Creating Yourself

The person you are to become, is always watching the person you are right now. Th  image you have of yourself tomorrow, depends on the actions you watch yourself take today. The confidence with which you live nex  month, will be based on the integrity of your actions this week

You can hide and conceal things from just about anyone, but the person you are to become is always watching. And that person's opinion of you will play a major role in your life. Will you be proud tomorrow of what you did today? Will your future self find strength in your present actions and attitudes? Will you learn from your mistakes and from your successes? The you of tomorrow is watching, waiting, hoping and depending upon the you of today.

Live each moment like someone is watching. Because someone is watching, someone who can make you or break you. Live so that the person you become in the future can look back with gratitude and admiration at the person you are right now.

Power To Your possibilities

Most of the things that hold you back do so with your assistance. Some things stop you only because you've decided to let them stop you. That's a sobering thought, and yet also a very liberating situation. Those things that you allow to stop you can just as easily push you forward, when you decide to let them.

For every excuse that has the power to stop you, there's an equally compelling reason to move on forward. Challenge yourself to transform what were once your excuses into reasons for success. It can be comforting for a while to sit back and tell yourself that someone or something else is preventing you from moving ahead.

But that comfort soon fades into regret and despair over all the missed opportunities. Even the very best, most reasonable excuses will add no lasting value to your life. That's your job! Success and accomplishment will happen when you forget about what might hold you back and focus on how to move ahead.

Don't squander your efforts on propping up the excuses. Instead, give power and energy to your possibilities. Let the reasons you keep at the front of your mind be reasons to succeed.

There are many ways to success, but nothing works unless you do.

Building A House

An old carpenter about to retire was telling his boss about his plans to stop working with construction and enjoy life with his wife and kids. He was so excited about retiring that he wasn't even looking forward to the paycheck of that month. All he wanted was to retire.

The boss was upset about losing a good worker and as a personal favor asked the man to work on the construction of one last house. The old carpenter didn't want to accept it but he couldn't deny his boss one last favour. So he took the job, but it was clear that his heart wasn't in it. He just wanted to get it finished and over with. Consequently he was careless and ended up using bad quality material in the construction of the house. It was a sad way to finish such an excellent career with so many years of total dedication.

When the house was done his boss was there to inspect it. He gave the key of the house to the old carpenter and said "This is your house. It's a gift for you after so many years of hard work."

The carpenter was shocked "What a shame!" he thought. If he had known that it was his house he would have done things differently.

Remember that you are the carpenter of your own life. You construct your life a little bit every day. You hit a nail here, build a wall there and so on. Life is a do-it-yourself project. Your acts and choices now will build the house you will live in later on. So do it right.

Expect It

Rarely will you ever accomplish more then you expect to accomplish. So get in the habit of expecting the best. Your expectations by themselves do not create your reality, but they do indeed set the direction for it.

What do you expect to achieve today, this week, or this month? How do you expect other people to relate to you? Expectations guide our actions. When we know what is expected it gives us a clear plan for exactly what to do.

Whatever you sincerely expect, you will work for, you will nurture, you will persist for and give power to. Those things will serve to make it happen. Expectations powerfully influence both your conscious and subconscious actions.

If you expect the day to be dreary and boring, most likely it will be. When you expect the day to be productive and fulfilling, you'll find yourself acting to satisfy those expectations. Make it a point to expect the best, and then commit to following those expectations.

Priorities

A philosophy professor stood before his class and had some items in front of him. When class began, wordlessly he picked up a large empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with rocks right to the top, rocks about 2" diameter.

He then asked the students if the jar was full? They agreed that it was.

So the professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them in to the jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles, of course, rolled into the open areas between the rocks. The students laughed.

He asked his students again if the jar was full? They agreed that yes, it was.

The professor then picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up everything else.

"Now," said the professor, "I want you to recognize that this is your life. The rocks are the important things - your family, your partner, your health, your children - anything that is so important to you that if it were lost, you would be nearly destroyed.

The pebbles are the other things in life that matter, but on a smaller scale. The pebbles represent things like your job, your house, your car.

The sand is everything else. The small stuff.

If you put the sand or the pebbles into the jar first, there is no room for the rocks. The same goes for your life. If you spend all your energy and time on the small stuff, material things, you will never have room for the things that are truly most important.

Pay attention to the things that are critical in your life. Play with your children. Take your partner out dancing There will always be time to go to work, clean the house, give a dinner party and fix the disposal." Take care of the rocks first - the things that really matter.

Rose

The first day of university our professor introduced himself and challenged us to get to know someone we didn't already know. I stood up to look around, when a gentle hand touched my shoulder. I turned around to find a wrinkled, little old lady beaming up at me with a smile that lit up her entire being.

She said, "Hi handsome. My name is Rose. I'm eighty-seven years old. Can I give you a hug?"

I laughed and enthusiastically responded, "Of course you may!" and she gave me a giant squeeze.

"Why are you in university at such a young, innocent age?" I asked.

She jokingly replied, "I'm here to meet a rich husband, get married, have a couple of children, and then retire and travel."

"No seriously," I asked. I was curious what may have motivated her to be taking on this challenge at her age.

"I always dreamed of having a college education and now I'm getting one!" she told me.

After class we walked to the student union building and shared a chocolate milkshake. We became instant friends.

Every day for the next three months we would leave class together and talk nonstop. I was always mesmerized listening to this "time machine" as she shared her wisdom and experience with me.

Over the course of the year, Rose became a campus icon and she easily made friends wherever she went. She loved to dress up and she revelled in the attention bestowed upon her by the other students. She was living it up.

At the end of the semester we invited Rose to speak at our football banquet. I'll never forget what she taught us. She was introduced and stepped up to the podium. As she began to deliver her prepared speech, she dropped her three by five cards on the floor. Frustrated and a little embarrassed she leaned into the microphone and simply said, "I'm sorry I'm so jittery. I gave up beer for Lent and this whisky is killing me! I'll never get my speech back in order so let me just tell you what I know."

As we laughed she cleared her throat and began, "We do not stop playing because we are old; we grow old because we stop playing. There are only four secrets to staying young, being happy, and achieving success.

"You have to laugh and find humour every day."

"You've got to have a dream. When you lose your dreams, you die. We have so many people walking around who are dead and don't even know it!"

"There is a huge difference between growing older and growing up. If you are nineteen years old and lie in bed for one full year and don't do one productive thing, you will turn twenty years old. If I am eighty-seven years old and stay in bed for a year and never do anything I will turn eighty-eight. Anybody can grow older. That doesn't take any talent or ability. The idea is to grow up by always finding the opportunity in change."

"Have no regrets. The elderly usually don't have regrets for what we did, but rather for things we did not do. The only people who fear death are those with regrets."

She concluded her speech by courageously singing "The Rose." She challenged each of us to study the lyrics and live them out in our daily lives. At the years end Rose finished the college degree she had begun all those years ago.

One week after graduation Rose died peacefully in her sleep.

Over two thousand college students attended her funeral in tribute to the wonderful woman who taught by example that it's never too late to be all you can possibly be.

Growing older is inevitable. Growing up is optional.

-- Authors Unknown