Friday Filosophy #2016-14

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As I am late this week, my daughter is teasing me that I want it to be Friday already.

Our Friday Filosophy is aimed at inspiring people to stop and reflect on the subject of the week. To allow you to think about your situation and be inspired to grow as a person and as a professional.   With that in mind this week, in our Friday Filosophy #2016-14, we focus on personal growth.  

 

When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.

Viktor E Frankl

 

He who has a why to live can bear almost any how.

Friedrich Nietzsche

 

In our struggle for freedom, truth is the only weapon we possess.

The Dalai Lama

 

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.

Mark Twain

 

A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new.

Albert Einstein

 

Holding onto anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned.

Buddha

 

Life will give you whatever experience is most helpful for the evolution of your consciousness.

Eckhart Tolle

 

There is nothing like returning to a place that remains unchanged to find the ways in which you yourself have altered.

Nelson Mandela

 

What we fear of doing most is usually what we most need to do.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

 

The time is now.

Friday Filosophy #2016-13

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Malcolm Gladwell brings to us the 10,000 Rule based on a study by Anders Ericsson in his book “Outliers.” Gladwell explains that reaching the 10,000-Hour Rule, which he considers the key to success in any field, is simply a matter of practicing a specific task that can be accomplished with 20 hours of work a week for 10 years. This is the preparation required to become an expert. With Friday Filosophy #2016-13 let’s explore expertise.

An expert is someone who knows some of the worst mistakes that can be made in his subject, and how to avoid them.

Werner Heisenberg

 

Incestuous, homogeneous fiefdoms of self-proclaimed expertise are always rank-closing and mutually self-defending above all else.

Glenn Greenwald

 

Skills are common. Talent is rare.

Colin Clark

 

A fine single malt whisky, of course, is purely medicinal – it cures all manner of ailments one may care to imagine.

Alex Morritt

 

Everybody else specializes. Daddy knows everything, and he puts the pieces together.

Robert A. Heinlein

 

If you wish to break with tradition, learn your craft well, and embrace adversity.

Soke Behzad Ahmadi

 

Many of our young people spend four years getting very expensive college degrees. But our Universities fail them and the nation if they continue to graduate students with expertise in biochemistry, mathematics or history without teaching them to think about what problems are important and why.

Heather Wilson

 

The time is now.

Friday Filosophy #2016-12

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Every now and then I get caught and don’t get this Friday Filosophy done until Monday. That makes me late. That makes me tardy. Today, for Friday Filosophy #2016-12, I thought I would share some interesting quotes on tardiness. Have a great week.

How did it get so late so soon?

Dr. Seuss

 

I want to scream sometimes, because I hate when people refer to a dead person as the “late” so and so. I’m sorry to break the bad news, but that person isn’t just late – they’re not even coming.

Jarod Kintz

 

I have noticed that the people who are late are often so much jollier that the people who have to wait for them.

Edward Verrall Lucas

 

Ah, nothing is too late, until the tired heart shall cease to palpitate.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

 

Just being alive should make you late for everything. In case you haven’t noticed, the dead are always on time.

Arlene Ang

 

Maybe it’s because he never had any control over what was happening to him as a boy. Being late was somehow a way of taking charge.

Jan Karon

 

One is never too late to become young at heart.

Nadun Lokuliyanage

 

Leaders should know how fast time runs and how much faster they can beat it. Poor leaders run slowly till time overtakes them.

Israelmore Ayivor

 

The time is now.

Friday Filosophy #2016-11

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From expertise last week I want to go to perseverance this week in our Friday Filosophy #2016-11. I truly believe that if everything we faced were easy, then it would already be done. By extension, some of us will go to places in our lives that are not easy. There we become trailblazers, pioneers. There we will realize failures and setbacks. It is perseverance that sets you apart.

Success is no accident. It is hard work, perseverance, learning, studying, sacrifice and most of all, love of what you are doing or learning to do.

Pele

 

Perseverance is failing 19 times and succeeding the 20th.

Julie Andrews

 

Life is not easy for any of us. But what of that? We must have perseverance and above all confidence in ourselves.  We must believe that we are gifted for something and that this thing must be attained.

Marie Curie

 

Never stop fighting until you arrive at your destined place – that is, the unique you. Have an aim in life, continuously acquire knowledge, work hard, and have perseverance to realize the great life.

P.J. Abdul Kalam

 

Through hard work, perseverance and a faith in God, you can live your dreams.

Ben Carson

 

Patience and perseverance have a magical effect before which difficulties disappear and obstacles vanish.

John Quincy Adams

 

Great works are performed not by strength but by perseverance.

Samuel Johnson

 

Perseverance is the hard work you do after you get tired of doing the hard work you already did.

Newt Gingrich

 

The time is now.

Friday Filosophy #2016-10

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Today in our Friday Filosophy #2016-10, I want to focus on expertise. One of the attributes that I believe is important to follow is “Jack of all trades, Master of none.” You obtain expertise by spending time acquiring the skills and the experience. However, it is important to be a broad based individual with knowledge spanning a lot of disciplines if possible.

 

An investment in knowledge pays the best interest.

Benjamin Franklin

 

An expert is a man who has made all the mistakes which can be made, in a narrow field.

Niels Bohr

 

An expert is one who knows more and more about less and less.

Nicholas Butler

 

We are all experts in our own little niches.

