Life and Living and Success
THOUGHTS TO REFLECT ON
Progress in life is not measured by security but by growth; growth means taking occasional risks. You’ll never get anywhere interesting by always doing the safe thing.
All of us must become better informed. It is necessary for us to learn from others’ mistakes. You will not live long enough to make them all yourself.
There’s only one thing more painful than learning from experience, and that is not learning from experience.
You miss 100 percent of the shots you never take.
Work done with little effort is likely to yield little results.
All things are possible to those with a positive mental attitude.
The person with the vision to recognize opportunity and the promptness of decision necessary to embrace it will get ahead.
The secret of happiness is not in doing what one likes, but in liking what one does.
You can never fail unless you quit.
Successful people are not people without problems but people who have learned to solve their problems.
GUIDELINES FOR ENJOYING LIFE
Eat less, exercise more.
Talk less, think more.
Sit less, exercise more.
Worry less, work more.
Waste less, give more.
Preach less, practice more.
Frown less, laugh more.
Grumble less, thank more.
Scold less, praise more.
Regret less, aspire more.
Hate less, love more.
A WAY TO LOOK AT FAILURE
You’ve failed many times, although you may not remember.
You fell down the first time you tried to walk. You almost drowned the first time you tried to swim, didn’t you? Did you hit the ball the first time you swung a bat? Heavy hitters, the ones who hit the most home runs, also strike out a lot.
R.H. Macy failed seven times before his store in New York caught on.
English novelist John Creasey got 753 rejections slips before he published 564 books.
Babe Ruth struck out l,330 times, but he also hit 714 home runs.
Don’t worry about failure. Worry about the chances you miss when you don’t even try.
WEALTH ISN’T MONEY
Wealth is found in one’s capabilities; money is a by-product of those capabilities. Wealth isn’t money, but people who are wealthy often have money. They have money because they believe in their capabilities and inspire others to believe in them, too!”
EXPECTANCY AND THE GOOD LIFE…
Washington Irving once wrote, “Great minds have purposes; others have wishes.” His insight leads to the realization that without expectancy, we lack purpose. Achievers, in particular, exhibit this attitude of expectancy. This shows itself most forcefully in the way they minimize their losses. They do not grieve over failures or what might have been. Rather, the achiever looks around the corner in anticipation of the good things that await him. All he has to do, he believes, is show the determination to get there and do the things that are necessary to “make it happen.” He rejects the notion of “can’t.” As a result, he is able to open more doors than others, strike better deals, and attract more energetic and resourceful people to work with him. He sets higher standards and gets others to help him meet them. He wins confidence and nurtures vitality in others. He expects to succeed. When combined with desire, expectancy produces hope. And hope makes all things possible. Living the expectant life is essential for the individual traveling the road to success!
THE TEN MOST EXPRESSIVE WORDS
Dr. Wilfred Funk, the well-known dictionary publisher, was asked to select the ten most expressive words in the English language. Here is his list:
The most bitter word alone
The most tragic death
The most reverent mother
The most beautiful love
The most cruel revenge
The most peaceful tranquil
The saddest forgotten
The warmest friendship
The coldest no
The most comforting faith
ADVERSITY, FAILURE & SETBACKS
Adversity causes some men to break, others to break records.
Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly.
LUCK
Luck is a matter of preparation meeting opportunity.
The best luck that a person has is the ability and determination to overcome bad luck through self-confidence and a positive mental attitude!
NEGATIVITY
The great inventor Thomas Edison once shocked his friends by saying his deafness was his greatest blessing because it saved him from the trouble of having to listen to negative comments on why things couldn’t be done.