Life's Greatest Lessons

I did my final presentation for my Master's program last week.  (YAY!!! I can't believe I'm almost done!) It was no big deal just a presentation on a book.  I was all prepared with 16 pages of notes.  KC and I were going out and I needed a break after working all day on this that I saved and shut down my laptop because it had been a while since I had completely shut it off.  When we came back at about 9:00pm I decided to work on my presentation a little bit more and I could not find my notes anywhere!!!  Aghhhh!!!  I asked KC (the expert) to help me but nothing.  It was gone.  I think what happened was that I had just opened the attachment from gmail and I never did "save-as" so who knows where it was saving to.  2 1/2 years in this program and I have never lost anything because I know that I'm supposed to save regularly.  Oh well, I started over again.  I guess I must have needed to know this stuff really well.  Awesome book btw.  It's called: 

Life’s Greatest Lessons--20 Things That Matter
Hal Urban

Here is the 20 Greatest Lessons that we are never too old or young to remember: 

      I.        Success is more than making money

Success means doing the best we can with what we have.  Success is in the doing, not the getting--in the trying, not the triumph. Wynn Davis

    II.        Life is hard… and not always fair

Life is a series of problems.  Do we want to moan about them or solve them? M. Scott Peck

   III.        Life is also fun… and incredibly funny

Of all the gifts bestowed by nature on human beings, hearty laughter must be close to the top.  Norman Cousins

  IV.        We live by choice not by chance

God asks no man whether he will accept life.  That is not the choice.  You must take it.  The only choice is how.  Henry Ward Beecher

    V.        Attitude is a choice—the most important one you’ll ever make

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

Viktor Frankl

  VI.        Habits are the key to all success

In truth, the only difference between those who have failed and those who have succeeded lies in the difference of their habits.  Og Mandino

 VII.        Being thankful is a habit—the best one you’ll ever have

Don’t complain because you don’t have… Enjoy what you’ve got. H. Stanley Judd

VIII.        Good people build their lives on a foundation of respect

Treat other people exactly as you would like to be treated by them… The Golden Rule

  IX.        Honesty is still the best policy

Honesty is the best policy in international relations, interpersonal relations, labor, business, education, family, and crime control because truth is the only thing that works and the only foundation on which lasting relations can build. Ramsey Clark

    X.        Kind words cost little but accomplish much

Few things in the world are more powerful than a positive push.  A smile.  A word of optimism and hope. A “you can do it” when things are tough.  Richard M. DeVos

   XI.        Real motivation comes from within

No matter who you are or what your age may be, if you want to achieve permanent, sustaining success, the motivation that will drive you toward the goal must come from within. Paul J. Meyer

 XII.        Goals are dreams with deadlines

People with goals succeed because they know where they’re going. Earl Nightingale

XIII.        There’s no substitute for hard work

The best prize life offers is the chance to work hard at work worth doing. 

Theodore Roosevelt

XIV.        You have to give up something to get something

Decide what you want, decide what you are willing to exchange for it, establish your priorities, and go to work! H. Lamar Hunt

XV.        Successful people don’t find time—they make time

Time is life.  It is irreversible and irreplaceable.  To waste your time is to waste your life, but to master your time is to master your life and make the most of it.  Alan Lakein

XVI.        No one else can raise your self-esteem

Self-esteem is that deep-down inside the skin feeling you have of your own self-worth. Denis Waitley

XVII.        The body needs nutrition and exercise—so do the mind and spirit

…Mind, body, and spirit act in concert to determine health and well-being. 

Dr. Carl Thoresen

XVIII.        It’s OK to fail—Everyone else has

If you’re willing to accept failure and learn from it, if you’re willing to consider failure as a blessing in disguise and bounce back, you’ve got the potential of harnessing one of the most powerful success forces.  Joseph Sugarman

XIX.        Life is simpler when we know what’s essential

And now here is my secret, a very simple secret; It is only with the heart that one sees rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.  Antoine de Saint-Exupery, The Little Prince

XX.        Essential #1 Is Being a Good Person

Do all the good you can, by all the means you can.  John Wesley