We all wait for things to get easier….It will never get easier. What happens is, you handle hard stuff better….If you go around waiting for things to get easier in life, it’s never going to happen. Don’t think, “When is it going to be easy for me, like it’s easy for other people?” It’s not; it’s hard for everyone. Make yourself a person who handles hard well, not a person who’s waiting for the easy. If you have a meaningful pursuit in life, it will never be easy. People who handle hard well are the people who get the stuff they want. