Warm and Fuzzy

You can make a decision to have a good attitude, but if you don’t make plans to manage that decision every day, then you are likely to end up right back where you started. But here’s the good new: maintaining the right attitude is easier than regaining the right attitude.

How do you do that? A Chinese proverb I came across gives insight: “Assume a cheerfulness you do not feel, and shortly you feel the cheerfulness you assumed.” Or as editor and publisher Elbert Hubbard says, “Be pleasant until 10 a.m. and the rest of the day will take care of itself.” When you get up in the morning, you need to remind yourself of the decision you’ve made to have a positive attitude. You need to manage your thinking and direct your actions so that they are consistent with your decision.

If you take responsibility for your attitude – recognizing that it can change how you live, managing it every day, and cultivating and developing positive thoughts and habits – then you can make your attitude your greatest asset. It can become the difference maker in your life, opening doors and helping you overcoming great obstacles.

Excerpt from “The Difference Maker” – by John C. Maxwell

Love and Loss

I was lucky. I found what I loved to do early in life. Woz and I
started Apple in my parents garage when I was 20. We worked hard, and
in 10 years Apple had grown from just the two of us in a garage into a
$2 billion company with over 4000 employees. We had just released our
finest creation – the Macintosh – a year earlier, and I had just turned
30. And then I got fired. How can you get fired from a company you
started?

Well, as Apple grew we hired someone who I thought was very talented to
run the company with me, and for the first year or so things went well.
But then our visions of the future began to diverge and eventually we
had a falling out. When we did, our Board of Directors sided with him.
So at 30 I was out. And very publicly out. What had been the focus of
my entire adult life was gone, and it was devastating.

I really didn’t know what to do for a few months. I felt that I had let
the previous generation of entrepreneurs down – that I had dropped the
baton as it was being passed to me. I met with David Packard and Bob
Noyce and tried to apologize for screwing up so badly. I was a very
public failure, and I thought about running away from the valley. But
something slowly began to dawn on me – I still loved what I did. The
turn of events at Apple had not changed that one bit. I had been
rejected, but I was still in love. And so I decided to start over.

I didn’t see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple
was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness
of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner
again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most
creative periods of my life.

During the next five years, I started a company named NeXT, another
company named Pixar, and fell in love with an amazing woman who would
become my wife. Pixar went on to create the worlds first computer
animated feature film, Toy Story, and is now the most successful
animation studio in the world. In a remarkable turn of events, Apple
bought NeXT.

I returned to Apple, and the technology we developed at NeXT is at the
heart of Apple’s current renaissance. And Laurene and I have a
wonderful family together.

I’m pretty sure none of this would have happened if I hadn’t been fired
from Apple.It was awful tasting medicine, but I guess the patient
needed it. Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don’t lose
faith. I’m convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I
loved what I did. You’ve got to find what you love. And that is as true
for your work as it is for your lovers.

Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way
to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the
only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found
it yet, keep looking.

Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you
find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and
better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don’t
settle.

Steve Jobs

A magic way to win more friendships that no one can resist; even hardened criminals can be won over this way.

“I never met a man I did not like,” said Will Rogers. Many people thought this was just another funny Rogers’ remark, but one time when I met him with Amon Carter, of Fort Worth, I asked him, “Surely you can’t like everybody?”

I knew he must meet bores, cheats, fourflushers just like the rest of us do. How can he possibly like even them?

Will was famous as a funnyman; but he was also a wise philosopher and he could be most serious when he wanted.

“Of course I don’t approve of all the things that people do,” he said, “but there is some goodness and some cussedness in all of us.” He continued, “If you know a man well enough you can always find something good in him and you can always find something interesting about him. It is just a matter of what you are looking for!”

“But what about the narrow-minded people? What about gossips? The people who do petty, mean little things? Do you like them, too?” I persisted.

“I once read somewhere,” he said, “where someone asked Abe Lincoln that same question – why he refused to get mad at the people who abused him, ridiculed him and tried to discredit him. Lincoln replied that people’s actions spring from their character and that many factors beyond their control went into making up their character – where they were born, the people they had associated with, and a lot of other things.”

“Therefore,’ said Lincoln. ‘you shouldn’t become angry with a person who blocks your path any more than you would with a tree which the wind blew across the road.”

Will Rogers had no more reason for hating a person who happened to have been unfortunate enough to have acquired a habit of gossip than he did for hating a person who was foolish enough to neglect his teeth.

He didn’t like gossip. Few people do; and he didn’t like pettiness. He looked upon them as foolish behavior rather than evil behavior.

I am convinced that Will Rogers really did like every person he ever met.

There is an interesting thing about liking people, and that is they in turn like you. If you must start a rumor about somebody start it by saying, “I sure like that person.”

This gets back to them and they say, “Well, I always liked him, too.”

