It takes courage to face reality, admit need, change, make decisions, and hold convictions.

Courage ventures from the path and leads the way. It dares to be different, and as a result, expands the circle of human experience.

Have you ever noticed how a clock ticking in the middle of the night in another room will wake you?

Have you every noticed that a leaking tap can drip all day and not get your attention, yet when you are trying to sleep - it screams?

Have you ever noticed that it is the one person talking in the midst of a hundred that will ruin a movie scene for you?

All of these are small noises.

It is like that in life.

It is so easy to get distracted from the big picture by the small noises.

The small thinkers.

The doomsayers.

The gloom sellers.

The death row inmates of No Hopesville, Losertown, USA.

Years ago, I decided that I would listen to the voice of God and not the small noises that surround me.

So it must be for everyone who wants to achieve greatness in life and fulfill their potential.

Small noises.

They are distracting.

Irritating.

At the end of the day, turn them off or pull out the batteries, because they are just not worth losing sleep over.

I tell all my leaders when they’re faced with failure to do this: shut up, dig deep, and go again.

I tell them to die fighting; the view is much better than living on your knees.

I refuse to hear the excuses from people who tell me why they can’t.

I can’t do this.
I can’t come to that.
I can’t be there.

Inevitably, those same people call me and say, “I can’t go on any more.”

The problem is that they have wasted so many years practicing the “cant’s,” they have never trained themselves to “can.”

The top priority of a leadership requirement list is the ability to make decisions. Good leaders do not second-guess themselves, because when they do, they create confusion in their own mind.

Based on the choices you make, based on the decisions you make, you are your own best friend or your worst enemy.

Once the decision is made, if it’s wrong, make it right. If it’s right, go for it with everything that you have.

Your life is composed of your choices and constructed by your words. Your choices determine your conduct, your character and your destiny. If you don’t like the life you’re living right now, change your choices and the use of your words.

Change is the only constant in maturity.

Decisions that we make are not instantaneous. They are rooted and grounded in our character. The decisions you make spontaneously, instantaneously have their root and their ground and their seed bed in the character that you develop over a period of time.

So out of that character then comes the decisions you make that help further determine your character over a process of time.

Character counts.

In my playing years, I didn’t win every game, but I lost only one.
It was the championship game…the game I will never forget.

We were the better team. Tougher. Younger. More talented. Passionate.
But they were older and more experienced.

During the entire game, we ran circles around them.
But they controlled the pace of play.
They set the strategy.
Our youth and enthusiasm could not beat the years of experience against an older, wiser opposition.

I have thought about that game a lot  over the years.

If I had settled my team
If I had assessed the play
If I had been flexible in my approach
If I realized that strength and passion were not enough to win
I would have won the second half…i would have won the championship for my team.

The ability, when faced with an outcome in the first half that is not desirable, and then to change tactics in the second, does not signal defeat, in fact it is the opposite…it is a sign of a sure victory…or at least the belief that victory is still an option.

We often over estimate what we can do in 12 months and underestimate what can be accomplished in 10 years.

Life is a game with many ups and downs, with quarters and halftimes.

Our ability to win the game we are called to play lies in our flexibility to adapt to our circumstances and to reenter the field of play with a new strategy time and time again. 

remember….it is the game we are called to play…not the game the other guy wants to play.

#2 All growth occurs only when you leave your comfort zone

#3 You can only be hurt to the degree that you are prepared to love

#4 The problem with waiting till all your ducks are in a row to do something is that the bloody things keep flying away

Life hurts and we all have scars
Some are visible, some are not

But scars don’t kill you

It is the non-healing wounds that will kill you.
They will fester
They will rot
And eventually you have to cut them off or cut them out.

what ever you refuse to face and deal with today, will either maim or kill you tomorrow.

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copyright Next Foundation

will always be critical of those of us who are trying.