The Road to Success

“The road to success and the road to failure are almost exactly the same.”

Colin R. Davis

Yes, it's all in the details isn't it?

Did you pray on it, plan it, prepare it, work on it and not give up when the going got tough? Then you're way more likely to be successful than the guy that just plunged in without thinking, planning, preparing and working...

Missed Opportunity

“Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.”
Thomas Edison

Oh my, isn't that the truth!

I'm sure we all know a few people, maybe family members, and maybe (some days) ourselves. I know that I have my lazy moments where I have a great idea, but, but, but, it looks like hecka work. It's not until I pick myself up off my duff and get busy that the vision pays off. In the meantime, until I choose to get started, it's just another missed opportunity.

So, are you going to miss an opportunity today? Or are you going to choose to get busy with it?

Success and Criticism

"The man who makes a success of an important venture never wails for the crowd. He strikes out for himself. It takes nerve, it takes a great lot of grit; but the man that succeeds has both. Anyone can fail. The public admires the man who has enough confidence in himself to take a chance. These chances are the main things after all. The man who tries to succeed must expect to be criticized. Nothing important was ever done but the greater number consulted previously doubted the possibility. Success is the accomplishment of that which most people think can't be done."
C.V. White

That's so darn true! People who don't "get" what you're doing are quick to question you and criticize. Yet those who are true friends will also be the ones that, despite their doubts, will stand by you through thick and thin, and be your greatest supporters when you're a success according to the world's standards.

In the meantime, don't give up. Keep working away at your craft and celebrate the small successes as you go, knowing that the breakthrough is right around the corner -- usually right after you face your greatest challenges.

Success

"Success is the good fortune that comes from aspiration, desperation, perspiration and inspiration."
Evan Esar

I like this quote. Success, like freedom, must be bought and paid for or it's not worth a darn thing. How many people who win the lottery actually have the money in just a few short years? Most blow it all, despite all their careful plans and good advice received. How many star athletes waste their money on wine, women and song? Sadly, too many.

Yet those of us who plow along, day after day after day, we may struggle, we make our mistakes, but we appreciate the good fortune that we have in this opportunity to work at home and do our thing -- write! 

Now don't get me wrong, I have my own winning the lottery fantasy. But I think that winning in this this lottery of life, placing myself in front of the freight train of success by using the skills that the Lord blessed me with, is way better for me in the long run.

I really believe that reaching daily goals brings success every single day.

Opportunities

"A wise man will make more opportunities than he finds."

Francis Bacon

Isn't that the truth?

I think of my old boss and mentor, Bill Yenne.

Back in the day, jobs for graphic artists/designers (now known as visual communications specialists) were few and far between. The job market was just bad for us.

That didn't stop Bill, he went out and started his own graphic design firm, leading to years of successful book publishing and a whole writing career. And when the book market tanked in the mid-90s, he kept on writing and working, making his own opportunities.

Bill is now a well-known author, still writing, still doing his thing.

All because he made his own opportunities.

Where Are You Going?

"Without goals, and plans to reach them, you are like a ship that has set sail with no destination."

Fitzhugh Dodson

That's so true. Like a ship sailing toward an unknown port, how do you know where you're trying to go if you don't set a path before you step out?

Even if your plan changes, the mere fact that you have a plan helps you plot your direction, whether it's in your personal or professional life.

Never Defeated

"We are never defeated unless we give up on God."

Ronald Reagan

God always has your back.

He never gives up on you, even at your worst moments.

But when you give up on God, then you choose to make it hard for Him to work in your life. When you don't let God in, you choose to go it alone.

But He is still there, waiting for you to figure it out.

On God's Side

"Sir, my concern is not whether God is on our side; my greatest concern is to be on God's side, for God is always right."

Abraham Lincoln

I think we get way too caught up in thinking that God is "on our side". Well, He is, but not in the way that we think it. Lincoln was right, we need to be way more concerned about doing His Will in all things.

Two Kinds of People

"There are two kinds of people: those who say to God, 'Thy will be done,' and those to whom God says, 'All right, then, have it your way.'"

