Motivation
In the 1929 Rose Bowl on New Year’s Day Georgia Tech fumbled the ball and California’s Roy Riegel picked it up and ran it back 65 yards, but in the wrong direction. After running 65 yards his own players eventually tackled him. When California ended up having to punt, Georgia Tech blocked the kick and scored a safety. During halftime Riegel expected coach Price to be really angry about his stupid mistake. But, Price didn’t say anything about in his half time meeting with the players. When halftime was over and the team was heading back to the field, Price put his hand on Roy’s shoulder and said ”The games only half over. Go out there and give it your all." Riegel was so inspired by the coach's treatment of him that he played an extraordinary game the second half. The most powerful force we have is what we say to ourselves and believe.
Richard Bach wrote his 10,000-word story, Jonathan Livingston Seagull in 1970. Eighteen publishers rejected the book before McMillan agreed to publish it. Within five years, it had sold over 7 million copies in the US alone. Richard Hooker took seven years to write his humorous novel M*A*S*H which was rejected by 21 publishers on until Murrow publishing took a chance, resulting in a bestseller and an Academy award-winning movie as well as a long-running television series.
Judging others by Appearance
Here are two actual examples from life where judging others by appearance proved to be huge financial mistake.
In 1884 a young man from America died while on a trip to Europe. His parents were grief stricken and decided to create a permanent memorial in education that would ensure his name would be known year after year. They arranged a meeting with Charles Elliott, president of Harvard University. They explained their goal of establishing a permanent memorial in education in their son's name. Elliott listened to this plain looking and unpretentious couple. Then, in a very condescending manner, he explained something like that would be very expensive. He dismissed the idea because it would be unlikely they could afford it. The parents were offended. They thanked him for his time and left. The following year Elliott was shocked to read that this same couple had donated $26 million as a memorial to their son. The memorial was a university. It was to be named Leland Stanford Junior University.
In October 1988, John Barrier parked his pickup truck at the Old National Bank in Spokane where he had done business for thirty years. Fifty nine year old Barrier was wearing his working overalls and went inside to cash a $100 check. When he returned to his truck, the lot attendant told him the parking ticket was 60 cents, but he could take the ticket back inside and validate it. Barrier went back inside and asked a teller to validate it. She refused, telling him cashing a check was not considered a transaction that entitled validation. He asked for a bank manager who came over. Barrier explained about the parking ticket and that he was a substantial depositor, but the manager, after looking him over, also refused to validate parking. Barrier said "Fine, if you don't need me, I don't need you." He then withdrew all his money on deposit in the bank and reinvested it down the street at Seafirst Bank. The deposit was for $1 million dollars! Old National, now U.S. Bank confirmed the story was true when contacted by the media. The bank representative said this incident had "Prompted the bank to review the way it does business. Every customer should be treated as a guest. Unfortunately, this incident didn't happen that way," It turns out the man in overalls and driving an old pickup truck was a millionaire the bank had offended over a 60 cent parking validation. As Barrier said later "if you have $100 in a bank or one million, I think they owe you the courtesy of stamping your parking ticket.”
Unique coincidences
Mario Tonelli was a former Notre Dame star fullback. He had played for Notre Dame in the 1930s and was known for a 77-yard run that beat Southern California in the Rose Bowl. He later played for the Chicago Cardinals before joining the U.S. Army. During the war in the Philippines he became a Japanese prisoner along with hundreds of other troops. He was among the soldiers on the infamous Bataan death march. The thousands of other soldiers who had surrendered were forced to march under conditions resulting in some 24,000 soldiers dying and others gunned down. As Tonelli stumbled along, a Japanese guard saw his Notre Dame graduation ring and ordered him to take it off and give it to him.. A short time later, however, a Japanese officer gave him back the ring. He told him, in perfect English, that he had been at the USC game and watched the famous run. He was a fan.
