Monthly Archives: January 2012

Leadership Quotes

I have noticed that we need more positive leaders in the world. Being a great leader is difficult and you have to have a different frame of mind, be able to understand people, be a visionary, disciplined and have the gift to inspire. Here are some amazing quotes I found from that all deal with leadership.

Leadership is the capacity to translate vision into reality.
Warren G. Bennis

Peter Drucker

Arnold H. Glasgow

James Baldwin

Ken Blanchard

The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality, the last is to say ‘Thank you. In between the two, the leaders must become a servant.
Max De Pree

They don’t care how much you know until they now how much you care.
Theodore Roosevelt

The greatest management principle in the world is: the things that get rewarded and appreciate get done.
Michael LeBoeuf

Excellence is…caring more than others think is wise;
Risking more than others think is safe;
Dreaming more than others think is practical.
Expecting more than others think is possible.

Winston Churchill

Bob Nelson

William A. Foster

Robert Townsend

Jack Welch

Robert Half

Zig Ziglar

To lead the people, walk behind them.
Lao Tzu


Continuous Renewal

“Continuous renewal is an umbrella term for anything you can do to keep in touch with your values and your life purpose. This is a discipline that all successful people fashion for themselves. The will to win – the will to achieve – goes dry and arid without continuous renewal.” – Vince Lombardi

I am a big believer in the idea that we have to continually try to better ourselves. A lot of people get upset because they have one great day and they are discouraged the following day when it’s bad. People would like to think that happiness is a destination and once it is achieved or reached that it is supposed to be eternal. However, as I have mentioned before, excellence and happiness is a habit. It is a continuous effort that you have to put in. I relate this back to my career as a teacher. I cannot just get a degree and teach the rest of my life. I have to continuously learn and take classes, attend seminars etc. in order to remain a teacher. If I want to remain happy, I have to continue pursuing my dreams, achieving my goals, striving to be the best I can be as a person, developing my relationships, helping others etc.

I love the part that Vince Lomardi mentions the will to achieve and win go dry and arid without continuous renewal. When I was in college I got more caught up in partying and hanging out and lost track of my goals, dreams and aspirations. It was a rude awakening when I realized that I looked forward more to the night life of partying rather than being a model citizen, working for my future, pursuing my dreams and just being a good person. It wasn’t until I had to physically remove myself from those surrounding that I was able to realize this. I know a lot of people struggle with making change. I know deep down they want to change but can’t. I see them have good days and bad days. One day of hope has a lot of power but it cannot single-handedly solve your problems. Discipline and perseverance are key to mastering yourself. One day of positive thinking isn’t enough to change. It is a continuous struggle and fight that you have to WANT.

If Life Is A Game…These Are The Rules

An excerpt from If Life is a Game…These are the Rules by Dr. Chérie Carter Scott, Ph.D.
Why are you here? What is your purpose? Humans have sought to discover the meaning of life for a very long time. What we and our ancestors have overlooked, however, in the course of this endless search, is that there is no one answer. The meaning of life is different for every individual.
Each person has his or her own purpose and distinct path, unique and separate from anyone else’s. As you travel your life path, you will be presented with numerous lessons that you will need to learn in order to fulfill that purpose. The lessons you are presented with are specific to you; learning these lessons is the key to discovering and fulfilling the meaning and relevance of your own life.
Once you have learned the basic lessons taught to you by your own body, you are ready for a more advanced teacher: the universe. You will be presented with lessons in every circumstance that surfaces in your life. When you experience pain, you learn a lesson. When you feel joy, you learn a different lesson. For every action or event, there is an accompanying lesson that must be learned.

Promisary Note

This was passed onto me and I truly believe that if you repeat this every night and really grasp and understand what each line means, that you will become a better person.

The importance of constantly repeating this and continuing to come back to this throughout each day will truly help in guiding you to be a better person. This promise breaks it down to make it seem pretty easy, however you will see that it is often very difficult. By constantly reading it and keeping it on the top of your mind, the more likely you are to succeed.

I Promise Myself By Christian D. Larsen













Celebrate Your Success!!!

Life is what we make it. A long list of choices and decisions. A bunch of actions that cause a bunch of reactions. I’ve gone on about success and happiness and we have found that it comes down to choices, discipline, attitude and relationships. Knowing this, it can still be hard when life wears you down, kicks you in your gut and wears you down even more. That is why I think it is so important to celebrate your success, no matter how big or small. The rewards of your accomplishments help drive you and keep you going. We all have the desire to be happy and successful, some more than others, but we all have a little fight in us and its by celebrating our successes and accomplishments that motivate and drive us to keep going. What’s even better is when you know someone who is working hard to accomplish something, celebrate with them! Ecouragement and admiration by others is a great way to make someone feel better and in return you can’t help but feel great yourself. A celebration can be big or small so don’t get overwhelmed thinking you have to plan a family/friend get together twice a week and spend hundreds of dollars on food, beverages and decorations. It could be anything! A piece of candy, kind words, a movie night with a loved one. The most important thing is recognizing either yourself or someone else for their hard work and dedication.

