Random thoughts and ideas 

I very seldom go anywhere without a note book to write down my thoughts. I now have more than a dozen of these note books and many a seminar subject has grown out of these writings. I urge you to start to carry a note book with you where ever you go so that you get into the habit of capturing your ideas on paper.

I have two strong guiding principles;

1. The shortest pencil is longer than the longest memory.

2. If you don't write it down you will most likely write it off.

I constantly collect sayings that have meaning for me. After I have read a book it is full of highlights and comments.

What the author meant or how he/she used the passage is not as important as what it means to you and in what context you can/will use it.

In life it is not "knowing" that counts, it is understanding and applying that makes the difference.

Whenever you read a book don't just apply your eyes, apply your mind. Search for meaning. Search for the principle behind the statement or passage. How can you apply this principle in your life? What relevance does it have for you?

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By controlling my attitude

I will ensure that every person I meet,

or deal with, today will be uplifted,

inspired and happier for the meeting.

I will be enthusiastic and courageous,

confident and decisive in doing the things

that are necessary for my success today.

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You FEEL poor when you can't buy what you WANT.

You ARE poor when you can't buy what you NEED.

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Your character is the keeper of your most treasured possession, your reputation.

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Beware of being so busy doing what you are doing that you are too busy to do what you should be doing.

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Work on it till it works, then work with it to improve it.

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In order to become who you want to be, you have to stop being who you are.

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The only way you have any chance of getting finished is getting started.

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To go from where you are now to where you want to be you must grow beyond who you are now.

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As you travel this journey of life you are constantly experiencing new things, finding new opportunities and being confronted with new choices. This can either be stressful or exhilarating depending on how you approach them.

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You may, and should, hold other people accountable for what they did, but you may not blame other people for what you did.

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If you think that your work is not important, you won't think that it is important to do it well.

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Until you are actually in the position, you are in no position to know what you would do if you were in the position.

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Each person in a conversation influences the thoughts of the others.

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If you think you can't, think again, because if you think you can't there's a good chance you won't, but if you think you can there is a good chance that you will.

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Children are naturally creative, adventurous and optimistic, they love to explore new things however they soon lose this sense of adventure when they discover, to their detriment, that it doesn’t please their parents.

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Professionals do what needs to be done, in the way that it needs to be done, when it needs to be done, even when they don’t feel like doing it.

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"SUCCESS" is the result of "PERSISTENCE" and "NEVER ENDING SELF IMPROVEMENT".

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The future belongs to those who believe in themselves enough to act on their dreams.

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Remember that small steps, taken consistently in the right direction, lead to great things.

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Realise that if you know enough to attempt to justify or to defend your bad behaviour, then you know enough to know that you should not have done it in the first place.

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Your communication can only be as good as your understanding of the subject, and your attitude at the time.

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A job is something made for you. A career is something you make of your job. A calling is something you make of your life.

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How long you live is a matter of biology. How much you live is a matter of psychology.

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If you feel that you are forced to do something then you will resent doing it. If you resent doing something then you will resist doing it. You will find excuses not to do it. You will find ways to avoid doing it and reasons why it can’t be done.

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No matter what it is that you do your attitude towards what you do will determine how well you do it.

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If we would be as creative at working out how to do something as we are at working out how to avoid doing it we would be unbelievably productive.

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People say that they are not creative, not true, just listen to how creative the excuses that they invent are.

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The moment that you are born is when you start to die, but the moment that you develop and work towards fulfilling a purpose for your life is when you start to live.

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"The opposite of courage is not cowardice but conformity, accepting the "status quo"

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We are born individuals but, are conditioned to conform, not to make a scene, to do what others do, to be one of the group. There is a sense of security in being one of a group, a sense of being able to justify your behavior because everyone else is doing it therefore it must be OK. In the sense of conforming to social standards, rules and regulations that is not only OK but the responsible thing to do. Don't allow your sense of wanting to be different cause you to behave in an unacceptable and unpleasant way, racing down the freeway at 200km per hour is certainly not conforming but it is a grossly irresponsible thing to do. Don't allow your sense of wanting to conform stifle your personal growth.

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The magic of being human is that you can control your emotions. They are yours and at any moment you can change them simply by choosing to do so, simply because you want to. So it’s up to you, you are as happy or as miserable as you choose to be.

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Often it is merely our emotions of guilt, fear or pride that stop us from taking action.

