At times in my life, I come across what I call "triggers of enlightenment."  It seems like they come out of nowhere, just at the right time, for the right reasons.  These triggers come in many forms.  They can be a chance meeting with the right person, a breakthrough when learning something new, or even a message of wisdom hidden in time that I somehow uncover.

Recently, I can across this message from philosopher Alan Watts.  It was triggered because it was used in a commercial and it resonated with me.  I researched it and found the text of it.  I found the message to be even more deep and important than I thought when I first heard it.  Below is the text, which I encourage you to read as it has a way of sinking in more when you do, but I also found a great video with the text actually spoken by Alan himself.  Give both a few minutes and it may trigger something for you!

 Live Fully Now - Alan Watts

My goodness don't you remember when you went first to school and you went to kindergarten and in kindergarten, the idea was to push along so to get into first grade and then push along so that you could get into second-grade, third grade and so on, going up and up?
 
And then you went to high school and this was a great transition in life and now the pressure is being put on; you must get ahead, you must go up the grades and finally be good enough to get to college. And then when you get to college, you're still going step by step, step by step, up to the great moment in which you're ready to go out into the world.
 
And then when you get out into this famous world... Comes... the struggle for success in profession or business and again there seems to be a ladder before you - something for which are reaching all the time.
 
And then...Suddenly when you are about forty or forty-five years old, in the middle life, you wake up one day and say. “Huh? I've arrived, and by joe, I feel pretty much the same as I've always felt. In fact I'm not so sure that I don't feel a little bit cheated.”  Because you see you were fooled.  You were always living for somewhere where you aren't.

And while, as I said, it is of tremendous use for us, to be able look ahead in this way and to plan.  There is no use planning for a future which when you get to it and it becomes a present, you won't be there. You'll be living in some other future which hasn't yet arrived.  And so in this way, one is never able actually to inherit and enjoy the fruits of ones actions.
 
You can't live at all…Unless you can live fully, Now.


All my life, I have lived to strive for something.  Be a goal, a mission, a milestone, or result.  And when you reach these things, it drives you.  It fuels you to do more.  It inspires you.  But, at some point, you realize that is all you are about.  You spend every moment thinking and working toward the goal.  And for some things, that is absolutely what it takes...an obsession.  But, what many fail to realize is that you can miss out on the experience of life along the way.  And one day, you do wake up, whether you are 30, 40, 50, whatever, and you realize all that you may have missed.  Don't miss out.  The solution I have found to balance this is to schedule intense periods of focused, driven work to reach a goal, milestone, etc., followed by short periods of re-charge focused on the experiences of life with those around you.  

I mean what good is it to work your ass off for 20+ years and miss out on your best years and everything the world has to offer you.  There is a balance and you must find it and strive to live fully now.

Love him or hate him, Donald Trump is now officially the President of the United States.  Many people on both sides of the political spectrum are still in disbelief.  Reality will set in at some point.

But, no matter how you feel about him, there are some powerful lessons you can learn from Trump's ascendancy.   These can help you throughout your life and in business.

Never Underestimate Someone Committed to a Vision (No matter how crazy you think it might be)

From day one, Donald Trump painted his vision for America and more importantly stuck with it regardless of how many times his opponents tried to take him out or get him to deviate.  He was committed to it and it showed.  Whether people agreed with him or not, is one thing, but everyone could see that he wasn't saying things for political expedience.  He was real, raw, and fully devoted to what he wanted to accomplish.  And after a while, people started finally taking him seriously - which became polarizing.  But, big visions are polarizing.  Elon Musk doesn't care what anyone says, he is going to change everything about the way we drive and take us to Mars.  That is his vision and his unwavering commitment to it.

The same can be said about Trump and anyone else who is genuinely committed to a vision and making it a reality.  Don't ever underestimate them. 

Never Pre-Judge Someone

You've heard this before, but Trump became the epitome of it.  No one gave him a chance on either side. Everyone thought he was a joke or just doing it to get more attention for his personal brand.  Every pundit said he was not a serious candidate.  And every one of them had to eventually eat their words.

That is the interesting thing about life.  You never know when you are going to get surprised.  So, be careful not to pre-judge people or situations.  One of the best hires I ever made, looked like the worst on paper. They had no college degree or any relevant experience to the role, other than some sales experience.  Most people would have thrown the resume away and moved on the the next candidate, but I was fortunate to learn this rule early on in life and it definitely has made a difference in my success.  Never pre-judge someone or situations without first getting some details and facts.

If You State Something Enough and Believe in It; It will Show, and Eventually Others Will Believe it Too

You've heard before that if you say something enough, even a lie, it will become reality.  When Trump first said "Make America Great Again," people questioned it, even asking when American ceased to be "great." But, he kept repeating it and kept explaining it's meaning.  Trump showed us this even through his inaugural speech.  The same message, over and over.  In the beginning, people didn't give it too much thought, but they kept hearing it, and started to see that he believed in it.  Eventually, they started to believe as well.  This was evidenced by the ever-growing crowds he gathered.  

Belief is a powerful thing, but it's hard to make it "go viral."  Trump figured this out and it is a great lesson for leaders, especially in today's short-attention span world.  You must not only truly believe in your message, but you have to share it over and over again to all that will hear it.  Your message must show through and cut through all of the noise in people's lives to get them to finally hear it.

You Can be Successful Being a Contrarian

History is ripe with examples of people that flew in the face of conventional thinking and norms.  These people are the contrarians.  The people who threw out conventional wisdom and did it their way.  Many times, in ways that were the opposite of what was thought needed to succeed.

Trump was a contrarian candidate and is a contrarian President.  His candidacy should have gone under numerous times according to conventional wisdom.  No other candidate could have stayed in with everything from off the cuff comments that were deemed racist to sex scandals, but Trump bucked the trend.  If you read the transcript from his inauguration speech, you will see the contrarian there as well.  He blasted the establishment on both sides of the aisle and levied serious charges of them existing for no other reason, but to enrich themselves and stated that they had neglected their duty of helping the American people.  How's that for your first day as President?  

It doesn't make sense to be a contrarian for the sake of being a contrarian, but if you see a way to do something better that falls outside the norm of what people think is possible, don't shy away from it.  Look at Uber.  Most everyone just accepted the taxi industry and dealt with it.  But Uber had a much different way of thinking.  

The founders questioned why it had to be the way it was and then did something about it - not without controversy, because that comes with the contrarian territory.  But, they stuck with their vision and belief and now Uber is worth over $50 billion.

Politics is an emotional subject for anyone, but if you can keep the emotion in check and logically analyze things, you will find that there are always great lessons to learn of what and what not to do in your life and business.  We are just at the beginning of Trump's Presidency, but there are still many lessons to come, both good and bad, so be on the lookout for what you can learn.

​Think of the greatest you know in their fields.  The highest performers that consistently succeed over and over again.  From sports stars to business leaders to some of the greatest cultural leaders of all time.

How does 39-year-old, four-time Super Bowl champion, three-time Super Bowl MVP, and two-time NFL MVP winner, Tom Brady stay consistently at the top of the pack every single year?  Or how does Ray Dailo, founder of Bridgewater Associates, the largest and most successful hedge fund in history producing an average return of almost 15% a year since 1991, continue to succeed where so many others fail?  Think of Tony Robbins, at 56 years old, he continues to be more impactful and helpful to more people around the world every year.  How does he keep it going?

These examples, along with other high performers, have learned a very important secret to maintaining success.  It's called "Winning in the Margins."  Winning in the margins is all about the little things. It's the tiniest details and focus on them that can create huge differences.  Olympic races are won by hundredths of seconds.  A simple misstep or break of form can lose you a race.  The ability of an athlete to be essentially perfect in all phases of a race is critical to winning.  That is why they practice every little thing down to the way they tie their shoes, because that is what it takes when you are talking 1/100 of a second.

If you study up on Tom Brady, you will find that he is obsessive about every aspect of his diet, training, and study of the game.  He has multiple coaches and experts that work with him to fine tune his diets and workouts to maximize his physical capability.  No little detail is overlooked or spared.  It's the same with his study of his opponents and tendencies of the defenses he plays against.  He knows them so well, many times, it's like he knows the defensive play that is being called against him before the defense does.  He is the first one in and last to leave because that is what it takes.

