I FORGET WHY THIS IS IMPORTANT

"Man... cannot learn to forget, but hangs on the past: however far or fast he runs, that chain runs with him."

Friedrich Nietzsche 

19th century German-Swiss philosopher/writer

It is strange that we easily forget things we shouldn't while struggling to remember things we should.

I'LL TELL YOU WHAT'S RIGHT!

"It is not who is right, but what is right, that is of importance."

Thomas H. Huxley

19th century English biologist

One of the top ten most important, least practiced principles in life, in general, business in particular.

WHAT IF YOU'RE WRONG?

"Every man takes the limits of his own field of vision for the limits of the world."

Arthur Schopenhauer

19th century German philosopher

Not sure that everyone does this or that those who do always do.

But even occasionally is too often.

Start by assuming what you believe to be true may not be.

PLEASE HELP!

"To pity distress is but human; to relieve it is Godlike."

Horace Mann

19th century U.S. educator

I don't believe 4 year old Eva or her family want or expect your pity.

However they can use your help.

Meet Eva!

EVERYTHING OLD IS NEW AGAIN

"I start where the last man left off."

Thomas Alva Edison

Late 19th/early 20th century American inventor

Very little is completely original; your improvement of what already exists is progress.

THE IMPORTANCE OF US ALL

"I am a part of all that I have met."

Lord Alfred Tennyson

19th century British poet

There is much compartmentalization in business and all too often a belief by some that their "compartment" is more important than that of the next person.

It's not, there is value in us all.

If our business turns out to be a "house of cards" it is on all not some of us.

YOUR LINE IN THE SAND

"A thing is not necessarily true because a man dies for it."

Oscar Wilde 

19th century Irish poet and dramatist

And if death does not guarantee truth, neither will you sacrificing your job for what you believe is principle.

There are things you should defend.

Just make certain you know what they are.

I'M OK, BUT YOU . . . ?

"It is human nature to think wisely and act foolishly."

Anatole France

Late 19th/early 20th century French writer

As well to think that what others think is foolish.

If only we questioned ourselves as much as we do others.

OUR INNER 2ND OPINION

"Thinking is the talking of the soul with itself."

Plato

4th century BC Greek philosopher

And we don't always think before we act.

I wonder what our souls think about that.

IF ALL YOU DO IS NOTHING . . .

"Indolence is a delightful but distressing state; we must be doing something to be happy."

Mahatma Gandhi

Early 20th century leader of Indian nationalism

Let's suppose that isn't true and you can always be at rest.

How will you know you are unless you occasionally aren't?

MY GREATEST TRIUMPHS ARE OFTEN MY MISTAKES

"A man's errors are his portals of discovery."

James Joyce

Late 19th/early 20th century Irish author

Only if we learn from them.

Celebrate your successes but value your failures as much for what they teach you.

GOOD ENOUGH ISN'T

"Whatever you are, be a good one."

Abraham Lincoln

16th President of the United States

Not necessarily the best there is but certainly the best you can be.

LOOK OUT FOR YOU

"It is foolish to guard against misfortunes from the external world and leave the inner mind uncontrolled."

Buddha 

5th century BC founder of Buddhism

So true.

You're failure to change is almost certainly the result of your failure to control you.

SELF-ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

"It is another's fault if he be ungrateful, but it is mine if I do not give. To find one thankful man, I will oblige a great many that are not so."

Seneca

4th century BC Roman philosopher/playwright

It is easy to be offended when we do something right, not acknowledged.

Much harder not to be.

Take your reward from having done the good thing, even when the only recognition for having done so comes from you.

FRANKLY SPEAKING . . .

"We are franker towards others than towards ourselves."

Friedrich Nietzsche

19th century German-Swiss philosopher/writer

Often, I think, without knowing we are.

What's that saying? 

"To thine own self be true."

Maybe "About thyself be true."

NO WE DON'T

"We have to hate our immediate predecessors to get free of their authority."

D. H. Lawrence

20th century English writer

No!

And if we do we will lose the benefit of what they have to teach us.

Each generation can and should learn from those gone before and after them.

WILL YOU DO IT?

"People do not lack strength; they lack will."

Victor Hugo 

19th century French poet, dramatist, novelist

Agreed.

We are all capable of doing much more than we do.

Think how better off you would be if each day you did one thing more (or in the case of bad, less) than you otherwise will (or should) do.

HITTING "SEND"

"There is always time to add a word, never to withdraw one."

Baltasar Gracian

17th century Spanish philosopher/writer

I can think of no better reminder in this day of what passes for mass "communication".

And all too often because we will anonymously type what we do not have the courage to say in person.

YOUR NAME WAS . . . ?

"Never throughout history has a man who lived a life of ease left a name worth remembering."

Theodore Roosevelt

26th president of the U.S.

You have to work hard at being remembered to actually be remembered.

YOU CAN'T DO . . . ANYTHING?

"We are more often treacherous through weakness than through calculation."

François de La Rochefoucauld

17th century French writer

And treacherous to none no more than ourselves.

We can't correct all our weaknesses but we can correct the one that causes us to believe we can't correct some.