Tuesday, December 31, 2013

2014-01 - Begin...

Today is the day to begin. This new year is a blank canvas upon which you have the delightful opportunity to paint.

As you do, be authentic. Your greatest accomplishments are the ones that contain the greatest quantity of you.

Be innovative and creative. The challenges you face will melt away when you apply fresh, original thinking to them.

Remember not to take yourself too seriously. You'll climb much higher when you're thoroughly enjoying the effort.

As you move forward, do so with genuine and persistent integrity. That way, the results you create will be results that are actually worth attaining.

Today you stand at the beginning of a grand adventure, with the very real and present opportunity to shape this year into the best one ever. Begin now, take the initiative, and never stop living life according to who you know you are.

~ Ralph Marston



"Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year."

~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Tuesday, December 24, 2013

2013-52 - Believe in Yourself...

There may be days when you get up in the morning and things aren't the way you had hoped they would be.

That's when you have to tell yourself that things will get better. There are times when people disappoint you and let you down.

But those are the times when you must remind yourself to trust your own judgments and opinions, to keep your life focused on believing in yourself.

There will be challenges to face and changes to make in your life, and it is up to you to accept them.

Constantly keep yourself headed in the right direction for you. It may not be easy at times, but in those times of struggle you will find a stronger sense of who you are.

So when the days come that are filled with frustration and unexpected responsibilities, remember to believe in yourself and all you want your life to be.

Because the challenges and changes will only help you to find the goals that you know are meant to come true for you.

Keep Believing in Yourself!

~ Stephen




"If you believe in yourself, anything is possible."

~ Miley Cyrus

Tuesday, December 17, 2013

2013-51 - Treasure in the challenge...

The difficulty of the journey gives meaning and value to the destination. The more effort you put into achievement, the more that achievement is worth.

The problems and challenges are not there to stop you. Their purpose is to bring your commitment to the surface where it can come wholly and powerfully to life.

The tasks that are the most difficult are the ones that make the greatest positive difference. Situations with the most formidable problems are where you find the biggest opportunities.

See the problems for what they are. They provide a clear, compelling path to strength of purpose, creativity, effectiveness, commitment and achievement.

Working your way purposefully and persistently through the challenges will create great and lasting value in your world. With each difficulty you grow stronger and more capable.

See the opportunities that the challenges provide. And make their considerable, substantial value your own.

~ Ralph Marston



"Accept the challenges so that you can feel the exhilaration of victory."

~ George S Patton

Tuesday, December 10, 2013

2013-50 - Your own destiny...

You have the power to control your own destiny. You may not feel at all comfortable with that, or want to own up to the responsibility it implies, yet it is true nonetheless.

You may complain that there are so many powerful and overwhelming outside forces acting upon you that nothing you do will matter. Yet everything you do matters to the highest degree in creating your own destiny.

It may seem that fate has dealt you a certain hand, and that there is no way for you to change that fate. You can, however, change everything about your own perspective and the way you respond.

For your destiny is not about what comes to you. It is about who you choose to become.

Your destiny is not really about what happens to you. It is built and fulfilled by the things that you cause to happen, by what you do with the precious life you have.

It happens in every moment, with every choice, with every thought and every action. Always, you are creating your own unique destiny.

~ Ralph Marston




"Creativity involves breaking out of established patterns in order to look at things in a different way."

~ Edward de Bono

Tuesday, December 3, 2013

2013-49 - Get Creative...

There's more than one way to reach the goal. There's more than one way to solve the problem.

When you seem to be stuck, get creative. When the possibilities aren't to your liking, open your mind and make some more.

There's no reason why you must do things the same way they've always been done. Certainly you can learn much from past experience, yet you can also improve upon it.

Today is a new day and you're more knowledgeable than ever. Get creative and develop some new strategies for going forward.

Creativity is not limited to artistic or literary pursuits. Creativity can be successfully applied to any undertaking.

Make each effort fun and interesting by applying some delightful creativity to it. Get creative, and enjoy more success than ever before.

