Don't bother just to be better than your contemporaries or predecessors. Try to be better than yourself. (William Faulkner, 20th century Nobel Prize author) We seem to be born with a great sense of competition. Even little children always want to win, to be first, and...
Nobody grows old by merely living a number of years. People grow old by deserting their ideals. Age wrinkles the body. Quitting wrinkles the soul. (Douglas MacArthur, late 5-star American general) MacArthur was not speaking of physical age but growth in maturity or...
Though no one can go back and make a brand new start, anyone can start from now and make a brand new ending. (James R. Sherman, 19th century English minister. This oft-repeated quotation may be overlooked because it is so simple and obvious. We often talk about...
Some men see things as they are and say why – I dream things that never were and say why not. (George Bernard Shaw, 19th & 20th centuries Irish playwright) Every day seems to bring new inventions and radical changes in modern society. We might be curious about...
Nobody ever wrote down a plan to be broke, fat, lazy, or stupid. Those things are what happen when you don’t have a plan. (Larry Winget, social commentator) “Plan your work and work your plan,” they say. Sounds like a good idea, but some of us don’t like to spend the...
The key to successful leadership today is influence, not authority. (Ken Blanchard, management expert and author) Sometimes we may think that our authority should motivate our colleagues to accomplish their work more effectively. But, forcing people to do what we want...
The immediate goal is winning on the field, but the ultimate goal is winning in life. (A paraphrase of Gil Haskell, professional football coach) Successful athletes focus on the task at hand—win the game, defeat the opponent, capture the prize. Everything else is...
Effective performance is preceded by painstaking preparation. (Brian Tracy, self-development speaker/author) Some of us long for the ability of an accomplished musician or artist. We’d like an instant infusion of talent, so we could perform right now as well as an...
No great dream has ever been built on the fear of what might go wrong but rather on the hope of what might go right. (Rich Yauger, men’s leader) Many dreams and worthy ideas have been dashed by the fear of possible mistakes and ultimate failure. We all wish that our...
Vision is the ability to see people, places and things, not just the way they are, but the way they could be. (Sam Adeyemi, pastor) We might think of a pessimist as a person who sees things as less than they really are, an optimist as one who sees things as he wishes...
Challenges are what make life interesting and overcoming them is what makes life meaningful. (Joshua J. Marine, author) When you are faced with a challenge—perhaps an obstacle in your planned path, how do you respond? Some become discouraged; maybe they even give up...
You have to be willing to be misunderstood if you’re going to innovate. (Jeff Bogue, pastor) It’s generally thought that people don’t like change. The older you are, the more likely it is that you will resist change. Leaders with new ideas often have to face that...