Even if you fall on your face, you're still moving forward.

Matthew Henry

I want to put a Ding in the Universe

Steve Jobs

http://youtu.be/u6XAPnuFjJc

Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time.

Thomas A. Edison

Thanks for the lead Gary

In my fight against terrorism, to me, the biggest terrorist is Obama, and the United States of America.

Lupe Fiasco

Terrorist attacks can shake the foundations of our biggest buildings, but they cannot touch the foundation of America. These acts shatter steel, but they cannot dent the steel of American resolve.
George W. Bush

Are you a terrorist: Are you a terrorist

Is Obamacare a debacle? The Economist

Is the world melting: Obama: Climate change

F’ all of that, watch the story of Ritchie Parker

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qiLDMBDPCEY#t=459

From pacifist to terrorist, each person condemns violence - and then adds one cherished case in which it may be justified.
Gloria Steinem

COMMENTS?

I am not interested

Nice sentiments.  However, the Ten Cannots have attributed to Lincoln?  The real author was William John Henry Boetcker (Rev.) who was known as a motivational speaker.  They were published in 1916.  See Snopes.  He was also the author of the Seven National Crimes.

Thanks Dave.

Seven National Crimes

I don’t think.
I don’t know.
I don’t care.
I am too busy.
I leave well enough alone.
I have no time to read and find out.
I am not interested.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_J._H._Boetcker

Burnout is beautiful

Its not stress that kills us, it is our reaction to it.

Hans Selye

Burnout is beautiful. It gives you the chance to:

Imagine.

Become the artist.

Set people free.

Focus on tiny movements.

Start over.

http://zenhabits.net/burn/

Burnout is nature's way of telling you, you've been going through the motions your soul has departed; you're a zombie, a member of the walking dead, a sleepwalker. False optimism is like administrating stimulants to an exhausted nervous system.

Sam Keen

The Best

An excellent email arrived today from Hugh MacLeod at Gaping Void

Watch your thoughts

The Parable of the Three Neighbors

---

Three neighbors were standing in the road, talking about their possessions.

“I own a huge villa!” one said proudly.

“Oh yeah?” scoffed the second. “Well, I own a successful farm!”

“I don't have a villa or a big farm,” the third said quietly. “But I do have optimism.”

His two neighbors laughed at him. Optimism was hardly something to boast about, for what good is a possession that can't be seen or touched? Late that evening, the neighborhood experienced a violent storm. The rain destroyed the first neighbor's house. “What am I to do?” he cried, wringing his hands.

The wind ruined the second neighbor's crops. “I am finished!” he lamented.

The storm also destroyed the third neighbor's home and crops. “Well then, what should I do first?” he asked himself. After only a few minutes of consideration, he began rebuilding his home and replanting his crops. The next day, he whistled to himself as he went into his yard with some tomato seeds. His neighbors were still standing in the road feeling sorry for themselves. “We don't understand why you walk with a spring in your step,” said the first neighbor. “All of your possessions have been destroyed.”

“Yes,” said the second. “What is your secret?”

“It is no secret,” the man said. “The only thing I own is what I think.”

Watch your thoughts, for they become words.
Watch your words, for they become actions.
Watch your actions, for they become habits.
Watch your habits, for they become character.
Watch your character, for it becomes your destiny.
unknown

Start today

Service which is rendered without joy helps neither the servant nor the served. But all other pleasures and possessions pale into nothingness before service which is rendered in a spirit of joy.
Mohandas Gandhi

Today, click on the simple truths link below and spend 2 minutes watching the story.

Simple Truths

Hugh Macleod: see more at http://gapingvoid.com/

You can start right where you stand and apply the habit of going the extra mile by rendering more service and better service than you are now being paid for.
Napoleon Hill

There may be such a thing as a natural born leader

Achieving life is not the equivalent of avoiding death.

Ayn Rand

Brian Tracy has a new book coming out called How the Best Leaders Lead.  The first chapter is on line HERE.