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Often we are confronted with problems, situations or circumstances, that seem insurmountable. We are by the enormity of the situation and by our perceived lack of resources. This is often exacerbated by a sense of urgency. It must be done and it must be done now! In any situation take time to take stock, of the situation, of your involvement in the situation and of your resources, emotional and physical. Level headedness in times of crises is the true sign of emotional maturity.

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Happiness is an attitude. It is not what you have or do not have that makes you happy. It is how you feel about what you have or do not have that makes you happy or unhappy.

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You cannot be happy while you are unhappy about not having what you think you need to make you happy.

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Relying on theory is like saying you've climbed a tree by walking on it's shadow.

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Your reputation is like the shadow of a tree merely an indication of the real thing, an indication that something exists. Just as the shape of the tree's shadow will change depending on the position of the light so your reputation will vary from person to person depending on how they see you.

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There are four types of people  There are those who make things happen; There are those who watch what happens;  There are those who wonder what has happened; and There are those who complain about what has happened. You now have a choice to make.

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You cannot climb a tree by walking on it's shadow.

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Life uses the test to teach you the lesson. If you are constantly facing the same tests maybe you are not prepared to learn.

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It has often been said that "If you keep on doing what you've been doing you'll keep on getting what you've been getting"

Well that is not really true. Life is a state of constant change, what worked and was acceptable yesterday may well not work or be acceptable today. If you keep on doing what you’ve been doing you are going to get left behind. Just to keep on getting what you've been getting you've got to change what you've been doing. To get ahead you have to make an extra effort.

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You have a responsibility to yourself to constantly strive to improve your performance and service to ensure that you meet the new demands placed on you.

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Kissing is the only way to truly taste the soul of your lover.

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Peace of mind starts with acceptance, is fuelled with gratitude and reinforced with faith.

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We live constantly in reaction mode. To be able to experience something it has to have already happened. There is always a time lapse between the event and our experience, our interpretation, of the event. The length of the time lapse is dependent on our level of awareness at the time.

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Develop an insatiable curiosity. Learn as much as you can about as much as you can.

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 Effective thinking is the skill of intelligently combining experience and imagination in order to achieve a desired outcome. Effective thinking relies heavily on "WHO, WHAT, WHERE, WHEN, HOW & WHY" questions. However the effectiveness of your thinking ultimately relies on your emotional state at the time.

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You are controlled by your memories (habits, beliefs, values) and your expectations (which are generated by your memories, you can't think with what you don't know) therefore to control your life you must learn to control your memories and your expectations. It has been said that your past should not equal your future, well, it will unless you learn to control your memories and to evaluate your habits, beliefs and values. If you keep on doing what you have been doing you will keep on getting what you have been getting. So if you don't like what you're getting then you better change what you're doing.

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Those who do not learn from the past are condemned to repeat it.

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We are like angels with only one wing. We can only fly when helping someone else to fly, or someone else is helping us to fly.

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It is only through our interaction with others that we develop our own sense of "being".

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To test your character ask yourself what would you do if you knew that you would not be held accountable for the consequences.

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Dying is not the worst thing that can happen to you. Giving up on life before you die is the worst thing that can happen to you.

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Behind the darkest clouds the sun still shines.

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Until you understand, you are controlled not in control.

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Without the right mindset all your high tech training is useless. Talent is not enough, knowledge is not enough, attitude is everything. Your success does not depend on your talent, your knowledge. Your success depends on what you do with your talents and your knowledge. What you do, and how you do it, depends on your attitude.

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There have been great technological advances but few emotional advances. We are more unsure of ourselves than ever. We have focused our energy on materialistic development rather than humanistic development. The great tragedy is that we have learned to love things and use people rather than love people and use things.

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Life is totally non judgmental. There are no rewards, no punishments, only consequences.

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I am. Life is. I am because life is. Life is because I am. When I am no more life for me will be no more, but life for you goes on.

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I am. Life is. Life is because I am. My experience of life at any time is determined by my emotional state at the time. I am happy, life is great. I am sad, life is miserable, I am resentful, life is unfair. I am ? therefore Life is ?

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Now is everything. Now is nothing, Now is but a fleeting moment of life, yet from it we create every feeling of joy or strife. This is your here. This is your now. This is your life.

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You will find that an overnight success comes after an extremely long night.

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It takes a lot of practice to make it look easy.