Perfection
The preacher spoke to the congregation about perfection. He told the flock to be the best they could, but that no one was perfect. He then asked if anyone in the congregation thought they were perfect and if so challenged them to stand up. A man near the back of the church rose to his feet. Surprised, the preacher asked, “so you think you’re perfect?” The man replied “No, I’m standing up for my wife’s first husband."
There's nothing too profound here, but I thought you might enjoy the stories.
The idea behind the phrase "the map is not the territory" comes from Neuro-Linguistic Programming. NLP is an approach to communication and personal development created by Richard Bandler and John Grinder of California in the 1970's.Part of the doctrine involved is the idea that "the map is not the territory." It refers to the difference between reality and our beliefs. It applies to the fact that our perception of the world is being generated by our brain as a "map" of what we see as reality, but is not always the true reality. It is the difference between studying a road map and the actual terrain involved. The phrase refers to the fact we have an internal, mental map of reality and each of our maps are unique: ours and ours alone. We start assembling our "maps" at birth and add to them through our daily activities and mental thoughts. Our maps contain our beliefs about ourselves, our capabilities and how we fit into our world. Much of our internal map we are not aware about but they impact our attitudes, expectations and general belief about life.
This fact is important when it comes to our self examination and willingness to recognize what we need to improve upon in our lives. Being honest about our mistakes and need for change is an important part of personal growth. It requires accepting our personal responsibility for ourselves and not making excuses or blaming others. In the words of Teddy Roosevelt "If you would kick the person in the pants responsible for most of your trouble, you wouldn't sit for a month."
That's the title of a best selling book written by Jess Lair a Montana university professor and published in 1977. In it he talks about self worth and how we should see how wonderful we were created to be even with all our faults I was reminded of the book one day while listening to the radio in my car to a sermon by evangelist Joel Osteen which he titled "Seeing Yourself as a Masterpiece." In his talk he said too many people go around feeling on the inside that they really don't like who they are. He says people think things like "if I was just a little taller, if I had a better personality, or if I just looked like somebody else, then I would feel good about myself." But, he says when God created us he went to great lengths to make us exactly like He wanted. We didn't accidentally get our personality, height, looks, skin color. Instead God designed us on purpose to be the way we are. He says that therefore we must fulfill our own destiny of being a masterpiece, quoting Ephesians 2:10: "for we are God's masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago."
The motivational speaker Tony Robbins has said: "I challenge you to make your life a masterpiece. I challenge you to join the ranks of those people who live what they teach, who walk their talk" Keep in mind, as someone has said, you are allowed to be both a masterpiece and a work in progress simultaneously. Furthermore, when things don't happen right away, just remember that it takes six months to build a Rolls-Royce and 13 hours to build a Toyota. Nor is age an excuse for not being the masterpiece you were intended to be. Satchel Paige has said "How old would you be if you didn't know how old you were?"
Reverend Robert Schuller once said "what great things would you attempt if you knew you couldn't fail?" So, we should stop saying "if only" and instead say "Wait until next time." When you think about becoming the full masterpiece you were created to become remember failure does not mean you will never accomplish the goal. Let's think about the fact Michael Jordan did not make his high school basketball team because the coach said he “wasn’t good enough.” Emily Dickinson wrote about 1,800 poems but only seven were published in her lifetime. Julia Child could barely cook until she was 34 years old and attended her first cooking class. Woopi Goldberg was a high school dropout. Babe Ruth hit 714 home runs, but he struck out 1,330 times.
Nor does your idea about your looks dictate your ability to achieve your full masterpiece status. Carol Burnett has said “I’ve learned that it’s not how you look that counts. It’s how you feel inside. I used to be a people pleaser and I wound up doing the darndest things because I thought I was only as good as wheat people thought of me. But I’ve learned that there’s n one on earth - including me - who everybody loves.”
