Persistence Failure is the path of least persistence. (Church sign board) This simple maxim is not difficult to understand, but it could have a profound effect in helping a lazy person learn to achieve. If the lack of determination is the reason for failure, then...
Influences There’s always something you can’t see controlling what you can see. (Priscilla Shirer, motivational speaker and author) Anyone who has worked at a computer has discovered Shirer’s words to be true. It’s aggravating when what you intended to happen doesn’t...
Community Community is not something you find; it’s something you build. Community is not something discovered; it is something forged. (James Emerson White, religious commentator) White concludes: “My point is that all relationships of worth are products of labor.”...
Greener Grass If the grass looks greener on the other side... Stop staring. Stop comparing. Stop complaining. And start watering the grass you're standing on. (Eugene Cho, non-profit leader) It’s an old cliché, but it’s also true to life, isn’t it? Things on the other...
Action A plan without action is just a plan. (Rebekah Radice, business consultant) Having a brilliant idea or conceiving a great plan is a good beginning, but that’s all it is. The next steps are equally important. How do you get that idea out of your mind and into...
Misunderstood To be great is to be misunderstood. (Ralph Waldo Emerson, 19th century essayist) If you’ve been misunderstood, you’re not alone. Emerson lists some misunderstood influential people: Pythagoras, Socrates, Jesus, Luther, Copernicus, Galileo, and Newton. He...
Attitude Good leaders are never complainers. They're doers. (John Maxwell, leadership author) Has there ever been a time where there has been so much complaining? People groan about the weather, their bosses’ unfairness, their children’s coaches who don’t let them...
Teamwork That which is not in the interest of the hive is not in the interest of the bee. (Marcus Aurelius, 2nd century Roman emperor) It’s an ancient thought but what a great metaphor it is for the 21st century as well as the 2nd century. Bees and the bee hive are...
Hypocrisy While it's easy to spot hypocrisy in others, it's much harder to see it in ourselves. (Michael Lockstampfor, creative media pastor) If we’re honest, we’ll probably agree with the quotation. But, why is that true; why do we make such unfair judgments?...
Honesty Golf is a game in which you yell "fore," shoot six, and write down five. (Paul Harvey, late radio commentator) It’s a clever play on words that golfers will understand immediately. “Fudging” on your golf score may be an accepted practice when you’re just...
Opportunity I will study and prepare, and someday my opportunity will come. (Abraham Lincoln, 16th President of the United States) They say that opportunity knocks only once. Whether that is true or not, the two key words in Honest Abe’s quote are study and prepare. A...
Waiting Let there be silence. Silence is the training wheels of a good deep discussion. (Jack Brown, pastor) Brown says, “Sometimes an awkward amount of time is required. But without it, some may never speak up.” It’s awkward, isn’t it, when the teacher asks a...