There may be such a thing as a natural born leader, but there are so few of them, that they make no difference in the great scheme of things.

Peter Drucker

Decisions are being made right now.

Success is no accident. It is hard work, perseverance, learning, studying, sacrifice and most of all, love of what you are doing or learning to do.

Pele

Decisions are being made right now.  The question is:  Are you making them for yourself, or are you letting others make them for you?

What would you do differently if you knew nobody would judge you?

Are you holding onto something you need to let go of?

Are you doing what you believe in, or are you settling for what you are doing?

Do you feel like you’ve lived this day a hundred times before?

If not now, when?

50 Questions

There’s an important difference between giving up and letting go.

Jessica Hatchigan

Multitasking is the art of distracting yourself

Life is 10 percent what you make it, and 90 percent how you take it.

Irving Berlin

At the end of the day do feel like you’ve accomplished anything?  Not that you haven’t worked hard.  Do more with less and all that.  Juggling everything and keeping 10 balls in the air with grace and poise.  But, is there a sense that you’re really accomplishing something important.  Being really important.  Are you getting better?  Is you’re ladder leaning against the right wall?  Or is it a rat race where everything gets pushed forward an inch with little direction?

Multitasking is the art of distracting yourself from two things you’d rather not be doing by doing them simultaneously.  Multitasking is not what’s it’s made out to be.  In the self development, getting things done, execute, productive world, there is a push back from being the superhuman that can juggle 15 things at once.  Living in mayhem and confusion.  Focus is today’s approach. 

1. The best way to be more productive is to focus on your most important task. For example, if you have two projects to finish today and you could only finish one, which one is more important for you to complete. Would you A. call a client to get a sale, or B. e-mail everyone that you will be out of town for two weeks? That might be a simple choice, but the reason it is important is that getting your priority items done first frees your mind to accomplish everything else that you need to do for the day. Also, if all that you accomplished on any given day was your top priority, then at least you made some progress. The idea behind this comes from the Pareto principle, which states that only 20% of what we do have a real impact. The rest is useless work that can be outsourced or eliminated from your day. Use this in every aspect of your life and you will see tremendous growth in everything you do.

2. Now that you have figured out what is most important, the opportunity is to plan your day accordingly. Rate the importance of everything you do in a day from A to E. After you have completed everything ranked A you can then go to B, and so on. The idea is a continuation of the Pareto Principle mentioned above. Remember that anything marked E is probably something that you do not need to do. Knowing what you have to do will make it that much easier to get it done.

3. After you have determined the order of importance for what you are doing today, the key is to do each task until it is finished. Multitasking does not work. Instead it decreases people's efficiency and they end up spending longer amounts of time on everything they are working on for, the day. Work on one thing at time and have all the tools you need to complete it at your fingertips. Then when you are finished you can move onto the next project faster and more effectively.

From Brian Tracy’s Eat That Frog

Are you easily distracted? NYT has a test for distractions that is fun.  Check out  http://www.nytimes.com/ No, really check it out.

I talked with Paula last night about social networking.  I think that Twitter and Facebook are the anti-Zen of productivity (witness a recent post that included the Gaping Void image).  She has some interesting thoughts about the use and demographics of social networking.  Maybe we’ll see a comment or a post from Words at Work.

Well if you really like the sugar rush of connectivity, Check out Seesmic Desktop where you can manage your online profiles from one place.  I liked the image from Gaping Void.  Check out http://gapingvoid.com/

 

I prepared this post while waiting for a conference call to start, and printing a report.  I guess I have some work to do around focus.  One issue I had with prioritization and focus is that if you let focus on actions overwhelm relationships, you’re in trouble.

While we’re on productivity and focus.  Make sure that you watch one in three and ensure that health remains a major priority.  Scary. http://www.1in3people.com

Also see http://www.dagc.org/ for the statistics and trends on diabetes.

The extrapolation from the trends indicate that 1 in 3 will have hypertension and/or diabetes in their lifetime.  Make an effort to prioritize spirit, family, health, and work. And make sure that the ladder you are climbing is leaning against the right wall.