Too often it is our thoughts about our past that keep us from our full potential. As someone has observed It isn’t the burdens of today that drives one mad. It is the regrets of yesterday and the fear of tomorrow. Regret and fear are twin thieves that rob us of today. Suzy Kassem has said "Never look back. The past is done. The future is a blank canvas. Work on creating a masterpiece. Only you have the power to make your painting beautiful."
Worry about the future is just as much a waste of time as guilt and regret over the past. Someone has told the story about travel during Lincoln’s day when they would have to cross streams and rivers. At a stop for the night he met a fellow traveler and they asked him about the Fox river which they had to cross ahead. They had been warned how dangerous it could be to cross. “Oh yes” he said, “I know all about that river and have crossed it many times. It can be dangerous, but I have one fixed rule about it. I never cross that river until I reach it.” Dr. Daniel Amen MD is a national authority on healthy brain activity. He has described what he calls "automatic negative thoughts" or "ANT's" and one of them is what he calls "fortune-telling." He says this is where you predict the worst possible outcome to a situation you have to face or a fear about future events. You worry about what has not yet happened and you begin to picture the most negative outcome which has the same validity as your ability at fortune-telling. Worry is a thief that robs us of today's enjoyment. To become a full masterpiece you were created to be learn to replace worry with thoughts of positive outcomes.
You are a person of destiny and when you were created seeds of greatness for becoming the best you are capable of becoming were made part of who you are. It is your calling and you have all of the skills and tools required to achieve it. You are not ordinary. You may have room for improvement and you may be a work in progress, but you have a destiny to become what God created you to be. As Joel OSteen has said we need to get up every morning and remind ourselves that we are excellent as we were created, put our shoulders back, hold our head up high and remember that we were created a masterpiece.
A friend sent me an article by Dr. Daniel Amen who is a physician, psychiatrist and best-selling author http://ahha.org/selfhelp-articles/ant-therapy/ The title is "ANT Therapy." By that he means "automatic negative thoughts" or "ANTs." These are the cynical, gloomy and complaining thoughts that just seem to keep coming all by themselves. He makes the point that every time we have a thought, our brain releases chemicals with an electrical transmission going across our brain. Thoughts are real and have an impact on how we feel and behave. Our body reacts to every thought we have. He says we know this from
polygraphs and measurement of bodily reactions. Most important, thoughts are very powerful. They can make your mind and body feel good or make you feel bad. Our thoughts impact our ability to enjoy our life. How we think moment by moment plays a large role in how we feel at a deep Limbic system functional level. Negative thoughts cause us to feel internal discomfort. The challenge is to change our moment to moment thought patterns and the chemical – electrical signals that are given in our brain.Because thoughts are powerful they can affect physical symptoms such as headaches or stomachaches or even enhanced disease processes.
However, the fact is that our thoughts are not automatic, but learned and they are not always truthful. Our thoughts often lie to us. The author discusses different ways in which our thoughts lie to us and make the situation seem worse than it actually is. Being able to identify these types of negative thoughts
allows us to reframe the thought. Here are the most common negative false thoughts we have:
There are some powerful ideas in this article. Volumes have been written about "positive thinking" but these observations are directed at being aware of the negative thoughts that drift into your thinking in order to evaluate and re frame them. Shakespeare said: "There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so" and he was right. Become a positive thinker.
My father was a great believer in motivational ideas. He read motivational books, had motivational slogans and was a believer in goal setting. He was also a very positive minded person which stood in stark contrast to my mother who tended to worry. I'm afraid I took more after my mother's viewpoint in spite of every effort of my father to influence me with a positive outlook. As a young man I worked on developing a goal oriented and positive outlook through reading and later audio tapes as well of inspirational speakers.
I was reminded of this background while sorting a neglected storage area at the house of accumulated materials when I found some motivational materials of mine. One set of materials I found was from the "Success Motivation Institute" of Waco Texas called the "Dynamics of Personal Motivation" which had audio tapes as well as written materials I had studied. I read my list of goals of 1970. I'm not sure I achieved the goal "I will develop a positive attitude of enthusiastic self confidence about all things" but overall I did rather well in selecting worthwhile goals to strive for.
