Category: Helpful Resources

You Can If you Think You Can

by Norman Vincent Peale

 

– Some people believe that life will be better if we did not have problems, but we would not be better off without the problems. Problems can actually be good for us.

– No one in a cemetery has problems, not a one… but they are dead.

– Every problem has within it the seeds of a solution.

– The only way to make strong people is through struggles.

– Character needs challenges to mature.

– You can if you think you can, but it is in your attitude.

– When fate throws a dagger at you, you have two ways to grab it: by the blade or by the handle.

– No one can escape problems, but you can look at them in a different way. Adopting a new attitude is the first step in overcoming and conquering problems.

– What is keeping you from running towards your goal? There are two big things that fight for control of your mind: fear and faith.

– Don’t let your fears push you around, believe that you can and start acting like it.

– One way to prepare for fear is to realize that all the resources you need are in your mind… they’re just waiting for you to summon them.

– Quit thinking about yourself and think of the others that need what you have.

– To give up is to invite complete defeat.

– If what you’re trying does not work, then, approach the problem another way. If that doesn’t work, then try another way. But the key does lie within you and you can get through the problem.

– If you want to win at something, do not talk defeat. You can actually talk yourself out of something by indulging yourself in negative language.

– If you are going to win and get through problems, fill your mind with the thought that it is too soon to quit and you can get through the problem.

– Will you give up or will you keep trying? What you decide is what will decide your future.

– When a problem comes your way, do not complain or give up, find the solution. Remember that every problem contains a solution within it.

– Have confidence. If you can think straight under pressure, the answer will come to you.

– Successful people do not get over alarmed by the problems and they do not get frightened by problems.

– When there is a problem, research, dissect and analyze.

– Your mind is a very complex organ. If you can calmly accept and think through a problem, you can find a solution.

– No matter what difficulty faces your life, you can handle it if you only believe you can.

– You will never know what you can do unless you try. And if you will keep moving forward with a positive attitude and persistence, you will get it done.

– Know where you want to go, what you want to be and go at achieving it.

– Pray about your goal. If it is not right, then don’t do it, but if it is a right goal then work at it. Nothing wrong ever turned out right and nothing right turned out wrong.

– Everyone faces crisis, but anticipating the worst will cause you to freeze up. Visualize that you can do it in your mind and your heart and actions will follow that visualization.

The Disciplines of the Christian Life

by Eric Liddell

 

– A life of discipleship. The key to discipleship is knowing God.

– Obedience is the secret to insight and knowing God. Not willingness to go, but willingness to do.

– Every Christian should live a God-guided life.

– Doing God’s will was like meat to Jesus – John 4:34

– You will know as much of God’s will as you are willing to do and to put in practice.

– Surrender your own will to whatever God wants.

– Honesty is yet another discipline that we need as Christians. Honesty with money, with work, with others, etc.

– Love – it is never rude, it is always patient, it is always open, never selfish, never selfcentered, always slow to expose, always eager to leave the best, is hopeful, it never fails.

– Humility – never justifies itself and never pushes itself forward. It self examine’s and always looks to the Savior. Pride is the great enemy of humility. Humility is not looking out for self yet always willing to reconcile if it has done wrong.

– To know God.

• To know God you must spend time with him every day.

• When you spend time with God:

1. Take time to just be silent.

2. Name the things that you are thankful for.

3. Reflect on what the challenges are to accept with God’s help

4. Reflect on what the new truths or challenges you received from God’s word today.

5. Remember your duty to witness for God in every moment throughout the day.

• Learn verses and learn hymns to be able to say and sing.

– Sin is the thing that separates us from God; it brings consequences.

– If we neglect time praying to God by saying that we can pray any time, we will likely pray at no time.

– Faith cast fear and feelings aside.

– Pure – Pure in speech, pure in body, pure in habits. Pure in mind and thought, pure in outlook towards those of the opposite sex.

– Self-discipline is essential in the Christian life.

– The only way to face persecution is to rejoice.

– Lordship means saying not my will but thine.

– We are stewards

– We could be slothful stewards (Matthew 25:14-30) but we could also be faithful stewards (1 Corinthians 4:1–2).

– We are to be stewards of our finances, stewards of our minds, stewards of our bodies, memory, education, gifts, time, talents, etc. All to be used for his will not our will.

– Do not live in fear. Fear paralyzes faith. If God put something in your heart to do, do it even if you are afraid. Fear does not come from looking at yourself but looking at Jesus.

