“It has always been my thought that the most important single ingredient to success in life is discipline. I have many times felt that this word is the most ill-defined in all our language. My definition of the word is as follows: 1. Do what has to be done; 2. When it has to be done; 3. As well as it can be done; and 4. Do it that way all the time.” - Bob Knight
 
How do you live discipline in your life?
 

"A tuba player in a concert band cut his lip and was unable to play his horn. For the first time in years, he was in the audience listening to the music while another player took his place on stage. After the concert, someone asked him what it was like being a listener instead of a  performer. He answered, "It was wonderful! I had forgotten that the whole band wasn't playing 'oom-pah-pah'!"
It is easy to get so caught up in the part that you are playing that you all but forget about the others with whom you work. The smallest package in the world is a person all wrapped up in him or herself." - Tony Campolo

From: Leadership...with a human touch, May 11, 1993, Page 1-2

“I present myself to you in a form suitable to the relationship I wish to achieve with you.” - Luigi Pirandello
 
How do you present yourself to form a connection with others?  

“You have to listen for what you don’t want to hear and look for what you don’t want to see.” - John McKay
 
What are you avoiding hearing and seeing?

Lessons from Geese
  
As each goose flaps its wings, it creates an "uplift" for the bird following. By flying in a "V" formation, the whole flock adds 71% more flying range than if each bird flew alone.
 
Lesson: People who share a common direction and sense of community can get where they are going quicker and easier because they are traveling on the thrust of one another.
 
Whenever a goose falls out of formation, it suddenly feels the drag and resistance of trying to fly alone, and quickly gets back into formation to take advantage of the "lifting power" of the bird immediately in front.
 
Lesson: If we have as much sense as a goose, we will join in formations with those who are headed where we want to go.
 
When the lead goose gets tired, it rotates back into the formation and another goose flies at the point position.
 
Lesson: It pays to take turns doing the hard tasks and sharing leadership – with people, as with geese, we are interdependent with one other.
 
 The geese in formation honk from behind to encourage those up front to keep up their speed.
 
Lesson: We need to make sure our honking from behind is encouraging - not something less helpful.
 
When a goose gets sick or wounded or shot down, two geese drop out of formation and follow their fellow member down to help provide protection. They stay with this member of the flock until he or she is either able to fly again or dies. Then they launch out on their own, with another formation, or catch up with their own flock.
 
Lesson: If we have as much sense as the geese, we’ll stand by each other like that.
 
 
Dr. Robert McNeish

“Are the habits you have today on par with the dreams you have for tomorrow?” - Alan Stein
 
Where are your habits taking you?

“No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river and he’s not the same man.” - Heraclitus
 
What is the biggest impediment to your ability to make positive change?

“Don’t confuse my personality with my attitude. My personality is who I am, my attitude depends on who you are.” - Frank Ocean
 
How do you define your attitude toward others? 

“It isn’t the common man at all who is important; it is the uncommon man.” - Lady Nancy Astor
 
What talent or skill sets you apart from others?

If you're wondering how to get the attention you need to achieve your goals, consider this deceptively simple story based on a fable by writer Paulo Coelho.
One year, an apple tree produced so many apples that its boughs no longer moved in the wind. The other trees were a little jealous, but masked their feelings by pretending to be concerned.
A neighboring tree asked, "How can you make a pleasing noise with your leaves or move gracefully in the wind so that everyone knows how accomplished you are?"
The apple tree replied, "I guess I'll have to rely on the quality of my fruit in order to get the attention I deserve."
Sometimes the best self-promotion has very little to do with your "self" and more to do with what you've done.

From: Leadership, October 2005, Page 24

“If a rich man is proud of his wealth, he should not be praised until it is known how he employs it.” - Socrates
 
How will you deploy your wealth today?

“I’m not interested in my legacy. I made up a word” ‘live-acy.’ I’m more interested in living.” - John Glenn
 
How will people remember the life you lead?

“If we did all the things we are capable of, we would literally astound ourselves.” - Thomas A. Edison
 
What are you capable of doing that would astound yourself?

Being and Breathing
 
 
One warm evening many years ago…
After spending nearly every waking minute with Angel for eight straight days, I knew that I had to tell her just one thing.  So late at night, just before she fell asleep, I whispered it in her ear.  She smiled – the kind of smile that makes me smile back –and she said, “When I’m seventy-five and I think about my life and what it was like to be young, I hope that I can remember this very moment.”
A few seconds later she closed her eyes and fell asleep.  The room was peaceful – almost silent.  All I could hear was the soft purr of her breathing.  I stayed awake thinking about the time we’d spent together and all the choices in our lives that made this moment possible.  And at some point, I realized that it didn’t matter what we’d done or where we’d gone.  Nor did the future hold any significance.
All that mattered was the serenity of the moment.
Just being with her and breathing with her.
The moral:  We must not allow the clock, the calendar, and external pressures to rule our lives and blind us to the fact that each individual moment of our lives is a beautiful mystery and a miracle – especially those moments we spend in the presence of a loved one.
 
www.marcandangel.com