C.S. Lewis

Let Freedom Ring

So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire.
Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York.
Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania!
Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado!
Let freedom ring from the curvaceous peaks of California!
But not only that; let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia!
Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee!
Let freedom ring from every hill and every molehill of Mississippi.
From every mountainside, let freedom ring.
Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

A Future Feast

"We must be careful not to let our current appetites steal away any chance we might have for a future feast."

Jim Rohn

I read this and thought, yes, we do that, don't we? We buy on credit, buy now - pay later, rather than setting our want as a goal, and then working and earning and saving toward it.

Instead we choose to sacrifice tomorrow's earnings for today's wants.

By doing this, we actually delay the satisfaction of a job well done...

We Never Lose

"My philosophy of life is that if we make up our mind what we are going to make of our lives, then work hard toward that goal, we never lose - somehow we win out."

Ronald Reagan

Wow, that was incredibly astute of Reagan.

Make a goal, work toward it, and somehow it'll all turn out just like it's supposed to be. Even if you have to revise your goals, that probably part of the Master Plan too...

My Apologies for Neglecting This Word

I've been absolutely swamped and fell behind on my blogging. Including this Word that was laid upon my heart. So what do I do now? Start anew. This is my personal quote:

"The road to Hell is paved with good intentions.

So is the road to Heaven.

What's the difference between the two? 

We choose to stop and pick up our good intentions,

and begin the Good Work that we'd been neglecting for far too long."

Me 

One Road

"He used often to say there was only one Road; that it was like a great river: it's springs were at every doorstep and every path was it's tributary. 'It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out of your door,' he used to say. 'You step into the Road, and if you don't keep your feet, there is no telling where you might be swept off to.'"
Frodo quoting Bilbo Baggins

The Lord of the Rings

When you step outside today, where will your path lead you?

Which paths will you follow? Those that are safe, secure and boring -- or will you go off the beaten path and do something new and different? Will you see the cross lying beside the road and pick it up, accepting your mandate, or will you leave it lying there, thinking that someone else needs to handle that chore?

Will you plant good seeds, anticipating the harvest?

What good deeds will you do today?

Purpose

"If you have a purpose in which you can believe, there's no end to the amount of things you can accomplish."

Marian Anderson

On this day in 1939, Marian Anderson, African-American opera singer, performed at the Lincoln Memorial. She couldn't sing at Constitution Hall because she was not white.

On January 7, 1955, Ms Anderson became the first Black American to sing at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York. According to Times magazine, here were seven curtain calls.

Modern American Poetry: About Marian Anderson and Her Lincoln Memorial Concert

http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/poets/s_z/taggard/anderson.htm

The Glory of Christianity

"The glory of Christianity is to conquer by forgiveness."

William Blake

RIP Rev. King

"A man who won't die for something is not fit to live."
Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

He was murdered while following his God-given belief that all men truly are created equal. Because of Rev. Dr. King and his fellow fighters in the battle for Civil Rights, we can live in the same neighborhoods, go to the same schools, eat in the same restaurants, even marry our Brother or Sister of Color. The battle is not over, but his participation ended on April 4, 1968.

RIP Rev. King. I know that the Lord welcomed you Home, saying "Well done, my child. Well done."

Crab Apple Seeds

"Every thought is a seed. If you plant crab apples, don't count on harvesting Golden Delicious."

Bill Meyer

Now that's a thought to keep close. If my life sucks, what is it I'm doing that makes it so bad? Is it my negative attitude, those crab apple seeds that I planted, that's leading to a harvest of sour, bitter apples?

Today is a good day to plant strawberries -- sweet, juicy and delicious -- and see what harvest I reap in return.

Missing a Day

"If you don't think every day is a good day, just try missing one."

Cavett Robert

Life is already too short, I don't have time to have bad days.

The Art of Peace

"One does not need buildings, money, power, or status to practice the Art of Peace. Heaven is right where you are standing, and that is the place to train."

Morihei Ueshiba

Stop looking for pie in the sky, bye and bye.