Go Out And FAIL!

Yeah, it may seem strange to fail. But we need failure in order to achieve success. There has never been a successful person who has never failed at least once. The important part here is that this means we have to take action. When I say to chase your dreams, go out and do it. Set a plan. Sit down and set goals that are measurable, achieveable and tangible. Make a plan to achieve those goals and a timeline. Now, once you have that, go out and you will notice that every choice you make is geared around achieving those goals. Your goals become magnets and you start working towards them. The closer you get, the stronger the momentum and the faster you will see results. Be disciplined in your steps or else you will not see results. Most people see failure as an awful, horrible thing. BUT IT ISN”T! Failure allows you to stop, learn, re-strategize and re-launch. You will become more efficient and effective in achieving your goals. My football coaches always told me, if you are going to mess up, mess up 110%. If you are going to fail, fail 110%. Worse case scenario, you will learn and find a new way to succeed.

Health-You Are What You Eat

We have all heard this but we don’t do anything about it. Let me ask you this, if you put dirt in your car fuel tank, what will happen? Now why do people think they can eat fast food, drink soda, consume tons of sugar, intake ungodly amounts of energy drinks and expect to be healthy? This is probably the most basic and simple concept to understand but so very few people do it. Is it laziness, ignorance or a combination of both? Happiness directly correlates with health. Your health is your wealth. If you look at the studies, as obesity increased in the United States so did depression and other illnesses. Treat your body as if it were a temple and only put nutritious things in your body. We consume so many toxins from the glues and chemicals in our homes that we inhale, we need as many antioxidants as possible just to get rid of these so by eating junk is only making it worse. Below are some links to movies you should watch that will change your peception on healthy eating…

“Let thy medicine be thy food, and thy food be thy medicine.”

Stress is a Choice

Watch the below link on stress. Americans have the tendency to try and meet a certain status because our society is driven and based on money and materialistic items rather than relationships and this leads many of us to stress ridden lives. Stress is a choice, just as happiness is. Life is all about choices and I know we used to talk about this in D.A.R.E but hopefully this gets the point across a little better.

Life Begins When You Do

An excerpt from
Life Begins When You Do
by Mary Anne Radmacher Nearly everyone postpones one grand thing or a collection of mighty hopes and dreams.


Your Life Begins When You Do.




If you would dream it

If you have an idea
OPEN it.

If there is longing

If there is mission

If there is daring
DO it.

If there is love

If there is resource
USE it.

If there is abundance

Act With Confidence, Act Like A Boss

I spoke previously about the Key to Success is discipline. Discipline is so important because it is so easy to talk yourself out of a hard task and instead veg on the couch. Michael Jordan didn’t waste time doing nothing. He spent countless hours in the gym perfecting his jump shot. He was disciplined enough to know that if he wanted to be the greatest player of all time, it would come at a price. Now the other part of Michael Jordan was his Confidence. He knew every time he was given the ball with 3 seconds left down by 1 point that he would make the shot–no question about it. As I have mentioned before, happiness and success is a frame of mind, it’s a habit. Deciding to be confident in your stride will result in numerous opportunities presenting themselves and you will be surprised with how much people respect you. I was offered a job as an Assistant Principal and I am only 24 years old. I carried myself with confidence into the interview, not with arrogance, but with an attitude that I knew what I was doing and I was eager to make a change. I supervise my old Elementary teachers and it can create some awkward moments but even if I don’t know what the hell I am doing, I don’t let it show. I heard a quote once that something along the lines of “If you second guess yourself, you already stand on shaky grounds.” Basically, if you second guess what you are doing, you are not likely to succeed. When you make a decision, go for it 110%. Don’t second guess yourself. I suggest to really understand this, watch “Boiler Room” because there is a part in there that talks about “Acting as if.” It is great because it says basically, act as if you own the world, as if you are the only man for the job, the best thing to ever walk this earth, act as if you know exactly what you are doing. For the most part, nobody really knows that much and when you come in acting as if you know what you are doing, people tend to follow your every move. There are not many natural leaders out there. Most people look for guidance and if you walk with confidence, you will be able to change the world. If you aren’t changing th world well…Fake it till you make it 😉

Many of you are probably wondering how to suddenly be the most confident person ever. It isn’t easy and I think it comes down to self-actualization. You must truly love yourself for everything you are, flaws, imperfections and all. It can be really easy to look at other people and point out flaws, however, one of the hardest things in life is being able to look in the mirror and admit when you’re doing something wrong and that you aren’t perfect. I believe that you can’t love yourself until you can accept yourself for who you are and use your talents for the betterment of others. We all have gifts and talents that we are born with and the important thing in life is using what you have to make a difference.