~ Ralph Marston



"Creativity involves breaking out of established patterns in order to look at things in a different way."

~ Edward de Bono

Tuesday, November 26, 2013

2013-48 - Reach beyond yourself...

The higher you aim, the higher you will go. Push yourself a little bit past what you know you can do, and you'll discover new skills and abilities.

If it seems that you don't ever get much done, maybe it's because you're not giving yourself enough to do. Make your dreams and ambitions big enough to be positively compelling.

Be genuinely thankful for how far you've already come, but don't rest on your previous accomplishments. Honor and appreciate those accomplishments by using them as a starting point for even greater success.

You are intelligent, adaptable, creative, flexible and effective at getting things done. Fulfil your destiny and satisfy your purpose by giving yourself plenty of valuable, worthwhile things to do.

Delight in discovering how much more you can accomplish. Thrill to the challenge of moving successfully through new, uncharted territory.

Continue to reach beyond yourself. Know the joy and confidence that come from growing ever stronger.

~ Ralph Marston




"Unless you try to do something beyond what you have already mastered, you will never grow."

~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Tuesday, November 19, 2013

2013-47 - Try Again...

I sat there thinking, again, why I felt that I had failed and how could I muster up the energy and enthusiasm to try again. It seemed pointless; I would only fail. Then I saw my daughter, 15 months old, trying to walk.

She stood by the chair and stumbled forward and fell. I felt for her, but she just lifted her head and smiled and tried again and fell once more. Again she smiled, no bruised ego. She just got on and tried once more and took her first step.

A lesson for me could not have been given more plainly. We don't know until we try and if we fail, we just have to try again.

~ Mary Kennington




"If at first you don't succeed, try, try again."

~ W C Fields

Tuesday, November 12, 2013

2013-46 - Up to you...

It is easy to be miserable. It is just as easy to be happy.

Being miserable will nourish and support your ego. Being happy will bring peace and fulfilment to your spirit.

Being miserable can be very dramatic, complicated and sophisticated. It can make you appear quite impressive to other people.

Being happy, on the other hand, is an expression of simplicity and freedom and joy. Chances are, others could be suspicious or resentful.

Once you have chosen to be miserable, it will require a great deal of energy and effort to maintain that state of misery. By contrast, when you choose happiness, that happiness actually brings additional energy and positive passion to your life.

The choice between happiness and misery is one you make in each moment, over and over again, day after day. Whether you're happy or whether you're miserable is completely up to you.

~ Ralph Marston



"We are our choices."

~ Jean-Paul Sartre

Tuesday, November 5, 2013

2013-45 - Pathway to achievement...

The best way to figure out how to do something is to do it. Make the commitment to make it happen, and you'll start working your way through the details.

Don't get bogged down speculating on how something will come about. Instead, get started on the best approach you have, and follow the path wherever it may lead.
When traveling along a road, you can never see the entire road at once, but that doesn't really matter. What does matter is successfully making your way through the portion of the road that is right in front of you.

Work through the things that are to be done right now, and you'll put yourself in position to handle the things that come along later. Travel down this section of the road, and you'll then be able to travel the next section, and the next.

If you put all your energy into worrying about every little detail of how to reach your goal, you won't ever get started. Instead, put your energy into reminding yourself why you have chosen to go there, and then do whatever it takes along the way.

You'll never know precisely how something is to be done until you actually do it. So go ahead, get started, and discover your own unique pathway to achievement.

~ Ralph Marston



"Action is the foundational key to all success."
~ Pablo Picasso

Tuesday, October 29, 2013

2013-44 - The child within us...

We must listen to the child that we once were, and who still lives within us.

This child understands about magic instants.

We can muffle his sobbing, but we can’t hush his voice.

If we aren’t reborn, if we don’t see life again with the innocence and enthusiasm of childhood, then there is no more sense to living.

Let’s allow the child within us to take the reins of our existence a little. This child says that one day is different from another.