Start Now!

Beauty on the outside never gets into the soul, but beauty of the soul reflects itself on the face.

Fulton J. Sheen

A habit is defined as the intersection of knowledge, skill, and desire. You may know you need change, you may even know how to change, but, without desire, change may elude you.

Stephen R. Covey

Character, Commitment, Discipline

Make Small Commitments. Get Big Changes

By Michael Dalton Johnson

Real and permanent change doesn’t happen by simply resolving to do something. That’s not enough. True change is a slower process. It takes time and self-reflection.

This simple, yet profoundly powerful, advice can gently help you change your life and accelerate your personal growth.

What’s this got to do with sales? Nothing and everything.

Taking Care of You
Drink plenty of water.
Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a pauper.
Eat more fruits and vegetables and eat less that is manufactured in processing plants.
Avoid eating food that is handed to you through a window.
Live the 3 E’s — Energy, Enthusiasm and Empathy.
Play more games.
Read more books than you did in 2009.
Sit in silence for at least 10 minutes each day.
Sleep for 7 hours.
Take a 10-30 minute walk daily. And while you walk, smile.

Your Outlook
Don’t compare your life to others’. You have no idea what their journey is all about.
Don’t have negative thoughts of things you cannot control. Instead invest your energy in the positive present moment.
Don’t overdo. Keep your limits.
Don’t take yourself so seriously. No one else does.
Don’t waste your precious energy on gossip.
Dream more while you are awake.
Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.
Forget issues of the past. Don’t remind others of their past mistakes.
Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.
Make peace with your past so it won’t spoil the present.
No one is in charge of your happiness except you.
Realize that life is a school and you are here to learn. Problems are simply part of the curriculum that appear and fade away but the lessons you learn will last a lifetime.
Learn a new word every day.
Smile and laugh more.
You don’t have to win every argument.

Your Relationships
Call your family often.
Each day give something good to others.
Forgive everyone for everything.
Spend time with people over the age of 70 and under the age of 6.
Try to make at least three people smile each day.
What other people think of you is none of your business.
Your job won’t take care of you when you are sick. Your friends will. Stay in touch.

Your Life
The worst promise you can break is one made to yourself.
Do the right thing!
Get rid of anything that isn’t useful, beautiful or joyful.
You don’t have a soul. You are a soul. You have a body.
However good or bad a situation is, it will change.
The best is yet to come.
When you awake alive in the morning, thank God for it.
Your Innermost Self is always happy. Follow it.
No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.

Keep these rules handy and review them often. Follow them and small, almost imperceptible, changes will accumulate into something big. Your life will change.

Michael Dalton Johnson is the Publisher and Founder of SalesDog.com.

http://www.ziglar.com/newsletter/?p=646

It was character that got us out of bed, commitment that moved us into action, and discipline that enabled us to follow through.

Zig Ziglar

Recommended Daily

Don't just look for good fortune. Be good fortune.

If all hope seems to be lost, make some yourself. Then make the efforts necessary to bring about its fulfillment.

You're not just an observer in this world. You're an active participant.

You don't have to merely settle for whatever happens to come along. You can take it and make something valuable and meaningful out of it all.

Each moment you have an opportunity to make a difference. Each day you can be the love and goodness and fulfillment that you seek to experience.

Look around with the eyes of your imagination at all the possibilities. Be the best of them this very day.

Ralph Marston

http://greatday.com/

People often say that motivation doesn't last. Well, neither does bathing — that's why we recommend it daily.
Zig Ziglar

The Ten Cannots

Rev. William J. H. Boetcker

You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift.
You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong.
You cannot help little men by tearing down big men.
You cannot lift the wage earner by pulling down the wage payer.
You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich.
You cannot establish sound security on borrowed money.
You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatred.
You cannot keep out of trouble by spending more than you earn.
You cannot build character and courage by destroying men's initiative and independence.
And
you cannot help men permanently by doing for them what they can and should do for themselves.