With Regard To Life

Plant Seeds

The speaker at my Rotary club shared a great quote this week. It was from Robert Louis Stevenson, who said, "Don't judge each day by the harvest you reap, but by the seeds that you plant." I hope you will be intentional about planting seeds. Someday you might say or do something that will inspire someone to such a degree that it literally changes their life, or perhaps a family or even an entire community. Someday you might influence the life of someone who might choose a profession in, say, the medical field. They might end up being a doctor. They might have your life in their hands someday. You never know what might happen when you plant a seed. You are sure to reap a harvest at some point. Don't worry about the harvest. Don't worry about watering your field. Just plant seeds. Today is not too late to begin. Today's Winning Thought: There is a great little book entitled The Seed by Jon Gordon. I mentioned it here a few weeks ago. If you are looking for purpose and happiness, get that book and devour it. If you know someone who is searching, buy it for them.

All Star

Major League Baseball's All Star Game was played Tuesday night in Arizona. In case you missed it, the National League won, 5-1. Only the best players in the world play at this level. And the best of the best are named to the all star teams. Are you an all star? At your workplace? In your community? In your home? I am asking you, but if you were asking me, I would tell you I don't know. Don't ask me. Only the people who know be best can answer that. I would hope there might be moments when I show signs of being an All Star. So, are you an all star? I hope you are striving to be. There are people depending on you. Find a coach. Have a plan. Follow the plan Review the plan often. You will win, and you will likely be an all star. Today's Winning Thought: "You were born to win, but to be the winner you were born to be you must plan to win and prepare to win. Then and only then can you legitimately expect to win." -- Zig Ziglar

Mediocrity

When confronted with an invitation or request to go someplace or do somthing that I am not particularly excited about, I often joke that I must decline because I have to rearrange the pantry. I don't have time, and am not interested in finding time to mess with our pantry. But I was looking at one of my bookshelves and it could use some attention. I did not rearrange it today, but I did grab a couple of books. I looked inside the front and back covers to see what notes I left in each. One of the books was The Dip by Seth Godin. The note I had written long ago while reading that book directed me to a sentence on page 74. It read, "How dare you settle for mediocre just because you're busy coping with too many things on your agenda, racing against the clock to get it all done." Mediocrity, having an indifferent value, is something I detest and am trying to eradicate from society. That is an impossible task, but I will try until I die. I grabbed a second book that I knew would have a word about being mediocre. In Success is Not An Accident, Tommy Newberry writes, "No one plans to become mediocre. Mediocrity is the result of no plan at all." Today's Winning Thought: A mediocre life is no life at all. Live your life to the fullest with no regrets.

Who Do You Want To Be

I read something that Bruce Springsteen was quoted as saying. He reportedly remarked, "A time comes when you need to stop waiting for the man you want to become and start being the man you want to be." Bob Buford challenged men in his book Halftime to change the game plan for their lives from success to significance. Many men I know, myself included, want to make a difference. We want our life to count for something. Ronnie Floyd wrote a book entitled The Meaning of a Man. He said men need worth, identity, work they enjoy, great relationships, a wife and kids who love him and community. All or part of that might be true for you too. What do you want out of life? What are you waiting for? Today's Winning Thought: Don't live your life unfulfilled.

Legacy

A legacy is something for posterity, something for future generations. I attended a meeting this week at a high school that opened just last year. In one of the trophy cases there was a signed which read, "The Legacy Starts Here." Who knows where those students will be in 10, 20, 30 or 50 years. Or what mark will they leave on their classmates, their community and the world. A dear friend of mine, and one of my mentors, died this week. Jud was 98. I know he left a legacy so large it would be impossible to measure. And I know his life will continue to impact many even in his death. What I don't know is where and when his legacy began. It might have started when he was a young boy working in his family's pharmacy. Or it might have been when he attended college. He was an All-American runner at a major university. Or it might have been when he became a businessman, or when he started his family. All I know is my friend, Jud, taught many, and he taught us well. I have written in this blog more than once that you are writing your legacy right now - today. Whose life will you touch? And in what way? Out live your life. You were not made to simply exist. You were made to make a difference. Today's Winning Thought: "Let us stand in the places we are most afraid we will fall. Let us stand for the best, no matter what the cost. Let us stand so we can strengthen each other." -- Henry Bloch

More of Mackay's Morals

I started this list of quotes and morals by Harvey Mackay in yesterday's post. These are too good to not include a few more. Here is part two. "Don't let life's ups and downs leave you down and out." "Unless you are in demolition, don't burn bridges." "When you are thirsty, it is too late to think about digging a well." "There is always a place in the business world for anyone who takes the jobs that no one else is doing or wants to do." "Anyone can steer a ship when the sea is calm." "Believe in yourself, even when no one else does." "How you say it might be as important as what you say." Today's Winning Thought: "Say and do what you mean, but never say and do it meanly." Have a great weekend.