Over my lifetime I've read hundreds of self improvement books and listened to a volume of audio tapes. I have found that great truths remain valid over time. Authors re-discover these truths, describe them in new ways and republish them as new. In the Bible, Ecclesiastes, we read "What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun." I think that is true.
So, with that in mind, of the many books I've read, here is a short list of ten of the best motivational books I've read. They are not in any particular order or ranking of importance.
The title tends to put one off, but Napoleon Hill collected some of the most important rules about motivation and success in this book. Allowing for the wording he uses to express his ideas, this is a dictionary of valid concepts everyone who wants to be successful should read.
2. The Greatest Salesman in the World by Og Madino published in 1968
Og Madino has an entertaining way of writing and is a great story teller. He communicates his ideas in story form which is both entertaining and informative.
3. The Power of Positive Thinking by Norman Vincent Peale 1952
This classic best seller has solid advice about mental attitudes. Keep in mind the most powerful force you have is what you say to yourself and believe.
4. As a Man Thinketh by James Allen 1913
Dated perhaps in its language, it nevertheless anchors clearly the importance of mental attitude and what we tell our selves.
5. Psycho-Cybernetics by Maxwell Maltz 1960
This wonderful book was written by a plastic surgeon who observed patients whose "deformities" he corrected were not benefited unless their attitudes were modified. He demonstrates the enormous power in the truth that the imagination does not distinguish between vividly imagined events and actual events as a learning tool.
6. Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl published in 1946
Dr. Frankl survived German concentration camp and in the process observed why some prisoners survived and why some mentally gave up. His book documents the importance of why we must have a purpose in our lives.
7. How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie published in 1936
There are few books that remain as valid in it's premises over 80 years as this one. Ignore the title. This is the bible of human nature. I have read and re-read this book to remind me about human nature and how to deal with it. This book should be required reading for everyone on dealing with others.
8. Awaken the Giant Within by Anthony Robbins 1993
The wonderful thing Tony Robbins has done in this book is to take basic Neuro Linguistic principles and put them in language everyone can understand. Plus he has collected the fundamentals of living well in an organized manner.
9. How to Get Your Point Across in 30 Seconds or Less by Milo Frank 1990
I included this very thin little book for only one reason. We must learn how to communicate simply and clearly. Brevity is the new requirement for good communication and this little book will tell you how as well as why.
10. Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach 1970
Like Antoine de Saint-Exupery's 1943 book The Little Prince, Bach has written an allegory about achievement. Jonathan refuses to accept the stereotyped limitations of the "wise" seagulls about what a seagull is supposed to and how it is supposed to live life. Worse, they refuse to believe him when he tries to tell them about the wonderful world they are missing. Every time you are attacked for your nontraditional views this is the book for you to read.
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Unless we get rid of our TV's and radios plus stopping reading newspapers we will continue to be subjected to an infinite number of things to worry about. The most recent is Ebola, but we have terrorist attacks, unpaid bills, political incompetence and multiple other things both personal, national and international to occupy our worrying. So, here are some thoughts about the subject.
Let's start with Scripture. Matthew Chapt 6 says:
"I tell you, therefore, do not worry about your life, about what you are to eat, or what you are to drink; and do not worry about your body, about what you are to wear. Is not your life more than food and your body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air, and see that they do not sow or reap or gather things into storehouses, and yet your heavenly father feeds them. Are you not more valuable than they? Who of you can add one hour to his life by worrying about it? And why do you worry about clothes? Learn a lesson from the lilies of the field, from the way in which they grow. They do not toil or spin; but I tell you that not even Solomon in all his glory was clothed like one of these. If God so clothes the grass of the field, which exists today, and which is thrown into the oven tomorrow, shall he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?"
