The Beauty of Striking Out

Storms make trees take deeper roots. – Dolly Parton This quote got me to thinking about something I read in Martin Seligman’s book Flourish about post-traumatic growth. Yes, that’s right growth, not “stress.” Turns out that a sub-set of soldiers returning from combat actually grow from the terrible experience of combat. Another interesting finding is that most of…

The path to a better life is more of a mining operation than a manufacturing one. – George Pransky What I think Pransky is saying here is that having a better life (which comes from being (behaving as) a better person) comes not from getting something from outside yourself or making yourself into something else,…

Winning is important to me, but what brings me real joy is the experience of being fully engaged in whatever I’m doing. – Phil Jackson You can always win once: be engaged and present with what you’re doing and you’ve won the first victory. To win again, at the end, is nice, but wholly unnecessary….

Learning is not improving. Learning is critical and vital for achievement and success, but by itself it’s not enough Improving is taking what we’ve learned and putting into action. Improving is applying what we’ve learned to make things better – to make our lives better and the lives of those around us, and with any luck,…

A wise man will make more opportunities than he finds. – Francis Bacon Want some “truth?” Whatever you focus on comes to pass. Not necessarily exactly how you envision it (sometimes better… ), but usually close. In most every phase of life you can look at life’s events as see them as “problems” or “opportunities.”…

I can accept failure. Everyone fails at something. But, I can’t accept not trying. – Michael Jordan People fear failure. They worry that things won’t turn out just like they want, so they do little, or nothing And it hurts. It really, really hurts. Not getting-punched-in-the-mouth-by-Mike-Tyson-hurt, but a hurt just as bad. What doesn’t actually hurt…