Launch
Week of 12/13-17/2010
Circle Up!
Circle Up!
12/13/10
ANYTHING WE DO CAN BE MADE IMPORTANT
Most moments in life become special only if we treat them that
way. The average day is average only because we don’t make I
something more. The most excellent way to elevate an
experience is to give it our best. That makes it special. An
average conversation becomes something better when you listen
with great interest. A common relationship transforms when you
give it uncommon effort. An unremarkable event becomes
something special when you spice it up with creativity. You can
make anything more important by giving your best to it.
COMMIT TO GIVE THIS DAY YOUR VERY BEST.
• Excerpt from the book, The Maxwell Daily Reader, by John C.
Maxwell pg. 370
Circle Up!
12/14/10
LEARN A NEW DEFINITION OF FAILURE
Thomas Edison believed, “Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how
close they were to success when they gave up.” If you can change the way you
see failure, you gain the strength to keep running the race. Get a new definition
of failure. Regard it as the price you pay for progress. If you can do that, you will
put yourself in a much better position to fail forward.
How can you help yourself learn a new definition of failure and develop a
different perspective concerning failure and success? By making mistakes.
Chuck Braun of Idea Connection Systems encourages trainees to think differently
through the use of a mistake quota. He gives each student a quota of thirty
mistakes to make for each training sessions. And if a student uses up all thirty?
He receives another thirty. As a result, the students relax, think of mistakes in a
whole new light, and begin learning.
Remember, mistakes don’t define failure. They are merely the prices of
achievement on the success journey.
HOW CLOSE TO SUCCESS MIGHT YOU (YOUR TEAM) BE? ARE YOU
WILLING TO KEEP FIGHTING TO MAKE A BREAKTHROUGH?
Excerpt from the book, The Maxwell Daily Reader, by John C. Maxwell, pg. 384
Circle Up!
12/15/10
INTEGRITY
It’s crucial to maintain integrity by taking care of the little things. Many people misunderstand
that. They think they can do whatever they want when it comes to the small things because
they believe that as long as they don’t have any major lapses, they’re doing well. But that’s
not the way it works. Webster’s New Universal Unabridged Dictionary describes integrity as
“adherence to moral and ethical principles; soundness of moral character; honesty.” Ethical
principles are not flexible. A little white lie is still a lie. Theft is still theft – whether it’s $1,
$1,000, or $1 million. Integrity commits itself to character over personal gain, to people over
things, to service over power, to principle over convenience, to the long view over the
immediate.
Nineteenth-century clergyman Phillips Brooks maintained, “Character is made in the
small moments of our lives.” Anytime you break a moral principle, you create a small crack
in the foundation of your integrity. And when times get tough, it becomes harder to act with
integrity, not easier. Character isn’t created in a crisis; it only comes to light. Everything you
have done in the past – and the things you have neglected to do – come to a head when
you’re under pressure.
Developing and maintain integrity require constant attention. Josh Weston, chairman
and CEO of Automatic Date Processing, Inc., says, “I’ve always tried to live with the
following simple rule: ‘Don’t do what you wouldn’t feel comfortable reading about in the
newspaper the next day.’” That’s a good standard all of us should keep.
WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN THE SMALL MOMENTS OF YOUR LIFE?
Excerpt from the book, The Maxwell Daily Reader, by John C. Maxwell, pg. 385
Circle Up!
12/16/10
CULTIVATE DETERMINATION
Author Napoleon Hill noted, “Effort only fully releases its reward after a person refused to quit.”
To develop persistence over the long haul, you have to cultivate inward determination on a
continual basis. And if you do, someday your story may be similar to one of these:
* Admiral Peary attempted to reach the North Pole seven times before he made it on try
number eight.
* Oscar Hammerstein had five flop shows that lasted less than a combined total of six
weeks before Oklahoma, which ran for 269 weeks and grossed $7 million.
* John Creasey received 743 rejection slips from publishers before one word was ever
published – he eventually published 560 books, which have sold more than 60 million
copies.
* Eddy Arcaro lost 250 consecutive races before he won his first.
* Albert Einstein, Edgar Allan Poe, and John Shelley were all expelled from school for being
mentally slow.
Learn to become a determined individual. And remember, the only difference
between a little shot and a big shot is that the big shot kept shooting.
HOW DETERMINED ARE YOU TO ACHIEVE YOUR GOALS AND LEAD YOUR TEAM TO
SUCCESS?
Excerpt from the book, The Maxwell Daily Reader, by John C. Maxwell, pg. 376