A professor stood before his philosophy class and had some items in front of him. When the class began, he picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with golf balls.

He then asked the students, if the jar was full? They agreed that it was.

The professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles rolled into the open areas between the golf balls.

He then asked the students again if the jar was full. They agreed it was.

The professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up everything else. He asked once more if the jar was full. The students responded with a unanimous ‘yes.’

The professor then produced two cups of coffee from under the table and poured the entire contents into the jar, effectively filling the empty space between the sand. The students laughed.

“Now,” said the professor, as the laughter subsided,

• I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life.
• The golf balls are the important things – family, children, health, friends, and favorite passions – things that if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full.
• The pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, house, and car.
• The sand is everything else — The small stuff.

“If you put the sand into the jar first,” He continued, “there is no room for the pebbles or the golf balls. The same goes for life. If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff, You will never have room for the things that are important to you. So… Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness. Play With your children. Take time to get medical checkups. Take your partner out to dinner. There will always be time to clean the house and mow the lawn.

Take care of the golf balls first -the things that really matter. Set your priorities. The rest is just sand.”

One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the coffee represented. The professor smiled.

“I’m glad you asked”. It just goes to show you that no matter how full your life may seem, there’s always room for a couple of cups of coffee with a friend.”

From Gordon Mackay

We often forget how far we have come on the road to our goals. All we seem to see is what we have not yet achieved. Then we get frustrated and perhaps discouraged because we still have not accomplished.

But remember how far you have come, what you have learnt and how you have grown as a person through the process.

We often forget that the personal growth is super important. If you don’t have the personal growth, which develops during the challenges, you won’t ever achieve your goals. You are closer than you realize.

Look back at what you have become in the process of working towards your goals.

Taken from the Be Motivated Today daily newsletter.

Live Each Day to the Fullest

Live each day to the fullest. Get the most from each hour,
each day, and each age of your life. Then you can look forward
with confidence and back without regrets. Be yourself, but be
your best self. Dare to be different and to follow your star. And
don’t be afraid to be happy. Enjoy what is beautiful. Love with
all your heart and soul. Believe that those whom you love, love
you. Forget what you have done for your friends, and
remember what they have done for you. Disregard what the
world owes you, and concentrate on what you owe the world.
When you are faced with a decision, make that decision as
wisely as possible—then forget it. The moment of absolute certainty
never arrives. Above all, remember that God helps those
who help themselves. Act as if everything depended on you and
pray as if everything depended on God.

Author Unknown

Taken from the Be Motivated Today newsletter

36 Random Insights On Exceptionalism

1. Average people are dedicated to leisure. The best people are devoted to learning

2. The ordinary wait for the energy to do a task. The exceptional do the task because that’s how they get the energy

3. A job is just a job if all you see it as is a job. (Work is a vehicle to promote Full Self Expression of Your Creativity+Ingenuity+Talent)

4. The most precious asset of a businessperson isn’t time. It’s energy. Manage yours well

5. Love your family. What’s the point of getting to uber-Success yet arriving alone?

6. From a participant at my recent Lead Without a Title event in Doha, Qatar: “The true measure of the greatness of a person is the length their shadow casts on the future.” Love it! Genius

7. Manners matter

8. If you’re in business, you’re in show business. And every day’s a performance

9. “Be yourself, everyone else is taken.” Oscar Wilde

10. To double your income, triple your rate of learning. The best invest in their professional and personal development

11. The primary purpose of business is the delivery of as much unusual value to as many people as possible

12. Use music to boost your motivation

13. Be ethical like Buffett. Rock the house like Bono. Innovate like Edison. Serve like Mandela

14. You dishonor yourself when you play small with your talent

15. Ideation without execution leads to delusion. What makes Google Google is not the idea behind Google but the culture of execution that is Google

16. Don’t work at world-class for the money or the ovations. Do it for the pride you feel on a job brilliantly done

17. Keep a journal

18. Spend time in solitude. The only person you’ll be with your whole life is you. Why not get to know-and like-yourself?

19. Watch “The Fighter”

20. Work hard. Industry stands at the foundation of Mastery

21. Remember that the quality of your practice determines the caliber of the performance

22. Speak your truth-even when your voice shakes

23. Leaders leave a trail of leaders behind them. If you’re not developing the best in others, you’re not leading

24. You know you’re doing genius-level work when people start to dislike you

25. Jealousy is the tribute mediocrity pays to Mastery

26. Develop your friendships. Respect your elders

27. Make time to have fun. Life is short-enjoy the ride

28. The bigger your dream, the more important your team

29. If you have average people, you’ll have an average company. To have a great company, hire and coach great people

30. Remember that your doubts are nothing more than the lies your fears have sold you

31. Leadership is simple. It’s not easy. But it’s really really simple

32. Leadership’s mostly about 3 things: Impact+Influence+Inspiration

33. If you’re not inspiring those around you, you’re not Leading. You’re following

34. Think for yourself

35. “Potential unexpressed turns to pain.” From “The Leader Who Had No Title“

36. Take brave risks. At your End, it’ll be the risks you didn’t take versus the ones you did that most fill you with regret

Keep Leading Without A Title.