Ray Dailo has created an incredible portfolio he calls the All Seasons Portfolio designed to provide a consistent return, winning more when the markets are up, but limiting losses in a large way when the markets are down.  Ray knows that the biggest challenge is when you lose because you have to do twice as well as to get back to where you were before, so he has been obsessed with creating a way to keep that risk small.  Additionally, he has created a company that has one of the most open and unique cultures in existence.  Imagine being able to call out the CEO on their performance like this example and it being praised by the leadership and culture.

You don't see that type of raw, honest, and collaborative type of environment in many companies.

And of course, Tony Robbins does all sorts of things to win in the margins.  From very specific morning routines, including a "cold plunge" to cryotherapy, and yes, a very specific diet with every detail painstakingly mapped out to allow him to thrive and continue to run at optimum levels for 14 hours a day. You can read any number of his books on he preps his mind, leverages everything around him to get more done and has trained himself and other to perform at the highest levels.

The point is that all of these people and those that you see that continuously perform at high levels have all figured out and are obsessed with the attention to detail on the little things.  They know that even tiniest thing, a meal or how you say something, can make such a difference; so they study and drill and perfect - and then perfect some more.  They never stop.

At this point, you might be thinking, "That's great for those guys.  They have the money and everything to be able to do that.  I don't have those resources."  If you are, you are misleading yourself.  There are so many ways to win in the margins.

Here's a sample of 10 ways you could win in the margins right now:

1. Get up 30 minutes early and make yourself a healthy breakfast.  An egg-white omelet with spinach and tomato is much more powerful than grabbing a cereal bar on your way out the door and will give you lasting energy to run at a higher level.
2. While you are eating your omelet, take 10 mins to plan out your day.  You've heard this a hundred times.  The more you plan, the more you succeed.  Taking a few mins to organize your priorities will make it much easier and efficient to get things done.
3. If you own a business or are in sales, take time to do one more call or follow up each day.  That is 365 more calls and follow ups per year, which easily leads to more business and sales.
4. Cut out 1 hour of TV time at night and use it to do something productive.  Just that one thing gives you 365 more hours per year or about 15 extra days!  You could create a whole online business in that time.
5. Choose your relationships more wisely.  Think about who you surround yourself with.  Are they more successful than you?  Do they challenge you to reach higher levels?  Spend your precious time where it makes a difference for you.
6. Write your goals down and find a person you trust to hold you accountable to them.  What's the point of having them if you don't reach them?
7. Accelerate your learning curve, network, and income potential by joining or creating a Mastermind. There, you can learn from top people in their areas and what is working/what is not, without having to go through it by yourself.  This will speed up your success.
8. Study your craft.  Many people never take the time to read a book to learn more about their craft, let alone study it and continuously grow themselves.  Tom Brady has watched film on the teams he plays tons of times, but he still puts the same amount of effort into each game that he always has.  Take some time and study your craft and get some other perspectives on how to succeed.
9. Network saves legwork.  Make it a point to grow your personal network and relationships.  It is amazing how many times you are 1-2 people removed from who you want to connect with.
10. Make it a point to fine-tune one skill that is essential to your success.  Be obsessed with being the best at it and work on it each day until you've mastered it...even if it's 5 minutes.  Then do it again with another.

I'll leave you with this.  There is a video, produced years ago, that crystallizes winning in the margins.  It's called 212 - The Extra Degree.  You may have seen it.  Watch it below and see how infinitely small the margin of winning is...

At Misfit, we use a number of tools to help us produce and promote our show, blog, brand, social media, and manage our business.  After a lot of searching and trial, we have found a set of tools that are the easiest to use, offer the best services and capabilities, and while, we do pay for upgraded setups of them now; they all have awesome FREE versions that can help any business.  In fact, on all of these we share below, we started on the free versions.

Best Resource to Easily Creating a Website - Weebly

We love using Weebly for websites.  Our site is built on the Weebly platform.  After using everything from Wordpress to WIX and others, we have found Weebly the easiest to use, manage, and leverage.  There are probably some capabilites that the others have that offer a little more in some areas, but for the all around experience, you can't beat Weebly.  Their drag and drop website builder is easy, intuitive, and fun to use and build with. The standard setup comes with just about everything someone getting started needs and they have everything else, including app plugins for your needs as you grow.

Weebly also has integrated shopping carts, membership site capabilities, and the ability do newsletters and subscription services all within the platform.

I have used Weebly for almost a decade since they first started and it has been amazing to see how much the platform has grown and continues to grow.   Even at the most expensive upgraded version, it's only a few hundred bucks a year.

They offer a great FREE account version that can handle most everything for new sites, blogs, etc.  

Here is a link to setup a free account with them from Misfit

Full disclosure, nowadays Misfit works with Weebly as an affiliate.  After using them for a long time and choosing them for the Misfit site, it made sense to finally  have a relationship.

Best Resource for Managing and Growing Your Presence on Twitter - Crowdfire

There are a million tools for managing your social media presence and they all have their own benefits and challenges.  Some are really good for specific platforms and some are really good for more general management.

Crowdfire is one that we have found that is really good for managing and growing your presence on Twitter.  What we like about Crowdfire (aside from the fun to interact with "FireBot") is that it actively manages things for you on a daily basis and gives you what you need to do in a daily "prescription."  All you have to do is follow the next step.  And it takes about 15 minutes a day to manage.  They have a great App so you can manage on the go as well.

Crowdfire really does everything for Twitter.  It analyzes your new followers and gives them to you to review and decide to follow or not.  It suggests people to follow based on your key words and topics.  It suggests people to follow that follow your competitors or similar accounts to you.  And it curates content and articles to share based on your interests and focus.  

It's easy, quick, and allows you to stay well connected with your audience on Twitter.  They recently released a version for Instagram as well.

Check it out at www.crowdfire.com

Best Resource for Creating Cool Pics and Images - Pablo by Buffer

To go along with Crowdfire, we also use Buffer at Misfit.  Buffer is a pretty well-known tool that has been written about extensively.  It has a great free version for posting content to all of your social media networks.  But, one thing that is less known and that is really cool, is the Pablo app and site that you get, even with a free version of Buffer.  Pablo allows you to create awesome social media images to go with your content.  You can edit and create different versions and looks of the hundreds of templates available to you, as well as add quotes or your own text.  You can also upload your own images and do the same.

It is easy to use and navigate and allows you to knock out awesome pics with your message in just a few seconds.

Check it out at https://pablo.buffer.com/

Best Resource for Email Marketing, List Management, and Engagement - Benchmark Email

I absolutely love Benchmark.  Over the years, I have used everything from Constant Contact to Aweber and Mailchimp.  In fact, when setting up Misfit, we reviewed and tested over 10 different tools in this area and Benchmark was the best.  Benchmark's UI is easy and super intuitive.  It's integrations are excellent.  It is easy to integrate into any website, including Weebly.  In fact, the Misfit Minute Signup is a Benchmark integration.  Benchmark has a great autoresponder setup that is easy to manage and use.  Additionally, they allow for split testing in your emails and automate it, making it easier to see which messages your audience like most.

Benchmark has a number of other features, but after using them for little while, we were thoroughly impressed and continue to be.  We brought them on as a sponsor for Misfit and they offer our audience a really great FREE account with up to 2000 email addresses.  For many, that is all they'll ever need, so it's a sweet deal.  The cool part is they don't limit functionality on the free account!

You can sign up and test it out by going to Misfit/Benchmark FREE 2k Plan here

Best Resource for Curating Attention Grabbing Headlines and Post Titles - Coschedule Headline Analyzer

Let's face it, you can have the best content in the world, but if you can't get it noticed, then it doesn't matter.  For a while, I never really paid attention to the titles of posts or what I wrote when I shared an article until I was fortunate to attend a Mastermind with some of the best marketers online today.  One of them said something that resonated in huge way with me , "You have to sell the click first!"

So true.  People are bombarded with content and articles, blog posts, videos, and everything in-between all day.  It's your job to find a way to separate yourself from the pack and grab that 2-3 seconds of attention that makes someone listen to what you have to say or share.  You do that by selling the click, by having an interesting and attention grabbing headline.

How do you do that?  How do you know what is going to work?  Well, that is where Co-Schedule's Headline Analyzer comes in.  You simply type your headline in and it will score it based on a number of factors and let you know if it is good or not.  I have found that scores over 70 are pretty solid consistently, so you may have to play with your headline to get there.  But it is really worth it.  I mean why spend all of the time writing something or sharing it if no one is going to read it or see it?

