Dot Connector

I love the man that can smile in trouble, that can gather strength from
distress, and grow brave by reflection.

- Thomas Paine

Time is limited, so I better wake up every morning fresh and know that I have just one chance to live this particular day right, and to string my days together into a life of action and purpose.

– Lance Armstrong

If you can’t fly, run. If you can’t run, walk. If you can’t walk, crawl. But by all means, keep moving.

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

We must believe that we are gifted for something, and that this thing, at whatever cost, must be attained.

– Marie Curie

If people only knew how hard I work to gain my mastery, it wouldn’t seem so wonderful at all.

- Michelangelo

Be not careless in deeds, nor confused in words, nor rambling in thought.

– Marcus Aurelius

I attribute my success to this: I never gave or took an excuse.

The major problem of life is learning how to handle the costly interruptions. The door that slams shut, the plan that got sidetracked, the marriage that failed. Or that lovely poem that didn’t get written because someone knocked on the door.

– Martin Luther King, Jr.

Worry does not empty tomorrow of sorrow – it empties today of strength.

- Corrie ten Boom

You’ve got to jump off cliffs all the time and build your wings on the way down.

– Ray Bradbury

It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you’ll do things differently.

– Warren Buffett

The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.

– Martin Luther King Jr.

The universe is change; our life is what our thoughts make it.

– Marcus Aurelius

The doors we open and close each day decide the lives we live.

– Flora Whittemore

The greatest waste in the world is the difference between what we are and what we could become.

– Ben Herbster

The important thing is this: To be able, at any moment, to sacrifice what we are for what we could become.

- Charles Dubois

I wake up, I pinch myself. “Ok, today is the day, Jeff. Use today. Try to do something remarkable. Don’t waste it.”

-Jeff Koons, Artist

Add energy, inspire hope, and blow the coals into a useful flame…

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Stay Hungry.  Stay Foolish.

- Steve Jobs (view the speech)

Smooth seas don’t make skillful sailors.

- African Proverb

Courage is just fear delayed another moment.

- Gen. George S. Patton

Just because you sell a lot of something doesn’t mean that it’s good. McDonalds sells a lot of hamburgers.

- Ahmet Ertegün (Atlantic Records exec)

Worrying is the same thing as banging your head against the wall. It only feels good when you stop.

- John Power

Great minds talk about ideas. Average minds talk about events. Small minds talk about people.

- Eleanor Roosevelt

Markets can remain irrational longer than you can remain solvent.

- John Maynard Keynes

Trust men, and they will be true to you; treat them greatly, and they will show themselves great.

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

I’ve missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.

- Michael Jordan

Victory has a hundred fathers, defeat is an orphan.

- John F. Kennedy

You can’t solve a problem with the same thinking that created it.

- Albert Einstein

It is not only what we do, but also what we do not do, for which we are accountable.

- Moliere

You either tell your story or someone is going to tell it for you.

- Old Saying

Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Children are great imitators.  So give them something great to imitate.

- Anonymous

Never tell people how to do things. Tell them what to do and they will surprise you with their ingenuity.

- General George S. Patton

Success doesn’t come to you, you go get it.

- Marva Collins

The world belongs to the energetic!

- Rev Run

If I find 10,000 ways something won’t work, I haven’t failed. I am not discouraged, because every wrong attempt discarded is another step forward.

- Thomas Edison

Your attitude is your thought life turned inside out.

- Joyce Meyers

It’s the dull man who is always sure and the sure man who is always dull!

- H.L. Mencken

Do anything you want, just set your mind to it.

- Will Steger

I had the opportunity to hear Will Steger‘s keynote speech at the Live Green expo in Duluth, MN on September 7, 2008.  While Will’s keynote primarily focused on his first-hand observations of the changing climate at the poles of our planet, his thoughts on life were equally fascinating.

How DO you become an explorer?

Will lead the first dogsled traverse of Antartica, the first dogsled trip without re-supply to the north pole, and countless other expeditions.  When I heard him speak, it was clear his inspiration and lessons for becoming an explorer are directly usable in any context (not just polar exploration)!  For example, you may be innovating and challenging conventional thinking in your current career.  Or, maybe you’re a teacher trying to find the inspiration to push the boundaries of education.  Whatever the case may be, I found Will’s story so relevant that I had to share it here.