It has been pointed out that Jesus is not saying we should not work because no one works harder than the average sparrow to make a living.. He is making is making the point that they do not worry. There is no straining to see a future which cannot be seen or finding security in stored up and accumulated things. Furthermore Jesus goes on to point out that in any event worry is useless. It cannot change anything. His recommendation is that we acquire the art of living one day at a time. It is his advice that we should handle the demands of each day as it comes without worrying about the unknown future and things which may never happen.
In the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam it says: "the moving finger writes, and, having writ, moves on; nor all thy piety nor wit, shall bring it back to cancel half a line, nor thy tears wash out a word of." The past is over and worrying about the future is useless.
In his commentary on this passage from Matthew the biblical scholar William Barclay reports about the advice given to to a son by his father: "Johnny, the thing to do, my lad, is to hold your own head up, and to do it like a gentleman, and please remember the biggest troubles you have got to face are those that never come."
We read in Isaiah 43 "Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past" and in Philippians 3: "Forgetting what is behind and straining towards what is ahead, I press on toward the goal..." The Great Teresa of Avila had a bookmark in her prayer book that read: "Let nothing disturb you; let nothing frighten you, All things are passing. God never changes. Patience obtains all things. Nothing is wanting to him who possesses God. God alone suffices." And Therese of Lisieux's prayer was: "My life is but an instant, an hour that passes by; A single day that slips my grasp and quickly slips away. O well you know, my dearest God, to love you, I only have today." Someone has said: "Life's a dance. Take it one step at a time and keep listening for the music."
we choose our attitude and every circumstance. We are responsible for our feelings. Nobody makes us feel angry sad or happy because we choose how we will feel about external events. We should not let any one else decide our day. All we have is right now. Therefore when faced with a problem the question is: "can I do something about it." If the answer is "yes" we need to take action. If the answer is "No" then forget about it because there is nothing to be done. Our goal should be to let into our circle only what we believe or accept about ourselves. We are controlled by what we accept and believe and the most powerful force we have is what we say to ourselves and believe.
The Dalai Lama has said about worry: "If a problem is fixable, if a situation is such that you can do something about it, then there is no need to worry. If it's not fixable, then there is no help in worrying. There is no benefit in worrying whatsoever.”
Winston Churchill once said: "When I look back on all these worries I remember the story of the old man who said on his deathbed that he had had a lot of trouble in his life, most of which never happened."
Someone has said: "Why worry?
A Japanese warrior was captured by his enemies and thrown into prison. That night he was unable to sleep because he feared that the next day he would be interrogated, tortured, and executed. Then the words of his Zen master came to him, "Tomorrow is not real. It is an illusion. The only reality is now." Heeding these words, the warrior became peaceful and fell asleep.
Beyond faith and prayer, there are practical ways in which to deal with worry:
in alcoholics anonymous the serenity prayer of St. Francis is an important part of the process: "God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; the courage to change things I can and the wisdom to know the difference."
Here are a collection of inspirational thoughts from a file i kept on motivation which I repeat here without any particular order. Maybe something here will touch your spirit. I hope so.
"I shall not pass this way but once; any good therefore, that I can do or any kindness that I can show to any human being, let me do it now. Let me not defer nor neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again." (Unknown)
Winston Churchill kept a quote from Abraham Lincoln framed and hanging in his office during World War II. It read: "I do the very best I know how – the very best I can; and I need to keep on doing so until the end. If the end brings me out all right, then what is said against will not matter and if the end brings me out wrong, then 10 angels swearing I was right will make no difference."
The Jesuit anthropologist Teilhard de Chardin said: "The day will come, when, after harnessing the ether, the winds, gravitation, we shall harness for God the energies of love. And on that day, for the second time in the history of the world, man will have discovered fire."
