Tidbits

Tidbits are items that have been shared with me along the journey which have inspired, challenged, comforted and have spoken to me in some small or significant way. So I share them with you, that they might do the same.

They come from a variety of sources, from tea bags, newspaper articles to sacred books of wisdom. They come from family, friends, clients, colleagues, teachers, mentors, students, holy people and people I have never met.

I will regularly add to the list. The first one “Success,” has been the one I have included with every syllabus for over 15 years. It keeps things in perspective for me. I invite you to email me some of your favorites as well.

To laugh often and much;

to win the respect of intelligent people and affection of children;

to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends;

to appreciate beauty, to find the best in others;

to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition;

to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived.

This is to have succeeded.

-Ralph Waldo Emerson

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

–Lou Holtz

“When executing advertising, it’s best to think of yourself as an uninvited guest in the living room of a prospect who has the magical power to make you disappear instantly.”

–John O’Toole

“A rising tide lifts all boats.”

-John Fitzgerald Kennedy

“If opportunity doesn’t knock, build a door.”

-Milton Berle

“Knowledge speaks, but wisdom listens.”

-Jimi Hendrix

“Efforts and Courage are not enough without purpose and direction.”

-John F. Kennedy

“The benefits of a mistake can be greater than the costs. Failure is simply a departure from expectations.”
–Paul Schoemaker, author of “Brilliant Mistakes: Finding Success at the Far Side of Failure,” as quoted by Inc.com

“Energy and persistence conquer all things.”

-Benjamin Franklin, member, Advertising Hall of Fame

“Often, it will seem logical, and maybe even prudent, to abandon the effort, especially as it inevitably meets resistance. That is where leaders who possess both a vision and a plan of execution can succeed.”
-John Baldoni

“Of all the preposterous assumptions of humanity over humanity, nothing exceeds most of the criticisms made on the habits of the poor by the well-housed, well-warmed, and well-fed.”

-Herman Melville

“Character is like a tree and reputation like its shadow. The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing.”

– Abraham Lincoln

“No man is an island, entire of itself.”

-John Donne

“Your deeds are your monuments.”

-Inscription on an Egyptian tomb

“Have no friends not equal to yourself.”

-Confucius

“Audentes fortuna iuvat (Fortune favors the bold).”

-Virgil

“When given the choice between being right or being kind, choose kind.”

-Dr. Wayne W. Dyer

“It is better to know some of the questions than all of the answers.”

-James Thurber

“One will rarely err if extreme actions be ascribed to vanity, ordinary actions to habit, and mean actions to fear.”

–Friedrich Nietzsche, German philosopher

“Life is not about waiting for the storm to pass…It’s about learning to dance in the rain”

–Vivian Greene

“Pain is temporary. Quitting lasts forever”

–Lance Armstrong

“My dad would say, “You can have the moon if you want it,” and that stuck with me at a young age. It influenced my confidence and my ability to persevere.”

–Nihal Mehta, serial entreprenuer, as quoted by BusinessNewsDaily

“If you run a startup, don’t lose sight of why you started your business, and don’t lose your connection with the customers who have helped make your vision a reality.”

–Girish Mathrubootham, CEO of Freshdesk, writing at TheNextWeb.com

“Startups — even on a good day — are not for the faint of heart.”

– Mary Juetten, founder and CEO of Traklight, writing at the Women 2.0 blog

“People hate feeling that speaking up was a complete waste of time. You have to actually thank people for doing it, and other employees have to see those people get promoted rather than fired or shunned.”

–James Detert, author and associate professor at Cornell’s Johnson Graduate School of Management, as quoted by Harvard Business Review online/HBR Blog Network

“Focus on situations that you can control, and forget those you can’t.”

–Jane Brody, personal health columnist, writing at The New York Times’ Well blog

“Little long-term good comes from placing one’s happiness or self-worth in the hands of others.”

–Authors Lisa Zigarmi and S. Chris Edmonds, as quoted by SmartBlog on Leadership

“It is only an entrepreneurial venture if there is considerable uncertainty about whether it will succeed.”

–Brent Goldfarb, an associate professor of management and entrepreneurship at the University of Maryland, as quoted by BusinessNewsDaily.com

“Men and women are limited not by the place of their birth, not by the color of their skin, but by the size of their hope.”

–John Johnson, member, Advertising Hall of Fame

“All good things that happen in organizations are driven by healthy relationships.”

–Chris Edmonds, author of “#CORPORATE CULTURE tweet,” writing at Driving Results Through Culture blog

“You can lose nothing from your business when you offer to help someone with their goals and success.”

–Lewis Howes, co-founder of Talent.me, writing at Forbes

“Live rich, die poor; never make the mistake of doing it the other way ’round.”

–Walter Annenberg, American publisher, philanthropist and diplomat

“Self-employment is about freedom to make choices. No. 1 boss people want is themselves.”

–Brian Headd

“When I was a young man, I observed that nine out of 10 things I did were failures. I didn’t want to be a failure, so I did 10 times more work.”

–George Bernard Shaw, Irish playwright

“Society is like the air; necessary to breathe, but insufficient to live on.”

–George Santayana, Spanish-American writer and philosopher

“One is not born into the world to do everything, but to do something.”

– Henry David Thoreau

“Productivity is less about time management than it is about mind management.”

–David Kadavy, author of “Design for Hackers,” as quoted by Lifehacker

Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great.

– Mark Twain

You cannot discover new oceans until you have courage to lose sight of the shore.

– unknown

The important thing is not to stop questioning.

– Albert Einstein

A smooth sea never made a skillful mariner.

– English proverb

One cannot have wisdom without living life.