Start building your little piece of Heaven right where you are today.

Whether you live in the city or the country, a house or an apartment, the Lord is with you everywhere. Keep planning for the future, but start working toward it today, using what you already have to make your own Heaven on Earth.

Women's Equality

"Women hold up half the sky."

Mao Tse-Tung

I don't have to agree with Mao Tse-Tung's politics and policies to recognize the truth of his words.

Teamwork is the key to success.

The minute you think of a woman as less than yourself, the minute you disrespect the abilities and strengths of your grandmothers, mother, sister, daughter, then you're a failure in life.
Oh, you might think you're all good.
You're wrong.

Choose Change?

"Nothing external to you has any power over you."

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Emerson was right, unless you determine to change yourself, nothing external can change you UNLESS you allow it. Only you can change what's inside yourself.

You were blessed with free will and then allowed to run with it.

Will you choose to change? Or will you remain in your own comfortable (or maybe uncomfortable) space. Will you set out to change your world?

According to His Will

"And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us."

1 John 5:14

The Bible

This is so often misinterpreted in church.

There is a teaching of "name it, claim it" that has NO basis in the Bible.

This verse tells us that if our prayer is ACCORDING TO HIS WILL, he hears us. It's very plain that just because we want a new car, a new job, a new house, that if it's not according to His will, we can ask until the world ends, and He's not going to answer that prayer. In fact, he's not going to hear it.

Every prayer is answered.

Silence is an answer.

Refuel

"I have to be alone very often. I'd be quite happy if I spent from Saturday night until Monday morning alone in my apartment. That's how I refuel."

Audrey Hepburn

Just because you're alone, it doesn't mean that you're lonely.

Everyone needs some "down time" and the busier your life is, the more you need quiet time where you can relax, read, listen to music or dance to the inner music that fuels the rhythm of your heart.

Cleverness

"Cleverness is not wisdom."

Euripides

Just because you're clever, quick-thinking and believe that you're smarter than everyone around you, it doesn't make you wise. Every teenager can claim those qualities, and yet teens have so, so much to learn.

Age and experience, leavened with plenty of mistakes, along with a willingness to learn -- now that makes you wise.

Eventually.

Psalms 1

Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.
But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.
And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.
The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away.
Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.
For the LORD knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish.

Psalms 1:1-6

The Bible, King James Version

Do You Lack Ambition?

"Women who seek to be equal with men lack ambition."

Timothy Leary

God's Trust

"I know God will not give me anything I can't handle. I just wish that He didn't trust me so much."
Mother Theresa

On Writing and the Great Spirit

"For me writing has become prayers that say, `Great Spirit, return to us our freedom, our land, and our lives. We are thankful for the present from which we learn how to be thankful for the past, and how to be hopeful for the future.'" Barney Bush, Shawnee

http://www.whitebison.org/

Women Are Deep

"Women are considered deep - why? Because one can never discover any bottom to them. Women are not even shallow."

Friedrich Nietzsche

Women's History Month

"If particular care and attention is not paid to the ladies, we are determined to forment a rebellion and will not hold ourselves bound by any laws in which we have no voice or representation."
Abigail Adams

First Lady of the United States, 1776

About Changing Others

“Consider how hard it is to change yourself and you’ll understand what little chance you have in trying to change others.”

Jacob M. Braude

Allah and Peace

"I believe in the religion of Islam. I believe in Allah and peace."

Muhammad Ali

Respect Me

"I'm not concerned with your liking or disliking me... All I ask is that you respect me as a human being."

Jackie Robinson

Freedom

"Freedom is never given; it is won."

A. Philip Randolph

Starless Midnight

"I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality.... I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word."

Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

The American Tapestry

"The African-American experience is one of the most important threads in the American tapestry."

Bill Frist

A Minimum of Reason

"Racism is man's gravest threat to man - the maximum of hatred for a minimum of reason."

Abraham Joshua Heschel

On Slavery

"Enslave the liberty of but one human being and the liberties of the world are put in peril."

