OK IF YOU TRY, NOT IF YOU DON'T

"It is a most mortifying reflection for a man to consider what he has done, compared to what he might have done."

Samuel Johnson, 18th century English writer.

The important question is, why have you not done more than you have?

If your effort was all it could have been you should have few to no regrets.

But if you didn't do all you could, or worse, never tried, your fate is the "mortifying reflection" suggested by Mr. Johnson.

GIVE UP TO MOVE UP

"All changes, even the most longed for, have their melancholy for what we leave behind us is a part of ourselves. We must die to one life before we can enter another."

Anatole France, late 19th/early 20th century French poet/journalist/novelist.

More often than not doors must close before new ones can open.

What is must cease to be to make room for what will be.

Make certain what you want is worthy of replacing what you have.

Then, when you are certain, work hard, plan and execute your plan, move on to a new and hopefully better future.

USELESS UNLESS USED

"Information is not knowledge."

Albert Einstein, 20th century German-born theoretical physicist.

It can lead to knowledge, even action once put to use.

However, not learned and applied once learned, there is little value.

THE VALUE OF WOULDA, COULDA, SHOULDA? ZERO

"Opportunity always looks better going than coming."

Unknown.

Like the horse you didn't expect to win, the one you didn't bet on that actually did.

Or the investment you didn't make and now realize you should have.

The trick is not to identify missed opportunity.

You need to identify opportunity before it actually is opportunity.

LEAST OF ALL YOU

"Never allow a person to tell you no, who doesn't have the power to say yes."

Eleanor Roosevelt, former first lady of the US, politician, diplomat.

This is about allowing others to tell you what you can and cannot do and become.

Fail because you tried and couldn't do/be what you wanted to do/be, not because you never tried because someone told you you'd never succeed.

FROM VISION TO REALITY

"I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free."

Michelangelo, late 15th/early 16th century Italian artist.

It's that way with all great achievements.

Envisioning what could be doesn't make it so.

You must work hard to realize the vision.

MONEY FOR WHAT YOU DO, NOT WHAT YOU COULD DO

"Ben Franklin may have discovered electricity but it is the man who invented the meter who made the money."

Earl Warren, 30th governor of California, 14th Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court

Well, maybe not exactly, but the core message is true.

It's not what you create as much as what you do with what you create.

THE TIME TO QUIT

"When I have fully decided that a result is worth getting I go ahead of it and make trial after trial until it comes."

Thomas Alva Edison (1847-1931) American inventor.

Let's be real; sometimes failure is the ultimate outcome.

Nothing wrong with that as long as it comes after too numerous attempts to count, certainly way, way after the first.

NO SHORTCUTS

"No pain, no palm; no thorns, no throne; no gall, no glory; no cross, no crown."

William Penn (1644-1718) British religious leader.

In other words, you must work for what you get.

YOU MIGHT DARE BUT YOU'LL NEVER DO WITHOUT EFFORT

"The person who goes farthest is generally the one who is willing to do and dare. The sure-thing boat never gets far from shore."

Dale Carnegie (1888-1955) American writer.

With emphasis on "do".

Many can "dare" but that alone won't get you far; you actually have to do something.

YOUR CHOICE

"To reach a port we must sail, sometimes with the wind, sometimes against it. But we must not drift or lie at anchor."

Oliver Wendell Holmes (1809-1894) American author/poet.

You have the power to determine your future, the excuses you make for failing to act notwithstanding.

If where you are isn't where you want to be, chances improve greatly you will succeed if you create and execute a plan to get there.

THE ESSENCE OF LIFE

"It would not be better if things happened to men just as they wish."

Heraclitus (c. 535 BCE-c. 475 BCE) Greek philosopher

Not at all because . . .

• not everything we wish for is in our best interest.
• much of the enjoyment of success is in the quest to achieve.
• today's wish fulfilled often means little or nothing tomorrow.

We are born to strive to achieve, to evolve, to become something better.

THE SECRET TO (THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS) OVERNIGHT SUCCESS

"Success is the child of drudgery and perseverance. It cannot be coaxed or bribed; pay the price and it is yours."

Orison Swett Marden (1850-1924) Founder of Success magazine.

True for anything worth achieving.

There are no shortcuts.

Want whatever you want but work hard for whatever you must get.

YOUR FUTURE IS AHEAD, NOT BEHIND OR WHERE YOU ARE NOW

"Sure I am of this; you have only to endure to conquer. You have only to persevere to save yourselves."

Winston Churchill (1874-1965) British politician.

You may not "conquer" as you planned or hoped but you will not perish.

Move on; your future awaits you.

THE POWER OF EFFORT

"I am only an average man but, by George, I work harder at it than the average man."

Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919) 26th president of the U.S.

Success is the product of many resources acting in concert with each other and none is more important than the effort you must expend to succeed.

WISHING WISHING WOULD GET THINGS DONE, WON'T

"Dwell in thought upon the grandest and the grandest you shall see. Fix your mind upon the highest and the highest you shall be."

Unknown

A lot of quotes are too inspirational for my taste, this being one of them.

However some have a core message of considerable worth.

You won't "see" the "grandest" by simply thinking about it nor "be" the "highest" if all you do is concentrate on whatever you think that is.

But it is a start establishing what could be viable goal; one you might very well achieve given the right plan and a whole lot of hard work.

ONE DOWN, UNLIMITED MORE TO GO

"Science becomes dangerous only when it imagines that it has reached its goal."

George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) Irish writer.

I wonder what he meant by dangerous? 

Lazy, lethargic, complacent and similar I understand, but dangerous? 

Not so sure.

Unless he refers to the danger in becoming those things because you feel you've achieved your goal.

If so this applies to management as well.

Achieving your goals only means one thing is done, another about to begin.

POTENTIAL IS NOT ACCOMPLISHMENT

"The difference between what we do and what we are capable of doing would suffice to solve most of the world's problem."

Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948) Preeminent leader of Indian nationalism.

Could do/intend to do/did do are very different things.

Occasionally check your aspirations against your accomplishments.

A high ratio means wasted potential.

I INTENDED TO POST THIS YESTERDAY BUT . . .

"I am sure of nothing so little as my own intentions."

Lord Byron (1788-1824) British poet

As with offering to pay for groceries using money you intended but did not bring to the store, your intentions to do most anything are only valuable when you actually do them.

YOU NEED TROUBLE?

"People need trouble -- a little frustration to sharpen the spirit on, toughen it."

William Faulkner (1897-1962) American novelist/short-story writer

Whether or not you need trouble depends on your aspirations.

No one I've known, including me, was born prepared to accomplish their most ambitious goals.

We become so after seeing we did what we once thought undoable.