Archive for quotes and illustrations
What’s your attitude toward gratitude?
Posted by: | CommentsHere in the United States, this is the time of year when we celebrate Thanksgiving. This Thursday, millions of Americans will pause from work for this holiday. For some, it’s just a day to skip work, eat too much, and watch a lot of sports on TV. But for many, Thanksgiving is a day to remember our blessings and offer thanks to God and others who were there when we needed them.
On Twitter this week, I’m sharing some of my favorite short (140 characters or less) quotes on gratitude. But since so much has been said about thankfulness that doesn’t fit into 140 characters, I’ve had to leave out a number of wonderful quotes and illustrations. So I’ve decided to share them here. Below you’ll find some of my favorite longer quotes on the subject of gratitude. I hope they inspire you to be thankful during this season.
Gratitude is not only the greatest of all virtues but the mother of all the rest.
-Cicero
Reflect upon your present blessings, of which every man has plenty; not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some.
–Charles Dickens
The devil doesn’t have to steal anything from you, all he has to do is make you take it for granted.
–Max Lucado
I have often thought it would be a blessing if each human being were stricken blind and deaf for a few days during his early adult life. Darkness would make him more appreciative of sight; silence would teach him the joys of sound.
–Helen Keller (blind & deaf from an early age)
Spending a little time calculating the number of things that go right is a simple but powerful way to reactivate our sense of wonder and gratitude.
–Richard Carlson
Only a small percentage of people are continually successful over the long run. These outstanding few recognize that every success comes through the assistance of many other people – and they are continually grateful for this support. Conversely, many people whose success stops at some point are in that position because they have cut themselves off from everyone who has helped them. They view themselves as the sole source of their achievements. As they become more self-centered and isolated, they lose their creativity and ability to succeed. Continually acknowledge others’ contributions, and you will automatically create room in your mind and in the world for much greater success. You will be motivated to achieve even more for those who have helped you. Focus on appreciating and thanking others, and the conditions will always grow to support your increasing success.
-Dan Sullivan and Catherine Nomura
From the Talmud: He who gives should never remember; he who receives should never forget.
When a person doesn’t have gratitude, something is missing in his or her humanity. A person can almost be defined by his or her attitude toward gratitude.
–Elie Wiesel
Silent gratitude isn’t much good to anyone.
-Gladys Bronwyn Stern
What I’ve Been Reading, Fall 2010 Edition
Posted by: | CommentsWell, it’s autumn here in the United States. And as usual, it arrives after a busy summer — spent speaking, traveling, and writing my book for 2011.
But no matter how busy I am, I’m always reading. I thought it might be nice to share what I’ve read in the past few months. As usual, I found and filed quotes and stories according to my system (described in this post). I hope one or more of these books offers you insights that fuel your personal and professional growth.
A Game Plan for Life: The Power of Mentoring, by Don Yeager & John Wooden. My copy of this book was covered with notes on nearly every page! And I filed away loads of leadership insights. I’ve already made clear how much I’ve learned from John Wooden. Well, this book with Don Yeager took it to a new level.
Aspire, by Kevin Hall. Some interesting insights into ordinary words, and the power they can have to inspire, heal, hurt, and change someone’s life. I found a few great nuggets of wisdom within this short, easy read.
Do More Great Work by Michael Bungay Stainer. How much of your time is spent on busy work and bureaucracy? Or doing good work: occupying your mind, but hardly moving you forward? Stainer challenges you to do GREAT work that’s innovative, creative and satisfying, and will help you leap forward in achieving your goals.
Emotional Intelligence by Daniel Goleman. First published in 1995, this book started the conversation about the importance of emotional intelligence in people’s success. It’s packed with information and research, and — in its 10th anniversary edition — still relevant to today’s communicators and leaders.
Leaders Who Last by Dave Kraft. Kraft, the leadership development pastor at Mars Hill Church, has been a leader in ministry for over 40 years, and he’s truly a leader who lasts. This is a book that I marked up and mined for quotes from beginning to end.
Mandela’s Way by Richard Stengel. Richard Stengel, managing editor of Time and collaborator on Mandela’s autobiography (Long Walk to Freedom), spent two years with Mandela, discussing his life and the lessons learned from it. The result is 15 chapters of fascinating leadership wisdom.