More Winning Thoughts

When I started writing this blog, I knew I had to end each one with a thought-provoking quote or axiom. I got the idea from a business column I read every month. Harvey MacKay writes a 750-word column each week about business and life. He always end each one with a brief moral he calls Mackay's Moral. I found one of those columns today that featured nothing but some of Mackay's best quotes. Here are a few I thought you might like. "You don't quit trying when you lose. You lose because you quit trying." "One mistake will never kill you. The same mistake over and over will." "The largest room in the world is the room for improvement." "It takes a lot of unspectacular preparation to produce spectacular results," "The person who wants to do something finds a way. The person who doesn't finds an excuse." "Bad service saves money and loses customers. Good service costs money and saves customers." "For the real winners, there are no finish lines." "Anyone too busy to say thank you will get fewer and fewer chances to say it." Today's Winning Thought: Thank you for reading.

5 and 19

Gene Chizik is the head football coach at Auburn University. His team was undefeated last season and won the national championship. Chizik has a new book. It is entitled ALL IN: What It Takes To Be The Best. The book is a message of hope and encouragement. In an interview earlier this week, the coach was asked about his and his team's success. Two things struck me as I listened to the conversation. During the two previous season, Chizik was the head coach at Iowa State University, where his teams only won five games. The Cyclones were 5-19 in those two seasons. Five wins in two seasons - sometimes five victories in one season - is not enough to save your job in college football. That is just not acceptable in the day and age in which we live. But if you coach long enough you are likely to have a season or two like that. If you are still breathing, which I presume you are, you will have days or weeks like those long and agonizing football seasons. "Everyone has their 5 and 19," Chizik said. The interviewer asked Chizik how it was that Auburn would sign him to lead their program after two consecutive losing seasons at Iowa State. Chizik's reply was the second important thing he said. He had been an assistant at Auburn so the people there knew him. That is code for "relationships are extremely important." Chizik never lost hope. He persevered and worked through his 5 and 19. What is your 5 and 19? Are you living it right now? How are you dealing with it? Today's Winning Thought: Everyone has their 5 and 19 day, week, season or life. You might have more than one. Do you have a plan for dealing with it?

Samuel Smiles

I wrote yesterday about Samuel Smiles, the author and industrialist who lived in the 1800's. I mentioned his book Self Help. I cannot reprint the article I mentioned or I would. I believe it is worth the time it takes one to read it. I did want to share a couple more quotes and thoughts from Smiles. Nothing creditable can be accomplished without application and diligence. You cannot be daunted by difficulties. Conquer them by patience and perseverance - and character. Outside help, such as a government social program, was often enfeebling because it removed the stimulus and necessity required to make people take care of and advance themselves. Over-government will make them comparatively helpless. Smiles urged employers to promote self-improvement of worker. An employer would benefit from more educated employees. And he encouraged employers to establish savings banks for their employees and penny banks for the employees' children. Samuel Smiles believed, as do I, that man could rise above the circumstances of his birth, and the adversity that all will experience. He suffered a stroke in 1871. Although the stroke caused him some memory loss and disabled his right hand, Smiles later taught himself to write again and he continued publishing. Today's Winning Thought: Samuel Smiles writings were simple and powerful. These were sound principles that, if applied today, would improve society.

Back to Work

The long holiday weekend is over. I am ready. I cannot wait to get back to work so I can get some rest. Our family took time out for a couple of get togethers. Other than than it was a working holiday. We are going to like the changes to our home, but I wish someone else was doing the work. Someone else IS doing most of it - my wife. I helped where I was able. I did not write at all, or read much. I did manage to find a few minutes to read an article about a man named Samuel Smiles. I want to tell you a little about him and the article during the next couple of posts. Smiles was an author, industrialist and newspaper editor in the 1800's. He believed that the only way for people to overcome difficult circumstances was to help themselves. It led Smiles to write a book entitled Self Help. It was published in 1859. By the time Smiles died 45 later, the book had sold more than 250,000 copies. The book emphasized the importance of strong character, perseverance, thrift and independence in achieving success. Here are a couple of the better quotes from the book. "Although genius always commands admiration, character most secures respect. The former is more the product of brain-power, the latter of heart-power; and in the long run, it is the heart that rules in life." Today's Winning Thought: "I wish I had the power to retouch my life as the artist retouches his picture. But I cannot do so. My life must stand alone or fall by what I have done, not by what I have dreamt."