Category: Motivational

“Don’t measure yourself by what you’ve accomplished, but by what you should have accomplished with your ability” – John Wooden

“If you are a version of the shirtless dancing guy, all alone, remember the importance of nurturing your first few followers as equals, making everything clearly about the movement, not you.  Be public. Be easy to follow!  But the biggest lesson here – did you catch it?  Leadership is over-glorified.  Yes it started with the shirtless guy, and he’ll get all the credit, but you saw what really happened: It was the first follower that transformed a lone nut into a leader.  There is no movement without the first follower.  We’re told we all need to be leaders, but that would be really ineffective.  The best way to make a movement, if you really care, is to courageously follow and show others how to follow.”

We have probably all seen the classic Peanut’s cartoons, where Lucy wants Charlie Brown to kick the football.  Poor Charlie Brown goes to kick the ball and Lucy takes it away, making Charlie fall on his back and sigh.  We’ve all had people give up on us, or worse we have given up on ourselves.  So whether Lucy lives within us or is around us, never give up and always remember to keep on keeping on.

“Character is like a tree and reputation like a shadow. The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing.”  -Abraham Lincoln

The documentary In the Shadow of the Moon came out in 2007.  I’ve always loved to watch the trailer when I need self motivation and it is a great team building tool.  Watch the above trailer and ask yourself how it applies to your life and career.  Below are some excerpts I’ve noted from the video:

• “I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man of the moon, and returning him safely from space.” – John F Kennedy, Jr.
  • Individuals (and especially leaders) must provide vision, stretch goals, and those goals need to be time driven.  Sometimes the goals seem impossible, but everything is possible under the right circumstances.
• “And that was a bold move, it had some risky aspects to it. But it was a time when we made bold moves.”
  • My favorite quote of the trailer.  Think about what you really want to achieve in life and go for it no matter how big or small it may be.  Don’t let your fears define who you are.
• “I had a feeling the whole world was watching us. Not only do I have a lot of things I can do wrong, but the consequences should I do them wrong are be immediately obvious to 3 billion people.”
  • Make sure when you are doing something big in life to think things through so you can do your best when everyone is watching.
    
• “And then it dawned on me from an emotional point of view, that we are going to go to the moon.”
  • Don’t forget to enjoy life along the way.
• “People instead of saying “well you Americans did it”, everywhere they said “we did it…we the human race…we people did it…and I thought that was a beautiful thing.”
  • When you attempt big things in life it is great to have the support of others.  Don’t let people stop you from achieving your dream should they say you can’t accomplish something you want in life.  There is no “I” in TEAM.
• “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”
  • What you do in life may seem small to you but everyone is capable of doing amazing things.  If you live life right you can not only do things that positively impact yourself, but also others.

A wealthy man requested an old scholar to wean his son away from his bad habits. The scholar took the youth for a stroll through a garden. Stopping suddenly he asked the boy to pull out a tiny plant growing there. The youth held the plant between his thumb and forefinger and pulled it out. The old man then asked him to pull out a slightly bigger plant. The youth pulled hard and the plant came out, roots and all.

“Now pull out that one,” said the old man pointing to a bush. The boy had to use all his strength to pull it out.  “Now take this one out,” said the old man, indicating a large tree. The youth grasped the trunk and tried to pull it out. But it would not budge.  “I – It’s impossible,” said the boy, panting with the effort.  “So it is with bad habits,” said the sage. “When they are young it is easy to pull them out but when they take hold they cannot be uprooted.”

“Consider how hard it is to change yourself and you’ll understand what little chance you have in trying to change others.” – Jacob M. Braude

Tim Ferriss says he tries to ask himself these three questions every day:

• What is the one constraint, if removed that would make me 5-10-20 times more productive in your personal and professional life?
• If I had to do this in 15 minutes, what would I do?
• What is the downside if I lose the person for 3 months, 6 months, forever?

“But risks must be taken because the greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing. The person who risks nothing, does nothing, has nothing, is nothing. He may avoid suffering and sorrow, but he cannot learn, feel, change, grow or live. Chained by his servitude he is a slave who has forfeited all freedom. Only a person who risks is free. The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; and the realist adjusts the sails.”    — William Arthur Ward.