Change your thinking, change your life?
Posted by: | CommentsCan changing your thinking really change your life? Consider this: I’ve studied successful people for forty years, and though the diversity you find among them is astounding, I believe they are all alike in one way: how they think! That is the one thing that separates the successful from the unsuccessful.
The good news is that it’s possible to learn how to think like a successful person. But before we can learn from a good thinker, we need to know what they look like. You often hear someone say that a colleague or friend is a “good thinker,” but that phrase means something different to everyone. To one person it may mean having a high IQ, while to another it could mean knowing a bunch of trivia or being able to figure out whodunit when reading a mystery novel.
I believe that good thinking isn’t just one thing. It consists of several specific thinking skills. Becoming a good thinker means developing those skills to the best of your ability. In Built to Last, Jim Collins and Jerry Porras describe what it means to be a visionary company, the kind of company that epitomizes the pinnacle of American business. They describe it this way:
A visionary company is like a great work of art. Think of Michelangelo’s scenes from Genesis on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel or his statue of David. Think of a great and enduring novel like Huckleberry Finn or Crime and Punishment. Think of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony or Shakespeare’s Henry V. Think of a beautifully designed building, like the masterpieces of Frank Lloyd Wright or Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. You can’t point to any one single item that makes the whole thing work; it’s the entire work—all the pieces working together to create an overall effect—that leads to enduring greatness.
Good thinking is similar. You need all the thinking “pieces” to become the kind of person who can achieve great things. I believe that those pieces include eleven skills, which I’ve listed below. After each is a question you can ask yourself to measure your own thinking:
1. Cultivate Big-Picture Thinking
Am I thinking beyond myself and my world so that I process ideas with a holistic perspective?
2. Engage in Focused Thinking
Am I dedicated to removing distractions and mental clutter so that I can concentrate with clarity on the real issue?
3. Harness Creative Thinking
Am I working to break out of my “box,” exploring ideas and options, so I can experience creative breakthrough?
4. Employ Realistic Thinking
Am I building a solid foundation on facts so that I can think with certainty?
5. Utilize Strategic Thinking
Am I implementing strategic plans that give me direction for today and increase my potential for tomorrow?
6. Explore Possibility Thinking
Am I unleashing the enthusiasm of possibility thinking to find solutions for even seemingly impossible problems?
7. Learn from Reflective Thinking
Am I regularly revisiting the past to gain a true perspective and think with understanding?
8. Question Popular Thinking
Am I consciously rejecting the limitations of common thinking in order to accomplish uncommon results?
9. Benefit from Shared Thinking
Am I consistently searching the minds of others to think “over my head” and achieve compounding results?
10. Practice Unselfish Thinking
Am I continually considering others and their journey in order to think with maximum collaboration?
11. Rely on Bottom-Line Thinking
Do I stay focused on the bottom line so that I can gain the maximum return and reap the full potential of my thinking?
Based on your answers to the questions, where are you strongest? In what kind of thinking do you need to grow? Develop in any of those areas, and you’ll become a better thinker. Master all that you can—especially the process of shared thinking, which helps you compensate for your weak areas—and your life will change.
For specific guidance on developing as a good thinker, my book, How Successful People Think, devotes a chapter to each of the above skills. A companion workbook is also in the works.
The biggest lesson I have ever learned is the stupendous importance of what we think. If I knew what you think, I would know what you are, for your thoughts make you what you are; by changing our thoughts, we can change our lives.
Dale Carnegie
The mind moves in the direction of our currently dominant thoughts.
Earl Nightingale
Do you have a personal plan for growth?
Posted by: | Comments
On Twitter and Facebook on Sunday, I quoted my friend Paul Meyer, mentioning that he was the person who helped me create my first personal growth plan. In the hours afterward, I received dozens of requests, all asking the same thing: “How do you create a personal growth plan?”
The answer to that takes more than 140 characters, so I thought I’d post it here:
The key to a life of continual learning and improvement lies in developing a plan for growth and following through with it. Paul Meyer knew this. In fact, when I first met him and we had lunch, he asked me a question that changed my life: “Do you have a personal plan for growth?”
In answer, I told him about my work schedule and how much I did and how I was learning on the job. I kept going on and on. The more I talked, the more obvious it was that I had no plan. Paul helped me find one.