– In Mark 5:36, Jesus says not to be afraid but only believe. Faith acts and victory follows.

The Complete Negotiator

by Gerard Nierenberg

 

– Life is not a game that only one can win, it is more that both sides can win.

– You get further in life by understanding the other person.

– Instead of thinking your ideas are the rational ones and the other person’s are irrational, spend more time trying to understand the person instead of condemning the person.

– You should listen to the other person. This does not mean that you have to change your premises but it doesn’t mean that you can understand the other person to work it out better.

– A successful negotiation is one in which everyone wins.

– Negotiation requires communication, which requires both listening and speaking.

– People show more of their attitude by nonverbal actions than they do verbally. Learn to look at how they are communicating verbally, pay attention. A good negotiator listens with both the eyes and the ears.

– Keep control of the situation by not responding according to their reactions.

– You control the climate, the climate does not control you.

The Coaching Habit

by Michael Stanier

 

– Coaching should be a daily, informal event not a rare, formal event that is announced.

– Coaching lies within building and helping others.

– Theory is no good if you do not know how to put it into practice.

– Ask just one question and then keep quiet and listen so they can respond.

– Small talk might be a way to start up, but it rarely leads to a good conversation piece.

– Be careful not to coach for performance but for development.

– If you know what questions to ask, get straight to the point.

– Instead of warming up or waiting around hoping to get to the point, just ask the question and then shut up and listen to what the person has to say.

– Tell less and ask more.

– Ask one more time. We tend to not ask enough, so for clarity sake, make sure to ask one more time.

– Learn to say “and what else”.

– Do not ask a rhetorical question, ask a real question.

– Begin with “what’s on your mind?”

– The reasonable man adapts himself to the world, the unreasonable man tries to adapt the world to himself. Therefore it is the unreasonable man that makes the progress.

– Commit more slowly by not saying yes or no so quickly. Listen and ask questions.

– When you have to say no, make sure it is clear that you’re saying no to the task and not note to the person.

– There are book ends to a good conversation when coaching someone: “what’s on your mind” to start and “what was most helpful to you” to finish.

– Add more curiosity. A little less advice and a lot more of curiosity will get you further.

The Art of the Deal

by Donald Trump

 

– Some of the best deals are the ones you do not make.

– Always listen to your gut feeling and not just what looks good on paper.

– You need to be able to act promptly.

– He has his food ordered in and sent to his office because going out to eat is a waste of time in his opinion.

– He does not like parties but will go if he needs to for business purposes.

– Aim high and keep pushing, pushing, pushing to get what you are aiming for.

– A lot of dealmaking is not about intelligence but about instincts.

– Think big. If you have to think anyways, you might as well think big. Most people think small.

– Don’t take too seriously your critics.

– Leverage is having something the other guy needs or wants – always deal with leverage.

– Deliver the goods. You can create excitement and get away with things for a while, but eventually people will figure it out and you cannot con them forever… You must deliver the goods.

– Contain the cost – spend what you have to but don’t spend what you don’t have to.

– When all of his friends in college were reading comics, he was reading books on politics and other important issues.

– Anything cleaned up and maintained is worth more money – if you wax and polish your car, you could probably get $400 more out of it; and the same goes with real estate and everything else.

– It does not stay up at night worrying about many things, it is mainly an optimist.

– Be direct, simple and enthusiastic.

– A good-looking presentation goes a long way.

– Quality attracts more quality.

– Credibility is crucial.

– Hire the best people and give them a salary they deserve and you will have a topclass organization.

– There are times when you must be aggressive and other times we must be willing to just lay back and be calm.

– Great management pays off.

– A good view is worth a small fortune.

– In any partnership, you are only as strong as your weakest link.

– Leadership is the key to getting the job done.

– You are not measured by how much you undertake, but how much you accomplish.

– Learn to overcome obstacles and motivate others to do their work.

The Art of Storytelling

by Jeff Davidson

 

– Storytelling is something that has been done in every culture throughout history.

– Storytelling is essentially using props or anything to get your point across when sharing something.

– But good storytelling is not merely using a prop as it is involving their own lives into that of the listeners.

– Good storytellers formulate images in the mind of their listeners so they can imagine and be with them in the story in order that the listeners can share the experience with the speaker.

– It is important to understand that the audience speaks to the storyteller just as much as the storyteller speaks to the audience. With their movements, their eyes, sitting up or different cues with their body that communicate with the storyteller.

