Thoughts for every letter of the alphabet:
A- Attitude– “We have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past…..we cannot change change the fact that people will act in a certain way. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude. Life is 10% what happens to me, and 90% how I react to it.”
Charles Swindoll
B- Belief– “Believe in yourself, and you’re halfway there.”
Theodore Roosevelt
“Believe in yourself. If you don’t, who will?”
Marilyn Monroe
C- Change– The only constant is change.
Making one person smile can change the world – maybe not the whole world, but their world.
D- Determination– No matter how many times you fall, keep getting up.
“Success is walking from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm.”
Winston Churchill
“I find that the harder I work, the more luck I seem to have.”
Thomas Jefferson
E- Energy– Projecting positive energy makes our day better.
“If you want to build a positive mindset you need to feed yourself with positivity. My favorite way to do this is to practice gratitude while walking; I started taking a daily Thank You Walk each morning where I would say out loud what I was thankful for while walking. By doing this I was flooding my brain and body with positive emotions.”
Jon Gordon
F- Freedom- The best freedom is being yourself.
There’s No Such Thing as “perfect”; be the best you that you can be.
G- Great Danes– I went to college at UAlbany, was the student manager of the basketball team, the best education I ever had, to see how a top-flight organization is run, and then to have to a small hand in how it keep running, for a few years.
The Great Danes won a lot of games before I was there, while I was there, and after I left; lot of the lessons I learned there have carried through to today, and for that, I am grateful.
H- Honesty– “Taking time out each day to reflect can not only help you be honest with yourself, but can make you feel more fulfilled and grateful…….dreaming of your ideal future can often provide more clarity on what you really want.”
Tony Robbins
I- Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery; football coaches see another team run a great play, they put it in their playbook.
Observe other people, see what works/doesn’t work for them. If someone imitates something you, that’s a compliment.
J- Journey– “The longest of journeys begins with a single step.”
Life is a journey; if we’re lucky, a long one. A big part of living is the process of learning and trying to figure it all out; we won’t ever really figure it all out, but if we work at it, we’ll figure enough of it out that life will be a positive experience.
K- Kindness
“Carry out a random act of kindness, with no expectation of reward, safe in the knowledge that one day, someone might do the same for you.”
Princess Diana
“It doesn’t cost anything to be kind.”
Paddington
L- Learning
“I am always ready to learn although I do not always like being taught.”
Winston Churchill
The last year or so, a person I’ve met has taught me ways on how to better invest my money in the bank, so by doing almost nothing, I’m making more money. At first I felt stupid because I didn’t know about this, but learning is important, even when you’re an older guy, like me.
Talk to people, listen, ask questions.; Learning is a big part of life’s journey.
“Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty. Anyone who keeps learning stays young. The greatest thing in life is to keep your mind young.”
Henry Ford
M- Marriage
I was married once, long time ago; I was terrible at it, and for that, I feel bad.
Marriage is difficult; it takes work. Having conversations with the other person is important, even if they’re just normal, mundane talks about what went on that day. Knowing what makes your partner happy is a big deal, as it turns out.
“Marriage is a wonderful institution, but who wants to live in an institution?”
Groucho Marx
“By all means, marry. If you get a good wife, you’ll become happy; if you get a bad one, you’ll become a philosopher.”
Socrates
N- Network
“You can have everything in life you want, if you will just help other people get what they want.”
Zig Ziglar
“Everyone you’ll ever meet knows something you don’t.”
Bill Nye
O- Opportunity– Be ready to open the door, when opportunity knocks.
“Problems can become opportunities when the right people come together.”
Robert Redford
“Innovation is the ability to see change as an opportunity, not a threat.”
Steve Jobs
P- Practice– There is no such thing as “perfect” but practice can get us close to perfect.
“Practice isn’t the thing you do once you’re good. It’s the thing you do that makes you good.”
Malcom Gladwell
“You can’t skip the practice and rely solely on talent. Practice is the bridge between your abilities and success.”
Steve Nash
Q- Quirkiness– We all have different quirks, things that makes us unique; it is a big part of what makes life interesting.
“It is better to be absolutely ridiculous than absolutely boring.”
Marilyn Monroe
R- Respect– Listen to other people; be on time, put your phone down, listen.
“Respect your efforts, respect yourself. Self-respect leads to self-discipline. When you have both firmly under your belt, that’s real power.”
Clint Eastwood
“When you are content to be simply yourself and don’t compare or compete, everybody will respect you.”
Lao Tzu
S- Schenectady– From 1993-2001, I was an assistant basketball coach at Schenectady High School, the most interesting/fun thing I’ve ever been a part of.
I was the nerdy stat guy (go figure), worked for three different head coaches, three totally different people, all of whom I consider a friend to this day.
Much like my college days, watching a successful program is a great education, but I got to see this program built from the bottom up, and fairly quickly. In eight years, we started off slowly but then the tide turned, and when it turned, we never looked back.
Great players make great teams, remember that, but great coaches keep the train on the track.
T- Today– No matter what, be present, get the most out of what is happening right now.
“Don’t wait to be successful at some future point. Have a successful relationship with the present moment and be fully present in whatever you are doing.”
Eckhart Tolle
“Today you are you! That is truer than true! There is no one alive who is you-er than you!”
Dr Seuss
U- Unique
“You are unique, just like everyone else.”
Margaret Mead
“Be yourself because an original is worth more than just a copy.”
Suzy Kassem
V- Versatile– Being great at one thing is marketable, but being really good at several things will also keep you employed. Think about utility infielders; they make a boatload of $$$ for 10-12 years, and no one even knows what their main position is.
“The world needs specialists and highly trained people with advanced degrees, no question about it. But the world also needs diversity and versatility. It needs people who know as much about our value system as they do about our solar system.”
Roger Smith
W- Watchful– Guard your mind against negative thoughts; being positive is really important.
Keep working, even when no one is watching.
“To be aware of little, quiet things, you need to be quiet inside. A high degree of alertness is required. Be still. Look. Listen. Be present”
Echart Tolle
X- Example– Be a good example; other people are watching.
Be the person who people know as that nice guy who always shares a smile, or a kind thought.
“Example is not the main thing in influencing others. It is the only thing.”
Albert Schweitzer
Y- Why– Why??? Why not????
“Live a ‘why not?’ life, man. Take the shot. The shot is always worth taking.”
Kevin Smith
“Thats precisely the question everybody should be asking- why the hell not? Why not you, why not now?”
Tim Ferriss
Z- Zealous– Be enthusiastic, have a lot of energy when you’re doing things.
“You can get a lot of work done if you stay with it and are excited and it is play instead of work.”
Joseph Campbell