Lincoln liked to tell an anecdote about worry. He said that he had been riding a horse to court in his circuit court days which meant that he and his companions had to cross swollen rivers. But the most troublesome river of all, the Fox River, was still ahead of them on their trip. When they stopped for the night at a tavern, they met a Methodist elder who was also a circuit rider who traveled in that area. They asked him about the condition of the Fox River. "Oh, yes," replied the Methodist elder, "I know all about the Fox River. I have crossed it often and understand it well. But I have one fixed rule with regard to the Fox River – I never cross it until I get there."
Robert E. Spear, the great leader of the Presbyterian Church, went with his father backpacking into the mountains. He remembers his father's advice was: "remember, son, when you go into the mountains, prepare for the worst, expect the best, and take what comes."
Details are important. Benjamin Franklin published is Poor Richard's Almanac.He wrote the following about the importance of details:
"For want of a nail a shoe was lost. For want of a shoe a horse was lost. For want of a horse a rider was lost. For want of the rider, a battle was lost. For want of the battle the kingdom was lost – and all for the want of a nail."
Napoleon Hill was a famous motivational writer and speaker. Here are some of the things he has said:
Here are Napoleon Hill's 17 principles of success which he recommended as a blueprint for high achievement and self-fulfillment:
As someone has said: "the most powerful force I have is what I say to myself and believe."
Lyle and signer Spencer wrote a book Competence at Work. They suggest these things help make a success or a winner:
Benny Reynolds and his son Rooster, rodeo contestants from twin Bridges Montana, were quoted as saying: "there's only about three things that's really most important. Be honest, do your best, and like what you're doing. And get up as good a winner as you are a loser."
Become a warrior, not a worrier.
"When sorrows come, they, not single spies, but in battalions." (Hamlet)
Someone has written there are 17 words that will never fail you:
The motivational speaker Tony Robbins suggests that when faced with issues that concern you consider asking ourself the following questions:
I'm trying a jury case in Seattle which started last week and has proven to be a challenge. I am reminded, however, about the butterfly as I contemplate my trial.
The adult butterfly lays eggs resulting in young caterpillars that begin eating without stopping for two or three weeks. They increase body size and change appearance. At the end of that time they bodies prepare to create a chrysalis or outer covering. They find a place on a branch and attach by spinning it's own silk. Most caterpillars hang upside down with a silk sling to hold themselves in place.
After 24 hours they shed an outer-skeleton revealing the chrysalis underneath. Inside of this cover the caterpillar anatomy is chemically going through a transformation from the caterpillar to a beautiful butterfly. In about one or two weeks and adult butterfly will struggle to emerge and fly away.
It is important that the butterfly has to strugglle to get out of the chrysalis because that effort develops wing strength. In fact, if one helps it get out it will end up with deformed wings. Sometimes we need to struggle in order to have the strength we need to deal with our situation.
Why do we celebrate the new year on January 1st? In fact New Year's Day is the closest thing to being the world's only true global public holiday. It's because of the Gregorian calendar as well as the Julian calendar used in ancient Rome which set January 1st as a first day of the new year. The Romans celebrated New Year's Day in honor of Janus. Janus is the God who had two faces, one looking forward and the other looking backward.
Celebrating the new year usually involves setting goals. So, what goals should we consider? Our goals should involve improvement to our physical well-being, spiritual and ethical values, financial and possessions, relationships with others, and mental or educational goals. If we really stop to take the time to analyze it, finding worthwhile goals to strive for is not really the problem. The problem is how to achieve them.
There is plenty of advice about goal setting available in books and on the Internet. However, essentially you should explore what you want and create a plan on how to get it. To do that you need to understand what resources you will need to achieve your goals and to have a a plan for taking action.
Goal setting is often expressed as SMART, that stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time-based. I think some of the more well-established steps involved in achieving goals include some of the following:
If we don't take the time to make our new year resolutions real and important to us, we will quickly let them slide like so many of our other new year resolutions. Start by deciding what changes you should make in your life. Resolve to actually achieve them. Put them in writing with illustrations of what the goals are whenever possible. Start the steps to achieve them. Review them every day. Make this the year you actually keep your resolutions for the new year. Good luck.