“The good that we take with us at the last call is the good that we do while here.” - William M. Peck
 
What will you say to your Creator about your actions while alive?

We are compelled to evaluate our effort, our goals, and our daily activity. This way, we can determine if we are doing what is necessary to reach our goals, our dreams, our ambitions. The following are questions we should ask ourselves each day:
- Did I become a better person today than I was yesterday? How?
- Did I learn today? What?
- Did I waste any time? On what?
- Did I attempt to control the things in my control and ignore the things outside my control?
- Was I focused, consistent, and disciplined?
- Did I develop, practice, and employ good habits?
- Did I give my best effort?
- What did I accomplish today?
- Did I positively impact anyone today? Who? How?
- Did I do something for someone who will never be able to repay me?
- Did I live up to my potential?
​- Would I want me as a friend?
- Am I proud of the person I am becoming?    

“Never esteem anything as of advantage to you that shall make you break your word or lose your self-respect.” - Marcus Aurelius
 
How are your goals compatible with your values?

The Man You Are
by 
Ted Olsen

It isn't the man that you might have been
Had the chance been yours again,
Nor the prize you wanted but didn't win
That weighs in the measure of men.
No futile "if" or poltroon "because"
Can rowel your stock to par.
The world cares naught for what never was - 
It judges by what you are.

It isn't the man you hope to be,
If fortune and fate are kind,
That the chill, keen eyes of the world will see
In weighing your will and mind.
The years ahead are a chartless sea,
And tomorrow's a world away;
It isn't the man you'd like to be,
But the man you are today.

There's little worth in the phantom praise
Of a time that may never dawn,
And less in vain regrets for days
And deeds long-buried and gone.
 There's little time on this busy earth
To argue the why and how.
The game is yours if you prove your worth,
And prove it here and now.

“What a person believes may be ascertained, not from their creed, but from the assumptions on which they habitually act.” - George Bernard Shaw
 
How do your beliefs cause you to act?

“It’s not enough to just do your best. You must continue to improve your best.” - Kenneth Wayne Wood
 
How are you improving your best every day? 

“Once you accept that you are making a choice – to start a good habit, improve a skill, or execute steps toward a goal – you are unconsciously moving the impetus onto yourself. You are reminding yourself that the decision to care, to develop good habits, and to put in the effort is up to you. And it starts with a single step.” - Alan Stein, Jr.
 
What have you decided to take on yourself that will improve your chances of reaching your goals?
 
 

Chopsticks
 
A woman who had worked all her life to bring about good was granted one wish: "Before I die let me visit both hell and heaven." Her wish was granted.
She was whisked off to a great banqueting hall. The tables were piled high with delicious food and drink. Around the tables sat miserable, starving people as wretched as could be. "Why are they like this?" she asked the angel who accompanied her. "Look at their arms," the angel replied. She looked and saw that attached to the people's arms were long chopsticks secured above the elbow. Unable to bend their elbows, the people aimed the chopsticks at the food, missed every time and sat hungry, frustrated and miserable. "Indeed, this is hell! Take me away from here!"
She was then whisked off to heaven. Again, she found herself in a great banqueting hall with tables piled high. Around the tables sat people laughing, contented, joyful. "No chopsticks I suppose," she said. "Oh yes there are. Look - just as in hell they are long and attached above the elbow but look... here people have learnt to feed one another".
 
www.rogerdarlington.me.uk/stories.

“Man’s greatness consists in his ability to do and the proper application of his powers to things needed to be done.” - Frederick Douglass
 
How can you improve the application of your talents to get things done? 

“If you make listening and observation your occupation, you will gain much more than you can by talk.” - Robert Baden-Powell
 
How can you improve your listening and observation skills? 

“Man’s greatness consists in his ability to do and the proper application of his powers to things needed to be done.” - Frederick Douglass
 
How can you improve the application of your talents to get things done? 

“Act as if what you do makes a difference…because it does.” - William James
 
How do you act so your life has meaning?

"Class" is an intangible quality that commands, rather than demands, the respect of others.
This is because those who have it are truly considerate of others, are courteous and polite without being subservient, are not disagreeable when they disagree, are good listeners, and are at peace with themselves because they do not knowingly do wrong.
In short, people with class might well be defined as those who practice 'The Golden Rule' in both their professional and personal life.

By John Wooden - Published in: Leadership...with a human touch, August 31, 1993, Page 18

“Opportunity does not knock. It presents itself when you beat down the door!” - Kyle Chandler
 
What doors are you beating on to find your purpose?