Effective

"Effective people are not problem-minded;

they're opportunity-minded.

They feed opportunities and starve problems."
-Stephen Covey

Joy

"Joy is what happens when we allow ourselves to recognize how good things really are."
Marianne Williamson Author of A Return To Love

Achievement

"Every achiever that I have ever met says, 'My life turned around when I began to believe in me.'"

Dr. Robert Schuller

Minister and Author

Impossible

"The difference between the impossible and the possible lies in a person's determination."

Tommy Lasorda

Professional Baseball Manager

Imagine

"Imagination is the beginning of creation.

You imagine what you desire, you will what you imagine and at last you create what you will." George Bernard Shaw

Are?

"We are what we repeatedly do "

Aristotle

Pleasure

Pleasure in the job puts perfection in the work.

Aristotle

Greek critic, philosopher, physicist, & zoologist (384 BC - 322 BC)

Hear - See - Do

I hear and I forget.

I see and I remember.

I do and I understand.

Confucius (551 BC - 479 BC) Chinese philosopher & reformer

An Hour Of Time

Tim was disappointed that his father didn't attend the last soccer game of the season, but he wasn't surprised.

Tim was a mature 10-year old and he understood that lots of clients depended on his dad, a lawyer, who had to work most nights and weekends. Still, it made him sad, especially since this year he won the league's most valuable player award.

One evening Tim got up the nerve to interrupt his father's work at home to ask him how much lawyers make per hour. His father was annoyed and gruffly answered, "They pay me $300 an hour."

Tim gulped and said, "Wow, that's a lot. Would you lend me $100?"

"Of course not," his father barked. "Please, let me work."

Later, the father felt guilty and went to Tim's room where he found him sobbing.
"Son," he said, "I'm sorry. If you need some money, of course I'll lend it to you.
But can I ask why?"

Tim said, "Daddy, I know your time is really worth a lot and with the $200 I've already saved, I'll have enough. Can I buy an hour so you can come to the awards banquet on Friday?"

It hit his father like a punch to the heart.
He realized his son needed him more than his clients did.
He needed to be there for his son more than he needed money or career accolades.
He hugged him and said, "I'm so proud of you, nothing could keep me away."

Lots of parents are stretched to their limit trying to balance business demands and family needs. It's always a matter of priorities.
But if we don't arrange our lives to be there for our children,
they will regret it - and after it's too late, so will we.

This story is derived and adapted from one that was circulated on the Internet without attribution. The original source is unknown.

Plan

"Our goals can only be reached through a vehicle of a plan, in which we must fervently believe, and upon which we must vigorously act. There is no other route to success."
Stephen A. Brennan

Pleasure

"One should guard against preaching to young people success in the customary form as the main aim in life. The most important motive for work in school and in life is pleasure in work, pleasure in its result, and the knowledge of the value of the result to the community."

Albert Einstein (1875-1955)

Ad Infinitum?

"Ad infinitum is a Latin phrase meaning "to infinity."
In context, it usually means "continue forever,"
and thus can be used to describe a non-terminating process,
a non-terminating repeating process,
or a set of instructions to be repeated "forever",
among other uses."

Wikipedia

Definition

"The definition of success -To laugh much; to win respect of intelligent persons and the affections of children; to earn the approbation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty; to find the best in others; to give one's self; to leave the world a little better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition.; to have played and laughed with enthusiasm, and sung with exultation; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived--this is to have succeeded."
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-82)
American writer, philosopher, poet, essayist

Working together

"Coming together is the beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success."
Unknown author

Winners

"Losers visualize the penalties of failure. Winners visualize the rewards of success."
William S. Gilbert (1836-1911)

Hanging on

"Success seems to be largely a matter of hanging on after others have let go."
William Feather (1897-1962)

Close

"Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up."
Thomas Alva Edison (1847-1931)

Why not?

"Some look at things that are, and ask why. I dream of things that never were and ask why not?"
George Bernard Shaw

Imagination

"You can't depend on your judgment when your imagination is out of focus."
Wallace Stevens

Castles in the sky

"If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost. That is where they should be. Now put the foundation under them."
Henry David Thoreau

Credit

"It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit."
Harry S. Truman

Unfulfilled Potential

"Consult not your fears but your hopes and your dreams. Think not about your frustrations, but about your unfulfilled potential. Concern yourself not with what you tried and failed in, but with what it is still possible for you to do."
Pope John XXIII

Hard work

"There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation,
hard work, and learning from failure."

Colin (Luther) Powell (b. 1937)

African-American US army general, Joint Chiefs of Staff

Success

"I've missed over 9,000 shots in my career.
I've lost almost 300 games. 26 times I've been trusted to take the game-winning shot...and missed.

I've failed over and over and over again in my life.
And that is why I succeed."

Michael Jordan - Professional Basketball Player