Once I understood this and incorporated it into my content routines, I definitely started to notice an uptick in views, shares, and interaction from others.

The best part is that it is a totally free tool.  Check it out at ​http://coschedule.com/headline-analyzer 


There are a lot of great tools and solutions out there to help you in your business and your brand and you have to find out what works best for you and how you operate.  But, we have definitely made great use of the tools above starting with their free versions and moving from there.  Hopefully they can help you too!

Ok, first, full disclosure that I got this list from another article, which you can view  here, but it was such a good list, I had to have these on the site to share with you and refer back to for 2017!  Enjoy and come back daily for each one!​

Sunday, January 1, 2017
New Year's Day
"I have learned over the years that when one's mind is made up, this diminishes fear."
--Rosa Parks
Monday, January 2, 2017
"Give me a stock clerk with a goal, and I will give you a man who will make history. Give me a man without a goal, and I will give you a stock clerk."
--James Cash Penny
Tuesday, January 3, 2017
"A lot of the time the experts, the people who are supposed to be able to tell you what to do, will tell you that you can't do something even when you know you can. And a lot of the time it's your friends ... who tell you you can do it."
--Mark Zuckerberg
Wednesday, January 4, 2017
World Braille Day
"Life is a daring adventure or it is nothing at all."
--Helen Keller
Thursday, January 5, 2017
"Don't tell people how to do things; tell them what to do and let them surprise you with their results."
--George S. Patton
Friday, January 6, 2017
True luck consists not in holding the best of the cards at the table; luckiest is he who knows just when to rise and go home."
--John Hay
Saturday, January 7, 2017
"Victory has a hundred fathers and defeat is an orphan."
--John F. Kennedy
Sunday, January 8, 2017
"Fall seven times and stand up eight."
--Anonymous
Monday, January 9, 2017
"Life is 10 percent what happens to me and 90 percent of how I react to it."
--Charles Swindoll
Tuesday, January 10, 2017
"I've missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. 26 times I've been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I've failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed."
--Michael Jordan
Wednesday, January 11, 2017
"The most difficult thing is the decision to act, the rest is merely tenacity."
--Amelia Earhart
Thursday, January 12, 2017
"Nothing is impossible, the word itself says, 'I'm possible!'" --Audrey Hepburn
Friday, January 13, 2017
"It is during our darkest moments that we must focus to see the light."
--Aristotle Onassis
Saturday, January 14, 2017
"I have been impressed with the urgency of doing. Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Being willing is not enough; we must do."
--Leonardo da Vinci
Sunday, January 15, 2017
"The successful warrior is the average man, with laserlike focus."
--Bruce Lee
Monday, January 16, 2017
Martin Luther King Jr. Day
"Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity."
--Martin Luther King
Tuesday, January 17, 2017
"If you want to lift yourself up, lift up someone else."
--Booker T. Washington
Wednesday, January 18, 2017
"If there is no struggle, there is no progress."
--Frederick Douglas
Thursday, January 19, 2017
"Running a startup is like being punched in the face repeatedly, but working for a large company is like being waterboarded."
--Paul Graham
Friday, January 20, 2017
Inauguration Day
"I want to start by, as always, thanking my family. My kids, they're not kids anymore, but they're kids as far as I'm concerned. They'll always be my kids."
--Donald J. Trump
Saturday, January 21, 2017
Women's March on Washington
"I love to see a young girl go out and grab the world by the lapels. Life's a bitch. You've got to go out and kick ass."
--Maya Angelou
Sunday, January 22, 2017
"Everything has beauty, but not everyone can see."
--Confucius
Monday, January 23, 2017
"We can't help everyone, but everyone can help someone."
--Ronald Reagan
Tuesday, January 24, 2017
"For me, the most fun is change or growth. There are definitely elements of both that I like. Launching a business is kind of like a motorboat: You can go very quickly and turn fast."
--Tony Hseih
Wednesday, January 25, 2017
"I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the water to create many ripples."
--Mother Teresa
Thursday, January 26, 2017
"What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us."
--Henry Haskins
Friday, January 27, 2017
"If opportunity doesn't knock, build a door."
--Milton Berle
Saturday, January 28, 2017
Chinese New Year
"Everyone has a plan 'til they get punched in the mouth."
--Mike Tyson
Sunday, January 29, 2017
"I attribute my success to this: I never gave or took any excuse."
--Florence Nightingale
Monday, January 30, 2017
"For small creatures such as we, the vastness is bearable only through love."
--Carl Sagan
Tuesday, January 31, 2017
"The crisis of today is the joke of tomorrow."
--H.G. Wells
Wednesday, February 1, 2017
"I urge you to please notice when you are happy, and exclaim or murmur or think at some point, If this isn't nice, I don't know what is."
--Kurt Vonnegut
Thursday, February 2, 2017
"Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can."
--Arthur Ashe
Friday, February 3, 2017
"Everybody wants to be famous, but nobody wants to do the work. I live by that. You grind hard so you can play hard. At the end of the day, you put all the work in, and eventually it'll pay off. It could be in a year, it could be in 30 years. Eventually, your hard work will pay off."
--Michael Hart
Saturday, February 4, 2017
Rosa Parks Day
"I have learned over the years that when one's mind is made up, this diminishes fear."
--Rosa Parks
Sunday, February 5, 2017
"Tough times never last, but tough people do."
--Dr. Robert Schuller
Monday, February 6, 2017
"The trouble in America is not that we are making too many mistakes, but that we are making too few."
--Phil Knight
Tuesday, February 7, 2017
"A year from now you may wish you had started today."
--Karen Lamb
Wednesday, February 8, 2017
"Man is free at the instant he wants to be."
--Voltaire
Thursday, February 9, 2017
"If you do not tell the truth about yourself you cannot tell it about other people."
--Virgina Wolfe
Friday, February 10, 2017
"The only thing we have to fear is fear itself."
--Franklin D. Roosevelt
Saturday, February 11, 2017
"Conditions are never perfect. 'Someday' is a disease that will take your dreams to the grave with you.... If it's important to you and you want to do it 'eventually,' just do it and correct course along the way."
--Tim Ferriss
Sunday, February 12, 2017
"Nothing works better than just improving your product."
--Joel Spolsky, cofounder of Stack Overflow
Monday, February 13, 2017
Lincoln's Birthday observed
"Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any other one thing."
--Abraham Lincoln
Tuesday, February 14, 2017
Valentine's Day
"It takes a strong fish to swim against the current. Even a dead one can float with it."
--John Crowe
Wednesday, February 15, 2017
Susan B Anthony's Birthday
"Independence is happiness."
--Susan B. Anthony
Thursday, February 16, 2017
"When I'm old and dying, I plan to look back on my life and say, 'Wow, that was an adventure,' not 'Wow, I sure felt safe.' --Tom PrestonWerner, cofounder of Github
Friday, February 17, 2017
"Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned."
--Anonymous
Saturday, February 18, 2017
"If you have knowledge, let others light their candles in it."
--Margaret Fuller
Sunday, February 19, 2017
"Good is the enemy of great."
--Jim Collins
Monday, February 20, 2017
Presidents' Day
"No one has as much luck around the greens as one who practices a lot. --Chi Chi Rodriguez
Tuesday, February 21, 2017
"There are two ways of spreading light: to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it."
--Edith Wharton
Wednesday, February 22, 2017
"Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it."
--Dwight Eisenhower
Thursday, February 23, 2017
"A mind is like a parachute. It doesn't work if it isn't open."
--Frank Zappa
Friday, February 24, 2017
"Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life."
--Anonymous
Saturday, February 25, 2017
"I can say the willingness to get dirty has always defined us as an nation, and it's a hallmark of hard work and a hallmark of fun, and dirt is not the enemy."
--Mike Rowe
Sunday, February 26, 2017
"Death is very likely the single best invention of life. It's life's change agent; it clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now, the new is you. But someday, not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it's quite true. Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life."
--Steve Jobs
Monday, February 27, 2017
"Every truth passes through three stages before it is recognized. In the first, it is ridiculed. In the second, it is opposed. In the third, it is regarded as self-evident."
