Sunday, July 30, 2006

Build Your Wings On The Way Down

The Harvard Business School defines entrepreneurship as: “The pursuit of opportunity beyond the resources you currently control.” - Meaning of course that entrepreneurs don't wait until everything is just right before they pursue opportunity, they take risks - otherwise, they never get to pursue anything at all.

The same could be said for life - unless we're prepared to take chances, we're just observers on the sidelines - we never get to truly live.

"You've got to jump off cliffs all the time and build your wings on the way down."
Annie Dillard

"If you take risks, you may still fail. But if you do not take risks, you will surely fail. The greatest risk of all is to do nothing."
Roberto C. Goizuet

Monday, July 24, 2006

If you wouldn't write it and sign it.....

A friend just sent me an e-mail with a wonderful little prayer in it I wanted to share with you: "Please God, put your arms around my shoulders and your hand over my mouth." It's a prayer I personally wish I would have thought to have said on many occasions.

Another beautiful little quote from an unknown author goes "The kindest word in all the world is the unkind word, unsaid."

Even Winston Churchill, famous for his witty insult to Bessie Braddock MP ("And you, madam, are ugly. But I shall be sober in the morning."), once reflected "By swallowing evil words unsaid, no one has ever harmed his stomach."

But probably the best advice comes from the late US newspaper columnist Earl Wilson - "If you wouldn't write it and sign it, don't say it."

Have a wonderful week

Monday, July 17, 2006

We are the sons of our own deeds

In today’s fast-paced world people seem quick to take offense and respond angrily to real or imagined affronts, leading to arguments in the home or work place, or even to road rage. Often we reason that "He (or she) made me so angry". But do other people really have such power
over our feelings?

“We who lived in concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way”
Viktor Frankl

"In most encounters we can determine the kind of experience we are going to have by how we respond"
Wayne S. Peterson

"Good actions ennoble us, and we are the sons of our own deeds."
Miguel De Cervantes

Sunday, July 09, 2006

The Best Day Of Your Life

“The best day of your life is the one on which you decide your life is your own. No apologies or excuses. No one to lean on, rely on, or blame. The gift is yours - it is an amazing journey - and you alone are responsible for the quality of it. This is the day your life really begins.”
Bob Moawad

"Wheresoever you go, go with all your heart."
Confucius

"As you stay on the right path, the reward at the end of the journey is well worth the moments of adversity you experience along the way".
Ben B. Banks

Monday, July 03, 2006

When you're arguing with a fool....

An old saying goes "When you're arguing with a fool, make sure he isn't doing the same thing". Native Americans say "Listen or your tongue will keep you deaf" and a quote from the book of Proverbs in the Bible goes “Hear counsel, and receive instruction, that thou mayest be wise.” (Prov. 19:20.)

A wise father once said “I do a greater amount of good when I listen to my children than when I talk to them.” and I'd have to agree, though I wonder why it took me so long to realise that. The sad thing is that very few people do listen and if you do take the time to really listen to someone, it may be the first time anybody's done that, in a long time.

"I like to listen. I have learned a great deal from listening carefully. Most people never listen."
Ernest Hemingway

"A good listener is not only popular everywhere, but after a while he knows something."
Wilson Mizner