Don't Worry That it's Not Good Enough for Anyone Else to Hear

In 1973 The Carpenters released a song which bares a deeper message than just a cute and memorable tune!

"Sing, sing a song
Sing out loud, Sing out strong
Sing of good things not bad
Sing of happy not sad
Sing, sing a song
Make it simple to last your whole life long.
Don't worry that it's not good enough for anyone else to hear
Just sing, sing a song Sing, sing a song
Let the world sing along
Sing of love there could be
Sing for you and for me
Sing, sing a song
Make it simple to last your whole life long.
Don't worry that it's not good enough for anyone else to hear
Just sing, sing a song"

We should always exhibit our inate confidence as we create our future. We often spend too much of our energies worrying about what our friends, our neighbors, or others will think! The thing we need to focus on is if our creation is suitable to our Maker!

Are You Wasting Yourself?

In a society focused on time-saving devices, here's a different perspective to consider....Alice Bloch, notes British author/philosopher has said, “We say we waste time, but that is impossible. We waste ourselves.”

Time is a commodity which cannot be wasted. It cannot be spent. It cannot be saved! Actually, we have no influence or control over time. It is here, surrounding us. What we can (and too often do) waste is ourselves!It is a tragedy when we consider what we could become and what we could accomplish, but choose to not!Time is a commodity which cannot be wasted. It cannot be spent. It cannot be saved! Actually, we have no influence or control over time. It is here, surrounding us. Many businesses have been built on the concept of "Time Management".What they're really trying to teach is self-management!

What we can (and too often do) waste is ourselves! It is a tragedy when we consider what we could become and what we could accomplish, but choose to not seize the day!

Put A Little “Fizz” In Your Life

During his 40 plus year career as a Powerhouse speaker, Zig Ziglar shared this brief, but important event:

"Coca-Cola is the best-known product in the world today, but had it not been for a couple of “little things,” it might have died shortly after its birth. The formula for Coca-Cola was discovered in 1886 in Atlanta, Georgia, by a 50-year-old pharmacist named John Pemberton. He was fascinated by the soda fountain in his store and the large number of drinks it offered the customers. Because he was both creative and curious, he decided to develop a syrup that would be different and thirst-quenching. While working in the back room of his pharmacy, he combined a mixture of cola nut extract, sugar, caffeine, decocainized coca leaves and vegetable extract. To this day, the exact formula remains one of the most carefully-guarded secrets in the world. The drink was relatively popular, but a few months later an assistant served a customer Coca-Cola mixed with soda water. That little “fizz” was the “lucky touch” that caused an explosion in the popularity of the drink. However, there was one other factor involved. Pemberton’s partner, Frank Robinson, was the creative artistic talent that produced the elegant writing of the name Coca-Cola. That design is the one they’re still using today. “So what?” might be the question on your mind because you’ve “heard that story before.” Here’s the “what.” Is there a possibility that under your very eyes are simple “little things” that with a little tinkering could turn into something big? Is there a better, faster, cheaper way of doing a mundane task that would make a big difference? Could be. It certainly would behoove each of us to keep our eyes and our minds open to that possibility. Who knows – maybe if you put a little “fizz” in what you do you will find another Coca-Cola in your soda fountain. Think about it and I’ll SEE YOU AT THE TOP!"

False Limitations

We each suffer from some measure of FALSE LIMITATIONS! Here's a brief story I learned many years ago...

A young newlywed couple was preparing an Easter ham. As the wife cut the end off the ham, the husband asked, "Why do you cut the ends?" His bride responded with, "That's how my mom taught me!" Soon after, they were at the in-laws for dinner, when the brave young man asked his mother-in-law why she cuts the end off her hams. Mom replied, "I don't know! That's how my mother always did it!" Now they were all curious. So they called Grandma and asked her, to which she informed them that it was because her baking dish was too short!

What limitations do we impose upon ourselves? Have ever noticed that Circus Elephants are restrained by a small rope, which he would certainly be capable of breaking? Initially, as a baby, the elephant was bound with a heavy chain and unable to roam freely beyond that limitation. Thus trained and now grown, he does not even attempt to exceed his "limitations".

Examples abound of our limitations and overcoming them. When I was a preschool boy, nobody had ever sprinted faster than a four-minute mile. Scientists said it was physically impossible...until Roger Bannisted did it. Knowing that it WAS possible, many others soon broke his record!

Where could your life progress to if you could shed those false limitations?

Occupy Your Mind!

Considering all the social unrest present in our world today, here's a concept to consider...

We should support the concept of a Revolution. But let the revolution be a revolution of improving our hearts and our actions, to becoming more peaceful within ourselves! Imagine the effect on those around us if our thoughts and actions reflect positive growth! We must individually be the change we desire to see in our families, in our towns, state and nation!

Be a PACESETTER

By definition, a “pacesetter” is a person, group, or organization that is the most progressive or successful and serves as a model to be imitated. Each of us can become a Pacesetter! In the late '70s I became acquainted with a former Naval Aviator by the name of Hartman Rector, Jr. He shared some great advice on this process.
Let's add to the definition above...
*P.A.C.E. is an acronym for Positive Attitude Controls Everything!

Here are five principles on becoming a "PaceSetter"...

*Believe you can do it! This is the first important principle. All things are possible to them that believe. This principle also includes believing in yourself. Self-esteem is vitally important to successful performance. Self-esteem is different than conceit—conceit is the weirdest disease in the world. It makes everyone sick except the one who has it. It is immensely important that you feel good about yourself. I am sure that you can only feel good about yourself if you are on the way to reaching your potential.

*Perform positively! Eliminate all negative words and phrases from your vocabulary. Refuse to think negatively, for as a man “thinketh in his heart, so is he” (Prov. 23:7). Refuse also to speak negatively. Now you have become an optimist rather than a pessimist. There is a big difference between an optimist and a pessimist—one is positive, a believer; the other is negative, a doubter. The optimist, as you probably know, is a person who, when he wears out his shoes, just figures he’s back on his feet. The pessimist says, “I’ll believe it when I see it.” The optimist says, “I’ll see it when I believe it.”

*Pray always, and be believing! Faith begins with belief. What man can conceive, he can achieve. Believe you can do it.

*Look to the Lord for your blessings! Some wise counsel share with me as I was growing up was...“There is a law, irrevocably decreed in heaven before the foundations of this world, upon which all blessings are predicated, and when we obtain any blessing from God, it is by obedience to that law upon which it is predicated”

*Make the sacrifice! There is no such thing as “something for nothing”. This is where the concept of the "second mile" is applied! We do what's expected for the pay we receive (that's the First Mile). But to be a PaceSetter, we must exceed the expectations of those we serve! “Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again.” (Luke 6:38.)

The Missing Point on Your Compass

Back in the '70s Paul J. Meyer, the founder of Success Motivation Institute asked particpants in one of his seminars, "Did you ever consider that you could have a map and a compass and still be hopelessly lost? " A map and compass are completely useless until you know that mising point on your compass - WHERE YOU PRESENTLY ARE NOW! That's why it is so important when writing out your goals and plans to appraise yourself honestly to determine exactly where you stand now.
* In relation to your income goals...where are you now?
* In relation to your physical and mental goals...where are you now?
* On relation to your social, family, and spiritual goals...where are you now?
A vitally important point of your compass - and a vitally impotant factor in your future achievements is WHERE YOU ARE NOW! Although over the intervening 50 years, electronic devices have changed the physical reference of the analogy, that 5th point on YOUR compass is still critical!