For today's post, we have some Dad-advice that I received about this time last year. Technically, it's all from Colin Powell, but came via my father and is all very, very Dad-advice-like in content.
I thought this post would be appropriate because this year, these kinds of injunctions actually mean something to me. I mean, sure, most of us hear this sort of thing from our parents our entire lives, starting at the age of reason if not earlier. (My personal favorite: "If everyone else jumped off a cliff, would you do it too?" This always seemed like an insufferably stupid question to me, as it overlooked a number of important factors - how high is the cliff? Is there special equipment involved? Are we, for example, base-jumping? ...That probably tells you about as much as you can stand about what kind of child I was.) But now I've gotten old enough, and made enough mistakes, to know what they're talking about.
So. Here we go. (Thanks, Dad. :)
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SOLID WORDS FROM COLIN POWELL
The less you associate with some people, the more your life will improve.
Any time you tolerate mediocrity in others, it increases your mediocrity.
An important attribute in successful people is their impatience with negative thinking and negative acting people.
As you grow, your associates will change.
Some of your friends will not want you to go on.
They will want you to stay where they are.
Friends that don't help you climb will want you to crawl.
Your friends will stretch your vision or choke your dream. Those that don't increase you will eventually decrease you.
Never receive counsel from unproductive people.
Never discuss your problems with someone incapable of contributing to the solution, because those who never succeed themselves are always first to tell you how.
Not everyone has a right to speak into your life.
You are certain to get the worst of the bargain when you exchange ideas with the wrong person.
Don't follow anyone who's not going anywhere.
With some people you spend an evening: with others you invest it.
Be careful where you stop to inquire for directions along the road of life.
Wise is the person who fortifies his life with the right friendships.
A mirror reflects a man's face, but what he is really like is shown by the kind of friends he chooses.
The simple but true fact of life is that you become like those with whom you closely associate - for the good and the bad.
In Prosperity Our Friends Know Us. In Adversity We Know Our Friends.
The less you associate with some people, the more your life will improve.
Any time you tolerate mediocrity in others, it increases your mediocrity.
An important attribute in successful people is their impatience with negative thinking and negative acting people.
As you grow, your associates will change.
Some of your friends will not want you to go on.
They will want you to stay where they are.
Friends that don't help you climb will want you to crawl.
Your friends will stretch your vision or choke your dream. Those that don't increase you will eventually decrease you.
Never receive counsel from unproductive people.
Never discuss your problems with someone incapable of contributing to the solution, because those who never succeed themselves are always first to tell you how.
Not everyone has a right to speak into your life.
You are certain to get the worst of the bargain when you exchange ideas with the wrong person.
Don't follow anyone who's not going anywhere.
With some people you spend an evening: with others you invest it.
Be careful where you stop to inquire for directions along the road of life.
Wise is the person who fortifies his life with the right friendships.
A mirror reflects a man's face, but what he is really like is shown by the kind of friends he chooses.
The simple but true fact of life is that you become like those with whom you closely associate - for the good and the bad.
In Prosperity Our Friends Know Us. In Adversity We Know Our Friends.
This is applicable to family as well as friends.
Do love, appreciate and be thankful for your family, for they will always be your family no matter what.
Just know that they are human first and though they are family to you, they may be a friend to someone else and will fit somewhere in the criteria above.
Never make someone a priority when you are only an option for them.
If you are going to achieve excellence in big things, you develop the habit in little matters.
Do love, appreciate and be thankful for your family, for they will always be your family no matter what.
Just know that they are human first and though they are family to you, they may be a friend to someone else and will fit somewhere in the criteria above.
Never make someone a priority when you are only an option for them.
If you are going to achieve excellence in big things, you develop the habit in little matters.
Excellence is not an exception, it is a prevailing attitude.
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