We Are All Born With Gifts

"We are all born with gifts. Some find them when they are young, like J. S. Bach, who made his mark as an adolescent, playing pieces on the organ at fifteen that others swore were impossible and going on to fame as a composer by his twenties. Some find their calling later, like so many of my students, who get their groove after many years of college and graduate school. Others find them only after realizing they were going in the wrong direction for a while, like a house builder I interviewed, who found his passion for building after completing a fancy education in science. Or like me—totally convinced that music was my calling until it was ripped from my grasp and I had to look elsewhere, finding it in the world of social science."

-- Arthur C. Brooks

At Least Fails While Daring Greatly

"“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly.…”"

-- Theodore Roosevelt's

Be The Master of Your Attention

"Be the master of your attention. The price of freedom is to be permanently alert. Remember that wherever your attention may wander, your emotions and energy will also go. Where you place your attention will always make it more real for you."

-- Mario Alonso Puig

Some Day Is No Strategy for Success

"“Some day my prince will come.…” Good old Walt Disney. Well, that may have worked out for Snow White. Back here on Earth, it’s a recipe for disappointment. In flesh-and-blood life, waiting for “some day” is no strategy for success, it’s a cop-out. What’s more, it’s one that the majority follow their whole lives."

--  Jeff Olson

What Success in Life Mean

"Success in life is not just a matter of rising to your potential but also discovering that you have more potential than you ever dreamed about.  Success in life is having deep, loving, and mutual relationships with others.  Success in life is learning and developing to the point that you will seamlessly do the right thing, even if it’s not the easy thing."

--  Ryan Gottfredson

How You Relate To What Happens

"We don’t have much control over what happens, but we can choose how we relate to what happens."

-- Marilee Adams

The Path of Success

"Sometimes the path of success is inconvenient, and therefore not just easy not to do but actually easier not to do. For most people, it’s easier to stay in bed. Getting on the path and staying on the path requires faith in the process—especially at the start. That makes you a pioneer."

--  Jeff Olson

A Great Believer in Luck

“I am a great believer in luck. The harder I work, the more of it I seem to have.”

-- Coleman Cox

Fail Your Way To The Top

"And it’s hard to imagine just what our lives would be like today if Thomas Edison had subscribed to the failure is not an option philosophy. In his efforts to find a stable filament to make his electric light bulb invention work, he tried out thousands of different versions and every single one failed. His famous comment: “I have not failed. I’ve simply discovered ten thousand ways that don’t work." Successful people fail their way to the top."

-- Jeff Olson

The Last of Human Freedoms

“Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.”

-- Viktor E. Frankl