Philosophy
Stop Crippling Your Potential
Did you come up with a valid excuse for not doing something in 2008? If not, either your a truly honest person who knows how not to hinder their opportunities and doesn’t look for the easy way out, or your a liar. To be fair, I believe the majority is in the latter or you said yes, and don’t worry I came up with an excuse and used it all year round, too. It’s something that’s unavoidable you make an excuse based on facts but doesn’t really have a standing on that area of your life.
With me, I failed out of college and used an excuse all year round that could have been an influence, but I know wasn’t. The night before 3 of my final exams the first semester I suffered severe muscle spasms in my upper back and ended up in the E.R., until 2 in the morning, and also had to pack to leave school so I didn’t sleep at all. It’s all true, except I omitted the fact that I had already slipped to the bottom of my classes, or close to it. I went back for the 2nd semester but gave up on everything in the 3rd week after I realized that I wasn’t going to be able to keep my scholarships. This damn thing has been my crutch and I limped around with it just because I could; well now it’s time to change.
If you share an excuse like that with me; I want you to toss the crutch out and be honest with yourself and with others. You can be great, your just going to have to learn to walk again without having a crutch there to keep you from falling down. You can be whatever you want to, but first you must see it, then you must do it. The world is at your fingertips are you going to take it by storm this year. Here’s a quote to keep you going throughout the year.
“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act, but a habit.” ~ Aristotle
The Value Of Providing Assistance
Over the weekend, I met a couple who had just gotten off of their plane, and had had someone drop their vehicle at the airport for them. Unfortunately, they were not informed of the location of their vehicle. Not having any other tasks at hand I decided to help find their vehicle and once found I offered to help them with their baggage, which they graciously allowed me to do. After, we had finished packing the luggage into the vehicle we talked for a few minutes and I waved them off as if they were my friends. I guess, technically, we were and we had created a relationship, in under 15 minutes, just by me offering to help. You read that correctly, “We had created a relationship in under 15 minutes.”
How often can you manage to meet nice people and forge a relationship with them in so short a time? It’s rarely happened to me that it has occurred in the same way as it did in that situation. Normally, if I attempt to help people they get offended or are just genuinely unappreciative of the effort that I put into their happiness and satisfaction. No matter what their response I’m going to feel good for assisting.
I guess the value that I get is a good feeling and occasionally some single-serving friends, even if you didn’t meet them on a plane it’s a great term.
So have your ever assisted somebody and formed a relationship or just felt good about what you had done for them? Leave me some comments on what you think the value of providing assistance would be to both parties. Hope you enjoyed the post.
Collection of Twinspiration Nov. 11 – Dec. 10
For anyone who doesn’t know what this is, it is a set of inspirational quotes that I deliver every day on Twitter. I have been doing it for a few months and it’s my way of adding value to my followers. If you would like to read the others you can find a Collection of Twinspiration Oct. 10 – Nov. 10 and you can also follow me @jimminy.
“A true gentleman is calm and at ease; the Small man is fretful and ill at ease.” ~ Confucius, The Analects Book VII, Verse 36
“What a man thinks of himself, that it is which determines, or rather indicates, his fate.” ~ Henry David Thoreau
“What we do for ourselves dies with us. What we do for others and the world remains and is immortal.” ~ Albert Pine
“One’s gratitude is a far greater judge of character than one’s attitude.”