3 Ways to Become An Explorer

Tip #1 – Leverage the freedom you have

Will grew up in a household with 3 simple rules.  Outside of these rules, he was given the freedom to do pretty much whatever he wanted.

1. Get good grades
2. Stay out of trouble with the law
3. Pay for things yourself

There is a lesson here for leaders, project managers, educators, and others: give your people the freedom to innovate (with some simple rules to follow), and they will AMAZE you.  It can be scary, and you might get some unfavorable results, but in the end, you go places with them that you never imagined were possible.

Tip #2: Seek inspiration from magazines, and travel places you’ve never been

Will got his climbing inspiration from reading National Geographic, a magazine that typically takes it’s readers far away from where they physically are located on the planet.  This forces the reader to dream, visualize, and wonder what such places are like.  I once read the Dalai Lama recommends visiting one completely new place every year.  I love that idea, and try to practice it annually.

What magazines, books, blogs, or people help you dream?  What trips have you taken lately that push you out of your comfort zone?  When was the last time you sifted through magazines relevant to your career, and non-relevant magazines too, searching for applicable ideas?

Tip #3: Just do it!

When he was fifteen, Will built a boat and sailed it down the Mississippi, from Minneapolis/St. Paul to New Orleans.  He set his mind to exploring, and then he got busy doing it.

How much time do you spend truly doing things you are passionate about every day?  It may sound crazy, but I love internet marketing.  Always have, probably always will.  The desire to be the best internet marketer possible gets me going each morning more than the seriously big cup of coffee on my desk.  If you’ve found a passion but aren’t investing time in it, that’s just as tough as not finding a passion to begin with!  Make the time, and just do it.

Bonus Tip: Persevere like Will Steger

Check out these stats of a Will Steger expedition to cross Antarctica:

• 3,700 miles, 220 days
• 1 dozen mountain ranges to go over
• 56-day storms
• Temperature: -30 degrees farenheit
• Wind Chill: -80 degrees farenheit

And what does Will do?  He endures these extremes and brings back amazing lessons for those who will never go there.

The next time you are working on a project that takes you to extremes, remember to take some notes along the way to teach others.  They’ll benefit tremendously from the “places” you explore.

In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.

- Albert Einstein

Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.

- Thomas Edison

If I want to be as successful as I want to be, I have to be thinking about it all the time.

- Michael Phelps

The years teach much which the days never knew.

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

If you focus on results, you will never change. If you focus on change, you will get results.

-Jack Dixon

“Experience is what you get when you don’t get what you want”

“When you’re doing a bad job and nobody points it out to you, that’s when they’ve given up on you.”

“Don’t complain, just work harder.”

- Dr. Randy Pausch

Watch the “last lecture” now:

Big jobs go to the people who prove their ability to outgrow small ones.

- Theodore Roosevelt

Man built most nobly when limitations were at their greatest.

- Frank Lloyd Wright

The following “I promise…” statements were sent to me by a colleague some time ago. I find this quote to be a very valuable read from time-to-time.

• I promise to be so strong that nothing can disturb my peace of mind.
• I promise to talk health, happiness, and prosperity to every person I meet.
• I promise to make all of my friends feel that there is something in them.
• I promise to look at the sunny side of everything and make my optimism come true.
• I promise to think only the best, to work only for the best, and to expect only the best.
• I promise to be just as enthusiastic about the success of others as I am about my own.
• I promise to forget the mistakes of the past and press on to the greater achievements of the future.
• I promise to wear a cheerful countenance at all times and give every living creature I meet a smile.
• I promise to give so much time to the improvement of myself that I have no time to criticize others.
• I promise to be too large for worry, too noble for anger, too strong for fear, and too happy to permit the persistence of trouble.
• I promise to think well of myself and to proclaim this fact to the world, not in loud words, but in great deeds.
• I promise to live in faith that the whole world is on my side, so long as I am true to the best that is in me.

~ Christian D Larson
Your Forces and How to Use Them 1912