A Step Up

The rung of a ladder was never meant to rest upon, but only to hold a man's foot long enough to enable him to put the other somewhat higher.

~Aldous Huxley

Look For More Troubles

Be thankful for the troubles of your job.  They provide about half your income.  Because if it were not for the things that go wrong, the difficult people you have to deal with, and the problems and unpleasantness of your working day, someone could be found to handle your job for half of what you are being paid.

It takes intelligence, resourcefulness, patience, tact and courage to meet the troubles of any job.  That is why you hold your present job.  And it may be the reason you aren’t holding down and even bigger one.

If all of us would start to look for more troubles, and learn to handle them cheerfully and with good judgment, as opportunities rather than irritations, we would find ourselves getting ahead at a surprising rate.  For it is a fact that there are plenty of big jobs waiting for men and women who aren’t afraid of the troubles connected with them. 

~Robert Updegraff

Words of Self Talk

Did is a word of achievement,

Won’t is a word of retreat,

Might is a word of bereavement,

Can’t is a word of defeat.

Ought is a word of duty,

Try is a word each hour,

Will is a word of beauty,

Can is a word of power.

~Author unknown but greatly appreciated

Positive Qualities

Persons are judged to be great because of the positive qualities they posess, not because of the absence of faults.

~Author unknown but greatly appreciated

Fill the House

One night the legendary Victor Borge, also known as the Great Dane and the Clown Prince of Denmark, was performing his act in Flint, Michegan. He looked out at the audience and saw that the house was less than half full. But with his classic flair and style he smiled and said to the audience "Flint must be an extremely wealthy town; I see each of you bought two or three seats."

The lesson here is that how we choose to look at things will determine how we feel about them. Where in our own lives do we see "empty" seats instead of "reserved" ones?

A Great Pitcher

The son in little league had been bragging to his father about what a great batter he was.  Finally the father said "OK son, show me."
All excited, the young boy grabbed his bat and ball and they went out to the back yard. The father stood off to the side as the son threw the ball up in the air and swung with all his might.
"Strike one" he said as he missed the ball completely.
"Strike two" he said when he missed again. Then he threw the ball up again, knowing his father was watching, and swung as hard as he could. "Strike three" he said when he hit nothing but air. The boy paused a moment, and then looked at his father and said "Boy dad, am I a great pitcher or what?!"

The lesson here is about perspective.  We don't always have the results we want, but we can change our perspective on the outcomes and still have a positive attitude.

More "Overnight" Success Stories

Dr. Seuss's first children's book was rejected by twenty-three publishers.  The twenty-fourth publisher sold siz million copies.

After having been rejected by both Hewlett-Packard and Atari, Apple Computers had first year sales of $2.5 million - a huge amount at that time.

Vince Lombardi didn't become a head coach in the NFL until he was forty Seven.

During their first year in business, the Coca-cola company sold only 400 Cokes.

In his first 3 years in the automobile business, Henry Ford went bankrupt twice.

Inventor Chester Carlson pounded the pavement and knocked on doors for years before he could find backers for his Xerox Photocopying Machine.

In 1902, the poetry editor of the Atlantic Monthly returned the poems of a twenty-eight year old poet with the following note: "Our magazine has no room for your vigorous verse." But Robert Frost persevered and became one of our nations most beloved poets.

Michael Jordan was cut from his high school basketball team.

The lesson is to remember that we need to "keep on keeping on" to be successful.  We only fail when we give up.

Up or Down

When you are surrounded by people who are sad, unhappy, or negative, you have two choices in life.  You can let them pull you down into the muck and mire of misery, or you can use enthusiasm, a positive attitude, a smile, and love to pull them up.  Up or down...it's up to you.