Let’s make the child feel loved again. Let’s please this child – even if it means acting in a way that we’re not used to, even if it seems foolish in the eyes of others.

If we listen to the child we bear in our soul, our eyes will shine once more. If we don’t lose contact with this child, we won’t lose contact with life.

~ Paulo Coelho




Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated.

~ Confucius

Tuesday, October 22, 2013

2013-43 - Hiding Behind Masks...

A man came back from a weekend retreat experience, and when a neighbour asked him how it had gone, he said, "I died!"

Puzzled, the neighbour asked him what he meant. "You see," the man answered, "I went to this thing not knowing what to expect. But in the process of that long weekend, I discovered that I had spent my whole life hiding behind a lot of masks. I realized that I had never even let my wife see me as I really was. I'd been playing games with her, and playing games with my children, and playing games with others - never letting anybody know who I really am. The worst of it was to discover that even I didn't know myself. I was not in touch with my own honest feelings about myself. And, as all of this was being exposed over the weekend, I died over and over again."

He went on, "It is a painful thing for a middle-aged man to discover that he is not even in touch with his own honest feelings about himself. I am convinced," he said, "that I had to go through this death experience in order to become the new person that I hope to be now."

~ Author Unknown




"We are products of our past, but we don't have to be prisoners of it."

~ Rick Warren

Tuesday, October 15, 2013

2013-42 - Wreckers or Builders…

I watched them tearing a building down,
A gang of men in a busy town.
With a ho-heave-ho and lusty yell,
They swung a beam and a sidewall fell.
I asked the foreman, “Are these men skilled,
As the men you’d hire if you had to build?”
He gave me a laugh and said, “No indeed!
Just common labor is all I need.
I can easily wreck in a day or two
What builders have taken a year to do.”
And I tho’t to myself as I went my way,
Which of these two roles have I tried to play?
Am I a builder who works with care,
Measuring life by the rule and square?
Am I shaping my deeds by a well-made plan,
Patiently doing the best I can?
Or am I a wrecker who walks the town,
Content with the labor of tearing down?

~ Author Unknown






Do you want to know what you are? You are a creator. At every moment you are creating. The real question is, what are you creating?

~ Bryant H. McGill

Tuesday, October 8, 2013

2013-41 - The Next Horizon...

The steeper and more difficult the climb becomes, the closer you are to the summit. The more you feel like quitting, the more there is to be gained by continuing to persist.

When it seems you cannot go on any more, that means you're getting closer and closer. Find a way to keep going and soon you'll make it all the way there. With every difficulty that arises, the eventual accomplishment becomes that much more fulfilling. The more effort and sacrifice that's demanded of you, the more value you are creating.

What a shame it would be to turn back when the goal is almost within sight. For the sake of all your previous efforts, keep going and make those efforts count for something truly great.

Every bit of weariness you feel is proof that you've already made much progress. What a blessing it is that you have what it takes to keep moving steadily forward.

Keep going, especially now, for just over the next horizon is where you were meant to be.

~ Ralph Marston



"Leaders keep their eyes on the horizon, not just on the bottom line."

~ Warren G Bennis

Tuesday, October 1, 2013

2013-40 - Small Improvements...

Small improvements matter, because they can add up to big changes. If you add just one percent to your efforts each day, day after day, in only seventy days your effectiveness will double.

Small improvements are easy to make, and they can make a big difference. The key is to keep making them, to continue improving on the improvements.

Are you frustrated because you're not as effective as you'd like to be? You can begin to change that right now, and put an end to your frustration.

Accept that you can't instantly get all the way to maximum effectiveness. Yet you can very realistically make one small, easy improvement after another.

Don't worry about how you will get a whole lot better. Just find a way, right now, to get a little bit better.

Make a small, easily accessible improvement, and then make another, and another. Soon, you'll be much further ahead than you ever could have imagined.

~ Ralph Marston




"Without continual growth and progress, such words as improvement, achievement, and success have no meaning."

