I was listening to an interview on NPR with Michael J. Fox this morning and heard some great quotes.
1. Time is a conspiracy to keep everything from happening at once. (attributed to Einstein)
2. Non of the holes of failure are vacuums and life will naturally fill them in.
3. Happiness is focusing on pleasing those you most want to please and learning from their disappoinment when you don’t.
by Booker T Washington:Â “I have learned that success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles he has overcome while choosing to succeed. Out of the hard and unusual struggle through which one is compelled to pass, he gets a strength and confidence that another might miss whose pathway is comparatively smooth by reason of birth or race.”
They are:
David Ogilvy, the founder of Ogilvy, Benson, and Mather, one of the great advertising firms of our time says, that “the majority of businessmen are incapable of original thought because they are unable to escape the tyranny of reason.”  Bruce Larson-My Creator, My Friend
By: Brian Tracy
Integrity is a value, like persistence, courage and industriousness. Even more than that, it is the value that guarantees all the other values. You are a good person to the degree to which you live your life consistent with the highest values that you espouse. Integrity is the quality that locks in your values and causes you to live consistent with them.
Integrity is the foundation of character. And character development is one of the most important activities you can engage in. Working on your character means disciplining yourself to do more and more of those things that a thoroughly honest person would do, under all circumstances.
To be impeccably honest with others, you must first be impeccably honest with yourself. You must be true to yourself. You must be true to the very best that is in you, to the very best that you know. Only a person who is living consistent with his or her highest values and virtues is really living a life of integrity. And when you commit to living this kind of life, you will find yourself continually raising your own standards, continually refining your definition of integrity and honesty.
You can tell how high your level of integrity is by simply looking at the things you do in your day-to-day life. You can look at your reactions and responses to the inevitable ups and downs of life. You can observe the behaviors you typically engage in and you will then know the person you are.
The external manifestation of high integrity is high-quality work. A person who is totally honest with himself or herself will be someone who does, or strives to do, excellent work on every occasion. The totally honest person recognizes, sometimes unconsciously, that everything he or she does is a statement about who he or she really is as a person.
When you start a little earlier, work a little harder, stay a little later and concentrate on every detail, you are practicing integrity in your work. And whether you know it or not, your true level of integrity is apparent and obvious to everyone around you.
Perhaps the most important rule you will ever learn is that your life only becomes better when you become better.
All of life is lived from the inside out. At the very core of your personality lie your values about yourself and life in general. Your values determine the kind of person you really are. What you believe has defined your character and your personality. It is what you stand for, and what you wont stand for, that tells you and the world the kind of person you have become.
Ask yourself this question: What are your five most important values in life? Your answer will reveal an enormous amount about you. What would you pay for, sacrifice for, suffer for and even die for? What would you stand up for, or refuse to lie down for? What are the values that you hold most dear? Think these questions through carefully and, when you get a chance, write down your answers. Heres another way of asking that question. What men and women, living or dead, do you most admire? Once you pick three or four men or women, the next question is: Why do you admire them? What values, qualities, or virtues do they have that you respect and look up to? Can you articulate those qualities? What is a quality possessed by human beings in general that you most respect? This is the starting point for determining your values. The answers to these questions form the foundation of your character and your personality.
Once you have determined your five major values, you should now organize them in order of importance. What is your first, most important value? What is your second value? What is your third value? And so on. Ranking your values is one of the very best and fastest ways to define your character.
Remember, a higher order value will always take precedence over a lower order value. Whenever you are forced to choose between acting on one value or another, you always choose the value that is the highest on your own personal hierarchy.
Who you are, in your heart, is evidenced by what you do on a day-to-day basis, especially when you are pushed into a position where you have to make a choice between two values or alternatives. Ralph Waldo Emerson said, Guard your integrity as a sacred thing. In study after study, the quality of integrity, or a persons adherence to values, ranks as the number one quality sought in every field. When it comes to determining whom they will do business with, customers rank the honesty of a salesperson as the most important single quality. Even if a they feel that a salespersons product, quality and price is superior, customers will not buy from that salesperson if they feel that he or she is lacking in honesty and character.