When you get what you want in your struggle for self
And the world makes you king for a day,
Just go to the mirror and look at yourself
And see what that man has to say.

For it isn’t your father or mother or wife
Whose judgement upon you must pass.
The fellow whose verdict counts most in your life
Is the one staring back from the glass.

You may be like Jack Horner and chisel a plum
And think you’re a wonderful guy.
But the man in the glass says you’re only a bum
If you can’t look him straight in the eye.

He’s the fellow to please—never mind all the rest,
For he’s with you clear to the end.
And you’ve passed your most dangerous, difficult test
If the man in the glass is your friend.

You may fool the whole world down the pathway of years
And get pats on the back as you pass.
But your final reward will be heartache and tears
If you’ve cheated the man in the glass.

Author Unknown

A boat docked in a tiny Mexican village. An American tourist complimented the Mexican fisherman on the quality of his fish and asked how long it took him to catch them.

“Not very long,” answered the Mexican.

“But then, why didn’t you stay out longer and catch more?” asked the American.

The Mexican explained that his small catch was sufficient to meet his needs and those of his family.

The American asked, “But what do you do with the rest of your time?”

“I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, and take a siesta with my wife. In the evenings, I go into the village to see my friends, have a few drinks, play the guitar, and sing a few songs. I have a full life.”

The American interrupted, “I have an MBA from Harvard and I can help you!

You should start by fishing longer every day. You can then sell the extra fish you catch. With the extra revenue, you can buy a bigger boat.”

“And after that?” asked the Mexican.

“With the extra money the larger boat will bring, you can buy a second one and a third one and so on until you have an entire fleet of trawlers.

Instead of selling your fish to a middle man, you can then negotiate directly with the processing plants and maybe even open your own plant.

You can then leave this little village and move to Mexico City, Los Angeles, or even New York City! From there you can direct your huge new enterprise.”

“How long would that take?” asked the Mexican.

“Twenty, perhaps twenty-five years,” replied the American.

“And after that?”

“Afterwards? Well my Friend, That’s when it gets really interesting,”answered the American, laughing. “When your business gets really big, you can start selling stocks and make millions!”

“Millions? Really? And after that?” said the Mexican.

“After that you’ll be able to retire, live in a tiny village at the coast, sleep late, play with your children, catch a few fish, take a siesta with your wife and spend your evenings drinking and enjoying your friends.”

“Imagine that,” said the Mexican, smiling.

And the moral is: Know where you’re going in life… you may already be there.

Taken from the Be Motivated Today daily news letter.

“Right from the moment of our birth, we are under the care and kindness of our parents. And then later on in our life, when we are oppressed by sickness and become old, we are again dependent, on the kindness of others. And since at the beginning and end of our lives we are so dependent on other’s kindness, how can it be in the middle that we neglect kindness toward others?” – Dalai Lama

Have you ever observed the behavior of birds in the face of adversity?

For days and days they build their nests, sometimes gathering materials brought from far away. And when they have completed the nest and are ready to lay eggs, the weather, or the work of humans, or some animal destroys it. All that they have done, with so much effort, just falls to the ground.

Do they stop, bewildered, and leave the work?

No way!

They start over. Building again until they have eggs in the nest once more.

Sometimes, before the chicks are hatched, an animal, a child, or a storm destroys the nest once more, but this time with its valuable contents.

It hurts to go back and begin again…

Even so, the birds do not stop, they continue to sing and build, and keep singing and building…

Do you sometimes get the feeling that your life, your work, your family is not what you had dreamed? Do you sometimes want to say: “Enough! It is all too much for me!”?

Are you tired of it all? Do you feel that the daily struggle is a waste of time? Your trust has been betrayed? Your goals not reached, just as you came so close?

Life strikes you down sometimes, but you go on. You say a prayer and put your faith in God. Do not worry if you get injured in the battle. That is to be expected. Gather yourself together and rebuild your life, so that it runs well again.

No matter what happens…
Do not shrink back, but move forward.
Life is a constant challenge, but it is worthwhile.
And never stop singing.

From the Be Motivated Today daily newsletter

Develop the discipline of doing your best every day.

No matter how tired you are. No matter how boring the work is. No matter how unappreciated you feel or how little they pay you…
DO YOUR BEST!

That way you can be assured of ongoing success and regular promotion.

Become the success you were born to be.

Affirmations:
I choose to be disciplined
I choose to be the best I can be
I choose to become all I was born for

From the Be Motivated Today daily newsletter

I am your constant companion.
I am your greatest helper or your heaviest burden.
I will push you onward or drag you down to failure.

I am completely at your command.
Half the things you do, you might just as well turn over to me,
And I will be able to do them quickly and correctly.
I am easily managed; you must merely be firm with me.
Show me exactly how you want something done,
And after a few lessons I will do it automatically.

I am the servant of all great men
And, alas, of all failures as well.
Those who are great, I have made great.
Those who are failures, I have made failures.

I am not a machine, though
I work with all the precision of a machine
Plus the intelligence of a man.
You may run me for profit, or run me for ruin;
It makes no difference to me.

Take me, train me, be firm with me
And I will put the world at your feet.
Be easy with me, and I will destroy you.
Who am I?
I am habit!

Author Unknown

From the Be Motivated Today daily newsletter.