Persistence

"Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent is not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan "Press on" has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race."

Calvin Coolidge

Time

Time doesn't really exist, except as an abstract concept in your head. The present moment is the only time you have. Make something of this moment!

Mark Twain once remarked that he had been through some terrible things in his life, some of which actually happened! Isn't this so true? Our tendency can be to put ourselves through hell in our mind, contemplating what could come to pass, yet if we look at the present moment which is all we have, there is no great problem at all!

Live in the present!!!

Goals

"Life asks of every individual a contribution and it is up to that individual to discover what is should be."

Viktor Frankl

Goals are the vehicles whereby we can become someone more than we already are. We need goals, not for what they get for us but for what they do for us

Risk

"It costs so much to be a full human being that there are very few who have love and courage to pay the price. One has to abandon altogether the search for security and reach out to the risk of living with both arms. One has to embrace life like a lover."

Morris West

The spice of life is in doing new things, in forging something from our own substance. The search for safety and security suppress our life force. The ultimate in being safe and secure, and free of worries, is in lying in a box six feet under.

Commitment

"Until one is committed there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initiative there is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would otherwise never have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one's favor all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamt would have come his way.

W.N. Murray

Effort

"There is no such thing as free lunch!"

If you put all you have into whatever you do, you won't eliminate failure. If you put everything you have got into everything you do, you won't eliminate disappointment. So why bother?

The answer is, "For your own self respect."

When your personal philosophy is, "I will do my best, regardless," you will always stand tall in your own estimation.

Losing hurts, but it hurts even more when you realize that you haven't done your best.

Today is Important

"A tree as big around as you can reach starts with a small seed; a thousand mile journey starts with one small step."

Lao-Tse