--Arthur Schopenhauer
Tuesday, February 28, 2017
Shrove Tuesday/Mardi Gras
"An American has not seen the United States until he has seen Mardi-Gras in New Orleans."
--Mark Twain
Wednesday, March 1, 2017
Ash Wednesday
"Lent comes providentially to reawaken us, to shake us from our lethargy."
--Pope Francis
Thursday, March 2, 2017
Read Across America Day
"Today a reader, tomorrow a leader."
--Margaret Fuller
Friday, March 3, 2017
Employee Appreciation Day
"There are two things people want more than sex and money... recognition and praise."
--Mary Kay Ash
Saturday, March 4, 2017
"We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light."
--Plato
Sunday, March 5, 2017
"Champions keep playing until they get it right."
--Billie Jean King
Monday, March 6, 2017
"The last 10 percent it takes to launch something takes as much energy as the first 90 percent."
--Rob Kalin, founder of Etsy
Tuesday, March 7, 2017
"Being able to touch so many people through my businesses, and make money while doing it, is a huge blessing."
--Magic Johnson
Wednesday, March 8, 2017
"Always make a total effort, even when the odds are against you."
--Arnold Palmer
Thursday, March 9, 2017
"As you start your journey, the first thing you should do is throw away that store-bought map and begin to draw your own."
--Michael Dell
Friday, March 10, 2017
"We must believe that we are gifted for something, and that this thing, at whatever cost, must be attained."
--Marie Curie
Saturday, March 11, 2017
"I am not a product of my circumstances. I am a product of my decisions."
--Stephen Covey
Sunday, March 12, 2017
Daylight Saving Time starts
"Time is life itself, and life resides in the human heart."
--Michael Ende
Monday, March 13, 2017
"Happiness is not the absence of problems; it's the ability to deal with them."
--Steve Maraboli
Tuesday, March 14, 2017
"Happiness is not something ready made. It comes from your own actions."
--Dalai Lama
Wednesday, March 15, 2017
"The difference between ordinary and extraordinary is that little extra."
--Jimmy Johnson
Thursday, March 16, 2017
"Following is one of the most underrated aspects of leadership.... I have seen many a good [organization] underachieve, because someone...thought the commander was incompetent, and quietly worked to undermine his authority."
--Admiral Bill McRaven
Friday, March 17, 2017
St. Patrick's Day
"Creativity is intelligence having fun."
--Albert Einstein
Saturday, March 18, 2017
"Little minds are tamed and subdued by misfortune; but great minds rise above them."
--Washington Irving
Sunday, March 19, 2017
"It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it."
--Aristotle
Monday, March 20, 2017
International Day of Happiness
"Thousands of candles can be lighted from a single candle. Happiness never decreases by being shared."
--Gautama Buddha
Tuesday, March 21, 2017
"A successful man is one who can lay a firm foundation with the bricks that others throw at him."
--Sidney Greenberg
Wednesday, March 22, 2017
"Don't let winning make you soft. Don't let losing make you quite. Don't let your teammates down in any situation."
--Larry Bird
Thursday, March 23, 2017
"I watched a small man with thick calluses on both hands work 15 and 16 hours a day. I saw him once literally bleed from the bottoms of his feet, a man who came here uneducated, alone, unable to speak the language, who taught me all I needed to know about faith and hard work by the simple eloquence of his example."
--Mario Cuomo
Friday, March 24, 2017
"The best revenge is massive success."
--Frank Sinatra
Saturday, March 25, 2017
"We learn wisdom from failure much more than from success; we often discover what will do, by finding out what will not do; and probably he who never make a mistake never made a discovery."
--Samuel Smiles
Sunday, March 26, 2017
"Fearlessness is like a muscle. I know from my own life that the more I exercise it, the more natural it becomes to not let my fears run me. --Arianna Huffington
Monday, March 27, 2017
"I don't lose any sleep at night over the potential for failure. I cannot even spell the word."
--James Mattis
Tuesday, March 28, 2017
"If you can dream it, you can achieve it."
--Zig Ziglar
Wednesday, March 29, 2017
"You can be the ripest, juciest peach in the world, and there are still going to be some people who hate peaches."
--Dita Von Teese
Thursday, March 30, 2017
"There are no traffic jams along the extra mile."
--Roger Staubach
Friday, March 31, 2017
César Chávez Day
"There is no substitute for hard work, 23 or 24 hours a day. And there is no substitute for patience and acceptance."
--Cesar Chavez
Saturday, April 1, 2017
April Fool's Day
"I learned pretty soon that it was essential to fail and be foolish. --Daniel DayLewis, only threetime winner of the Academy Award for Best Actor
Sunday, April 2, 2017
"The secret of getting ahead is getting started. The secret of getting started is breaking your complex, overwhelming tasks into smaller manageable tasks, and then starting on the first one."
--Mark Twain
Monday, April 3, 2017
"It's hard work making movies. It's like being a doctor: you work long hours, very hard hours, and it's emotional, tense work. If you don't really love it, then it ain't worth it."
--George Lucas
Tuesday, April 4, 2017
"Being an optimist after you've got the very thing you want doesn't count."
--Ken Hubbard
Wednesday, April 5, 2017
"You know you're in love when you don't want to fall asleep because reality is finally better than your dreams."
--Dr. Seuss
Thursday, April 6, 2017
"Numbing the pain for a while will only make it worse when you finally feel it."
--Albus Dumbledore, "Harry Potter" character
Friday, April 7, 2017
"We must never be afraid to go too far, for success lies just beyond."
--Marcel Proust
Saturday, April 8, 2017
"There are two kinds of failures: those who thought and never did, and those who did and never thought."
--Laurence J. Peter
Sunday, April 9, 2017
"I'm a designer, and I work very hard at that. People sometimes want to put down fashion by saying it's frivolous or superficial, but it's not that way at all. It's actually very hard work."
--Donatella Versace
Monday, April 10, 2017
"Success at the highest level comes down to one question: Can you decide that your happiness can come from someone else's success? --Bill Walton
Tuesday, April 11, 2017
"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
--Sir Winston Churchill
Wednesday, April 12, 2017
International Day of Human Space Flight
"It's a very sobering feeling to be up in space and realize that one's safety factor was determined by the lowest bidder on a government contract."
--Alan Shepard
Thursday, April 13, 2017
Thomas Jefferson's Birthday
"We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."
--Thomas Jefferson
Friday, April 14, 2017
"Far better is it to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs - even though checkered by failure - than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in a gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat."
--Theodore Roosevelt
Saturday, April 15, 2017
"May I never be complete. May I never be content. May I never be perfect."
--Chuck Palahniuk
Sunday, April 16, 2017
Easter Sunday
"Easter spells out beauty, the rare beauty of new life." --S. D Gordon
Monday, April 17, 2017
Emancipation Day observed
"I freed a thousand slaves I could have freed a thousand more if only they knew they were slaves."
--Harriet Tubman
Tuesday, April 18, 2017
Tax Day
"Taxes are what we pay for civilized society."
--Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr."
Wednesday, April 19, 2017
"Yes, I am a dreamer. For a dreamer is one who can find his way by moonlight, and see the dawn before the rest of the world."
--Oscar Wilde
Thursday, April 20, 2017
Chinese Language Day
"I was eating in a Chinese restaurant downtown. There was a dish called Mother and Child Reunion. It's chicken and eggs. And I said, I gotta use that one."
--Paul Simon
Friday, April 21, 2017
"The best way out is always through."
--Robert Frost
Saturday, April 22, 2017
"There is only one boss: the customer. And he can fire everybody in the company, from the chairman on down, simply by spending his money somewhere else. --Sam Walton
Sunday, April 23, 2017
World Book and Copyright Day
"Whenever you read a good book, somewhere in the world a door opens to allow in more light."
--Vera Nazarian
Monday, April 24, 2017
"Power means happiness; power means hard work and sacrifice."
--Beyonce Knowles
Tuesday, April 25, 2017
"Death is something inevitable. When a man has done what he considers to be his duty to his people and his country, he can rest in peace. I believe I have made that effort and that is, therefore, why I will sleep for the eternity."
--Nelson Mandella
Wednesday, April 26, 2017
"When I work fourteen hours a day, seven days a week, I get lucky."
--Dr. Armand Hammer
Thursday, April 27, 2017
Take our Daughters and Sons to Work Day