William Lloyd Garrison

On a Plantation

"You can be up to your boobies in white satin, with gardenias in your hair and no sugar cane for miles, but you can still be working on a plantation."

Billie Holiday

Defining Myself

"Defining myself, as opposed to being defined by others, is one of the most difficult challenges I face."

Carol Moseley-Braun

Starving Men

"Men can starve from a lack of self-realization as much as they can from a lack of bread."

Richard Wright

Shallow Understanding

"Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will."

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Letter From Birmingham City Jail

Teach Them How to Stop

"You don't have to teach people how to be human.

You have to teach them how to stop being inhuman."

Eldridge Cleaver

Move Past Your Fear

"I think when you move past your fear and you go after your dreams wholeheartedly, you become free."

LL Cool J

Valentine's Day -- Angels Embracing

"We are each of us angels with only one wing, and we can only fly by embracing one another."

Lucretius

The Dawn Has Come

"Death is not extinguishing the light, it is only putting out the lamp because the dawn has come."

Rabindranath Tagore

(1861-1941)

Love

"If you enter this world knowing you are loved and you leave this world knowing the same, then everything that happens in between can be dealt with."

Michael Jackson

RIP Whitney Houston

Whitney Houston
(August 9, 1963 - February 11, 2012)
May you find peace in the Lord.

"I am absolutely heartbroken at the news of Whitney's passing, I always regretted not having had the opportunity to work with her. She was a true original and a talent beyond compare. I will miss her terribly."
Quincy Jones, Music Producer

Life Is Not a Spectator Sport

"Life is not a spectator sport. If you're going to spend your whole life in the grandstand just watching what goes on, in my opinion you're wasting your life."

Jackie Robinson

Don't Pray

"Don't pray when it rains if you don't pray when the sun shines."

Satchel Paige

About Friendship

"Friendship... is not something you learn in school. But if you haven't learned the meaning of friendship, you really haven't learned anything."

Muhammad Ali

Africa

"For Africa to me... is more than a glamorous fact. It is a historical truth. No man can know where he is going unless he knows exactly where he has been and exactly how he arrived at his present place."

Maya Angelou

Diminish God's Glory?

"A man can no more diminish God's glory by refusing to worship Him than a lunatic can put out the sun by scribbling the word, 'darkness' on the walls of his cell."

C.S. Lewis

The Same Message

"All major religious traditions carry basically the same message, that is love, compassion and forgiveness. The important thing is they should be part of our daily lives."

Dalai Lama

A Life Lesson From Football

"People who work together will win, whether it be against complex football defenses, or the problems of modern society."

Vince Lombardi

Failures

"Failures are finger posts on the road to achievement."

C.S. Lewis

Fame

"Fame will go by and, so long, I've had you, fame. If it goes by, I've always known it was fickle. So at least it's something I experience, but that's not where I live."

Marilyn Monroe

A Dream Deferred

What happens to a dream deferred?
Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun?
Langston Hughes (1902-1967)
"Harlem" (1951)

RIP

"...I'm Don Cornelius, and as always in parting, we wish you love, peace and souuuuuul...."
RIP
Don Cornelius
(September 27, 1936 - February 1, 2012)

Chicago Tribune: Don Cornelius: Peace, love, soul -- and civil rights
Greg Kot, Music critic, 6:29 p.m. CST, February 1, 2012
http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/music/turnitup/chi-don-cornelius-legacy-legacy-of-soul-train-host-20120201,0,2718985.column

Black History Month - On Twoness

"It is a peculiar sensation, this double-consciousness, this sense of always looking at one's self through the eyes of others. . . . One ever feels his twoness, — an American, a Negro; two souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled strivings; two warrings ideals in one dark body, whose dogged strength alone keeps it from being torn asunder."
W.E.B. Du Bois (1868-1963)
The Souls of Black Folk (1903)

Your Mirror

A loving person lives in a loving world. A hostile person lives in a hostile world; everyone you meet is your mirror.

Ken Keyes, Jr.

Dirty Feet

I will not let anyone walk through my mind with their dirty feet.