Likewise, integrity is the number one quality of leadership. Integrity in leadership is expressed in terms of constancy and consistency. It is manifested in an absolute devotion to keeping ones word. The glue that holds all relationships together-including the relationship between the leader and the led-is trust, and trust is based on integrity.
Integrity is so important that functioning in our society would be impossible without it. We could not make even a simple purchase without a high level of confidence that the price was honest and that the change was correct. The most successful individuals and companies in America are those with reputations of high integrity among everyone they deal with. This level of integrity builds the confidence that others have in them and enables them to do more business than their competitors whose ethics may be a little shaky. Earl Nightingale once wrote, If honesty did not exist, it would have to be invented, as it is the surest way of getting rich. A study at Harvard University concluded that the most valuable asset that a company has is how it is known to its customers, its reputation.
By the same token, your greatest personal asset is the way that you are known to your customers. It is your personal reputation for keeping your word and fulfilling your commitments. Your integrity precedes you and affects all of your interactions with other people. There are several things you can do to move you more rapidly toward becoming the kind of person that you know you are capable of becoming. The first, as I mentioned, is to decide upon your five most important values in life. Organize them in order of priority. Then write a brief paragraph defining what each of those values means to you. A value combined with a definition becomes an organizing principle, a statement that you can use to help you make better decisions. It is a measure and standard which enables you to know how closely you are adhering to your innermost beliefs and convictions.
The second step to developing integrity and character in yourself is to study men and women of great character. Study the lives and stories of people like George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Winston Churchill, Florence Nightingale, Susan B. Anthony and Margaret Thatcher. Study the people whose strength of character enabled them to change their world. As you read, think about how they would behave if they were facing the difficulties that you face.
Napoleon Hill, in his book, The Master Key to Riches, tells about how he created an imaginary board of personal advisors made up of great figures of history. He chose people like Napoleon, Lincoln, Jesus, and Alexander the Great. Whenever he had to make a decision, he would relax deeply and then imagine that the members of his advisory council were sitting at a large table in front of him. He would then ask them what he should do to deal effectively with a particular situation. In time, they would begin to give him answers, observations, and insights that helped him to see more clearly and act more effectively.
You can do the same thing. Select someone that you very much admire for their qualities of courage, tenacity, honesty, or wisdom. Ask yourself, What would Jesus do in my situation? or, What would Lincoln do if he were here at this time? You will find yourself with guidance that enables you to be the very best person that you can possible be.
The third and most important step in building your integrity has to do with formulating your approach based on the psychology of human behavior. We know that if you feel a particular way, you will act in a manner consistent with that feeling. For example, if you feel happy, you will act happy. If you feel angry, you will act angry. If you feel courageous, you will act courageously.
But we also know that you don’t always start off feeling the way you want to. However, because of the Law of Reversibility, if you act as if you had a particular feeling, the action will generate the feeling consistent with it. You can, in effect, act your way into feeling. You can fake it until you make it.
You can become a superior human being by consciously acting exactly as the kind of person that you would most like to become. If you behave like an individual of integrity, courage, resolution, persistence and character, you will soon create within yourself the mental structure and habits of such a person. Your actions will become your reality. You will create a personality that is consistent with your highest aspirations.
The more you walk, talk, and behave consistent with your highest values, the more you will like yourself and the better you will feel about yourself. Your self-image will improve and your level of self-acceptance will go up. You will feel stronger, bolder, and more capable of facing any challenge.
There are three primary areas of your life where acting with integrity is crucial. These are the three areas of greatest temptation for forsaking your integrity, as well as the areas of greatest opportunity for building your integrity. When you listen to your inner voice and do what you know to be the right thing in each of these areas, you will have a sense of peace and satisfaction that will lead you on to success and high achievement.
The first area of integrity has to do with your relationships with your family and your friends, the people close to you. Being true to yourself means living in truth with each person in your life. It means refusing to say or do something that you dont believe is right. Living in truth with other people means that you refuse to stay in any situation where you are unhappy with the behavior of another person. You refuse to tolerate it. You refuse to compromise. Psychologists have determined that most stress and negativity comes from attempting to live in a way that is not congruent with your highest values. It is when your life is out of alignment, when you are doing and saying one thing on the outside, but really feeling and believing something different on the inside, that you feel most unhappy. When you decide to become an individual of character and integrity, your first action will be to neutralize or remove all difficult relationships from your life.