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You must accept the situation that you find yourself in, but understand this acceptance is not tolerance. The fact that it is this way does not mean that it has to stay this way. You cannot change what is, you can only affect what might be. It is a waste of energy complaining about your situation. Rather use your intelligence to seek a solution, and then use your energy to implement the solution.

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A lie believed becomes the truth.

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Strive first to identify and fulfil your responsibilities before you insist on asserting your rights.

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Instead of a "Bill of Rights" we should have a "Bill of Responsibilities"

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Crime is caused by lack of moral responsibility on the part of those committing the crime.

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There is often a big difference between what we want to do and what we should, or should not, do.

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You can trace most trouble back to people giving in to their undisciplined wants.

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Hope is normally externally based and dependant on someone or something else for it's fulfilment.

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Emotions are merely our way of displaying our level of satisfaction with any given situation. We have basically only two states "satisfied" or "dissatisfied". The range of emotions that we display are merely our learned way of displaying our level of satisfaction and dealing with the situation.

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Either you control your thoughts and emotions or your thoughts and emotions will control you.

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"Experience" is merely your interpretation of an event. Your interpretation of an event depends on the emotion that you attach to the event. How you feel about a situation, circumstance or event determines your experience.

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S_CCESS or FAIL_RE U decide.

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Your "PERFORMANCE CAPACITY" is determined more by how you feel about, yourself, what you are doing, who you are doing it for, where you are doing it and why you are doing it, than by how much you know. Your emotional state will determine if and how you will use your knowledge.

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There is often a great difference between what you can do and what you will do.

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You do not believe what you see. You see what you believe.

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Knowledge is power, NO IT IS NOT! If that were true why are the university professors not in charge? Correct relevant knowledge is useful, correct knowledge correctly applied is power. Understanding is freedom.

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Constantly challenge "knowledge" What was true yesterday is not necessarily true today.

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Knowing and not doing is worse than not knowing at all.

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Most people are where they are. physically and emotionally, because they have not developed a desire to be anywhere else and have resigned themselves to being controlled by circumstance.

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We tend to exaggerate our problems with generalisations. If you catch yourself using anyone of these words stop and evaluate is the statement true or are you "awfulizing" (making the situation worse than it really is). The fact is that any statement that has these words in is almost never true.

ALWAYS - ONLY - NEVER - NOTHING - EVERYTHING, EVERYONE, EVERYTIME, EVERYBODY - NO-ONE - CAN'T - IMPOSSIBLE

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Striving Under Challenging Conditions Enthusiastically Stretching Self spells SUCCESS

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Challenge Outcomes Understanding Rally Acceptance Gratitude Enthusiasm = COURAGE

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Healthy Optimism Positive Expectation = HOPE

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Make sure that you have an APE day. An APE? Yes an Attitude of Positive Expectancy.

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Attitude Determines Destiny

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Please ensure that you NAG today. NAG, I thought that to nag was negative. I am talking about a very positive kind of NAG which is to Nurture an Attitude of Gratitude.

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Words, circumstances and situations have no meaning other than the meaning you have learned, and choose, to give them.

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How we respond to any event in our lives has a far greater influence on the quality of our lives than the event itself.

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The opposite of courage is not cowardice but conformity.

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Conformity is the death of innovation.

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Faith and doubt work on the same principle, the principle of expectation. Faith is positive expectation whilst doubt is negative expectation.

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Successful people are not people without problems they are merely people who have learned to resolve their problems.

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Your "performance potential" what you can learn to do is virtually limitless. Your "performance capacity" what you can do is limited by what you have learned to do, but what you will do it and how you will do it is determined by your attitude.

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We will be the masters of our fate when we learn to master our attitude.

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Your success or failure to meet the challenges of life depends on your attitude.

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Many things will catch your eye - Pursue only those which capture your heart.

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Conceit, normally caused by an infectious "I", is a strange disease it makes everyone sick except for the one who has got it.

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Beware of being "Me" deep in conversation.

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People with humility do not think less of themselves, they just think about themselves less.

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Teaching should encourage understanding rather than acceptance.

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Instead of using your intelligence to justify your uselessness use your intelligence to identify your usefulness.

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Your beliefs will either limit your potential or unleash your potential.

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If you didn’t believe it was impossible what would you do?

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Leadership is action not position.

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Winning is not everything! The will to win. The courage to attempt. The commitment to do your best, these are everything.

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What we hope to do with ease we must first commit to learn to do, and then to practice consistently until we can do it well.

