Motivation

"If you want to leave your footprints on the sands of time, be sure you're wearing work shoes." -- Author Unknown

"No matter how bad someone has it, there are others who have it worse. Remembering that makes life a lot easier and allows you to take pleasure in the blessings you have been given." -- Lou Holtz

"The starting point of all achievement is desire. Keep this constantly in mind. Weak desires bring weak results, just as a small fire makes a small amount of heat." -- Napoleon Hill, author

"If life was so easy that you could just go buy success, there would be a lot more successful companies in the world. Successful enterprises are built from the ground up." -- Lou Gerstner, IBM CEO

"You can turn painful situations around through laughter. If you can find humor in anything, even poverty, you can survive it." Bill Cosby Comedian, Actor, and Author

"Kindness is more important than wisdom, and the recognition of this is the beginning of wisdom." -- Theodore Isaac Rubin, Psychiatrist

Over the years I've learned to challenge my audiences to turn their response to the ideas and information they receive into results. According to the Christian story, the first couple, Adam and Eve, was instructed to be fruitful - produce some results. Fruitful is kind of an interesting word; it denotes abundance. Here's what I think fruitful, abundance and productivity mean - to go to work on producing more than you need for yourself. I think we fulfill that command given to us so long ago to be productive, to produce far more than we need for ourselves, by blessing others, blessing our nation and blessing our enterprise. Challenge yourself to produce more ideas than you need for yourself so you can share and give your ideas away. Produce more in terms of substance and all things valuable to human beings, far more than you need for yourself. I am reminded of R.G. LeTourneau's story, the man who built the big earth moving machines; it was his goal to someday give away 90%...

Will, Fern, and the Power of Encouragement Two frogs named Will and Fern fell into a deep pit together. At first, they thought it would be easy to jump out. But after lots of failed attempts they cried for help and a crowd of animals gathered around the pit. Everyone agreed it was hopeless so they urged Will and Fern to accept their fate. The harder the trapped frogs jumped, the more the crowd yelled at them to give up. Finally, Will stopped trying. Fern refused to quit and with one mighty try she leaped out of the pit. The crowd was amazed. Someone asked her why she kept trying when everyone told her she had no chance. Fern was baffled. “What are you saying?” she asked. “I’m a bit deaf. I was sure you were all cheering me on. I couldn’t have done it without your encouragement.” I learned of this story from a woman who was in a transitional housing program recovering from a long period of drug abuse, homelessness and hopelessness. She wanted everyone to und...