I read an article recently about a very successful hamburger chain called Five Guys. It opened 25 years ago with one store and today is has more than 1,000. The chain’s strategy for success is simple: serve a good product at a reasonable price and have a clean and friendly atmosphere. In addition, treat your…
The above is a quote from Golda Meir, the form Prime Minister of Israel. What this quote is telling us is that nothing better prepares us to deal with life than overcoming adversity. Doing so makes us stronger, builds our confidence and makes us eager to take on new challenges. These are the building block…
The above phrase describes how a lot of unhappy people view the world. They’re unhappy with their current situation and they think others have it better. In reality, the grass isn’t always greener; it only looks that way. I remember looking at a cartoon in the Farm Journal magazine when I was in elementary school…
Sometimes, when you’re pursuing your dream, the going gets tough. When this happens, it’s very tempting to say something like, “This is way too hard; maybe I should give up.” The problem with giving up is that achieving your dream might be just around the corner, but you’ll never know if you throw in the…
Whenever I ask people how they are going to deal with a particular problem if it were ever to occur in the future, the response you often hear is, “I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it.” In other words, I’ll deal with that problem if it occurs, but I don’t want to be…
The other night, I was watching a major league baseball player being interviewed on television after he had pitched a particularly good game. Early in his career, he had not pitched well and now he is pitching very well. When the interviewer asked him what it was that caused the change in his performance, he…
The above is a quote from Art Fettig, my 80-plus year old friend who is a motivational speaker, author, philosopher and actor: www.artfetig.com. I think his quote makes an excellent point. Having something on our horizon that’s going to stretch us and make us grow is one of the things that makes getting out of bed…
Several summers ago, on a whim, my wife and I decided to plant some melons in our vegetable garden since vegetables don’t do well in the Arizona summer heat. We also planted them in the open spaces in our flower gardens. It turned out to be one of the best gardening things we’ve ever done.…
It’s no secret that as we get older, our brain function often declines. According to an article written by Anne Ryman that recently appeared in The Arizona Republic, a research study at Arizona State University found “…that older honeybees turned back the clock on brain aging when they took on new duties, such as caring…
While electronic communication makes it possible for us to exchange information rapidly, it falls short when it comes to the caring and feeding of personal relationships. Relationships occur between two people and people need periodic personal touches from the other person if the relationship to remain vibrant. If your relationships are well maintained and you…