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If a thing is worth doing it is worth doing badly until you can do it well.

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The more you practice the easier it gets.

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Practice does not make perfect. Practice makes permanent.

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It does not matter how well you do something if it is the wrong thing to do.

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I would rather do the right thing badly than the wrong thing perfectly.

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Learning cycle

Unconscious Incompetence - You don't know that you don't know. - Ignorance.

Imagined Incompetence - You think you can't, sometimes easier to say I can't than to try something new.

Imagined competence - You think that you know - Theory. Assumptions. Arrogance.

Conscious Incompetence - You know that you don't know. - Curiosity. "Failure"

Conscious Competence - You know that you know. - Awareness. Learning.

Unconscious Competence - You don't know that you know, you just know. - Habit.

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Happiness should be found as much, if not more, in the pursuit of your dreams, as in reaching them.

The world has a habit of making room for those who know where they are going.

Faith is the wind beneath the wings of your dream. Action is the fuel. Belief is the engine.

Life will meet you at the level of your expectations.

Don't take your eyes off your problems, they tend to breed when you are not looking.

You cannot drown your sorrows, they swim far to well.

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Never say anything to, or think anything about, yourself or anyone else that you do not sincerely wish to be true.

A lie believed masquerades as the truth

Choose the lie you would like to believe

You will never learn anything while locked into your perception of the truth

When you were born you were given the gift of life, may to day be the day that you accept that gift. Strip off your suit of worry and despair, put on the armor of belief and enthusiasm then march boldly into life. Realise that you were designed for accomplishment, engineered for success and endowed with the seeds of greatness. Take no timid steps, think no timid thoughts. Dare to become all you are capable of becoming. Dare to be someone who makes a difference. Dare to make the most of your life.

The emotion that you attach to an event will determine your experience, the emotion that you feel will depend on your conditioning, your habits, beliefs and values.

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Your mirror reflects your best friend and your worst enemy at the same time. Your best friend because who knows you better, who can best sympathise and understand. Your worst enemy because who is more dangerous than someone who knows your darkest secrets, most vulnerable points.

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Sometimes we feel crushed on the inside even if we put on a brave face to the world.

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Courage is not action in the absence of fear. It is action in spite of the fear.

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A confident man knows who he wants to be. An unsure man tries, to prove who he is not and, to justify who he is.

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Undisciplined wants cause you to buy things you do not need, with money that you do not have to impress people that you do not like.

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Achieving material goals becomes a string of hollow victories giving no lasting sense of satisfaction and leading to an inner sense of lack. Only achieving personal growth goals provides lasting satisfaction. Who you become is far more important than what you acquire.

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We have lost our sense of gratitude we no longer take pride in our achievements only in our position and our possessions.

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Do not let your position/possessions determine your personality rather let your personality determine your position/possessions.

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The most lasting satisfactions in life are our relationships so why are we trading them for careers with companies that drop us if we miss our quotas.

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Our most priceless possessions are free, therefore we take them for granted.

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There is more to life than more, faster, bigger, brighter, better.

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Significance is not possible unless what we do contributes to the welfare of others.

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The desire for things has become more important than having a meaningful life philosophy.

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Income - sell our productivity

Debt - borrowing against future productivity.

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The main reason that people fail when promoted is that they keep on doing the same old job rather than take on the responsibility of the new one.

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A life that is not constantly questioned, examined and tested is not life but existence.

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Is there any difference between the way that I live and behave and the way the rest of the world lives and behaves? Does the example of my life offer hope or disillusionment?

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Only fools blindly accept or reject any subject, of relevance to their lives, that they have not studied.

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Our philosophy is formed by our environment, our parents, our teachers, our friends, by information that we accept as true and we are conditioned not to question. Our philosophy (our habits, values and beliefs) affects our every thought, word and deed.

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We can know much, but if we do not use our knowledge to elevate ourselves to the highest level then we are poor stewards of that knowledge.

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Very few people know, how much we must know, in order to know, how little we know.

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Nothing is more certain than there are no certainties, and we're not even sure about that.

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Are you getting what you want out of your job.

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The secret of contentment is not getting what you want but in being happy with what you've got.

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People are influenced more by what you do than by what you say.

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Teachers affect eternity; they can never tell where their influence stops.

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Chaos often breeds life, when order breeds habit.

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What one knows is, in youth, of little moment; they know enough who know how to learn.