"Do not bring people in your life who weigh you down. And trust your instincts ... good relationships feel good. They feel right. They don't hurt. They're not painful. That's not just with somebody you want to marry, but it's with the friends that you choose. It's with the people you surround yourselves with."
--Michelle Obama
Friday, April 28, 2017
"It's hard work to make a four-minute program look effortless and elegant."
--Katarina Witt
Saturday, April 29, 2017
"You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream."
--Les Brown
Sunday, April 30, 2017
International Jazz Day
"Jazz is smooth and cool. Jazz is rage. Jazz flows like water. Jazz never seems to begin or end. Jazz isn't methodical, but jazz isn't messy either. Jazz is a conversation, a give and take. Jazz is the connection and communication between musicians. Jazz is abandon."
--Nat Wolff
Monday, May 1, 2017
"[W]ith extreme wealth comes extreme responsibility. And the responsibility for me is to invest in creating new businesses, create jobs, employ people, and to put money aside to tackle issues where we can make a difference."
--Richard Branson
Tuesday, May 2, 2017
"You miss 100 percent of the shots you don't take."
--Wayne Gretzky
Wednesday, May 3, 2017
World Press Freedom Day
"Four hostile newspapers are more to be feared than a thousand bayonets."
--Napoleon Bonaparte
Thursday, May 4, 2017
Rhode Island Independence Day
"The greatest crime in the world is not developing your potential. When you do what you do best, you are helping not only yourself, but the world."
--Roger Williams (founder of Rhode Island, which is your humble writer's home state)
Friday, May 5, 2017
National Nurses Day
"Nursing encompasses an art, a humanistic orientation, a feeling for the value of the individual, and an intuitive sense of ethics, and of the appropriateness of action taken."
--Myrtle Aydelotte
Saturday, May 6, 2017
"There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure."
--Colin Powell
Sunday, May 7, 2017
"I honestly think it is better to be a failure at something you love than to be a success at something you hate."
--George Burns
Monday, May 8, 2017
Truman Day
"It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit."
--Harry S. Truman
Tuesday, May 9, 2017
"When you find an idea that you just can't stop thinking about, that's probably a good one to pursue."
--Josh James
Wednesday, May 10, 2017
"What is harder than rock, or softer than water? Yet soft water hollows out hard rock. Persevere."
--Ovid
Thursday, May 11, 2017
"Winners are the ones who really listen to the truth of their hearts."
--Sylvester Stalone
Friday, May 12, 2017
"Everything has beauty, but not everyone can see."
--Confucius
Saturday, May 13, 2017
"If you aren't going all the way, why go at all? --Joe Namath
Sunday, May 14, 2017
Mother's Day
"An ounce of mother is worth a pound of clergy."
--Rudyard Kipling
Monday, May 15, 2017
Peace Officers Memorial Day
"Police officers and firemen are so visible in their daily work, there's no mistaking they're there - and that presence makes people feel secure."
--Irwin Redlener
Tuesday, May 16, 2017
"People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel."
--Maya Angelou
Wednesday, May 17, 2017
"The truth is, everyone is going to hurt you. You just got to find the ones worth suffering for."
--Bob Marley
Thursday, May 18, 2017
"The question isn't who is going to let me; it's who is going to stop me."
--Ayn Rand
Friday, May 19, 2017
"When I was in jail, I was a lot of people's favorite person. I practically ran the jail. I had more freedom than the police."
--Flavor Flav
Saturday, May 20, 2017
Armed Forces Day
"Whoever said the pen is mightier than the sword obviously never encountered automatic weapons."
--Douglas MacArthur
Sunday, May 21, 2017
"You must not only aim right, but draw the bow with all your might."
--Henry David Thoreau
Monday, May 22, 2017
Harvey Milk Day
"Hope will never be silent."
--Harvey Milk
Tuesday, May 23, 2017
"I never took a day off in my 20s. Not one."
--Bill Gates
Wednesday, May 24, 2017
"The true test of character is not how much we know how to do, but how we behave when we don't know what to do."
--John Holt
Thursday, May 25, 2017
"What we hope to do with ease, we must first learn to do with diligence."
--Samuel Johnson
Friday, May 26, 2017
"Always look for the fool in the deal. If you don't find one, it's you."
--Mark Cuban
Saturday, May 27, 2017
Ramadan starts "Sometimes you don't realize how special something is until you lose it. Thats how I feel about Ramadan every year."
--Omar Suleiman
Sunday, May 28, 2017
"I know you've heard it a thousand times before. But it's true--hard work pays off. If you want to be good, you have to practice, practice, practice. If you don't love something, then don't do it."
--Ray Bradbury
Monday, May 29, 2017
Memorial Day
"Who sows virtue reaps honor."
--Leonardy da Vinci
Tuesday, May 30, 2017
"It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you'll do things differently."
--Warren Buffet
Wednesday, May 31, 2017
World No Tobacco Day
"Giving up smoking is the easiest thing in the world. I know because I've done it thousands of times."
--Mark Twain
Thursday, June 1, 2017
"We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars. --Oscar Wilde
Friday, June 2, 2017
"The only person you should try to be better than is the person you were yesterday."
--Anonymous
Saturday, June 3, 2017
"I know the price of success: dedication, hard work and an unremitting devotion to the things you want to see happen."
--Frank Lloyd Wright
Sunday, June 4, 2017
"Happiness is an inside job."
--Anonymous
Monday, June 5, 2017
"Everyone wants to live on top of the mountain, but all the happiness and growth occurs while you're climbing it."
--Andy Rooney
Tuesday, June 6, 2017
D-Day
There on the beaches of Normandy I began to reflect on the wonders of these ordinary people whose lives were laced with the markings of greatness."
--Tom Brokaw
Wednesday, June 7, 2017
"Fall seven times and stand up eight."
--Anonymous
Thursday, June 8, 2017
"Life doesn't run away from nobody. Life runs at people."
--Joe Frazier
Friday, June 9, 2017
"I say that the most liberating thing about beauty is realizing that you are the beholder."
--Salma Hayek
Saturday, June 10, 2017
"The road to success is not easy to navigate, but with hard work, drive and passion, it's possible to achieve the American dream."
--Tommy Hilfiger
Sunday, June 11, 2017
"Empty pockets never held anyone back. Only empty heads and empty hearts can do that."
--Norman Vincent Peale
Monday, June 12, 2017
"How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world."
--Anne Frank
Tuesday, June 13, 2017
"I don't look to jump over 7-foot bars-I look for 1-foot bars that I can step over."
--Warren Buffett
Wednesday, June 14, 2017
Army Birthday (also Flag Day)
"I am not afraid of an army of lions led by a sheep; I am afraid of an army of sheep led by a lion."
--Alexander the Great
Thursday, June 15, 2017
"Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted."
--William Bruce Cameron
Friday, June 16, 2017
"Nothing is more expensive than a missed opportunity."
--H. Jackson Brown Jr."
Saturday, June 17, 2017
"I think in terms of evolutions, not revolutions. Failure is not part of my vocabulary."
--Shelia Lirio Marcelo, founder of Care.com
Sunday, June 18, 2017
Father's Day
"I cannot think of any need in childhood as strong as the need for a father's protection."
--Sigmund Freud
Monday, June 19, 2017
"The best way to predict the future is to invent it."
--Alan Kay
Tuesday, June 20, 2017
"Even if you fall on your face, you're still moving forward."
--Victor Kiam
Wednesday, June 21, 2017
"The more I want to get something done, the less I call it work."
--Richard Bach
Thursday, June 22, 2017
"There is no such thing as luck. There is only adequate or inadequate preparation to cope with a statistical universe. --Robert A. Heinlein
Friday, June 23, 2017
"It is not because things are difficult that we do not dare; it is because we do not dare that they are difficult."
--Seneca
Saturday, June 24, 2017
"I wish I could tell you the secret to being forever young, but no one's figured that out yet. But if you see the glass half full, simplify your life, and give yourself to a worthy cause, you will be forever happy."
--Bert Jacobs
Sunday, June 25, 2017
"Some of the world's greatest feats were accomplished by people not smart enough to know they were impossible."
--Doug Larson
Monday, June 26, 2017
"It is never too late to be what you might have been."
--George Elliott
Tuesday, June 27, 2017
"Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away."
--Maya Angelou
Wednesday, June 28, 2017
"Plant your garden and decorate your own soul, instead of waiting for someone to bring you flowers."
--Jose Luis Borges
Thursday, June 29, 2017
"It doesn't matter how far you might rise. At some point, you are bound to stumble.... If you're constantly pushing yourself higher...the law of averages, not to mention the Myth of Icarus, predicts that you will at some point fall. And when you do, I want you to know this, remember this: There is no such thing as failure. Failure is just life trying to move us in another direction."
