“You may not get to choose where you go, but you always get to choose how you’ll travel. We can decide to engage our challenges with passion, to fully commit to a goal, to compete with our past and improve, to overcome the setbacks we face, and to enjoy the journey along the way.” – Tim Elmore How are you traveling? Elmore’s quote reminds me how much attitude matters. If you are fortunate, you like

I watched a film called “Stutz” on Netflix. I recommend it, but it’s a long conversation. Not much action, but lots to think about. Early in the film, Phil Stutz, the therapist at the center of the documentary, suggests that we all face the same reality in life. Pain. There is nothing pain-free. We suffer trauma. Loss. It takes the pain of discipline to gain skill and ability. If we are counting on ease, we will

Thanksgiving is a favorite time of year. History says we started the tradition before we became a nation. In the 1600s, folks would stop to thank God for the blessing of the fall harvest. As you might imagine, Pilgrim life was a hard one. Illness, harsh elements, and uncertainty prevailed. Everything depended on the harvest. Winter would follow soon. How well you ate and survived depended on the harvest. Then spring would come, and you

“Time is the stuff of life. You either learn to steward it faithfully, or you squander it.” – Reagan Rose Those are the extremes: good steward of time or time waster. We know we each have the same amount of time in a day. Learning to steward it faithfully takes effort, purpose, and practice. As I read the above quote, it caused me to consider: “How am I trying to steward my time better?” I

Our minds can work in an “either/or” fashion, i.e.: Good/Bad Better/Worse Health/Sickness Richer/Poorer You get it.  I look at such contrasts in a linear fashion.  At one end is the area I aspire to.  At the other is the one I don’t. Chances are we are faced in one direction or the other. So, I was listening to a podcast – in reference to this “either/or” mindset.  The former Surgeon General of the United States

George Patton was a famous World War II general.  Yesterday I encountered two quotes of his from completely different sources.  I figured it was a sign. The first was an inspiration posted on Twitter that read: “You’re never beaten until you admit it. So, don’t admit it.” On one hand it sounds stubborn. But there is power in having that kind of determination when we come up against a challenge.  It’s the kind of belief

“The best players don’t always win.  The players who play the best do.” – Lou Holtz   This is a subtle distinction.  When all the players are on the field, there are some who have more talent, skill, and strength than the others.  Why don’t they always win?   The effort, attitude, and focus matters too.    I suspect not everyone is interested in the US Open tennis tournament in New York.  Serena Williams, arguably the greatest to ever

“If there is no struggle, there is no progress.” – Frederick Douglass  Hard to deny this.  Most of us would like life to be without stress.  Wake up every morning and have life go without any incident.  Just one day, no strain.  No pain. But it isn’t what we face.  I read a book some years ago called A Road Less Traveled.  The first line of the book, “Life is difficult” is worth the cover