There’s a rule when it comes to motivational quotes: LESS IS MORE.
It’s the old K.I.S.S. Formula . . .
Keep
It
Short and
Simple
For example, Captain Eddie Rickenbacker (1890-1973) (please link), the courageous World War I aviator, had a six-word formula for success . . .
THINK THINGS THROUGH
THEN FOLLOW THROUGH.
To win 6,000 pennies
for your six-word quote
call
SUCCESS HOTLINE
at
(973) 743-4690.
DEDICATED TO:
SUPER ATHLETE & SUPER COACH
TOM FLEMING
Everyone is an athlete. The only difference is that some of us are in training and some
are not.
George Sheehan, M.D., runner and writer
To be #1, you have to train like you’re #2.
Maurice Green, Olympic champion sprinter
A lot of people run a race to see who’s the fastest. I run to see who has the most guts.
Steve Prefontaine, Olympic medalist in track
Spirit has 50 times the strength and staying power of brawn and muscle.
Author unknown
If you want to win a race you have to go a little beserk.
Bill Rodgers, marathon champion
There is no finish line.
Nike advertising slogan
Somewhere in the world someone is training when you aren’t. When you race, he will win.
Tom Fleming, marathon champion and track coach
I eat whatever the guy who beat me in the last race ate.
Alex Ratelle, masters runner
I do not run to add days to my life – I run to add life to my days.
Ronald Rook
When you win, nothing hurts.
Author unknown
Above all, train hard, eat right, and avoid television and people with bad attitudes.
Scott Tinley, superstar triathlete
You can always run faster – it’s just going to hurt.
Author unknown
What counts in battle is what you do once the pain sets in.
John Short, track coach
Runs end . . . Running doesn’t.
Nike advertising slogan
What is the largest sum of
money you can have in coins
(
and you will still not be able to make
change for a dollar?
“It ain't
what you
don't know
that
gets you
into trouble.
It's what
you know
for sure
that
just ain't so.”
When I was much younger, I remember my father taking me to one of the nicest clothing stores I’ve ever seen -- Louis of Boston.
I never bought any clothes there, but I picked up their catalogue.
Louis of Boston gave me something much more valuable than their gorgeous clothes. Right in their catalogue was this story . . .
THE CRAFTMAN’S SECRET
Several years have gone by now since the day I learned the craftsman’s secret. I was in
My first stop was to a small shop in the center of town, a shop famous throughout
I introduced myself to the owner, an immaculately groomed gentleman in his mid-50s, soft spoken and terribly gracious. He showed me fabrics that would never have entered my most sybaritic fantasies.
The cut was a full poem: full without being sloppy, sleeves that tapered gently to the trim cuff, classic short- and long-point collars with just the exact amount of tie space for the knot. There was that sense of simplicity that only the purist really appreciates.
Need I add, prices were commensurate.
While we were talking, I noticed out of the corner of my eye an elderly gentleman, white haired and bespectacled, sitting on a high stool in front of a draughting-type table in the corner. My host caught my look. “That’s my father,” he smiled. “Perhaps you would care to meet him?”
He introduced us, and I asked how long he had been cutting shirts. The son replied that his father had learned the art sitting on his father’s knees, and as it happened, last week he had just celebrated his 84th birthday.
Might I presume to know, I said, what was his secret for being able to make such beautiful shirts? Is it, I wanted to know, that he has experience and the gift for it?
The son translated, and the father smiled and spoke slowly for a minute or two.
“My father says that you must excuse him, but he has no technical answer to the question. He says the experience is very important, and he is not sure about ‘the gift’ because shirtmaking is all he has ever done. But he says that to make a beautiful shirt you just don’t cut with the knife, you cut the cloth with love. My father is something of a poet, yes?”
To be sure. But it was the answer, nevertheless. As Thomas Carlyle blatantly put it, “There is practically nothing in this world that some man cannot make a little worse and sell a little cheaper -- and he who considers only the price is that man’s lawful prey.”
The elderly gentleman knew very well the difference between art and industry. You care about what you are doing: That’s the craftsman’s secret!
Both of these athletes were totally into it.
They were outrageous.
They were inspired.
Once Ali said to a group of young athletes:
“Shock the world.”