--Oprah Winfrey
Friday, June 30, 2017
"Running a startup is like eating glass. You just start to like the taste of your own blood."
--Sean Parker
Saturday, July 1, 2017
"Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The phrase 'press on' has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race."
--Calvin Coolidge
Sunday, July 2, 2017
"Build something 100 people love, not something 1 million people kind of like."
--Brian Chesky, cofounder of Airbnb
Monday, July 3, 2017
"There is only one way to avoid criticism: do nothing, say nothing, and be nothing."
--Aristotle
Tuesday, July 4, 2017
Independence Day
"America was not built on fear. America was built on courage, on imagination and an unbeatable determination to do the job at hand."
--Harry S Truman
Wednesday, July 5, 2017
"No matter what people tell you, words and ideas can change the world."
--Robin Williams
Thursday, July 6, 2017
"Life is a series of problem-solving opportunities. The problems you face will either defeat you or develop you depending on how you respond to them."
--Rick Warren
Friday, July 7, 2017
"Don't worry about failure; you only have to be right once."
--Drew Houston
Saturday, July 8, 2017
"Obstacles can't stop you. Problems can't stop you. Most of all, other people can't stop you. Only you can stop you."
--Jeffrey Gitomer
Sunday, July 9, 2017
"Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that."
--George Carlin
Monday, July 10, 2017
"Happiness is not a goal. It's a by-product of a life well-lived."
--Eleanor Roosevelt
Tuesday, July 11, 2017
"Embrace what you don't know, especially in the beginning, because what you don't know can become your greatest asset. It ensures that you will absolutely be doing things different from everybody else."
--Sara Blakely
Wednesday, July 12, 2017
"I knew all the rules but the rules did not know me."
--Eddie Vedder
Thursday, July 13, 2017
"You don't become enormously successful without encountering some really interesting problems."
--Mark Victor Hansen
Friday, July 14, 2017
"Yesterday's home runs don't win today's games."
--Babe Ruth
Saturday, July 15, 2017
"You never know what worse luck your bad luck has saved you from."
--Cormac McCarthy
Sunday, July 16, 2017
"Just keep going. Everybody gets better if they keep at it."
--Ted Williams
Monday, July 17, 2017
"Education, actual learning--it is hard work. It's very personal. Your parents don't teach you anything. Your teachers don't teach you anything. The government doesn't teach you anything. You read it. You don't understand it; you read it again. You break a pencil and read it again."
--Dean Kamen
Tuesday, July 18, 2017
"Composing music is hard work."
--John Williams
Wednesday, July 19, 2017
"If I have made a mistake in the design, then I'm the one who should pay for it. I certainly would not ask somebody else to fly a plane if I were afraid to do it myself."
--Howard Hughes
Thursday, July 20, 2017
"Constant dripping hollows out a stone."
--Lucretius
Friday, July 21, 2017
"Once you choose hope, anything's possible."
--Christopher Reeve
Saturday, July 22, 2017
"Do not wait to strike till the iron is hot; but make it hot by striking."
--William B. Sprague
Sunday, July 23, 2017
"If you're offered a seat on a rocket ship, don't ask what seat! Just get on."
--Sheryl Sandberg
Monday, July 24, 2017
"I do not know anyone who has got to the top without hard work. That is the recipe. It will not always get you to the top, but should get you pretty near."
--Margaret Thatcher
Tuesday, July 25, 2017
"There is no security on the Earth, there is only opportunity."
--Douglas MacArthur
Wednesday, July 26, 2017
"Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work."
--Thomas Edison
Thursday, July 27, 2017
"Winners embrace hard work. They love the discipline of it, the trade-off they're making to win. Losers, on the other hand, see it as punishment. And that's the difference."
--Lou Holtz
Friday, July 28, 2017
"Be the kind of person that you want people to think you are."
--Socrates
Saturday, July 29, 2017
"If you want happiness for an hour take a nap. If you want happiness for a day, go fishing. If you want happiness for a year, inherit a fortune. If you want happiness for a lifetime, help someone else."
--Anonymous
Sunday, July 30, 2017
"It doesn't matter if you try and try and try again, and fail. It does matter if you try and fail, and fail to try again."
--Charles Kettering
Monday, July 31, 2017
"The road to Easy Street goes through the sewer."
--John Madden
Tuesday, August 1, 2017
"It wasn't raining when Noah built the ark."
--Howard Ruff
Wednesday, August 2, 2017
"Don't be afraid your life will end; be afraid that it will never begin."
--Grace Hansen
Thursday, August 3, 2017
"Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do."
--John Wooden
Friday, August 4, 2017
"Risk more than others think is safe. Dream more than others think is practical."
--Howard Schultz
Saturday, August 5, 2017
"There are two educations. One should teach us how to make a living and the other how to live."
--John Adams
Sunday, August 6, 2017
"People talk about getting lucky breaks in their careers. I'm living proof that the 'lucky breaks' theory is simply wrong. You get to make your own luck.... The world is run by those who show up...not those who wait to be asked."
--Steve Blank
Monday, August 7, 2017
Purple Heart Day
"The only medal that I am certain I deserved is the Purple Heart."
--Sen. Bob Kerrey (Medal of Honor recipient)
Tuesday, August 8, 2017
"Let me tell you the secret that has led me to my goals: my strength lies solely in my tenacity."
--Louis Pasteur
Wednesday, August 9, 2017
"Everything you've ever wanted is on the other side of fear."
--George Addair
Thursday, August 10, 2017
"My first job was washing dishes in the basement of a nursing home for $2.10 an hour, and I learned as much about the value of hard work there as I ever did later."
--Douglas Preston
Friday, August 11, 2017
"Ambition is the path to success. Persistence is the vehicle you arrive in."
--Bill Bradley
Saturday, August 12, 2017
"I think the thing about that was I was always willing to work; I was not the fastest or biggest player but I was determined to be the best football player I could be on the football field and I think I was able to accomplish that through hard work."
--Jerry Rice
Sunday, August 13, 2017
"A good traveler has no fixed plans, and is not intent on arriving."
--Lao Tzu
Monday, August 14, 2017
Victory Day (commemorates the end of World War II)
"I don't think journalists in World War II were objective about the Nazis, and I don't think they should have been."
--Sebastian Junger
Tuesday, August 15, 2017
"We live in the kind of society where, in almost all cases, hard work is rewarded."
--Neil deGrasse Tyson
Wednesday, August 16, 2017
"The greater part of our misery or unhappiness is determined not by our circumstance but by our disposition."
--Martha Washington
Thursday, August 17, 2017
"Music expresses that which cannot be put into words."
--Victor Hugo
Friday, August 18, 2017
Statehood Day (Hawaii)
"Hawaii is not a state of mind, but a state of grace."
--Paul Theroux
Saturday, August 19, 2017
"A man who gives you less than what he has to give is telling you what he thinks of you, and telling you what he thinks of himself."
--Pete Carill
Sunday, August 20, 2017
"When everything seems to be going against you, remember that the airplane takes off against the wind, not with it."
--Henry Ford
Monday, August 21, 2017
"I'm not happy on vacation. In those rare times when I have three hours with no work I have to do, I'm terribly uncomfortable."
--Scott Adams, Dilbert creator
Tuesday, August 22, 2017
"I think of doing a series as very hard work. But then I've talked to coal miners, and that's really hard work."
--William Shatner
Wednesday, August 23, 2017
"Faith moves mountains, but you have to keep pushing while you're praying."
--Mason Cooley
Thursday, August 24, 2017
"Failure is success if we learn from it."
--Malcolm Forbes
Friday, August 25, 2017
"I never dreamt of success. I worked for it."
--Estee Lauder
Saturday, August 26, 2017
Women's Equality Day
"The best protection any woman can have... is courage."
--Elizabeth Cady Stanton
Sunday, August 27, 2017
Lyndon Johnson Day
"The American city should be a collection of communities where every member has a right to belong. It should be a place where every man feels safe on his streets and in the house of his friends."
--Lyndon Johnson
Monday, August 28, 2017
"When you miss a shot, never think of what you did wrong. Take the next shot thinking of what you must do right."
--Tony Alfonso
Tuesday, August 29, 2017
"Luck can only get you so far."
--J.K. Rowling
Wednesday, August 30, 2017
"When one door closes another door opens; but we so often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door, that we do not see the ones which open for us."