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Nothing in education is so astonishing as the amount of ignorance it accumulates in the form of inert facts. Could you pass matric today?

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We combat obstacles in order to get repose, and, when got, the repose is insupportable.

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No one means all he says, and very few say all they mean.

We cannot make events. Our business is to wisely improve them. People are governed more by their feelings than by reason. Events which excite those feelings will produce wonderful effects.

It's not what happens to you that determines the quality of your life, but how you respond to what happens to you.

It is not in mortals to demand success, we have to earn it.

There is nothing more important in business than delivery.

A delivery is not a sale until it is paid for.

A true critic ought to dwell rather upon excellencies than imperfections, to discover the concealed beauties of a writer, and communicate to the world such things as are worth their observation.

Mirth is short and transient, cheerfulness fixed and permanent. Mirth is like a flash of lightning that breaks through a gloom of clouds, and glitters for a moment: cheerfulness keeps up a kind of day-light in the mind, and fills it with a steady and perpetual serenity.

All experience is an arch to build upon.

Anybody could win every time, if there was no opposition.

It is always easier to fight for one’s principles than to live up to them.

Does your life make a lie of your stated beliefs.

You will be judged by your actions not your words.

The truth which makes men free is for the most part the truth which men prefer not to hear. Good news all to often sounds like bad news.

You cannot change your past, but you can change your generalised impression of your past by choosing whether you focus on good or bad memories.

You cannot change what happened, but you can change how you feel about it.

Nothing is more dangerous than an idea, when you have only one idea.

Keep violence in the mind Where it belongs. Secret thought life. It’s not what you want to do but what you will/ought/should do.

Committee, a group of people who individually can do nothing and as a group decide that nothing can be done.

All too often a meeting is merely a group of people gathered together to ratify the decision of one person.

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The future belongs to those who believe in, and act on, their dreams.

Winning is not everything. The will to win, the courage to attempt, the commitment to do your best, that is everything.

Learn from the past. Plan for the future. Live in the present.

Do not focus on how far you still have to go. Rather acknowledge and take pride in how far you have come.

If you want to change the world, you must first change yourself.

Strive first to identify and fulfil your responsibilities before you insist on asserting your rights.

Don't fix the blame. Fix the problem. 

The harvest of tomorrow depends entirely on the seeds that you plant today.

Don’t wait for your ship to come in. Swim out to meet it.

The quickest way to go broke is to sit around waiting for a break.

Luck is when opportunity meets a prepared mind.

Whatever you can dream you can do!

Destiny is not a matter of chance, it is a matter of choice.

The speed of the leader determines the speed of the pack.

Winners expect to win and life tends to meet you at the level of your expectations.

The future belongs to those who believe in the possibility of their dreams and then take action to make their dreams a reality.

Faith is action in the present with the unsubstantiated expectation of future reward.

Most things that we think are impossible are impossible simply because we think they are.

You don’t get rewarded for what you are going to do.

Your rewards in life are in direct proportion to the contributions that you make.

Funny thing about ideas. They won’t work unless you do.

Some people dream of great accomplishments, while others stay awake and do them.

The secret of happiness lies not in doing what you like but in liking what you do.

Always do the best that you can, with what you have, right where you are.

You may not be responsible for your heritage, but you are responsible for your future.

The harvest of tomorrow depends on the seeds you plant today.

Faith is the wind beneath the wings of your dreams, action is the fuel.

Starting is essential but it is how you finish that counts.

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It’s not what happens to you but what you do ablity of your life.

Words, circumstances and situations have no meaning other than the meaning you give them.

Only fools blindly accept as true or reject as false any subject they have not studied.

It is not that our lives are so short but that we take so long to start living.

We are of ten so busy worrying about the "after life" about "life after death" that we forget about life before death.

The culture that we live in values possessions and accomplishments more than people and relationships.

Have you ever heard anyone describe themselves in terms of the impact they have on people? Most people describe themselves in terms of their professional or financial status.

It is OK to be disappointed. It is not OK to be discouraged.

Pressure on young people to perform, to compare themselves to others is enormous. Children are not allowed to be children anymore. Childhood is cut short. The results are terrifying in 1987 the Department of Health in America surveyed 11,000 8th & 10th graders, 18% of the girls and 11% of the boys had attempted suicide and 42% & 25% had seriously thought about suicide.

To live your best life be true to the YOU, that you want to be.

Live with passion. Change your life from making a living to making a difference.

Live up to the reputation that you want to have.