This doesnt mean that you have to go and hit somebody over the head with a stick. It simply means that you honestly confront another person and tell them that you are not happy. Tell them that you would like to reorganize this relationship so that you feel more content and satisfied. If the other person is not willing to make adjustments so that you can be happy, it should be clear to you that you don’t want to be in this relationship much longer anyway. The second area of integrity has to do with your attitude and behavior toward money. Casualness toward money brings casualties in your financial life. You must be fastidious about your treatment of money, especially other peoples money. You must guard your credit rating the same way you would guard your honor. You must pay your bills punctually, or even early. You must keep your promises with regard to your financial commitments.
The third area of integrity has to do with your commitments to others, especially in your business, your work and your sales activities. Always keep your word. Be a man or a woman of honor. If you say that you will do something, do it. If you make a promise, keep it. If you make a commitment, fulfill it. Be known as the kind of person that can be trusted absolutely, no matter what the circumstances.
Your integrity is manifested in your willingness to adhere to the values you hold most dear. Its easy to make promises and hard to keep them, but if you do, every single act of integrity will make your character a little stronger. And as you improve the quality and strength of your character, every other part of your life will improve as well.
About Brian Tracy
Brian Tracy is a leading authority on personal and business success. As Chairman and CEO of Brian Tracy International, he is the best-selling author of 17 books and over 300 audio and video learning programs. Copyright 2001 Brian Tracy International. All Rights Reserved. http://www.briantracy.com/
Pastor Larry Bond Ezekiel 22:30           And I sought for a man among them, that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it: but I found none          Oh, there are plenty of males, and we are overwhelmed with macho types! But where are the men? Where is the chivalry? Where are the gentlemen? Where are the men of honor? Our society is devoid of men of character and integrity, and the way has been led by such men of questionable character as our former president, Bill Clinton. The social image of a real man portrays him as macho, but in reality he is irresponsible, self indulgent, proud and arrogant, a user of others, hot tempered, and even violent. No wonder so many marriages are in trouble today! The problem is being perpetuated from generation to generation by irresponsible, self indulgent fathers who are more concerned about the score of the ball game than whether or not their sons are learning responsibility. These couch potatoes let their wives do the disciplining, training, and teaching; the repair work around the house; and when the wife needs emotional support, they’re too tired. When boys do not have the right father image, they themselves will likely make lousy husbands and fathers. “I sought for a man…but I found none,” said the prophet Ezekiel. It seems this is the condition in our country today also! To be sure there are a few MEN, but very few. By enlarge the males in America are macho wimps. America was not made great by such types, but by great men like our founding fathers who were willing to give up their reputations, their possessions, and even their lives for the cause of freedom and to do what was right. What has caused this degeneration of character in our men? First, boys are not emulating the right heroes! On their bedroom walls we find pictures of Hollywood movie stars, rock-n-roll idols, or sports champions. Hair cuts and color (sometimes pink) and dress style reveal this problem, along with life style, music, entertainment, and activities. To be cool with their peers, they must worship “the heroes”. It has been a great blessing for our family to read together the biographies of great Christians. From George Meuller we learn about godly character and great faith in prayer; from D. L. Moody what can happen when one gives himself completely over to God; from Adariam Judson the souls of men are more valuable than comfort, security, personal safety, or even physical life; from Gladys Alward God always provides the means to accomplish His call; from Corry Ten Boom love, joy, and peace in Christ can never be crushed by the Destroyer; from John Bunyon progress through the Christian life is full of temptations and hardships but with the beautiful celestial city as our goal; and from Bro. Andrew God does the impossible to get His Word to hungry souls. These and many other godly Christians of the past are the heroes our children should seek to emulate. And of course, our Lord is our ultimate hero for we are to be conformed to His image (Romans 8:29). What this world needs is another Moody, Meuller, or Billy Sunday – a man to stand in the gap! When nobody else will take responsibility, will our sons step forward and say “I’ll do it, I’ll go, I’ll lead the way? – Only if they have the right heroes!   