think would be great for all of us to use. I know I need to do just that! There are so many things that Les Brown says that really hits home for me and for my students too. I suggest you look him up and read some of his books, listen to some of his audio recordings, and watch his videos as he's got so many messages to connect with so many different people. Another quote he gave to us in this recent presentation - "the best revenge is massive success." For all the doubters and critics in our lives, that is something that will help others to see our true reality for sure. Any thoughts or ideas on this from Les Brown. Remember, not only do your thoughts and ideas help me, they help yourself and many others too. When you take the time to put some of these in writing - it gets you thinking about making adjustments in your life. Might be right then when you do it, or later on sometime. Either way, it's good to share your thoughts and ideas on these quotes... so thank you for doing just that. “The difficulty lies not so much in developing new ideas as in escaping from old ones.” – John Maynard Keynes
There is a lot of challenge from getting away from old ideas and old habits - for many like me it's a constant challenge to break out into having new ideas. The older we get, the more difficult it seems to be sometimes to developing new ideas. Difficult yes, impossible no. Some of it depends I think on our dreams. We need to keep them alive and continually out in front of us. I try and get my students to understand that one. It's been said - "if you don't dream and think about it, it won't happen!" We will all end up somewhere in life. It might as well be someplace that we want to be. We need to break away from old ideas and have new ideas in our lives in order to help make that happen. Another key in helping ourselves to have new ideas is to have good people around us encouraging us to go after our dreams and helping us think of new thoughts and ideas. We all know people that are helped by others to stay just where they are at. Association is a huge part of success as the people we hang around play a big part in us taking on new thoughts and ideas in our futures. As always, I'm very interested in reading and responding to your thoughts. In fact, that helps me (and others) to develop new ideas and get away from old ones. |
AuthorI have been an educator for more than 32 years. It's about time I start sharing lessons that I have learned so that I can help others. I'm into Leadership, Teaching, Coaching Basketball, and being a Difference Maker. Coffee helps me do that :-) Archives
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