Recently, my wife observed two Great Blue Herons. One was standing in the middle of a swift flowing stream while the other stood safely on the bank. You can guess which one was catching fish–not the one standing on the bank. The same is true for people. If you expect to become successful, you have…
Ten years ago, my wife and I adopted a pair of stray six month old cats who had been living on the lam since shortly after they were born. These cats were very untrusting and extremely cautious. The only way we were able to get them in the house was to offer them food as…
Art Linkletter, popular television show host from the 1950’s and 60’s, died recently but he left us with some sound advice on how to live a long life and make our dreams come true. As Mr. Linkletter put it, “As early as possible in your life, find what you love to do and then do…
Often times, when we set goals for ourselves to do things like exercise more or lose weight, we start out with all kinds of enthusiasm and then back off or procrastinate when the going gets a little tough. At times like these, a gentle nudge of encouragement is all that is needed to keep us…
This is a very sound but seldom honored concept. Most success seekers are so taken with trying to make high-powered friends that they treat people in low places like they’re invisible. My wife recently attended a speech given by former Secretary of State, Colin Powell. During his speech, he mentioned that he always took the…
Some people want to impress others so badly that they’ll actually lie about their accomplishments and experiences in order to do so. Such is the case of Connecticut Attorney General and Democratic Senate candidate Richard Blumenthal. On several occasions during his speeches he said that he had served in Vietnam when in fact he hadn’t. …
Recently, my wife and I were remarking about how much better we feel the day after we’ve spent the evening with friends. For several evenings, I searched the internet looking for a possible cause–was it the company, the conversation or the laughter. It didn’t take me to long to figure out that the laughter which…
Many people have a hard time accepting compliments. When you tell one of these people they look great, they brush off your compliment with something like, “Yeah, right!” Or, “You certainly need a new pair of glasses.” Similarly, if you compliment them on something they’ve done, they come back with, “Any idiot could have done what I…
A recent article in the Wall Street Journal talked about Lars Dalgaard, chief executive of SuccessFactors, a software company based in San Mateo, California. As a young man working his way up the ranks of a consumer products company, Mr. Dalgaard was so nasty to his subordinates that a coach had to pull him aside…
I recently climbed into a bloodmobile to donate a pint of blood. As I looked around, everyone there was either about to be stuck with a large needle, in the process of being stuck, having blood withdrawn or having a needle removed from their arm. To someone who has never donated blood, this may sound…