TIME FOR THOUGHTFUL REFLECTION

"Most men pursue pleasure with such breathless haste that they hurry past it."

Søren Kierkegaard, 19th century Danish philosopher/poet.

Very true and not just as it pertains to pleasure.

We hurry past way too much we should spend more time contemplating. 

Grief, love, happiness, relationships, challenges, successes, failures; all part of the one life we've all been blessed to live.

All worthy of thoughtful consideration before moving onto whatever is next.

Don't hurry past your life.

IF IT'S YOU, OWN IT!

"Circumstances are beyond human control, but our conduct is in our own power."

Benjamin Disraeli, 19th century British politician/author.

If you more often cite circumstances, not you, as the reason for your failures, you just discovered the real reason.

NOT ALONE EVEN IF YOU WANTED TO BE

"No employer today is independent of those about him. He cannot succeed alone, no matter how great his ability or capital. Business today is more than ever a question of cooperation."

Orison Swett Marden, late 19th/early 20th century American author.

My career has largely been starting, running, sometimes succeeding, sometimes failing, in my own companies.

In all those times, the outcome was the result of what I did, what my partners did, and what our employees did.

You may think it won't be that way for you, and if so, that is your first mistake of many yet to come.

WHAT (ELSE) HAVE YOU DONE FOR ME?

"Nothing recedes like success."

Walter Winchell, 20th century American newspaperman.

An interesting play on words making the point that continual success requires continual success.

You're only as good as your last accomplishment.

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.

I AM SO JEALOUS OF THOSE WHO ARE NOT SO JEALOUS

"The jealous are troublesome to others, but a torment to themselves."

William Penn, 17th century English entrepreneur.

While there is no cure for jealousy we can be aware when we are.

You'll be jealous but at least fight like hell not to show you are.

THE SECRET TO SUCCESS WITHOUT WORK? THERE ISN'T ONE!

"Nothing will work unless you do."

Maya Angelou, 20th century American poet/civil rights activist.

Not your plans to succeed, should you even bother to make any.

Not getting the right job only to do as little work as possible after you're hired.

Nothing.

It all comes down to what you do as well as what you don't.

ALONG WITH LOTTERY TICKETS AS A WAY TO GET AHEAD IN LIFE . . .

"Hope is not a strategy."

Rudy Giuliani, former NYC mayor.

Hope is a good thing; hope all you want for whatever in life is important to you.

You can even hope that hope will be all you need to succeed.

But when done hoping, get to work to make happen what you need and want to happen.

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.

MORE THAN THE IDEA

"All the forces in the world are not so powerful as an idea whose time has come."

Victor Hugo, 19th century French poet

True, but an idea's "time" doesn't just "come".

The success of an idea is much more the result of effort and hard work than it is the idea itself.

Don't wait for "it", make "it"!

WHO DID THIS TO YOU? YOU DID THIS TO YOU

"We choose our joys and sorrows long before we experience them."

Khalil Gibran, 19th/20th century Lebanese-American artist/poet.

We do, the result of our thoughts, actions and the people we choose to associate with as well as those we don't.

People, your happiness, your destiny is on you much more than it's not.

Looking for reasons to explain why you're not happy?

Look to yourself.

IT STARTS WITH A GOAL

"Those who do not have goals are forever doomed to work for those who do."

Brian Tracy, author

There's nothing wrong with working for someone else, the vast majority of people do.

But if you want to work for yourself, you must establish goals and a detailed plan to realize them. 

Anything less means you will most certainly fail.

ADULT YOUTHFULNESS

"Those whom the gods love grow young."

Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) Irish poet/dramatist.

They do so by retaining the best of youth; wonder, excitement, the absence of prejudice.

So hard to do but when present with the rest that makes us adults, we find the best human beings possible.

WHEN NO ONE ELSE STANDS WITH YOU

"Adversity is the state in which man mostly easily becomes acquainted with himself, being especially free of admirers then."

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) British author.

It's easy to be successful when you are successful.

You might want to give thought to what you'll do when you're not.

EITHER WAY, THE CHOICE IS YOURS

"If you've made up your mind you can do something, you're absolutely right. If you've made up your mind you can't do something, you're absolutely right."

Unknown

Interesting isn't it?

Your success or failure both begin with the same choice.

NO STRAIGHTLINE SUCCESS

"To climb steep hills requires slow pace at first."

William Shakespeare (1564-1616) British poet/playwright.

And in the beginning of your quest for success there is little but steep hills; obstacles you must overcome if you are to succeed.

Take your time, keep going, and your chance for success increase greatly.

WHAT YOU WORK FOR, NOT WHAT YOU WISH FOR

"God gives the nuts, but he does not crack them."

German proverb

If you prefer some higher power alternative to "God", by all means, use what works for you.

The sentiment remains.

Opportunities are everywhere but you have to work to earn them.

WHAT YOU EARN, NO ENTITLEMENTS

"Rights that do not flow from duty well performed are not worth having."

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

You'll never have those "rights", nor much of anything else, unless you do what others recognize as "duty well performed".

And that "duty" is not confined to what you do for a living. It includes your personal and professional relationships with all whose support you value, whose opinion of you matters to you.

Privileges, success, wealth, personal relationships; in short, everything you wish to achieve in life, comes from your hard work.

You are entitled to none of it, you must earn it all.

YOU DON'T HAVE TO BE BORN WITH IT

"There are more men ennobled by study than by nature."

Marcus Tulius Cicero (106-43 BC) Writer/politician/roman orator.

Your greatness will likely come from what you learn rather than how or who you were born.

Learn all you can and nothing more than you need to learn all you can.

YOU'LL GET OUT MORE THAN YOU PUT IN

"Plough deep while sluggards sleep."

Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) American statesman/scientist/philosopher.

Not one of Mr. Franklin's more erudite quotes but the point's still valid, if not always taken.

Those less inclined to work hard than those who do will also be less likely to succeed.