Another funny thing about gossip is that if they tell you things about others, you can just bet they will tell others things about you.

While there is always a temptation to listen to gossip, just remember while you are on the listening end this time with this gossiper, the next time you will be on the receiving end when the gossiper gets elsewhere.

Beware of the Gossip!

Avoid the company of the gossip. Don’t give them a chance to be with you, find something out about you, then carry that story into another circle.

I am convinced that this trait of his character was largely responsible for Will Rogers being the most universally liked person I have ever heard about.

Will Rogers liked everybody and everybody liked Will Rogers!

Elmer Wheeler
From How to Sell Yourself to Others

The great scientist Sir Isaac Newton worked several hours every day
for twenty years and wrote down the results of his brilliant
research. One day he went out for a walk leaving the papers on the
table. His pet dog `diamond’ was lying in the room. A few minutes
later, it jumped on to the table playfully. Due to this, the burning
candle fell on the bundle of manuscript and it caught fire. Twenty
years of hard research was reduced to ashes within minutes. When
Newton came back he was shocked. His precious papers were now a
handful of ashes. Any one else would have beaten the dog to death.
But Newton simply stroked the dog’s head and said looking at it with
pity `Diamond, you know not what you have done.’

He started writing again. It took him several years to complete the
task. How great was his compassion for the dumb animal. Newton’s
heart was as great as his head.

It is difficult to forgive a wrong done to you – yet, with a
stronger will it is possible. To forget the whole episode requires
super human effort and nobility of heart. If you develop the habit
of forgiving and forgetting, you will not have any enemy in this
wide world. You will be friendly with all.

A man I knew in Arizona began with a small gas station. One day, while one of his young attendants filled a man’s gas tank, he watched the customer while he stood about waiting for the job to be finished. It dawned upon him that the man had money in his pockets and there were things he needed or wanted that he would pay for if they were conveniently displayed where he could see them.

So he began adding things. Fishing tackle, then fishing licenses, hunting and camping equipment, rifles, shot guns, ammunition, hunting licenses. He found an excellent line of aluminum fishing boats and trailers. He began buying up the contiguous property around him. Then he added an auto parts department. He always sold cold soft drinks and candy, but now he but now he added an excellent line of chocolates in a refrigerated case. Before long, he sold more chocolates than anyone else in the state. He carried thousands of things his customers could buy while waiting for their cars to be serviced.

All the products he sold also guaranteed that most of the gas customers in town would come to his station. He sold more gas. He began cashing checks on Friday, and his sales grew. It all started with a man with a human brain watching a customer standing around with money in his pockets and nothing to spend it on. Others would have lived and died with the small service station, and they do. My friend saw the diamonds.

Many service station operators, upon seeing a wealthy customer drive in, might say to themselves, I ought to be in his business. Not so. There’s just as much opportunity in one business as another, if we’ll only stop playing copycat and begin to think creatively, in new directions. It’s there, believe me. And it’s your job to find it.

The story — a true one — is told of an African farmer who heard tales about other farmers who had made millions by discovering diamond mines. These tales so excited the farmer that he could hardly wait to sell his farm and go prospecting for diamonds himself. He sold the farm and spent the rest of his life wandering the African continent searching unsuccessfully for the gleaming gems that brought such high prices on the markets of the world. Finally, worn out and in a fit of despondency, he threw himself into a river and drowned.

Meanwhile, the man who had bought his farm happened to be crossing the small stream on the property one day, when suddenly there was a bright flash of blue and red light from the stream bottom. He bent down and picked up a stone. It was a good-sized stone, and admiring it, he brought it home and put it on his fireplace mantel as an interesting curiosity.

Several weeks later a visitor picked up the stone, looked closely at it, hefted it in his hand, and nearly fainted. He asked the farmer if he knew what he’d found. When the farmer said, no, that he thought it was a piece of crystal, the visitor told him he had found one of the largest diamonds ever discovered. The farmer had trouble believing that. He told the man that his creek was full of such stones, not all as large as the one on the mantel, but sprinkled generously throughout the creek bottom.

The farm the first farmer had sold, so that he might find a diamond mine, turned out to be one of the most productive diamond mines on the entire African continent.The first farmer had owned, free and clear … acres of diamonds. But he had sold them for practically nothing, in order to look for them elsewhere. The moral is clear: If the first farmer had only taken the time to study and prepare himself to learn what diamonds looked like in their rough state, and to thoroughly explore the property he had before looking elsewhere, all of his wildest dreams would have come true.

The thing about this story that has so profoundly affected millions of people is the idea that each of us is, at this very moment, standing in the middle of our own acres of diamonds. If we had only had the wisdom and patience to intelligently and effectively explore the work in which we’re now engaged, to explore ourselves, we would most likely find the riches we seek, whether they be financial or intangible or both.