Secondly, was it a blessing when farmers moved to the city no longer needing their sons to help with providing for the family on the farm? Or, was it a curse? People say “I had it so hard when I was growing up – I’m soooo thankful my children will have it easier”. What a big mistake! The easy comfortable things of life tend to make us irresponsible, selfish, weak, lazy, without purpose, and intolerant of others when they infringe on our comfort zone. But, the hardships are what build godly character in our children. – As “gold…tried with fire”. Ten years ago we moved to the country. We have milked cows, butchered our meat, planted gardens, built houses, bridges, a barn, and a shop. The work never ends – praise the Lord! The first year was really tough. We camped out in the summer while we built a cabin. It seemed like it rained every day all through August. Keeping warm in our cabin that winter was a full time job – the pipes all froze, our waterbed became slushy, and my socks froze to the floor. My sons and I had to do some very difficult cold things to insure safety and provide an element of comfort for the girls and my wife. What a blessing it is when young men learn to lay down their lives for their family. I know of several Christian families who have moved to farms and some that are planning to do so soon for this very reason. City life rarely produces men of character. Certainly it is possible to raise godly young men in the city, but it must be done on purpose giving them plenty of hard work and responsibility. Tough job when all their friends have a lot of idle time.Thirdly, in the past sons worked right along side dad learning a trade and helping to support the family, but in recent years father’s occupation has become less conducive to the presence of children. Child labor laws, fear of law suits, liability insurance restrictions, 6-8 hours of school for the children, etc. are all Satan’s tools to destroy the influence of fathers in their sons lives. God used the recession of the ’80’s to make us use this wonderful old tradition. I was unable to make enough income to support the family myself, so my 4 sons went to work with me. We remodeled houses together, serviced repossessed houses for mortgage companies, and even sold fishing worms to stores. Some days would find us all under a house fixing rotted floors. The smaller boys could get where I couldn’t – that was handy. At midnight 5 red headlamps could be seen in the city parks as we crawled around on hands and knees picking worms to be sold to the stores the next day. We did it all together! They learned how to work, and were of vital importance in providing for the family. And, they knew it! They felt the responsibility, and took to it like real men! I praise God for those hard years! We played together too, but I confess not enough. Every summer my sons and I went to a high mountain lake to fish and camp for a week. We have many fond memories like catching fish as fast as we could reel them in, camping in snow, and eating fish, fish, fish…
It is not hard to see the degradation of men in the world, but how about Christian men today? Where are the MEN OF GOD? Yes, we have leadership, but all to often it’s fallen leadership – fallen to greed, pride, or immorality. What we need are some Elijah’s who will do right even though everyone else is doing wrong! Where are the Joshua’s that will say, “as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD”? Many Christian homes are suffering terribly because the man is selfish, caving in to his fleshly desires, and shunning his God given responsibilities to meet the spiritual, emotional, and material needs of his family! I Timothy 5:8 declares, “if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel”. I thought an infidel was as bad as it gets – this macho wimp is worse!!! Oh, for the self sacrificing MAN of integrity to step up to the plate and hit a homerun!!! There are ugly gaps in the wall of manhood! The Christian family is a crumbling, broken wall! Satan and his demons are charging through the breach attacking the children and wives! The strongman of the house seems to be bound by his selfishness, pride, and negligence. Christian fathers, husbands, young men will you step forward and stand in the gap? God is calling us to be MEN OF GOD! Will you heed the call???
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Success is achieving the maximum of your potential in the situation you are in.
Andy Andrews received inspirational letters from famous, successful people sharing their adversities.
The following are their words of wisdom.
Norman Vincent Peale: Outlove your critics
Kenny Rogers: A person only needs three things for a stable life; —someone to love, something to do, and something to look forward to.
Tom Galla, Manager 1989 Little League World Champions from Trumbull, CT:Â Whether we had won or lost that final game Trumbull had proven that hard work, dedication, talent and lots of good old-fashioned luck could make it possible for anyone to achieve their dreams.
Guy Hunt, Governor of Alabama, 1986: There are few things in life which are given to us. It takes a strong will, determination, support from your family, and a belief in God and oneself.
