Hard Work No. 1 Far and away the best prize that life has to offer is the chance to work hard at work worth doing. (Theodore Roosevelt, 26th U.S. President) Do you sometimes wonder if this is understood by the younger generation? It seems increasingly difficult to...
Yes or No [Stop] saying yes when you mean no. (Gene Chizik, football coach) This was one of five things Coach Chizik said, “You need to stop NOW.” Have you ever agreed to something you really didn’t want to do? You wanted to say no, but you said yes—and regretted it....
Others Any value system worth having is focused on others, not self. (Michael Lockstampfor, minister) The desire for success seems almost to be inherent. Most of us want to do our best, to climb up in our profession or activity, and to win. Sometimes that ambition may...
Comparisons As long as we measure ourselves according to the guy down the street, we can come off pretty good. (Randy Smith, professor) Have you ever compared yourself and your accomplishments with someone else? We feel bad—even jealous—when they’re doing better than...
Judging Others We tend to be very good lawyers when it comes to our own mistakes, but very good judges when it comes to the mistakes of others. (Tullian Tchividjian, author, speaker) It’s easy to defend your mistakes, to rationalize your own failures, isn’t it? We...
Good Judgment Knowledge is the Treasure, but Judgment the Treasurer of a Wise Man. (William Penn, Founder of Pennsylvania) Education is an integral part of a healthy society. Modern technology has made the obtaining of knowledge much easier since information is...
Bloom When you’re in a dark place, you sometimes tend to think you’ve been buried; perhaps you’ve been planted: bloom. (Gabriela Eric) Sometimes life is so difficult that it may seem that we’ve been buried under unrelenting circumstances. Whether it’s personal,...
Veterans Day The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others. (Mahatma Gandhi, leader of India’s independence movement) Today in America we honor the veterans who served in the military to protect our country and our freedom. Many of those...
Success (or Disappointment) The only real failure is the failure to try, and the measure of success is how we cope with disappointment. (Deborah Moggach, British writer) Moggach offers two really important ideas. Some people don’t want to try something new because...
Relief When things get really bad, just raise your glass and stamp your feet and do a little jig. That’s about all you can do. (Leonard Cohen, Canadian novelist and poet) Is Cohen’s advice really helpful? Are we to deal with our concerns by ignoring them and masking...
Perspective A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds. (Ralph Waldo Emerson, 19th century poet) This oft-quoted axiom has been argued by many thinkers. It is true that if you hold to an erroneous view, continuing to support it makes you look foolish, if...
Confession Here’s what’s cool: Admitting you were wrong. (Warren Buffett, wealthy philanthropist) This is no. 6 in Buffett’s list of cool things. It may be cool, but we don’t see a lot of it. This is because it’s so hard to do. Do you remember a TV situation comedy a...