Pre tried to shock the world every time he ran.
ANYTHING
LESS
THAN
YOUR BEST
IS
TO SACRIFICE
THE GIFT.”
This ad for Cadillac first appeared in The Saturday Evening Post on January 2, 1915.
Elvis first saw this ad in 1967 and he loved it so much that he placed a framed copy on the wall in his office at
THE PENALTY OF LEADERSHIP
In every field of human endeavor,
he that is first must perpetually live
in the white light of publicity.
Whether the leadership be vested in a
man or in a manufactured product,
emulation and envy are ever at work.
In art, in literature, in music, in
industry, the reward and the punish-
ment are always the same.
The reward is widespread recognition;
the punishment, fierce denial and
detraction.
When a man’s work becomes a stand-
ard for the whole world, it also be-
comes a target for the shafts of the
envious few.
If his work be merely mediocre, he
will be left severely alone -- if he
achieves a masterpiece, it will set a
million tongues a-wagging.
Jealousy does not protrude its forked
tongue at the artist who produces a
commonplace painting.
Whatsoever you write, or paint, or play,
or sing, or build, no one will strive to
surpass or to slander you, unless your
work be stamped with the seal of genius.
Long, long after a great work or a good
work has been done, those who are dis-
appointed or envious continue to cry
out that it cannot be done.
Spiteful little voices in the domain of
art were raised against our own Whistler
as a mountebank, long after the big
world had acclaimed him its greatest genius.
Multitudes flocked to
worship at the musical shrine of
Wagner, while the little group of those
whom he had dethroned and displaced
argued angrily that he was no musician
at all.
The little world continued to protest
that
boat, while the big world flocked to
the river to see his boat steam by.
The leader is assailed because he is a
leader, and the effort to equal him is
merely added proof of that leadership.
Failing to equal or to excel, the follower
seeks to depreciate and to destroy -- but
only confirms once more the superiority
of that which he strives to supplant.
There is nothing new in this.
It is as old as the world and as old as
the human passions -- envy, fear, greed,
ambition, and the desire to surpass.
And it all avails nothing.
If the leader truly leads, he remains --
the leader.
Master-poet, master-painter, master-
workman, each in his turn is assailed,
and each holds his laurels through the ages.
That which is good or great makes
itself known, no matter how loud
the clamor of denial.
That which deserves to live -- lives.
“Off the express way,
over the river,
off the billboard,
through the window,
off the wall . . .
NOTHING BUT NET!”
An ad for BMW
(from The New York Times –July 14, 1996)
20 THINGS
YOU SHOULD DO
IN THIS LIFETIME
An ad for TENNECO
(from The Wall Street Journal – May 28, 1996)
FOR PEOPLE WHO
never fail.
WE LOOK
FOR PEOPLE WHO
never give up.
One thing we demand from our employees is perseverance.
Throughout Tenneco, the objectives we set force people to stretch.
The standard for success is high, and the tolerance for “best efforts” is low.
Which is not to suggest that we expect perfection.
We accept failure as part of life.
But if the first approach to a problem doesn’t work, there has to be a back up. And a back up for that one.
Because at the end of the day, a goal is a goal.
It is that simple.
This no excuses approach to business has meant continuing growth in Tenneco’s earning per share . . .
An ad for
(from The Wall Street Journal -- March 17, 1989)
BEGAN
TODAY.
An ad from www.riddler.com. . .
no gain
I have a strange hobby. I collect ads. Not just any type – the ad has to be motivational or inspirational.
The next few days, I’ll share a few of my favorites.
The following is from Nike . . .
Too often we are scared.
Scared of what we might not be able to do.
Scared of what people might think if we tried.
We let our fears stand in the way of our hopes.
We say “No,” when we want to say “Yes.”
We sit quietly when we want to scream.
And we shout with the others,
when we should keep our mouths shut.
Why?
After all,
we do only go around once.
There’s really no time to be afraid.
So stop.
Try something you’ve never tried.
Risk it.
Enter a triathlon.
Write a letter to the editor.
Demand a raise.
Call winners at the toughest court.
Throw away your television.
Bicycle across the
Try bobsledding.
Try anything.
