“Your mind will take the shape of what you frequently hold in thought, for the human spirit is colored by such impressions.” - Marcus Aurelius

How are your thoughts leading you toward or away from your goals?

“There are three classes of men: lovers of wisdom, lovers of honor, and lovers of gain.” - Plato
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What love drives you toward your goals? 

The Triple Filter Test
 
In ancient Greece, Socrates was reputed to hold knowledge in high esteem. One day an acquaintance met the great philosopher and said, "Do you know what I just heard about your friend?"
"Hold on a minute", Socrates replied. "Before telling me anything I'd like you to pass a little test. It's called the Triple Filter Test."
"Triple filter?"
"That's right", Socrates continued. "Before you talk to me about my friend, it might be a good idea to take a moment and filter what you're going to say. That's why I call it the triple filter test. The first filter is Truth. Have you made absolutely sure that what you are about to tell me is true?"
"No," the man said, "Actually I just heard about it and ..."
"All right", said Socrates. "So, you don't really know if it's true or not. Now let's try the second filter, the filter of Goodness. Is what you are about to tell me about my friend something good?"
"No, on the contrary."
"So", Socrates continued, "you want to tell me something bad about him, but you're not certain it's true. You may still pass the test though, because there's one filter left: the filter of Usefulness. Is what you want to tell me about my friend going to be useful to me?"
"No, not really."
"Well", concluded Socrates, "if what you want to tell me is neither true nor good nor even useful, why tell it to me at all?"
 
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“Wise men speak because they have something to say; fools because they have to say something.” - Plato
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What do you have to say?
 

“Everyone is born with a certain potential. You may never achieve your full potential, but how close you come depends on how much you want to pay the price.” - Red Auerbach
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What price are you willing to pay to achieve your potential?

“Alleged ‘impossibilities’ are opportunities for our capacities to be stretched.” - Charles R. Swindoll
What impossibilities have stretched your capabilities? 

1. Health Enough to make work a pleasure.
2. Wealth enough to support your needs.
3. Strength enough to battle with difficulties and overcome them.
4. Grace enough to confess your sins and forsake them.
5. Patience enough to toil until some good is accomplished.
6. Charity enough to see some good in your neighbor.
7. Love enough to move you to be useful and helpful to others.
8. Faith enough to make real the things of God.
​9. Hope enough to remove all anxious fears concerning the future. 

“Never wish life were easier, wish that you were better.” - Jim Rohm
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What are you doing to make your life better? 

“In the end, everything you do should ultimately be measured by how much good is done for others.” - Erwin Raphael McManus
 
How do you measure success in your life?

“It is the nature of the wise to resist pleasures, but the foolish to be slaves to them.” - Epictetus
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How does resisting pleasure help you reach your goals? 

“Life is a series of thousands of tiny miracles. Notice them.” - LaFleur
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What everyday miracles are you failing to notice?

Scoreboard for a Winner
 
 A winner takes big risks when he has much to gain. A loser takes big risks when he has little to gain and much to lose.
A winner focuses. A loser sprays.
A winner says, “Let’s find out.” A loser says, “Nobody knows.”
When a winner makes a mistake, he says, “I was wrong.” When a loser makes a mistake, he says, “It wasn’t my fault.”
A winner isn’t nearly as afraid of losing as the loser is secretly afraid of winning.
The winner works harder than the loser and has more time. A loser is always too busy to do what is necessary.
A winner takes a big problem and separates it into smaller parts, so that it can be more easily manipulated. A loser takes a lot of little problems and rolls them together until they become unsolvable.
A winner goes through a problem. A loser goes around it and never gets past it.
A winner makes commitments. A loser makes promises.
A winner shows he’s sorry by making up for it. A loser says, “I’m sorry,” but does the same thing the next time.
A winner knows what to fight for and what to compromise on. A loser compromises on what he shouldn’t and fights for what isn’t worth fighting about.
 A winner learns from his mistakes. A loser learns only not to make mistakes by not trying anything different.
A winner says, “I’m good, but I’m not as good as I ought to be.” A loser says, “I’m not as bad as a lot of other people.”
A winner tries never to hurt people, and does so rarely. A loser never wants to hurt people intentionally, but does so all the time without even knowing it.
A winner listens. A loser just waits until it is his turn to talk.
A winner would rather be respected than liked, although he would prefer both. A loser would rather be liked than respected, and is even willing to pay the price of mild contempt for it.
A winner is sensitive to the atmosphere around him. A loser is sensitive only to his own feelings.
A winner feels strong enough to be gentle. A loser is never gentle. He’s either weak or a petty tyrant by turns.
A winner respects those who are superior to him and tries to learn something from them. A loser resents those who are superior and tries to find kinks in their armor.
A winner explains, and a loser explains away.
A winner feels responsible for more than his job. A loser says, “I only work here.”
A winner says, “There ought to be a better way to do it!” A loser says, “That’s the way it’s always been done.”
A winner paces himself. A loser has only two speeds, hysterical and sluggish.
A winner knows the verb “to be” must precede the verb “to have.” A loser thinks that enough of the verb “to have” is what makes a verb “to be.”
 
 

Author: Unknown

“Don’t do something permanently stupid just because you are temporarily upset.” - Unknown
 
Can you think clearly and levelheaded when you are upset?