Mahatma Gandhi

Love Life

I have found that if you love life, life will love you back.

Arthur Rubinstein

Positivity

Positive anything is better than negative thinking.

Elbert Hubbard

Inspiration

"You can't wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club."

Jack London

If you just aren't inspired today, perhaps it's time to pick yourself up and pursue it!

Go outside and look at a leaf, a snowflake, a mountain in the distance, a truck rumbling by, the smell of a fireplace. What makes it special? What story is connected to it? How would you incorporate it into your next piece of art? What music would you connect to it?

Find your inspiration in the things that surround you -- go after it, don't wait for it to come to you...

True Happiness

"True happiness involves the full use of one's power and talents."

John W. Gardner

Monday...

"The dog doesn't know the difference between Saturday, Sunday, and Monday, so I have to walk the dog early those days too."

Donna Shalala

Opinion

" A fool takes no pleasure in understanding, but only in expressing his opinion."

The Bible - Proverbs 18 : 2

Reveal the Inner Temple of the Soul

"The most important thing now is to reveal the inner temple of the soul with right thinking and right activity."

Willaru Huayta, Quechua Nation, Peru

Immortal Souls

"All men's souls are immortal, but the souls of the righteous are immortal and divine."
Socrates

Art According to Paul Cezanne

"When I judge art, I take my painting and put it next to a God made object like a tree or flower. If it clashes, it is not art."
Paul Cezanne

(January 19, 1839 - October 22, 1906)

Watch What We Do

"You will be better advised to watch what we do instead of what we say." A.A. Milne

(January 18, 1882 - January 31, 1956)

Never Let Shyness Conquer Your Mind

“If you want to do something big in your life, you must remember that shyness is only the mind. If you think shy, you act shy. If you think confident you act confident. Therefore never let shyness conquer your mind.”
Arfa Karim Randhawa
She became the world’s youngest Microsoft Certified Professional at age 9.
(1995 - January 14, 2012)

Link: http://www.geekwire.com/2012/arfa-karim-randhawa-19952012-remembering-philosophy-life

Anger

"Anger dwells only in the bosom of fools."

Albert Einstein

Justice, Peace and Brotherhood

"The hope of a secure and livable world lies with disciplined nonconformists who are dedicated to justice, peace and brotherhood."

Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., "Strength to Love"

Things That Matter

"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter."

Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

The Final Word in Reality

"I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. That is why right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant."

Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Born Broken

"Man is born broken. He lives by mending. The grace of God is glue."

Eugene O'Neill, The Great God Brown

Hard Work and Character

"Hard work spotlights the character of people: some turn up their sleeves, some turn up their noses, and some don't turn up at all."

Sam Ewing

Christianity

"Christianity has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and not tried." 

G. K. Chesterton

Love Winter

"Let us love winter, for it is the spring of genius."
Pietro Aretino

True Beauty

"People are like stained-glass windows. They sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when the darkness sets in, their true beauty is revealed only if there is a light from within."

Elisabeth Kubler-Ross

Faith

"Faith is like radar that sees through the fog." 

Corrie Ten Boom, Tramp for the Lord

The Maze of Human Life

"Just as treasures are uncovered from the earth, so virtue appears from good deeds, and wisdom appears from a pure and peaceful mind. To walk safely through the maze of human life, one needs the light of wisdom and the guidance of virtue."
Buddha

Work

"I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the whole community and as long as I live, it is my privilege to do for it whatever I can.  I want to be thoroughly used up when I die, for the harder I work the more I live."

George Bernard Shaw

Do Something

"I must do something" always solves more problems than "Something must be done."  Unknown

On Top of the Mountain

"We build our temples for tomorrow, strong as we know how, and we stand on top of the mountain, free within ourselves."

Langston Hughes

We All Participate

"We all participate in weaving the social fabric; we should therefore all participate in patching the fabric when it develops holes."

Anne C. Weisberg

Take the First Step

"Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase."
Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

New Year's Resolutions

"Resolution One: I will live for God.
Resolution Two: If no one else does, I still will."
Jonathan Edwards