~ Benjamin Franklin

Tuesday, September 24, 2013

2013-39 - They'll Get Used To It...

Marc Andreessen, Internet browser pioneer turned venture capitalist, recalls a double-date he had with Jobs a few months before the iPhone was unveiled...

In the fall of 2006, my wife, Laura, and I went out to dinner with Steve and his brilliant and lovely wife, Laurene. Sitting outside of the restaurant on California Avenue in Palo Alto waiting for a table to open up, on a balmy Silicon Valley evening, Steve pulled his personal prototype iPhone out of his jeans pocket and said, 'Here, let me show you something.' He took me on a tour through all of the features and capabilities of the new device.

After an appropriate amount of oohing and aahing, I ventured a comment. BlackBerry aficionado as I was, I said, 'Boy, Steve, don't you think it's going to be a problem not having a physical keyboard? Are people really going to be okay typing directly on the screen?'

He looked me right in the eye with that piercing gaze and said, 'They'll get used to it.'

Apple has sold more than 250 million iPhones since 2007 and it's one of the top-selling smartphones in the world!

~ Marc Andreessen




"The purpose of a business is to create a customer."

~ Peter Drucker

Tuesday, September 17, 2013

2013-38 - Accepting the fight...

If someone confronts you over ideas or ideals, step up and accept the fight, because conflict is present in every moment of our lives and sometimes it needs to show itself in the broad light of day.

But do not fight in order to prove that you are right or to impose your ideas or ideals on someone else.

Only accept the fight as a way of keeping your spirit clean and your will spotless. When the fight is over, both sides will emerge as winners, because they tested their limitations and their abilities.

Since both respect the courage and determination of the other, the time will come when they will once again walk along hand-in-hand, even if they have to wait a thousand years for that to happen.

Meanwhile, if someone merely wishes to provoke you, shake the dust from your feet and carry on. Only fight with a worthy opponent, and not with someone who uses trickery to prolong a war that is already over, as happens with all wars.

~ Paulo Coelho (THE MANUSCRIPT FOUND IN ACCRA)




"You may have to fight a battle more than once to win it."

~ Margaret Thatcher

Tuesday, September 10, 2013

2013-37 - The Speckled Axe...

Benjamin Franklin tells the story of a man, who in buying an axe from a local blacksmith, desired to have the whole of its surface polished as bright as the edge. 

The smithy consented to grind the axe bright for him if he would turn the wheel of the sharpening stone. He turned while the smith pressed the broad face of the axe hard and heavily upon the stone, which made the turning of it very fatiguing. The buyer stopped every now and then to check how the work progressed, and finally said he would take the axe as it was, without further grinding.

"No," said the blacksmith, "turn more, turn more; we'll have it bright by-and-by; as it is only speckled."

"Yes," replied the buyer, "but I think I like the speckled axe best."

Franklin reflected this may have been the case with many people; who having found the difficulty of obtaining the good and the breaking of habits in other points of vice and virtue, have given up the struggle and concluded that a speckled axe was best.

~ Benjamin Franklin




"Forgive yourself for your faults and your mistakes and move on."
~ Les Brown

Tuesday, September 3, 2013

2013-36 - Committed...

Today, you are committed to something. What is it?

Are you committed to just getting by, to just getting through the day with as little effort as possible? Or are you committed to something greater, something magnificent and exciting and fulfilling?

Whatever you're truly committed to, is exactly what you'll achieve. Whatever you're truly committed to, determines the kind of life that you lead.

Within you is a vision that longs to be brought to life. It's a vision that deserves your full commitment.

Commitment to your most profound vision is not easy, and will ask much of you. Yet you know it is the best choice.

Make that choice, make that commitment to the best that's within you, again and again, each moment of each day. And the life you create, your own life, will be nothing short of outstanding.

~ Ralph Marston




"There's no abiding success without commitment."

~ Tony Robbins

Tuesday, August 27, 2013

2013-35 - Busy...