– Good storytellers are not just giving a performance to the audience as much as they are involving the audience.

– The storyteller must not get so wrapped up in his story that he loses the audience and does not take them along with him. If he does not make eye contact, the right amount of pauses, etc., the audience will drift off.

– If you understand the motivation of why you are sharing the story more than just the fact that you’re sharing the story, it will greatly help you get your story across to the people.

– If a picture is worth 1,000 words, then a story is worth many thousands if not millions.

The 7 Habits Signature Series

Habit 1 Be Proactive

by Stephen Covey

 

– To know and not to do is really not to know.

– The results we get in life depends on what we do.

– Habits are powerful and they determine our level of effectiveness or ineffectiveness.

– We must be proactive, then begin with the end goal in mind, and then we must put first things first.

– If you want significant breakthroughs, you must change your paradigm, how you see things. If you change how you see things, you would change how you feel and act.

– It’s not what people do to us that hurts us, it is our chosen response that hurts us.

– Learn to be happy with what you have, not with what you will have.

– The normal paradigm is to think that everything around us must change before we change, but the proactive paradigm is to say I must change and then everything around me will change.

– When we blame situations and people’s for our problems, we are not being responsible – “response-able”. We must take responsibility in order to change things.

– If you want to improve any situation, you must improve the one thing that you have control of, yourself.

– Happiness like unhappiness is a proactive choice.

– If you start thinking that the problem is out there, you must stop yourself because your thought is the problem.

– We are responsible for our own effectiveness and happiness.

– Knowing that we are responsible (response-able) is key to our effectiveness.

The 4–Hour Work Week

by Timothy Ferriss

 

– Once you decide you’re settling for second-best in life, that is what you will get.

– Do not try to please everybody.

– There’s a big difference when work is more effective and more fun.

– The perfect timing is almost never right, so don’t wait around for it.

– Emphasize your strengths instead of always trying to improve your weaknesses.

– Money alone is not the solution. Many times laziness is the problem, not a lack of money.

– Don’t avoid criticism, avoid destructive criticism.

– Action doesn’t always bring happiness but there is no happiness without action.

– Conquering fear = defining fear

– Things do not improve on their own

– Luxury has very little to do with money

– The fear we dread the most is usually the exact thing we need to do.

– Your inaction will cost you more than you can imagine. Measure the cost of inaction.

– It’s as easy as believing it can be done.

– If you are insecure, guess what… the rest of the world is too.

– Boredom is the enemy, not failure.

– You become better by failing better.

– Success can be measured in the amount of awkward conversations and situations you’re willing to put yourself in.

– Deal with rejection by persisting.

– Being busy is often an excuse for not doing the few important things you are supposed to do.

– Effectiveness is doing the things that get you closer to your goals. Efficiency is performing the task in the most economical manner possible.

– What you do is more important than how you do it.

– Working 9-5 is not the goal, it’s just the structure most people have used.

– Being busy can be a form of laziness.

– The lack of time is actually a lack of priority.

– If you had a heart attach and could only work 2 hours a day, what would you do?

– Decreasing the amount of work is not the goal, the goal is living fuller. Just having more idle time on your hands will make you go crazy, you have to live fuller.

– Retirees get depressed because of social oppression… and so will you if you do not live life fuller.

– You have to find something to focus on. You become stressed or board would you do not have something you can focus on.

– If you cannot define something or act upon it, forget it, there’s no need to worry about it.

– If you don’t make mistakes, than you’re not working on hard enough problems.

– Time without attention is useless.

– What is the big thing that has been on your list that you have not been able to get to? Stop and do that first thing in the morning.

– Adversity does not change you, it reveals who you are. Money does the same thing.

– You are never as good as they say you are and you are never as bad as they say you are.

– No statues are raised to critics.

– A good thing to remember when you were having a meltdown: are you having a breakdown or a breakthrough?

– It is usually better to keep all the resolutions instead of making new ones.

– If you will go 21 days without complaining, it is almost like it resets your brain.

– A not-to-do list is almost more effective than a to-do list. (For example: Do not check email constantly. Do not check email thread before you go to bed or right when you get up. Do not ramble with people and get to the point. Etc.) Remember that what you do not do will determine what you do, so make a list of things to not do.

– Learn to prioritize; you cannot do everything or please everyone.

– Never make the first offer when negotiating, let the other person give a price.

– Identify what excites you and what bores you.