Speak out against the designated hitter.
Travel to a country where you don’t speak the language.
Patent something.
Call her.
You have nothing to lose
and everything
everything
everything to gain.
JUST DO IT.
-- Barry Sanders
retired superstar running back
height: 5’8”
Dedicated to: James Hester, the “Michael Flately of Montclair State”
“GOD
CREATED
A BODY
THAT CAN
WITHSTAND
ALMOST
EVERYTHING –
IT’S
THE MIND
THAT
YOU
HAVE TO
CONVINCE.”
A woman was dying of AIDS.
A priest was summoned. He tried to comfort her, but to no avail.
“I am lost,” she said. “I have ruined my life and the life of everyone around me. Now I’m painfully going to go to hell. There’s no hope for me.”
The priest saw a framed picture of a young girl on her dresser.
“Who is this beautiful picture of?” he asked.
The woman brightened up and said, “She’s the light of my life. That’s my daughter.”
The priest asked, “If she were in trouble or if she made a mistake would you help her? Would you forgive her? Would you still love her?”
“Of course I would!” the woman cried. “I would do anything for her. Why do you ask such a question?”
“Because I want you to know,” said the priest, “that God has a framed picture of you on His dresser.”
If you been calling Success Hotline (973.743.4690) or reading this blog, you know I’m a big believer in “acting as if.”
I think “act as if” are the three most powerful words in the English language.
Sometimes I get a little too serious when I start talking (“preaching”) about this subject.
I think I’ll start using this story that comes from Parables, Etc. . . .
Former NBA center and coach Johnny Kerr said his biggest test as a coach came when he coached the then-expanding team the Chicago Bulls and his biggest player was 6’8” Erwin Mueller.
“We had lost seven in a row, and I decided to give a psychological pep talk before a game with the Celtics,” Kerr said.
“I told Bob Boozer to go out and pretend he was the best scorer in basketball. I told Jerry Sloan to pretend he was the best defensive guard. I told Guy Rodgers to pretend he could run an offense better than any other guard, and I told Erwin Mueller to pretend he was the best rebounding, shot-blocking, scoring center in the game.
“We lost the game by 17. I was pacing around the locker room afterward trying to figure out what to say when Mueller walked up, put his arm around me, and said, ‘Don’t worry about it, Coach. Just pretend we won.’ ”
GUARANTEE:
2 MINUTES
&
43 SECONDS
FROM NOW –
YOU’LL BE SMILING!!!
Example is not the main thing in influencing others – it is the only thing.
-- Dr. Albert Schweitzer (1875-1965), medical missionary
Once a woman approached Gandhi and asked if he would tell her son to stop eating sugar.
“Please bring your son back in two weeks and I will speak to him.”
Two weeks later, the woman returned with her son.
Gandhi said to the boy, “Stop eating sugar.”
The woman then asked Gandhi why she and her son had to wait two weeks for that message.
“Because two weeks ago, I was eating sugar,” Gandhi replied.
Example is not the main thing in influencing others – it is the only thing.
-- Dr. Albert Schweitzer (1875-1965), medical missionary
#1.
IS ONLY
LIMITED
BY
YOUR DESIRE.”
#2.
INSPIRED PERSON
IS
CAPABLE OF
ANYTHING.”
This is a classic “thinking outside of the box” problem . . .
It is the 18th hole of a golf tournament and you have an excellent chance of winning.
Your ball has fallen just short of the green and has rolled into a small paper bag.
If you move the bag, it will cost you a penalty stroke.
If you hit the ball while it is in the bag, you will lose control of the shot.
How can you solve this problem???
Click here to submit your answer.
THANK YOU, GREG MURIN
“A light heart lives long.” – Shakespeare
I love this article. A big THANK YOU to ED SMITH for sharing it.
New York Times
March 6, 2008
Life’s Work
By LISA BELKIN
WORK, in its most traditional sense, is the antithesis of fun. As my grandmother used to say, when I complained about a boss or a deadline, “There’s a reason they call it work.”
Grandma would be beyond surprised at what Adrian Gostick and Scott Christopher have to say in “The Levity Effect: Why It Pays to Lighten Up” (Wiley). The book, which is to be released later this month, examines how fun in the office increases the bottom line. And they are very serious about that.