Once upon a time a very strong woodcutter ask for a job with a timber merchant, and he got it. The pay was really good and so were the work conditions. For that reason, the woodcutter was determined to do his best.

His boss gave him an axe and showed him the area where he was supposed to work.

The first day, the woodcutter brought in 18 trees.

"Congratulations," the boss said. "go on that way!"

Very motivated for the boss' words, the woodcutter tried harder the next day, but he could only bring in 15 trees. The third day he tried even harder, but he only could bring in 10 trees. Day after day he was bringing in lesser and lesser trees.

"I must be losing my strength", the woodcutter thought. He went to the boss and apologized, saying that he could not understand what was going on.

"When was the last time you sharpened your axe?" the boss asked.

"Sharpen...? I had no time to sharpen my axe. I have been very busy trying to cut trees..."

~ Stephen Covey - 7 Habits of Highly Effective People




"The key is not to prioritize your schedule, but to schedule your priorities."

~ Stephen Covey

Tuesday, August 20, 2013

2013-34 - Absolutely Convinced...

The way to get yourself to do anything is to first accept that you must do it. Until you stop fighting against yourself, you'll never get much done.

It is common and natural to avoid difficult, challenging effort. Even so, you can always choose to allow yourself to make the effort.

You absolutely have the ability to do the necessary work and reach whatever goal you set for yourself. To fully unleash that ability, you just have to fully and sincerely buy into the goal.

It is essential that you completely convince yourself of the worthiness and desirability of what you intend to do. Once you are absolutely convinced, you'll be absolutely committed.

The most important person to have on your side is you. Once you are truly convinced and committed, you'll be able to get other people convinced and committed.

When it means everything to you, you'll make the commitment to do whatever it takes. And with that total commitment, you'll get it done.

~ Ralph Marston



"There's no abiding success without commitment."

~ Tony Robbins

Tuesday, August 13, 2013

2013-33 - In Each Challenge...

In each challenge is great opportunity. So step forward, meet the challenge, work persistently through it, and make the opportunity yours.

It's difficult, complicated, inconvenient, and demanding. And you are wonderfully able to deal with all that, to create a valuable outcome.

There are plenty of excuses you could make, and yet you know the excuses have no real value. There will be times when you feel like quitting, and yet in every case you know you can overcome the desire to quit with your positive enthusiasm for seeing it through.

You've successfully endured every challenge in your life so far, and you certainly have what it takes to successfully take on even bigger challenges. You are able to make a difference, and the more you make use of that ability, the stronger it grows.

Though many things will go wrong, you know from experience that even in adversity there is much value to be gained. Each obstacle makes the eventual achievement all the more rewarding.

You're good at dealing with challenges, so put that ability to meaningful and rewarding use. Step forward, meet the challenges that lead to your dreams, and bring those dreams to life.

~ Ralph Marston



"We must accept life for what it actually is - a challenge to our quality without which we should never know of what stuff we are made, or grow to our full stature."

~ Robert Louis Stevenson

Tuesday, August 6, 2013

2013-32 - The great fire and the little water...

Among the Aztec people of Mexico, it is said that a long time ago there was a great fire in the forests that covered our Earth. People and animals started to run, trying to escape from the fire.

Our brother owl, Tecolotl, was running away also when he noticed a small bird hurrying back and forth between the nearest river and the fire. He headed towards this small bird.

He noticed that it was our brother the Quetzal bird, Quetzaltototl, running to the river, picking up small drops of water in his beak, then returning to the fire to throw that tiny bit of water on the flame.

Owl approached Quetsal bird and yelled at him: "What are you doing brother? Are you stupid? You are not going to achieve anything by doing this. What are you trying to do? You must run for your life!"

Quetzal bird stopped for a moment and looked at owl, and then answered: "I am doing the best I can with what I have."

It is remembered by our Grandparents that a long time ago the forests that covered our Earth were saved from a great fire by a small Quetzal bird, an owl, and many other animals and people who got together to put out the fire.