Alex Trebek

 

A man who views the world the same at fifty as he did at twenty has wasted thirty years.

Muhammad Ali

 

All great achievements require time.

Maya Angelou

 

Every man dies. Not every man really lives.

William Wallace.

 

A man who dares to waste one hour of time has not discovered the value of life.

Charles Darwin

 

Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant.

Robert Louis Stevenson.

 

The time is now.

Friday Filosophy #2016-9

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Today – for Friday Filosophy #2016-9 – I would like to address productivity. First is the definition. Productivity is an economic measure of output per unit of input. Inputs typically cover labor (other things as well but labor for our purpose today) while output is typically measured in revenues.

Today we are living in “The Computer Age.” How has the computer changed productivity? Is it for the better or not? A recent TED talk I saw highlighted that our world is one where it is now “Brains not Brawn” – “Ideas not Things” – “Mind not Matter.” We are also seeing a decoupling of our economy in traditional ways. Productivity increases have not translated into either more jobs or better pay. So here is our Friday Filosophy for you to contemplate.  Please send me your thoughts or comments. Thanks.

 

The perfect is the enemy of the good.

Voltaire

 

There is no substitute for hard work.

Edison

 

The least productive people are usually the ones who are most in favor of holding meetings.

Thomas Sowell

 

No matter how great the talent or efforts, some things just take time. You can’t produce a baby in one month by getting nine women pregnant.

Warren Buffett

 

Nine men impregnating the same woman cannot deliver a baby in a month.

          Ron Slee

 

Nothing is less productive than to make more efficient what should not be done at all.

Peter Drucker

 

The way we measure productivity is flawed. People checking their BlackBerry over dinner is not the measure of productivity.

Timothy Feriss 

 

The time is now.

Friday Filosophy #2016-8

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Pride is a double edged sword. One side is good and the other, well, not so good. Here are some provocative thoughts on pride for Friday Filosophy #2016-8.  Since our focus is on learning, remember that pride can be the enemy of attaining knowledge.  On the other hand, pride in our work can push us to achieve more.

 

A proud man is seldom a grateful man, for he never thinks he gets as much as he deserves.

Henry Ward Beecher

 

Concept is God’s gift to little men.

Bruce Barton

 

Some of the proudest and most arrogant people I have known were morons and paupers, while some of the most wonderful and humble were wealthy.

Howard Callahan

 

A great business success was probably never attained by chasing the dollar but is due to pride in one’s work – the pride that makes business an art.

Henry L Doherty

 

Every man has a right to be conceited until he is successful.

Benjamin Franklin

 

Conceit is to nature what paint is to beauty; it is not only needless, but it impairs what it would improve.

Alexander Pope.

 

My pride fell with my fortunes.

William Shakespeare

 

If a proud man makes me keep my distance, the comfort is that he keeps his at the same time.

Jonathon Swift

 

A man given to pride is usually proud of the wrong thing.

Henry Ford

 

The time is now.

Friday Filosophy #2016-7

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Motivation is an interesting concept. Can one individual motivate another? Do we demotivate people and absence of demotivation is viewed as motivation? In Friday Filosophy #2016-7, we present some thoughts on motivation.

 

Desire is the key to motivation, but it’s determination and commitment to an unrelenting pursuit of your goal –a commitment to excellence – that will enable you to attain the success you seek.

Mario Andretti

 

Ability is what you’re capable of doing. Motivation determines what you will do. Attitude determines how well you do it.

Lou Holtz

 

Once something is a passion, the motivation is there.

Michael Schumacher

 

Motivation will almost always beat mere talent.

Norman Ralph Augustine

 

That’s the motivation of an artist – to seek attention of some kind.

James Taylor

 

How do you motivate yourself? What drives your behavior? 

Remember you can’t change who you are but you can change your behavior.

 

The time is now.

 

 

Friday Filosophy #2016-6

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Winning and losing are exactly the same thing separated at the origin of the circle. Every strength taken to its extreme is a weakness. In our Friday Filosophy #2016-6, we share some thoughts on winning.

 

Strength does not come from winning. Your struggles develop your strengths. When you go through hardships and decide not to surrender that is strength.

Arnold Schwarzenegger

 

Winning is great, sure, but if you are really going to do something in life, the secret is learning how to lose. Nobody goes undefeated all the time. If you can pick up after a crushing defeat, and go on to win again, you are going to be a champion someday.

Wilma Rudolph

 

At the end of your life, you will never regret not having passed one more test, not winning one more verdict or not closing one more deal. You will regret time not spent with husband, a friend, a child or a parent.

Barbara Bush

 

The time is now.

Friday Filosophy #2016-5

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For our Friday Filosophy #2016-5, I am sharing an array of quotes with you on different aspects.  Most of these I’ve discovered through reading Investor’s Business Daily.

 

On Opportunity: You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.

Wayne Gretzky

 

On Possibilities: No idea is so outlandish that it should not be considered.

Winston Churchill

There is a terrific new game on the iPhone app library. Churchill’s Solitaire and app created by Donald Rumsfeld. Try it – it is terrific.

 

On Passion: That is happiness: to be dissolved into something complete and great.

Willa Cather

 

On Character: The most important persuasion tool you have in your entire arsenal is integrity.

Zig Ziglar

 

On Presence: Nothing strengths authority so much as silence.

Leonardo da Vinci

 

 

The time is now.