“If they’re busting a gut,” said Mr. Christopher, a comedian and humor columnist for Human Capital magazine, they’ll bust their bottoms.
“When they’re laughing, they’re listening,” said Mr. Gostick, an author and consultant on employee motivation.
The two chuckle as they throw out favorite arguments:
Being fun gets you hired! A study of 737 chief executives of major corporations found that 98 percent would hire an applicant with a good sense of humor over one who seemed to lack one.
Having fun makes people loyal! According to a survey of 1,000 workers conducted for the authors by the research firm Ipsos, employees who laugh at work tend to stay. Those who rated their manager’s sense of humor “above average” also said there was a 90 percent chance they would stay in their job for more than a year. If they worked for a boss whose sense of humor they describe as “average” or below, the employee’s chances of staying dropped to 77 percent.
Amusing people go far! According to a study in the Harvard Business Review, executives described by co-workers as having a good sense of humor “climb the corporate ladder more quickly, and earn more money than their peers.”
A good laugh is good for your health! A study from the University of Maryland showed that while stress decreased blood flow, humor increased it.
By 22 percent.
Point taken. Laughter is beneficial. And potentially good for business. But isn’t that knowledge its own form of stress? I mean, what if you aren’t funny?
Don’t we have enough to worry about at a job interview without adding “ability to do stand-up” to the list —humor is so subjective, and so potentially deflating when it falls flat. And don’t bosses have enough to handle, what with this slumping economy, without being expected to rally the troops by making them laugh? There are quite a few smart and industrious folk out there who have no business (in either sense of the word) getting up at the front of the office and doing a comedy routine.
Not to worry, Mr. Gostick said. “We define levity as more of a lightness, more being fun than being funny,” he said. “Great leaders have a way of bringing lightness into the workplace.”
“The boss is not necessarily the humor giver,” added Mr. Christopher (the two tend to take turns talking in interviews), “as much as the humor enabler, or, at least, the humor tolerator.”
In recent years, a growing number of companies have strived to have “lighthearted” workplaces, Mr. Gostick said.
Bain & Company, the business consulting firm, does that by gathering more than 400 employees from around the world for the annual Bain World Cup soccer tournament. Lego
Some companies actually put a group or an individual in charge of planning the levity.
At the advertising agency iris
“Keeping people happy is what makes them perform,” he said. “The trick about running a successful business is to attract talent, and then this is the part people seem to forget, to manage and retain that talent. That’s what the squads are for.”
The Smile Squad often teams up with the Sports Squad, which sees that everyone gets some exercise, and the Lash Squad, which, Mr. Shanley explained, “takes people out and gets them merrily drunk once in a while.”
Whoa. Company-sanctioned drinking? Might that not make some people uncomfortable? What about recovering alcoholics? What about those whose religion or health prohibit alcohol? What about those with malt and hops allergies?
“There’s a time and a place,” Mr. Christopher said. “Levity doesn’t mean a lack of sensitivity.”
But one person’s sensitivity is another’s wet blanket, and one person’s idea of funny is another’s grounds for a lawsuit. Just as some companies seem to be getting it right, recent history is also rife with examples of bosses who missed the mark.
A study out of
Dr. Makoto Natsume, a psychiatrist at Osaka University, has identified what he calls “smile mask syndrome” and argues that it causes women to suppress their real emotions, leading to depression, muscle pain and repetitive-stress injury of the face.
In other words, enforced levity can make you sick.
And then there is Dr. Robert Woo, an oral surgeon of
While the patient was under anesthesia for the implants, Dr. Woo played a practical joke of sorts. He installed two bridges, which he had designed to look like boar tusks (which Dr. Woo must have thought were similar to potbellied pig tusks), and then took pictures of his sedated employee. By the time she awoke, proper new teeth were in place.
But the assistant learned what had happened when the photos surfaced at an office party.
She quit and sued, then settled out of court for $250,000.
I’ve missed more than 9,000 shots in my career.
I’ve lost almost 300 games.
Twenty-six times I’ve been trusted to take the game-winning shot and missed.
I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life.
And that is why I succeed.