Growth is does not happen by chance. If you want to be sure to grow, you need a plan—something strategic, specific, and scheduled.Motivational speaker Earl Nightingale said, “If a person will spend one hour a day on the same subject for five years, that person will be an expert on that subject.” Isn’t that incredible? It shows how far we are able to go when we have the discipline to make growth our daily practice.
So if you want to follow a plan, recommend that you start by identifying an area or two in which you desire to grow, such as leadership. Then start gathering useful resources – in print, online, on video, etc. Now your goal is to schedule learning time EVERY DAY. Here’s the rule of thumb I’ve used for years: read one book a month and digest one article/podcast per week.
As an example, this is the weekly schedule – 5 days a week, 1 hour a day – that I recommend for personal growth as a leader:
Monday: Spend one hour with a devotional to develop your spiritual life.
Tuesday: Spend one hour listening to a leadership recording.
Wednesday: Spend one hour filing* quotes and reflecting on the contents of Tuesday’s material.
Thursday: Spend one hour reading a book on leadership.
Friday: Spend half of the hour reading the book and the other half filing and reflecting.
The average American adult watches close to 30 hours of television per week, with little positive return. What do you think would happen if you devoted just five of those hours to personal growth?
Why not start acting on a plan today and find out? Then let me know if it was worth it.
*For my tips on how to collect and file material, read this post.
On success and stupidity – TAKE TWO
Posted by: | CommentsWe are all failures – at least, all the best of us are.
~James Barrie, author of Peter Pan
This is one of the many thoughts and quotes that I’ve been posting on Twitter this week on the subject of failure. Some others:
There are many ways to be a winner, but only one way to be a loser:
to fail & not look beyond the failure. ~Kyle Rote, Jr
I truly believe that the difference between average people & achieving people is their perception of & response to failure.
Let me illustrate from my own life with this:
The March 2009 cover of Success Magazine.
***
That was quite a cover. They made me look so SUCCESSFUL.
And the article? Well, it was so good that my wife Margaret read it and asked who it was talking about. 
Ten months ago, you could find this issue on quite a few newsstands. Walk into just about any airport, and you’d see my smiling “successful” face.
*
*
*
Now, let’s just contrast that amazingly flattering magazine cover with the photo that follows.
Only weeks after the Success Magazine hit newsstands,
a very different photo was taken of me…
coincidentally, IN an airport:
Yes, that IS a mug shot. Yes, I AM an idiot.
On March 13, 2009, I was arrested at my local airport.
What for? Well, probably the best thing is for you to read what I wrote right here on this blog when it happened.
If you don’t know the story, you need to see this. Today I intend to “raise the bar” on stupid for anyone who’s ever made a mistake. Go read it; I’ll wait.
***
Okay, welcome back.
Yes, it’s all true. In one instant, I went from celebrity shot to mug shot. From the penthouse to the outhouse, so to speak. Now, the good news is that ten months later, everything has worked out okay. And thanks to my friends and family – who seem to have seen my embarrassment as an answer to prayer – I’ve learned to laugh at my stupidity.
(Who else’s friends deal with their own mistakes by proclaiming, “Well, at least I didn’t try to take a GUN into an AIRPORT”?)
Here’s the truth: I’m convinced that I’m not the only one who’s done something stupid. In fact, I believe that ALL of us are just one step away from stupid. We walk a fine line. And whether our failure is a bad decision or a stupid mistake, we need to learn the right ways to respond to it.
In the last few months, I’ve taught a few lessons on failure and the best ways to handle and learn from it. Click the underlined titles to go listen and/or view them online.
Failing Forward, on Robert Schuller’s Television Hour of Power
Famous Failures, a series of three messages preached at Christ Fellowship Church (CFC), West Palm Beach, Florida
(This link takes you to all sermon archives. Click on “Famous Failures” to view/listen to my 3 specific sermons. The first, Stupid Hurts, will update you on my airport experience.)
I hope that if you’re dealing with your own failures, mistakes, or foolish choices, you’ll find some guidance and encouragement in viewing or listening to them.
And now I’ll close with just two of the many book titles suggested to me after this incident:
The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Airport Security
and
Developing the Gangsta Within You
