WHO CENSORS YOU?

"The only valid censorship of ideas is the right of people not to listen."

Tommy Smothers, American comedian/musician.

Often the result of a free, open, and honest exchange of ideas are better ideas than would happen were those individual ideas censored.

Not always but more than enough to make make widespread censorship a bad idea.

Take this blog as example.

I have the right to post my ideas while you have the right to decide whether or not you will read them.

Win/win and that's a pretty good idea!

WITH OR WITHOUT YOU

"For the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: 'If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?' And whenever the answer has been 'No' for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something."

Steve Jobs, Apple co-founder.

It is characteristic of Mr. Jobs to have viewed change as something he would initiate.

It's not as simple as that.

More typically we react to a demand for change rather than initiating change, a demand forced upon us by circumstances we often don't control.

Be prepared to do both. 

You can start it, others will start it . . . whatever the case, be prepared, it will happen, change is constant.

MIND OVER MORALS??

"To educate a man in mind and not in morals is to educate a menace to society."

Theodore Roosevelt, 26th president of the United States.

How complete is your education?

YOU DO HAVE A BUDGET DON'T YOU??

"A budget tells us what we can't afford, but it doesn't keep us from buying it."

William Feather, 20th century American author.

What Mr. Feather says applies equally well to government budgets as it does to business budgets, and, guess what else.

Your budget.

You do have a budget don't you??

NO ONE TO ANSWER TO BUT EVERYONE

"All ambitions are lawful except those which climb upward on the miseries or credulities of mankind."

Joseph Conrad, late 19th/early 20th century Polish-British writer.

If you couldn't care less about this, take heart; no one is policing how you conduct your life.

You can be as nasty and mean as you want.

However, while no one can stop you they can, as many will, shun you.

Life alone.

Think about it.

THE PAPER TIGER MANAGER

"Nothing is so strong as gentleness, nothing so gentle as real strength."

Saint Francis de Sales, 16th century bishop of Geneva.

Substituting "powerful" for "strong" and "power" for "strength" works too.

But there is a catch.

Having to tell others you are these things is a good indication you're not.

YOUR HAPPINESS: IT'S UP TO YOU!

"Happiness is not something ready-made. It comes from your own actions."

14th Dalai Lama

Great advice for both our personal and professional lives.

Who will have most to say about your own happiness?

If not you, who?

YOURSELF TOO!

"Be true to your work, your word, and your friend."

Henry David Thoreau, 19th century American essayist/poet/philosopher.

We all must be true to something and this list, with my suggested addition in the title, works for me.

Your list could be much longer, maybe shorter.

It can contain other things; for example, your school were this a Beach Boys list.

What matters most is that you have a list.

BEYOND BURGERS AND BEER . . . ?

"I want to make more money, make more music, eat Big Macs and drink Budweisers."

Kid Rock, American rock singer/musician

There is an endless list of reasons to want to make money, including this one for Kid Rock.

Hopefully he has more including some that will benefit others in addition to himself.

What about you?

BE MANY THINGS, JUST NOT APATHETIC

"Science may have found a cure for most evils but it has found no remedy for the worst of them all - the apathy of human beings."

Helen Keller, first deaf/blind person to earn a bachelor of arts degree.

The world you must live in demands your engagement.

Don't and you abdicate your right to complain.

HISTORICAL GOOD NEWS/BAD NEWS

"It is the soothing thing about history that it does repeat itself."

Gertrude Stein, late 19th/early 20th century American novelist

Soothing because it clearly shows that which others had to live through to learn, often the hard way.

Those who come later don't; all they need do is learn from the history of others gone before them.

However there is a catch.

You have to take the time to learn and apply what you learn to your today and tomorrow.

A PRICE WORTH PAYING

"Age is a very high price to pay for maturity."

Tom Stoppard, British playwright

While I wish when I was young I knew then what I know now, the fact is I didn't and few ever do.

If we're smart, the older we get the more useful things we learn, among them the good parts of maturity.

If we're smart.

Be smart.

(OCCASIONALLY) FEELING (JUST A LITTLE) SORRY FOR YOURSELF IS OK

"My general attitude to life is to enjoy every minute of every day. I never do anything with a feeling of, 'Oh God, I've got to do this today.'"

Richard Branson, English businessman/investor

Never?

I'd like to believe Sir Richard on this but I don't.

If I did he would be like no human being I've ever known.

There are plenty of things we all must do we really, really don't want to do.

Allow yourself a quiet, brief pity party as you do yours, you've earned it.

But do make it brief.

PATIENCE! WHEN DO WE WANT IT? NOW!

"All commend patience but none can endure to suffer."

Thomas Fuller, 17th century English historian.

Patience is but one of the virtues most of us do not have.

Just one of many we tell our kids they should have.

This applies to me too and starting today, no, right this minute, I'm going to learn to be patient.

No more delay, right NOW!

CELEBRATED DIFFERENCES

"Exclusiveness in a garden is a mistake as great as it is in society."

Alfred Austin 19th century English poet

Good to remember in this era of divisive politics.

There is strength in our differences.

WHAT DO YOU BELIEVE

"Society is the union of men and not the men themselves."

Charles de Secondat 20th century French political philosopher

No man or woman is above the law or the society in which they live.

Beginning to believe you are is the beginning of your end.

YOU ONLY KEEP WHAT YOU CONTINUE TO DESERVE

"A people that values its privileges above its principles soon loses both."

Dwight D. Eisenhower, 34th president of the United States

True whatever your privileges including those you earned as well as those you didn't.

NOT JUST ROCKET SCIENCE

"Research is what I'm doing when I don't know what I'm doing."

Wernher von Braun, 20th century German American rocket scientist

If this is not true for you it should be.

Know what you don't know and then research what you must to learn what that is.

YOU CANNOT FAKE AND . . .

"You cannot create experience. You must undergo it."

Albert Camus, 20th century French philosopher

And when you have undergone it you can and should learn from it.

Sadly, many never do.

HOPE IS NOT A STRATEGY

"He that lives upon hope will die fasting."

Benjamin Franklin, 18th century American inventor, one of the founding fathers of the United States

 Hope you win the lottery, plan your life as though you won't.

TICK TOCK

"In all our deeds, the proper value and respect for time determines success or failure."

Malcolm X, 20th century American Muslim minister/activist

This quote could have come from anyone regardless of when or where they were born, their gender, occupation, religion or political views.

We all have some unknown amount of time on earth.

Respect and use wisely whatever that is for you.

YOU AND ME

"People are pretty much alike. It's only that our differences are more susceptible to definition than our similarities."

Linda Ellerbee 20th/21st century American journalist

We downplay the latter while emphasizing the former.

We'd be better off were it the opposite.

DREAM, PLAN, EXECUTE

"Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment."

Buddha, 5th century BC (approximate) founder of Buddhism

Far be it from me to correct Buddha, but maybe he wouldn't mind a small suggested edit.

Do not only dream of the future, also plan for what you wish it to be.

Some planning, even the most basic, will serve you well.

IT'S PRETTY MUCH THAT SIMPLE

"Happiness doesn't depend on any external conditions, it is governed by our mental attitude."

Dale Carnegie, 20th century American author/lecturer

Those who immediately see this as overly optimistic confirm their attitude problem.