Before you go running off to what you think are greener pastures, make sure that your own is not just as green or perhaps even greener. It has been said that if the other guy’s pasture appears to be greener than ours, it’s quite possible that it’s getting better care. Besides, while you’re looking at other pastures, other people are looking at yours.

Heavenly Father,
Help us remember that the jerk who cut us off in traffic last night is a single mother who worked nine hours that day and is rushing home to cook dinner, help with homework, do the laundry and spend a few precious moments with her children.

Help us to remember that the pierced, tattooed, disinterested young man who can’t make change correctly is a worried 19-year-old college student, balancing his apprehension over final exams with his fear of not getting his student loans for next semester.

Remind us, Lord, that the scary looking bum, begging for money in the same spot every day (who really ought to get a job!) is a slave to addictions that we can only imagine in our worst nightmares.

Help us to remember that the old couple walking annoyingly slow through the store aisles and blocking our shopping progress are savoring this moment, knowing that, based on the biopsy report she got back last week, this will be the last year that they go shopping together.

Heavenly Father, remind us each day that, of all the gifts you give us, the greatest gift is love. It is not enough to share that love with those we hold dear. Open our hearts not to just those who are close to us, but to all humanity. Let us be slow to judge and quick to forgive, show patience, empathy and love.

Read more: http://www.beliefnet.com/Prayers/Protestant/Compassion/Help-Us-Remember.aspx#ixzz1ZLMFKjen

It’s Not Easy. Let’s be honest. Ethics is not for wimps. It’s not easy being a good person. It’s not easy to be honest when it might be costly, to play fair when others cheat, or to keep inconvenient promises. It’s not easy to stand up for our beliefs and still respect differing viewpoints. It’s not easy to control powerful impulses, to be accountable for our attitudes and actions, to tackle unpleasant tasks, or to sacrifice the now for later. It’s not easy to bear criticism and learn from it without getting angry, to take advice, or to admit error. It’s not easy to feel genuine remorse and apologize sincerely, or to accept apologies graciously and truly forgive. It’s not easy to stop feeling like a victim, to resist cynicism, or to make the best of every situation. It’s not easy to be consistently kind, to think of others first, to judge generously, or to give the benefit of the doubt. It’s not easy to be grateful or to give without concern for reward or gratitude. It’s not easy to fail and still keep trying, to learn from failure, to risk failing again, to start over, to lose with grace, or to be glad of another’s success. It’s not easy to look at ourselves honestly and be accountable, to avoid excuses and rationalizations, or to resist temptations. No, being a person of character isn’t easy. That’s why it’s such a lofty goal and an admirable achievement. This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts. www.charactercounts.org .AOLWebSuite .AOLPicturesFullSizeLink { height: 1px; width: 1px; overflow: hidden; } .AOLWebSuite a {color:blue; text-decoration: underline; cursor: pointer} .AOLWebSuite a.hsSig {cursor: default}

by Jim Rohn

One of the major reasons why we fail to find happiness or to create unique lifestyle is because we have not yet mastered the art of being.

While we are home our thoughts are still absorbed with solving the challenges we face at the office. And when we are at the office we find ourselves worrying about problems at home.

We go through the day without really listening to what others are saying to us. We may be hearing the words, but we aren’t absorbing the message.

As we go through the day we find ourselves focusing on past experiences or future possibilities. We are so involved in yesterday and tomorrow that we never even notice that today is slipping by.

We go through the day rather than getting something from the day. We are everywhere at any given moment in time except living in that moment in time.

Lifestyle is learning to be wherever you are. It is developing a unique focus on the current moment, and drawing from it all of the substance and wealth of experience and emotions that it has to offer. Lifestyle is taking time to watch a sunset. Lifestyle is listening to silence. Lifestyle is capturing each moment so that it becomes a new part of what we are and of what we are in the process of becoming. Lifestyle is not something we do; it is something we experience. And until we learn to be there, we will never master the art of living well.

To Your Success,

Jim Rohn

 By Edgar Guest

Fate handed the quitter a bump, and he dropped
The road seemed too rough to go, so he stopped
He thought of his hurt, and there came to his mind
The easier path he was leaving behind

It’s all much too hard, said the quitter right then
I’ll stop where I am and not try it again
He sat by the road and he made up his tale
To tell when men asked why he happened to fail

A thousand excuses flew up to his tongue
And these on the thread of his story he strung
But the truth of the matter he didn’t admit
He never once said, I was frightened and quit

Whenever the quitter sits down by the road
And drops from the struggle to lighten his load
He can always recall to his own peace of mind
A string of excuses for falling behind

But somehow or other he can’t think of one
Good reason for battling and going right on
So, when the bump comes and fate hands you a jar
Don’t baby yourself, boy, whoever you are

Don’t pity yourself and talk over your woes
Don’t think up excuses for dodging the blows
But stick to the battle and see the thing through
And don’t be a quitter, whatever you do