~ Margaret Wheatley Source: Turning To One Another



"Individual commitment to a group effort - that is what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilization work."
~ Vince Lombardi  

Tuesday, July 30, 2013

2013-31 - Make it happen...

The obstacle itself is not enough to stop you. What stops you is your assumption that you can’t get past that obstacle.

The problem is not that you have too much of this or too little of that. The problem is, you’re waiting for perfect conditions that will never come.

The achievement that really happens, happens in the real world. The things that get done, get done in less than ideal conditions.

Don’t make excuses for why you can’t get it done. Focus on all the reasons why you must make it happen.

There will always be challenges. And there will always be something you can do to get beyond each one.

Listen closely, and hear that your dreams are calling you. Feel their pull, feel their positive power, and do what it takes to make them real.

~ Ralph Marston




Some people want it to happen, some wish it would happen, others make it happen.

~ Michael Jordan

Tuesday, July 23, 2013

2013-30 - Peace of mind...

Once Buddha was walking from one town to another town with a few of his followers. This was in the initial days. While they were travelling, they happened to pass a lake. They stopped there and Buddha told one of his disciples, "I am thirsty. Do get me some water from that lake there."

The disciple walked up to the lake. When he reached it, he noticed that some people were washing clothes in the water and, right at that moment, a bullock cart started crossing through the lake. As a result, the water became very muddy, very turbid. The disciple thought, "How can I give this muddy water to Buddha to drink!" So he came back and told Buddha, "The water in there is very muddy. I don't think it is fit to drink."

After about half an hour, again Buddha asked the same disciple to go back to the lake and get him some water to drink. The disciple obediently went back to the lake. This time he found that the lake had absolutely clear water in it. The mud had settled down and the water above it looked fit to be had. So he collected some water in a pot and brought it to Buddha.

Buddha looked at the water, and then he looked up at the disciple and said, "See what you did to make the water clean. You let it be... and the mud settled down on its own... and you got clear water. Your mind is also like that. When it is disturbed, just let it be. Give it a little time. It will settle down on its own. You don't have to put in any effort to calm it down. It will happen. It is effortless."

~ Author Unknown




"Try not to hate and just let it be. Sometimes all you need to do is just wait and see."

~ Author Unknown

Tuesday, July 16, 2013

2013-29 - White Earphone Leads...

When it launched, the iPod was the coolest thing around.

But the problem was you kept it in your pocket. This meant you couldn’t show everyone how cool you were. It also meant other people couldn’t see that all the coolest people owned iPods.

All anyone could see was the earphone lead… The black earphone lead. Because every music player in the world back then had a black earphone lead.

So Jobs did the opposite.

iPods became the only music players with white earphone leads. Even if you couldn’t see the iPod, you knew what it was. All the coolest people had white earphone leads. In fact, even the advertising concentrated on the white earphone leads, not the iPod.

It was so successful that you’d see people using their old, non-iPod, MP3 players with white iPod earphones that they’d actually gone out and purchased separately. Everyone knew exactly what those white earphones were connected to.

Jobs had the foresight to understand the power of this one minor change, the colour of his earphones.

~ Author Unknown






The more original a discovery, the more obvious it seems afterwards.

~ Arthur Koestler


Tuesday, July 9, 2013

2013-28 - Colors of belts...

Wang Tsing, who is a professor of Tai Chi Chuan, now lives in Argentina, after having spent almost a decade in Sao Paulo.

One of his disciples told me that once he wanted to know from Wang Tsing why Tai Chi does not use the system of colored belts that other martial arts use (to indicate the grade of apprenticeship).

"If you have money, you don't carry it in your hands, you carry it in your pockets," answered Wang.

"If you have lots of money, you don't stuff your pockets with it, you keep it in the bank. What is the sense of walking around wearing a big belt that everyone can see, revealing all that you know?"

"A good warrior knows that strategy is far more important than vanity."

~ Paulo Coelho



"But who bothers looking beyond the surface?"