“We confide in our strength, without boasting of it; we respect that of others, without fearing it.” ~ Thomas Jefferson
“With fame I become more and more stupid, which of course is a very common phenomenon.” ~ Albert Einstein
“Measure not the work until the day’s out and the labor done.” ~ Elizabeth Barrett Browning
“Think to yourself that every day is your last; the hour to which you do not look forward will come as a welcome surprise.” ~ Horace
“You see things; and you say, ‘Why?’ But I dream things that never were; and I say, “Why not?” ~ George Bernard Shaw
“Don’t go around saying the world owes you a living. The world owes you nothing. It was here first.” ~ Mark Twain
“We all die. The goal isn’t to live forever. The goal is to create something that will.” ~ Chuck Palahniuk
“There is no formula for success, except perhaps an unconditional acceptance of life and what it brings.” ~ Arthur Rubinstein
“In order to learn the important lessons in life, one must, each day, surmount a fear.” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
“The world doesn’t revolve around me (or you), but by people caring for others.” ~ A Life Defined By Death
“Although the world is full of suffering, it is full also of the overcoming of it.” ~ Hellen Keller
“Familiarity with danger makes a brave man braver, but less daring.” ~ Herman Melville
“In giving, a man receives more than he gives; and the more is in proportion to the worth of the thing given.” ~ George Macdonald
“A purpose of human life, no matter who is controlling it, is to love whoever is around to be loved.” ~ Kurt Vonnegut
“If we could first know where we are, and whither we are tending, we could then better judge what to do, and how to do it.” ~ Abraham Lincoln
“Nature is full of genius, full of the divinity; so that not a snowflake escapes its fashioning hand.” ~ Henry David Thoreau
“Today is not the time to be thankful for what we have accomplished and have individually, but what we can accomplish and share together.”
“Appreciation is a wonderful thing: It makes what is excellent in others belong to us as well.” ~ Voltaire
“Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.” ~ Leo Tolstoy
“We haven’t got the power to destroy the planet or to save it. But we might have the power to save ourselves.” ~ Ian Malcolm
“Be not afraid of greatness: some men are born great, some achieve greatness and some have greatness thrust upon them.” ~ Shakespeare
“Little things you take for granted may be something huge and astounding to someone who doesn’t experience them every day.”
“Out of clutter, find simplicity. From discord, find harmony. In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.” ~ Albert Einstein
“Wheresoever you go, go with all your heart.” ~ Confucius
“Apologize when you screw up and focus on other people, not on yourself.” ~ Randy Pausch
“The only thing that will redeem mankind is cooperation.” ~ Bertrand Russell
“Our wise acts accompany us through life to please us and help us. Just as surely our unwise acts follow us to plaque and torment us.” ~ George Clason
“We were making the future,” he said, “and hardly any of us troubled to think what future we were making. And here it is!” ~ H.G. Wells
5 Life Lessons You Can Learn From Poker
I used to play a lot of poker, but I quit while I was trying to bring my grades back up and also had a long streak of losses. Recently, I began playing about 2-3 games a week just for fun and realized that a lot of what I’ve learned about business, entrepreneurship, and finance are key to the game. You don’t have to play poker to understand these principles that make it easier to be a winner in life and on the felt.
- Bankroll Management:This is definitely one of the largest keys to the game of poker, making sure you can still be in the game when your opportunity arises. The concept is that your allowing yourself to achieve the maximum value at the lowest risk possible. If your good at managing your stack you can take a small stack and still come out on top, do the same with your skills, talents, and money and you will can build a great life. This is the foundation that you build off of.
- Aggressively Take Chances: The more you risk in the early stages the easier it will be to recoup losses or exploit your massive advantage in mid- and late-game. This becomes especially true if you are good at managing your bankroll.
- Know When to Back Down: The corollary to number 2, being aggressive can put your in a winning position in most situations, but if you get cocky you might end up losing everything. You may scare away the source of your income. It’s up to you to toss a few hands, either due to the fact that your hand sucks or just to provide an incorrect position to your competition.
- Opportunities are not Rare: Yes, this may not be 100 percent true in life; it is in poker though. Every hand your dealt is an opportunity to advance, in life you have probably on average one opportunity every day. The problem is that most people don’t have the skills to see opportunities in their peripheral, only the obvious ones that stand out right in front of them.
- Luck is a Factor: Every person is dealt a different starting hand, sometimes you will be beat before you ever see your hand. The only thing that you can do is try to take advantage of what you’ve been giving.