Tuesday, October 28, 2014

2014-43 - How The Path Was Forged...

One day, a calf needed to cross a virgin forest in order to return to its pasture. Being an irrational animal, it forged out a tortuous path full of bends, up and down hills.

The next day, a dog came by and used the same path to cross the forest. Next it was a sheep's turn, the head of a flock which, upon finding the opening, led its companions through it.

Later, men began using the path: they bent down, deviating obstacles, complaining and cursing – and quite rightly so. But they did nothing to create a different route.

After so much use, in the end, the path became a trail along which poor animals toiled under heavy loads, being forced to go three hours to cover a distance which would normally take thirty minutes.

Many years passed and the trail became the main road of a village, and later the main avenue of a town. Everyone complained about the traffic, because the route it took was the worst possible one.

Meanwhile, the old and wise forest laughed, at seeing how men tend to blindly follow the way already open, without ever asking whether it really is the best choice.

~ Paulo Coelho



Destiny is not a matter of chance; it is a matter of choice.

~ William J Bryan

Tuesday, October 21, 2014

2014-42 - Obstacles? Deal with Them Now...

An old farmer had ploughed around a large rock in one of his fields for years. He had broken several ploughshares and a cultivator on it and had grown rather morbid about the rock.

After breaking another ploughshare one day, and remembering all the trouble the rock had caused him through the years, he finally decided to do something about it.

When he put the crowbar under the rock, he was surprised to discover that it was only about six inches thick and that he could break it up easily with a sledgehammer. As he was carting the pieces away he had to smile, remembering all the trouble that the rock had caused him over the years and how easy it would have been to get rid of it sooner.

~ Brian Cavanaugh



Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off your goal.

~ Henry Ford

Tuesday, October 14, 2014

2014-41 - Enjoy The Effort...

Effort can be complicated, inconvenient, tedious, frustrating and unpleasant. Yet it also can be liberating, enriching, empowering, fascinating and downright enjoyable.

Though effort can often feel like a burden, that's mostly because you have decided for it to feel that way. The great thing is, you can always choose to feel however you wish to feel about the effort you're making.

As long as you're making the effort anyway, you might as well embrace it and get the very most from it. There's a reason why you're making the effort, so your best strategy is to treat that effort as an opportunity rather than as a burden.

Instead of resenting or fighting against the necessity of effort, be thankful that you're in a position to make that effort, and by so doing to create new value. Choose to enjoy the effort, and you'll get the greatest possible rewards from whatever you're doing.

~ Author Unknown




Strength and growth come only through continuous effort and struggle."

~ Napoleon Hill

Tuesday, October 7, 2014

2014-40 - Sharpen Your Mind...

Your success is not in your hands.

It's in your mind.

I saw you snicker and that's not some psycho mumbo jumbo. When you make up your mind to be a success, your mind leads your actions. Those actions lead you to success because you become what you think about most.

Remember the gorgeous blonde you saw in the bar and you fell all over yourself trying to pick her up? It didn't work. Because you had in your mind that she was out of your league, but you tried anyway. She thought it was hilarious that you couldn't talk like a grown man, but she wasn't going out of there with someone who wasn't ready for her level of class.

It's a tough life. You didn't get the girl. But you did get the sale two days later.

You didn't go into it wondering if you were going to close it. You knew you were going to.

Your mind led your words and your actions when dealing with your customer and you anticipated what they needed and wanted before they did.

So the question is... why do you continue to doubt yourself? Why do you continue to think you can't, when if all you need to think is you will?

~ Devin C Hughes



The mind is everything. What you think you become.

~ Buddha