Great moments are born from great opportunity.

"Great moments are born from great opportunity. That's what you have here, tonight, boys. That's what you've earned here tonight. One game. If we played them ten times, they might win nine, but not this game. Not tonight. Tonight, we skate. Tonight, we stay with them, and we shut them down, because we can! Tonight, WE are the greatest hockey team in the world. You were born to be hockey players, every one of you. And you were meant to be here tonight. This is your time!

-Herb Brooks

 

We are a blessed people.  Opportunity surrounds us at every second of every day.  So why are some more successful than others?  First, when faced with great opportunity, we must recognize it.  There is a very famous quote by Thomas Edison that reads "We often miss opportunity because it's dressed in overalls and looks like work."  Second, we must be willing.  We must be willing to give everything we have.  Blood, sweat, and tears, right?  Maybe not in every scenario, but we get the point.  As you go through your day, look for opportunity.  It comes in all shapes and sizes.  And when you see it, grab it and do everything you can to hold on and turn that great opportunity into a great moment.  Best of luck, my friends.

Becoming grateful for failure.

Michael Jordan.  Bill Gates.  Albert Einstein.  Jim Carrey.  Bethany Hamilton.  Benjamin Franklin.  Stephen King.  Thomas Edison.  Vincent Van Gogh.  Franklin Roosevelt.  Simon Cowell.  Steven Spielberg. 

All of these people and so many more have one huge thing in common: failures and misfortunes.  We have all read about these amazing people who fail so many times and then one day it clicked, and now they are some of the most successful people in the world.  Why?  Because failure fuels their motivation. 

I love sports and I love learning about some of my favorite athletes.  One of the most common trends I find with these athletes is both failures and then determination.  Ever athlete out there has lost a game, missed a shot, had a bad season, or even suffered from an injury.  So then why are they so good?  They learned from these failures.  They let failure drive their motivation to become better.  Any athlete out there knows how awful it feels to walk off the field after a bad game.  Yet so many of us, myself included, become more frustrated than anything else.  We have to learn how to "walk it off" and bounce back.  The faster we can bounce back, learn from our failures, and get back at it, the better we will become. 

Whether you are an athlete in the competitive field, someone trying to live a healthier lifestyle, or maybe you are striving to achieve great success in the academic world... whatever it may be, you will face failure at one point or another.  Become grateful for failure, learn from failure, and then you will become successful.  Best of luck, my friends.

2014: Time to refocus, not restart.

How many of us made some form of new years resolution?  I am sure most all of us probably did!  Well... how are they going??  Statistics show that over 40% of people don't make it past one month.  As we approach one month, I hope we can all continue to remain strong!

 

May I offer up one word of caution?  When I listen to people talk about their new goals for the year, it often comes across as a time to restart.  I like to think of the new year as a time to refocus.  Whatever has happened over the last year, whether good or bad, has happened so that we can learn from it.  Use this time to reflect on the past year, learn from it, and make changes to make this year even better.

 

Sorry for the late post!  I hope all of you had an amazing holiday season and have kicked off the new year right!  Best of luck!

Don't live a "what if" life.

"Our greatest glory is not in never failing, but in rising up every time we fail."

-Ralph Waldo Emerson

 

"I would rather fail one thousand times before I ever have to look in the mirror and say 'what if'."

-Tyler Nelson

 

Looking back at times in my life when I have failed, it hurts, but from those failures I grew.  When I look back at times in my life when I never tried... well, I guess I'll never know, and that hurts a lot more than failure ever will.  With failure comes an opportunity to rise up, to learn, to become more.  If we never try, we are only left with a nagging feeling as we wonder what we could have done, what we could have become.  When given that opportunity... try.  Best of luck, my friends.

Short term gratification or long term sucess.

Repost "Do you want it bad enough?"

I posted this several months ago and just the other day ran across it again.  I had to repost it.  Enjoy!

There was a Young Man who wanted to make a lot of money and so he went to an Old Guru and said, "I want to be on the same level you are."

So the Guru says, "If you want to be on the same level I am, I'll meet you at the beach tomorrow morning. 4 AM."

The Young Man looking confused says, "The beach?? I don't wanna swim, I wanna make money!"

"4 AM."

 The Young Man gets to the beach at 4 AM, all ready to rock and roll, wearing a suit - should have wore shorts -  and the Old Guru walks up to great him and grabs his hand. He asks, "How bad do you want to be successful?"

The Young Man excited states, "Real bad!"

"Then walk out into the water."

So the Young Mann starts walking out into the water. About waist deep he starts thinking to himself 'This man must be crazy!', but he continues to walks out. "Hey I wanna make money and you got me out here swimming. I didn't ask to be a lifeguard. I wanna make money!"

The Guru looks at him and says, "Come out a little farther."

The Young Man walks out a little farther. The water is up to his throat. Now he's thinking 'This man is crazy, I mean -  he's makin' money, but he's crazy!', but he keeps walking out. The water is up to his mouth now and his mind is racing 'I'm about to go back in, this guy is out of his mind!', and he turns around.

The Old Guru yells to him and says, "I thought you wanted to be successful?"

"I do," says the Young Man.

"Then walk a little further."

So the Young Man starts to walk out a little farther and the Old Guru grabs his head and puts it under the water. He holds him down and I mean he has him held down. The Young Man is scratching and clawing at him. The Old Guru keeps holding him down. Holding him down. Then right as the Young Man is about to pass out, gently the Old Guru raises him up. The Guru looks at him and says, "I got a question for you... when you were under water, what did you want?"

"I wanted to breathe."

"Now when you want to succeed as bad as you want to breathe, then you will be successful." And with that the Old Guru released the Young Man and began walking to shore.

 

Such a simple concept but so powerful.  So many times in my life, I thought I wanted something... but I didn't really want it, I just thought I did.  Looking back I can understand that because things would come up: friends would call, I would get tired, I would get lazy.  When things came up, the thing that I thought I wanted most now became second.  We have to evaluate ourselves and ask ourselves how bad we really want it!  Then after verbally answering the question, go prove it to yourself!

It's your choice.