~ Mandy Hubbard

Tuesday, July 2, 2013

2013-27 - The River-Guide and the Rapids...

It's probably not an accident that rapid (as in rapid change) shares a root with rapids (as in Lava Falls in the Grand Canyon).

The river guide, piloting his wooden dory, has but one strategy. Get the boat to the end of the river, safely. And he has countless tactics, an understanding of how water and rocks work, and, if you're lucky, experience on this particular river.

The thing is, the captain changes his tactics constantly. He never whines. He doesn't stop the boat and say, "wait, no fair, yesterday this rock wasn't like this!" No, the practice of being great at shooting the rapids is a softness in choosing the right tactic, the ability to hold the tiller with confidence but not locking into it. If your pilot keeps demanding that the rapids cooperate, it's probably time to find a new pilot.

Domain knowledge underlies all of it. Give me an experienced captain over a new one any day--the ones that got this far for a reason. Yes, the reckless pilot might get lucky, but the experienced pilot brings domain knowledge to her job. It takes guts to go onto the river, but once you're there, the one who can see--see what's coming and see what matters--is the one you want piloting your boat.

~ Author unknown



Nothing is a waste of time if you use the experience wisely.

~ Auguste RodinRead 

Tuesday, June 25, 2013

2013-26 - Humility…

Many years ago, a rider came across some soldiers who were trying to move a heavy log without success. The corporal was standing by as the men struggled. The rider asked the corporal why he wasn't helping. The corporal replied, ``I am the corporal; I give orders.'' The rider dismounted, went up to the soldiers and helped them to lift the log. With his help, the log got moved. The rider quietly mounted his horse and went to the corporal and said, ``The next time your men need help, send for the commander-in-chief.'' After he left, the corporal and his men found out that the rider was George Washington.

The message is clear. Success and humility go hand in hand. When others blow your horn, the sound goes further. Just think about it. Simplicity and humility are two hallmarks of greatness.

Confidence without humility is arrogance. Humility is foundation of all the virtues. It is a sign of greatness. Humility does not mean self-demeaning behaviour that would amount to belittling oneself. Sincere humility attracts but false humility detracts.

~ Author Unknown



When you were born, you cried while the whole world rejoiced. Live your life in such a way that when you die, the world cries while you rejoice.


~ Ancient Sanskrit Saying

Tuesday, June 18, 2013

2013-25 - Promise Yourself...

To be so strong that nothing can disturb your peace of mind;

To talk health, happiness, and prosperity to every person you meet;

To make all your friends feel that there is something in them;

To look at the sunny side of everything and make your optimism come true;

To think only the best, to work only for the best, and to expect only the best;

To be just as enthusiastic about the success of others as you are about your own;

To forget the mistakes of the past and press on to the greater achievements of the future;

To wear a cheerful countenance at all times and give every living creature you meet a smile;

To give so much time to the improvement of yourself that you have no time to criticize others;

To be too large for worry, too noble for anger, too strong for fear; and too happy to permit the presence of trouble;

To think well of yourself and to proclaim this fact to the world, not in loud words, but in great deeds;

To live in the faith that the whole world is on your side so long as you are true to the best that is in you. 

~ C D Larson - "Your Forces and How to Use Them"



"When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be."

~ Lao Tzu

Tuesday, June 11, 2013

2013-24 - Your time...

Yesterday was a great start. Today, you can do even better.

What you've done up to this point is impressive. What you can do now is phenomenal.

You've put great time, effort, pain and sacrifice into becoming who you are. Now is when you can harness all that value to become the best of who you can be.

Feel the goodness and the rightness of your past accomplishments. You are here to make a difference, and when you do, you know without a doubt that you're connected to your deepest purpose.

The warm sun shines, the cold wind blows, and life offers new joys and challenges with each dawning day. Through it all, no matter what, you can offer your own unique value in return.

Learn from the disappointments and build on the successes. This is your time to fulfil your best possibilities.