--Alexander Graham Bell
Thursday, August 31, 2017
"Don't live the same year 75 times and call it a life."
--Robin Sharma
Friday, September 1, 2017
"Luck? I don't know anything about luck. I've never banked on it, and I'm afraid of people who do. Luck to me is something else: hard work -- and realizing what is opportunity and what isn't."
--Lucille Ball
Saturday, September 2, 2017
"Anything in life worth having is worth working for."
--Andrew Carnegie
Sunday, September 3, 2017
"Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing."
--Benjamin Franklin
Monday, September 4, 2017
Labor Day
"I believe in the dignity of labor, whether with head or hand; that the world owes no man a living but that it owes every man an opportunity to make a living."
--John D. Rockefeller
Tuesday, September 5, 2017
"It isn't hard to be good from time to time. What is tough is being good every day."
--Willie Mays
Wednesday, September 6, 2017
"My family would be supportive if I said I wanted to be a Martian, wear only banana skins, make love to ashtrays, and eat tree bark."
--Casey Affleck
Thursday, September 7, 2017
"Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler."
--Albert Einstein
Friday, September 8, 2017
"There will come a time when you believe everything is finished. That will be the beginning."
--Louis L'Amour
Saturday, September 9, 2017
"The common denominator of success is in forming the habit of doing the things that failures don't like to do."
--Albert Gray
Sunday, September 10, 2017
National Grandparents Day
"Nobody can do for little children what grandparents do. Grandparents sort of sprinkle stardust over the lives of little children."
--Alex Haley
Monday, September 11, 2017
Patriot Day
"These acts of mass murder were intended to frighten our nation into chaos and retreat.But they have failed; our country is strong."
--George W. Bush
Tuesday, September 12, 2017
"Happiness is like a kiss. You must share it to enjoy it."
--Bernard Meltzer
Wednesday, September 13, 2017
International Programmers' Day
"Complexity kills. It sucks the life out of developers, it makes products difficult to plan, build and test, it introduces security challenges, and it causes end-user and administrator frustration."
--Ray Ozzie
Thursday, September 14, 2017
"To conquer fear is the beginning of wisdom."
--Bertrand Russell
Friday, September 15, 2017
"I'm a big believer in the power of inexperience. It was the greatest asset I had when I started TFA. If I had known at the outset how hard it was going to be, I might never have started. --Wendy Kopp
Saturday, September 16, 2017
"The way to get started is to quit talking and start doing."
--Walt Disney
Sunday, September 17, 2017
"You are never too good for anything. Always be willing to do everything."
--Thomas Parkinson
Monday, September 18, 2017
Air Force Birthday
"The power of an air force is terrific when there is nothing to oppose it."
--Winston Churchill
Tuesday, September 19, 2017
"In order to discover new lands, one must be willing to lose sight of the shore for a very long time."
--Anonymous
Wednesday, September 20, 2017
"I would rather die of passion than of boredom."
--Vincent Van Gogh
Thursday, September 21, 2017
Rosh Hashana
"Let our New Year's resolution be this: we will be there for one another as fellow members of humanity, in the finest sense of the word."
--Goran Persson
Friday, September 22, 2017
"The future belongs to those who prepare for it today."
--Malcolm X
Saturday, September 23, 2017
"Your income is directly related to your philosophy, not the economy."
--Jim Rohn
Sunday, September 24, 2017
Gold Star Mothers' Day
"A hero is someone who has given his or her life to something bigger than oneself."
--Joseph Campbell
Monday, September 25, 2017
"I made a resolve then that I was going to amount to something if I could. And no hours, nor amount of labor, nor amount of money would deter me from giving the best that there was in me. And I have done that ever since, and I win by it. I know."
--Harlan Sanders, founder of Kentucky Fried Chicken
Tuesday, September 26, 2017
"There are those who look at things the way they are, and ask why... I dream of things that never were, and ask why not? --Robert F. Kennedy
Wednesday, September 27, 2017
World Tourism Day
"Life is short, and the world is wide."
--Simon Raven
Thursday, September 28, 2017
"Nature gave men two ends... one to sit on and one to think with. Ever since then man's success or failure has been dependent on the one he used most."
--George R. Kilpatrick
Friday, September 29, 2017
"Someday is not a day of the week."
--Denise BrennanNelson
Saturday, September 30, 2017
"Destiny is not a matter of chance, it is a matter of choice."
--William Jennings Bryan
Sunday, October 1, 2017
"Remember that the happiest people are not those getting more, but those giving more."
--H. Jackson Brown Jr."
Monday, October 2, 2017
"Luck is a dividend of sweat. The more you sweat, the luckier you get."
--Ray Kroc
Tuesday, October 3, 2017
"Movies are hard work. The public doesn't see that. The critics don't see it. But they're a lot of work. A lot of work."
--Robert DeNiro
Wednesday, October 4, 2017
Feast of St Francis of Assisi
"St. Francis of Assisi taught me that there is a wound in the Creation and that the greatest use we could make of our lives was to ask to be made a healer of it."
--Alan Paton
Thursday, October 5, 2017
"I knew that if I failed I wouldn't regret that, but I knew the one thing I might regret is not trying."
--Jeff Bezos
Friday, October 6, 2017
"If everything seems under control, you're just not going fast enough."
--Mario Andretti
Saturday, October 7, 2017
"People seldom do what they believe in. They do what is convenient, then repent."
--Bob Dylan
Sunday, October 8, 2017
"Diligence is the mother of good luck."
--Benjamin Franklin
Monday, October 9, 2017
Indigenous People's Day
"All things share the same breath - the beast, the tree, the man... the air shares its spirit with all the life it supports."
--Chief Seattle
Tuesday, October 10, 2017
"Everybody has a great idea for a startup, and so do their relatives, and they tell me, 'You gotta build it.' I say, 'I have to believe in it.' --Ashton Kutcher
Wednesday, October 11, 2017
"To climb steep hills requires a slow pace at first."
--William Shakespeare
Thursday, October 12, 2017
"The biggest temptation is to settle for too little."
--Thomas Merton
Friday, October 13, 2017
"I'm intimidated by the fear of being average."
--Taylor Swift
Saturday, October 14, 2017
"If you focus on results you'll never change. If you focus on change, you'll get results."
--Jack Dixon
Sunday, October 15, 2017
"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit."
--Aristotle
Monday, October 16, 2017
Boss's Day
"Don't blame the boss. He has enough problems."
--Donald Rumsfeld
Tuesday, October 17, 2017
"If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together."
--Anonymous
Wednesday, October 18, 2017
"If you don't set goals, you can't regret not reaching them."
--Yogi Berra
Thursday, October 19, 2017
"This too, shall pass."
--Anonymous
Friday, October 20, 2017
"They said, we have education, but what about jobs? So I started telling them, you should be taking a pledge, and the pledge should be: 'I'm not a job seeker; I'm a job giver.' Prepare yourself to be a job giver."
--Muhammad Yunus
Saturday, October 21, 2017
"You know you are truly alive when you're living among lions. --Karen Blixen
Sunday, October 22, 2017
"If you are willing to do more than you are paid to do, eventually you will be paid to do more than you do."
--Anonymous
Monday, October 23, 2017
"Optimism is the one quality more associated with success and happiness than any other."
--Brian Tracy
Tuesday, October 24, 2017
"If something is important enough, even if the odds are against you, you should still do it."
--Elon Musk
Wednesday, October 25, 2017
"If it scares you, it might be a good thing to try."
--Seth Godin
Thursday, October 26, 2017
"Entrepreneurship is neither a science nor an art. It is a practice."
--Peter Drucker
Friday, October 27, 2017
"If you want your children to turn out well, spend twice as much time with them, and half as much money."
--Abigail Van Buren
Saturday, October 28, 2017
"If you are not embarrassed by the first version of your product, you've launched too late."
--Reid Hoffman
Sunday, October 29, 2017
"Those who don't believe in magic will never find it."
--Roald Dahl
Monday, October 30, 2017
"Never be afraid to try something new. Remember, amateurs built the ark. Professionals built the Titanic."
--Anonymous
Tuesday, October 31, 2017
Halloween
"Fear is only as deep as the mind allows."
--Anonymous
Wednesday, November 1, 2017
All Saints' Day
"Pray as though everything depended on God. Work as though everything depended on you."
--Saint Augustine
Thursday, November 2, 2017
"Performance-wise, you really need to be down in the trenches; you need to do the hard work, for a lot of reasons: To build yourself as a performer, to get a sense of the audience, to work hard and to wonder, 'Do I really want to do this?' --Joan Jett