-- Michael Jordan
Once upon a time, there was a penguin who was surfing the web.
He came across the website of a motivational speaker who specialized in teaching pigs how to fly.
The penguin was amazed and thought, “If this person can teach pigs to fly, maybe he can perform a miracle and also teach penguins to fly.”
The penguin emailed the motivational speaker and asked him if he could teach penguins to fly.
“Of course. No problem,” The speaker responded.
The penguin then asked him if he would be interested in coming to the South Pole.
The speaker said it would be very expensive.
The money was raised.
The travel arrangements were made.
Everything was all set.
On the big day, 100 excited penguins showed up at a hotel for the seminar.
The motivational speaker began the seminar by telling the penguins that there were only two things they had to do to fly:
#1. Flap your wings harder.
#2. Believe in yourself.
He started teaching them how to flap really, really, really hard.
The penguins learned how to flap harder, but not one of the penguins left the ground.
Then the motivational speaker had ladders set up all around the room. He explained that he wanted the penguins to start on the first rung, jump off and flap really hard.
They started on the first rung. They jumped off and flapped. And then they all fell flat on their beaks.
Next, then they progressed to the second rung. They jumped off, flapped really hard, but no success.
When they got to the third rung, all of a sudden some one of the penguins yelled out, “Look at Ralph! Look at Ralph!”
Ralph was up and flying for about 10 seconds.
That did it!
As soon as the penguins saw that it was possible, they started to believe!
One after another, they started flying. They were up in the air for five seconds . . . 10 seconds . . . 30 seconds . . .
By the end of the day, every single one of the penguins was flying for as long as they wanted!
The seminar was a resounding success.
When it ended, the speaker didn’t just get a standing ovation -- he received a flying one, too!
This is not about politics . . . it’s not about Bill Clinton -- it’s about you.
Get Alan Lakein’s book. One of the great time-management books of all time.
IT WORKS!
From the prologue to My Life by Bill Clinton . . .
When I was a young man just out of law school and eager to get on with my life, on a whim I briefly put aside my reading preference for fiction and history and bought one of those how-to books: “How to Get Control of Your Time and Your Life,” by Alan Lakein.
The book’s main point was the necessity of listing short-, medium-, and long-term life goals, then categorizing them in order of their importance, with the A group being the most important, the B group next, and the C the last, then listing under each goal specific activities designed to achieve them.
I still have that paperback book, now almost thirty years old. And I’m sure I have that old list somewhere buried in my papers, though I can’t find it. However, I do remember the A list. I wanted to be a good man, have a good marriage and children, have good friends, make a successful political life, and write a great book.
It’s an easy as A . . . B . . . C . . .
Tom Monaghan, founder of Domino’s Pizza, wanted to meet his hero -- Ray Kroc, founder of McDonald’s. In The 13 Secrets of Power Performance (Prentice Hall), Roger Dawson tells what happened when Monaghan finally met Kroc:
For years he would call Kroc’s office every month to get an appointment, but was never successful. Then he heard that Kroc, who was by then 78 years old, was in failing health. So Monaghan flew to
His persistence paid off and Kroc’s assistants finally granted him a 15-minute audience that turned into a 2 1/2-hour mutual appreciation meeting.
Kroc peppered him with questions about his operation and impressed Monaghan with how quickly he caught on.
“In no time at all he understood Domino’s as well as anyone except me,” Tom said.
Suddenly Ray Kroc leaned forward in his chair and said, “I’m going to give you some advice. You have it made now. You can do anything you want; make all the money you can possibly spend. So what I think you should do now is slow down. Take it easy. Open a few stores every year, but be careful. Don’t make any new deals that could get you into trouble. Play it safe.”
This astounded Monaghan because conservatism was the last thing he expected to hear from his hero.
He finally blurted out, “But that wouldn’t be any fun!”
Kroc paused and looked hurt. Finally he broke into a huge grin and started pumping Tom’s hand.
“That’s just what I hoped you’d say!”
The following sign was seen over the door of a soccer coach in
EVERYONE WHO
PASSES
THROUGH THIS
DOOR
BRINGS
HAPPINESS.
SOME WHEN THEY
ENTER,
SOME WHEN THEY
LEAVE.