~ Ralph Marston



"The possibilities are numerous once we decide to act and not react."

~ George Bernard Shaw

Tuesday, June 4, 2013

2013-23 - Five short chapters on change…

Chapter 1:
I walk down a street and there’s a deep hole in the sidewalk. I fall in. It takes forever to get out. It’s my fault.

Chapter 2:
I walk down the same street. I fall in the hole again. It still takes a long time to get out. It’s not my fault.

Chapter 3:
I walk down the same street. I fall in the hole again. It’s becoming a habit. It is my fault. I get out immediately.

Chapter 4:
I walk down the same street and see the deep hole in the sidewalk. I walk around it.

Chapter 5:
I walk down a different street.

~ Author Unknown



Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.

~ Leo Tolstoy

Tuesday, May 28, 2013

2013-22 - So much to do...

Do you have so much to do that is seems overwhelming? Then stop thinking about how much there is and start getting it done.

Feeling overwhelmed is merely a state of mind that you choose. And just as easily as you can choose it, you can choose to let it go.

A new day, a new month, a new year dawns and it can make you feel like time is quickly slipping away. 
But in fact, time comes to you just as quickly as it moves past.

And that means that each moment you get the opportunity to make a difference. Each moment, the best thing you can do is to make full and meaningful use of that moment.

That is how you get things done. Moment by moment, little by little, small tasks build into great accomplishments, and accomplishments build into a life with real fulfilment.

You don't have to tackle everything all at once. Just do what you can, when you can, filling each moment with positive purpose and action.

And what once seemed overwhelming will quickly become a source of real and lasting fulfilment.

~ Ralph Marston



"Be what you are. This is the first step toward becoming better than you are."

~ Julius Charles Hare

Tuesday, May 21, 2013

2013-21 - Use your power...

If you think there's nothing you can do, you're mistaken. Just because you're burdened with challenges and limitations, doesn't mean you are powerless.

Stop telling yourself and others that you can't. Start telling yourself, and knowing, that you will.

Quit obsessing over what you need. Direct your focus and attention and energy toward what you can do.

It's easy to assume that you're constrained by limitations and challenges, and that you're powerless to make a difference. It's much better to do what you can, making use of what you have, right now.

The way to get beyond doubt is not by focusing on that doubt. The way to get beyond doubt is with action.

Use your power to choose, your power to act, and your power to make a difference. There is plenty you can do, right now, so fill your awareness with the best possibilities and steadily bring them to life.

~ Ralph Marston



"The purpose of life is to contribute in some way to making things better."

~ Robert F Kennedy

Tuesday, May 14, 2013

2013-20 - Tinku’s tennis racket…


Once, when one of the employees from our vendor visited us for a discussion, I asked her about her tenure in the company. She was working with them for more than 8 years. Off course, the topic diverted to retention of quality employees. 

I asked her, "What are reasons for you staying so long here?" 

Slowly, with her voice almost breaking, she said, "It was the 750 rupees tennis racket." 

She told us that she originally took a junior officer’s position as an interim while she looked for something better. On her second or third day, she received a phone call from her nine-year old son, Tinku. He needed a tennis racket for his school tennis class. She explained that as a single mother, money was very tight, and her first salary would have to go for paying rent and other bills. Perhaps she could buy his tennis racket with her second or third salary. 

When she arrived for work the next morning, her manager, asked her to come to his office. She wondered if she had done something wrong or left some part of her job incomplete the day before. She was concerned and confused. 

The manager handed her a gift. "I overheard you talking to your son yesterday," he said, "and I know that it is hard to explain things to kids. This is a tennis racket for Tinku because he may not understand how important he is, even though you have to pay rent and bills before you can buy this racket. You know at this juncture our salary structure is low but we do care, and I want you to know you are important to us." 

The thoughtfulness, empathy and love of this convenience manager demonstrated vividly that people remember more how much an employer cares than how much the employer pays.

~ Author Unknown

________________________________________

From caring comes courage.

~ Lao Tzu