Friday, November 3, 2017
"The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now."
--Anonymous
Saturday, November 4, 2017
"If you do what you've always done, you'll get what you've always gotten."
--Tony Robbins
Sunday, November 5, 2017
Daylight Saving Time ends
"Time is what we want most, but what we use worst."
--William Penn
Monday, November 6, 2017
"There is no elevator to success -- you have to take the stairs."
--Anonymous
Tuesday, November 7, 2017
Election Day (New Jersey and Virginia governors)
"The vote is the most powerful instrument ever devised by man for breaking down injustice and destroying the terrible walls which imprison men because they are different from other men."
--Lyndon Johnson
Wednesday, November 8, 2017
"Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world."
--Harriet Tubman
Thursday, November 9, 2017
"Both my mother and I were determined that we weren't going to stay on welfare. We always worked toward doing better, toward having a better life. We never had any doubts that we would."
--Larry Ellison
Friday, November 10, 2017
Marine Corps Birthday
"The deadliest weapon in the world is a MARINE and his rifle!" --Gen. John Pershing
Saturday, November 11, 2017
Veterans Day
"I am convinced that America's great sea of goodwill can be, in fact, a rising tide, a tide that could lift every veteran and every family of our wounded and fallen."
--Admiral Michael Mullen
Sunday, November 12, 2017
"If you are lucky enough to find a way of life you love, you have to find the courage to live it.
--Bette Davis
Monday, November 13, 2017
"Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must do."
--Goethe
Tuesday, November 14, 2017
"The rung of a ladder was never meant to rest upon, but only to hold a man's foot long enough to enable him to put the other somewhat higher."
--Thomas Huxley
Wednesday, November 15, 2017
"Think of what you have rather than of what you lack. Of the things you have, select the best and then reflect how eagerly you would have sought them if you did not have them."
--Marcus Aurelius
Thursday, November 16, 2017
World Philosophy Day
"Philosophy is like trying to open a safe with a combination lock: each little adjustment of the dials seems to achieve nothing, only when everything is in place does the door open."
--Ludwig Wittgenstein
Friday, November 17, 2017
"Flaming enthusiasm, backed by horse-sense and persistence, is the quality that most frequently makes for success."
--Dale Carnegie
Saturday, November 18, 2017
"The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don't have any."
--Alice Walker
Sunday, November 19, 2017
World Toilet Day
"Certain things in life are more important than the usual crap that everyone strives for."
--James Taylor
Monday, November 20, 2017
Africa Industrialization Day
"Smooth seas do not make skillful sailors."
--African proverb
Tuesday, November 21, 2017
World Television Day
"All television is educational television. The question is: what is it teaching? --Nicholas Johnson
Wednesday, November 22, 2017
"The only place success comes before work is in the dictionary."
--Vidal Sassoon
Thursday, November 23, 2017
Thanksgiving Day
"Do not indulge in dreams of having what you have not, but reckon up the chief of the blessings you do possess, and then thankfully remember how you would crave for them if they were not yours."
--Marcus Aurelius
Friday, November 24, 2017
"Life is what we make it, always has been, always will be."
--Grandma Moses
Saturday, November 25, 2017
"We ask ourselves: Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do."
--Marianne Williamson
Sunday, November 26, 2017
"People who say it cannot be done should not interrupt those who are doing it."
--George Bernard Shaw
Monday, November 27, 2017
"In order to succeed you must fail so that you know what not to do the next time."
--Anthony J. D'Angelo
Tuesday, November 28, 2017
"Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up."
--Pablo Picasso
Wednesday, November 29, 2017
"Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself."
--Leo Tolstoy
Thursday, November 30, 2017
"My parents had always preached the virtues of hard work. But hard work is one thing; economic struggle is another."
--Sargent Shriver
Friday, December 1, 2017
"Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek."
--Barack Obama
Saturday, December 2, 2017
International Day for the Abolition of Slavery
"Human history begins with man's act of disobedience which is at the very same time the beginning of his freedom and development of his reason."
--Erich Fromm
Sunday, December 3, 2017
"The history of the world is the history of a few people who had faith in themselves."
--Swami Vivekananda
Monday, December 4, 2017
"Happy people are beautiful. They become like a mirror and they reflect that happiness."
--Drew Barrymore
Tuesday, December 5, 2017
"Things may come to those who wait, but only the things left by those who hustle."
--Abraham Lincoln
Wednesday, December 6, 2017
"Life's too mysterious, don't take it serious."
--George Gershwin
Thursday, December 7, 2017
"No matter how long it may take us to overcome this premeditated invasion, the American people in their righteous might will win through to absolute victory."
--Franklin Delano Roosevelt
Friday, December 8, 2017
"Your vision will become clear only when you look into your heart. Who looks outside, dreams. Who looks inside, awakens."
--Carl Jung
Saturday, December 9, 2017
"Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans. --John Lennon
Sunday, December 10, 2017
"Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does."
--William James
Monday, December 11, 2017
"Perseverance is the hard work you do after you get tired of doing the hard work you already did."
--Newt Gingrich
Tuesday, December 12, 2017
"My father gave me the greatest gift anyone could give another person; he believed in me."
--Jim Valvano
Wednesday, December 13, 2017
Chanukah/Hanukkah (first day)
"The proper response, as Hanukkah teaches, is not to curse the darkness but to light a candle."
--Irving Greenberg
Thursday, December 14, 2017
"You can't go around building a better world for people. Only people can build a better world for people. Otherwise it's just a cage."
--Terry Pratchett
Friday, December 15, 2017
"I think that my biggest attribute to any success that I have had is hard work. There really is no substitute for working hard."
--Maria Bartiromo
Saturday, December 16, 2017
"Action may not always bring happiness; but there is no happiness without action."
--Benjamin Disraeli
Sunday, December 17, 2017
Wright Brothers Day
"No flying machine will ever fly from New York to Paris."
--Orville Wright
Monday, December 18, 2017
"Even if you're on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there."
--Will Rogers
Tuesday, December 19, 2017
"Faith is the art of holding on to things your reason has once accepted, in spite of your changing moods."
--C.S. Lewis
Wednesday, December 20, 2017
"If people knew how hard I worked to achieve my mastery, it wouldn't seem so wonderful after all."
--Michaelengo
Thursday, December 21, 2017
"If they can make penicillin out of moldy bread, they can sure make something out of you."
--Muhammad Ali
Friday, December 22, 2017
"Courage is contagious. When a brave man takes a stand, the spines of others are stiffened."
--Billy Graham
Saturday, December 23, 2017
"Talent is cheaper than table salt. What separates the talented individual from the successful one is a lot of hard work."
--Stephen King
Sunday, December 24, 2017
Christmas Eve
"For it is good to be children sometimes, and never better than at Christmas, when its mighty Founder was a child Himself."
--Charles Dickens
Monday, December 25, 2017
Christmas Day
"Peace on earth will come to stay, When we live Christmas every day."
--Helen Steiner Rice
Tuesday, December 26, 2017
Kwanzaa (until Jan 1)
"The seven principles of Kwanzaa - unity, self-determinat ion, collective work and responsibility, cooperative economics, purpose, creativity and faith -- teach us that when we come together to strengthen our families and communities and honor the lesson of the past, we can face the future with joy and optimism."
--William J. Clinton
Wednesday, December 27, 2017
"To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment."
--Ralph Waldo Emerson
Thursday, December 28, 2017
"Success is often achieved by those who don't know that failure is inevitable."
--Coco Chanel
Friday, December 29, 2017
"It is not what you do for your children, but what you have taught them to do for themselves, that will make them successful human beings."
--Ann Landers
Saturday, December 30, 2017
"What would you attempt to do if you knew you would not fail? --Robert Schuller
Sunday, December 31, 2017
New Year's Eve
"An optimist stays up until midnight to see the new year in. A pessimist stays up to make sure the old year leaves."
--Bill Vaughn
​

If you got this far, here's to the end of a great 2017 and start of an amazing 2018!