– Dorothy McCall

The most powerful thing you can do to change the world, is to change your own beliefs about the nature of life, people, reality, to something more positive … and begin to act accordingly.

– Shakti Gawain, Creative Visualization

You have not converted a man because you have silenced him.

– John Morley, statesman and writer (1838-1923)

Never give up on what you really want to do. The person with big dreams is more powerful than one with all the facts.

– Unknown

“The true test of civilization is, not the census, nor the size of cities, nor the crops, but the kind of people that the country turns out.”

– Ralph Waldo Emerson

Not everything that counts can be counted and Not everything that can be counted counts.

– Albert Einstein

Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes. Don´t resist them. That only creates sorrow. Let reality be reality. Let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they like.

– Lao-Tse

To be fully present within this moment is a state of mind so powerful in its ability to heal and extend peace that it cannot be even hinted at in words. Anxiety, the only alternative to trust them what is happening, is a state of immobilization caused by are focusing on what we believe cannot be changed, on what is over, or on what has not yet occurred.

– Hugh Prather

Before Enlightenment

Chop wood

Carry water

After Enlightenment

Chop wood

Carry water

– Zen proverb

Draw from others the lesson that may profit yourself.

– Terence

A single grateful thought toward heaven is the most complete prayer.

-Gotthold Ephraim Lessing

If you can’t explain it to a six year old, you don’t understand it yourself.

-Albert Einstein

It is useless for sheep to pass a resolution in favor of vegetarianism while wolves remain of a different opinion.

-William Randolph Inge

Freedom is man’s capacity to take a hand in his own development. It is our capacity to mold ourselves.

-Rollo May, American Psychologist

Don’t try to be everything to everyone. Establish your niche and own it by being better than everyone else.

-Sharon Vinderine, founder of PTPA Media, writing at The Globe and Mail

You can catapult someone’s career instead of paralyze it. Helping them excel in a different environment if they don’t fit yours is a gift of a real leader.

-Kelly Van Gogh, CEO and Founder of Kelly Van Gogh Colour

Two Wolves

One evening an old Cherokee told his grandson about a battle that goes on inside people.

He said, “My son, the battle is between two ‘wolves’ inside us all.

One is evil. It is anger, envy, jealousy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.

The other is Good. It is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith.”

The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather, “Which wolf wins?”

The old Cherokee simply replied, “The one you feed.”

Dreaming big means planning big.

-Patrick Llewellyn, President and CEO of 99designs

Write the bad things that are done to you in sand, but write the good things that happen to you on a piece of marble.

-Arabic Proverb

A critic is someone who knows the way, but can’t drive the car.

-anonymous

An investment in knowledge always pays the best interest.

-Benjamin Franklin, member, Advertising Hall of Fame

Lost warriors have only to open their eyes to find the right and good path.

-Chief Red Mountain

The most profound personal growth does not happen while reading a book or meditating. It happens in the throes of conflict, when you are angry, afraid, frustrated. It happens when you are doing the same old thing and you suddenly realize that you have a choice.”

–Vironika Tugaleva

“The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing.”

-Walt Disney

“There’s nothing like a jolly good disaster to get people to start doing something.”

–Prince Charles

“Precision of communication is important, more important than ever, in our era of hair trigger balances, when a false or misunderstood word may create as much disaster as a sudden thoughtless act.”

-James Thurber

“Gratitude is the aristocrat of attitudes.”

-Dwight

“There is no detail too small if that detail is relevant to your customer.”

-Robert Murray

“Good marketing makes the company look smart. Great marketing makes the customer feel smart.”

-Joe Chernov

“Peace on earth will come to stay, when we live Christmas every day.”

-Helen Steiner Rice

“The biggest opportunity for improvement – in business, at home, and in life – is awareness.”

-Eurich

“The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well.”

-Ralph Waldo Emerson

“You’ve got to say, I think that if I keep working at this and want it badly enough I can have it. It’s called perseverance.”

-Lee Iacocca

“Resilience is all about being able to overcome the unexpected. Sustainability is about survival. The goal of resilience is to thrive.”

-Jamais Cascio

“Light tomorrow with today.”

-Elizabeth Barrett Browning

“Marketing is no longer about the stuff that you make, but about the stories you tell.”

– Seth Godin

“Everyone wants to live on top of the mountain, but all the happiness and growth occurs while you’re climbing it.”

-Andy Rooney

“There are a million reasons why we might not be able to get something done. The question is, what am I going to do about it?”

-Nancy Aossey

“Our job is to connect to people, to interact with them in a way that leaves them better than we found them, more able to get where they’d like to go.”

– Seth Godin

“A satisfied customer is one who will continue to buy from you, seldom shop around, refer other customers and in general be a superstar advocate for your business.”

-Gregory Ciotti

“If you don’t have a competitive advantage, don’t compete.”

– Jack Welch

“Keep your eyes on the stars and your feet on the ground.”

-Theodore Roosevelt

“All good things that happen in organizations are driven by healthy relationships.”

-Chris Edmonds

“In times of change, learners inherit the earth; while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists.”

-Eric Hoffer

“Treat people as if they were what they ought to be, and you help them to become what they are capable of becoming.”

-Goethe

“The purpose of a business is to create a customer who creates customers.”

-Shiv Singh

“I long to accomplish a great and noble task, but it is my chief duty to accomplish small tasks as if they were great and noble.”

– Helen Keller

“Advertising becomes a dialogue that becomes an invitation to a relationship.”

-Lester Wunderman

“To succeed, jump as quickly at opportunities as you do at conclusions.”

– Benjamin Franklin

“Unless commitment is made, there are only promises and hopes; but no plans.”

– Peter F. Drucker

“If you don’t know where you are going, you’ll end up someplace else.”

– Yogi Berra