Posts Tagged ‘quotes’

As Forrest Gump once proclaimed, “Stupid is as stupid does.” By that measure, I haven’t been demonstrating a lot of smarts lately—and it’s not the first time.

When I was about two, Mom told me it was a bad idea to put my hand on a hot burner. I decided to see for myself. When I was about nine, I got excited and started jumping up and down on a folding chair. It folded. Time after time I’ve bitten off more than I could chew, burned the candle at both ends, thrown caution to the wind, and failed to use my head. Stupid is as stupid does.

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Make a mark.

It’s what we all want to do, in our own way, isn’t it? Whether it’s by achieving some sort of fame, becoming successful in business, saving lives, saving souls, serving our country, or raising the next generation, we want to leave some imprint of ourselves on the world.

But how? How do we make a difference?

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Did you ever stop to think that success and failure are all in your head? No, that doesn’t mean the Olympic medals Apolo Anton Ohno added to his collection at the 2010 Winter Games are a figment of his imagination. It means the champion short-track speed-skater had to make the decision to succeed or fail long before he took the ice in Vancouver.

It’s simple. If, in your mind, you believe success is possible, it is. And if, in your mind, you believe failure is inevitable, it is. You can’t necessarily ensure your success by believing in success, but at least you give yourself a fighting chance. You can, however, ensure your failure by believing in failure. If you believe failure is inevitable, your preparation will be half-hearted. Or you may stop preparing. You may stop trying. You may neglect to show up at all. Why bother? You can’t win.

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You’ve probably heard the line from the movie Apollo 13: “Houston, we have a problem.” Tom Hanks, playing Commander Jim Lovell, was informing Mission Control about a catastrophic failure aboard the space craft. The film is based on actual events, and “the” catastrophic failure turned out to be a series of challenges that threatened to leave three astronauts stranded in space.

Faced with these challenges, the real-life astronauts and ground-control experts could have thrown up their hands at the unfairness of life, decided the problems were insurmountable, become overwhelmed and panicked, focused on their inadequacies, or gotten caught up in any of the dozens of excuses we all use for failing to work our problems. Instead, they maintained their focus and pulled off a miraculous save.

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One of the great ironies of having cancer is that if it’s caught relatively early, you really don’t feel sick until after you start receiving treatment. So there you are in your pre-diagnosis ignorance, probably the closest you’ve ever been to death … and you feel just fine.

On the other hand, you could have an everyday, run-of-the-mill flu—coughing, fever, runny nose, sore throat—and feel absolutely miserable … like I have for the last week.

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A few years ago, I spent several hours each week volunteering in one of the local Habitat for Humanity offices, sorting paperwork connected to the mortgage-holders’ loans. That’s where I learned about the concept of “sweat equity.”

Habitat for Humanity isn’t a charity, as most people have come to define the word—meaning it’s not an organization that simply provides help to the needy. Habitat provides a way for the needy to help themselves. In order to qualify, Habitat homeowners must make a down payment and monthly mortgage payments—and they must contribute a large amount of “sweat equity.” That means they have to put in hundreds of labor hours building not only their own house, but other Habitat houses.

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We’ve all had our Manny Alpert moments.

In 1978, Alpert was an ABC-TV cameraman covering a fund-raiser for the National Hemophilia Foundation in New York’s Manhattan Center ballroom. He was stationed in the balcony overlooking the ballroom floor where University of Pennsylvania student Bob Speca Jr. had spent nine days setting up a maze of 100,000 dominoes. Speca held the record for nonstop domino toppling at 50,000 and planned to break it for a worthy cause.

The crowd of press and onlookers hushed when eight-year-old hemophilia sufferer Michael Murphy stepped forward to topple the first domino. As the small rectangles began dropping, Alpert leaned forward for a better look … and his press pass slipped free. The card tumbled into the maze, setting off a second chain reaction that threatened to ruin the event. And there was nothing Alpert could do to stop it.

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It’s been a real bad day. One of many lately. But then the radio decided to have a chat with me. It said, “Hey, Soul Sister!”

I love it when the radio wants to chat. This time it reminded me that music can always make me smile, even on bad days. It reminded me that I love R&B—even though “Hey, Soul Sister,” by the group Train, isn’t an R&B song.

And it reminded me that you need to have soul to get through tough times.

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So … we’re two weeks into the new year. How’s it going?

That well? Uh-oh.

How many times have you planned to launch into a new project at work, make a serious commitment to your personal goals, renew a relationship with friends or family members, start losing weight, lay the foundation for starting your own business? You get off on the right foot with a lot of positive thinking and excited optimism.

Then reality sets in.

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It’s been one of those days.

Do you often find yourself saying that? I do. But when those words roll off my tongue, it usually has less to do with the amount of work, or the wild activity in my schedule, than the worry pecking at my brain.

When I’m fretting about business issues or family matters or household problems or health concerns, it seems to drain so much more of my energy and enthusiasm—and productivity than I spend on my usual work load.

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