Focus If you focus on the process of climbing, you’ll end up on the summit. (Yvon Chouinard, rock climber) You must always keep the end in mind—in this case, the summit. But, to reach it, you have to concentrate on where you are and what you are doing in the process...
Finish Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you’ll land among the stars. (Les Brown, motivational speaker) Sometimes our hopes and dreams are so big, that we don’t want to even start the project for fear of failing. Brown’s encouragement, however, makes a lot of...
Foolish A fool knows the price of everything and the value of nothing. (Oscar Wilde, 19th century Irish playwright) What April Fools joke might you experience today? It may be an extreme prank, but it’s all in fun, of course. Wilde, however, comments on what is a...
Forgiving Don’t forget to forgive. Forgiveness can be difficult, but learning how to incorporate it into your life can be good for your health (Erin Johnson). As Johnson suggests, there may be times when it can be really hard to forgive someone who has hurt you...
Light There are two ways of spreading light: to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it (Edith Wharton, 19th-20th century writer). Not everyone can be a leading scorer on the basketball or football team or have the lead role in a play or movie. The role of the...
Winning The human spirit is never finished when it is defeated… it is finished when it surrenders (Ben Stein, writer). Everyone loses from time to time, whether it’s a debate, an investment, or an athletic competition. It hurts, but it’s not the end unless we let it...
Doubts Doubt is letting your circumstances get between you & God. Faith is letting God get between you & your circumstances (Mark Batterson, author). Circumstances are like mattresses. When you’re on top of them, you can be really comfortable. But, when you’re...
Seeds You can count the number of seeds in an apple, but you can never count the number of apples in a seed. (Karen Jensen, actress) “Of course; that’s obvious,” we might say. But how seriously have we applied that thought to our daily lives? How can your investment...
Opportunity Having the opportunity to develop our strengths is more important to our success than our role, our title, or even our pay (Tom Rath, author). Some people are impressed by titles—professor, CEO, all-star and so forth. Others consider the wage scale a good...
Resources At the time of our greatest need we tend to forget our greatest resource (Kip Cone, pastor). When things are going well and life seems good, we aren’t greatly concerned about our sources of help. All is working, and we’re getting along fine with our own...
Best Good, better, best; never let it rest until your good is better and your better is best (Sterling Shepherd, “Shep,” former professional football player). This is one of many motivational statements “Shep” uses in challenging young people to live a positive life...
Changes There is nothing like returning to a place that remains unchanged to find the ways in which you yourself have altered (Nelson Mandela, late president of South Africa). Have you had an experience like Mandela’s? Perhaps he was alluding to his return to civilian...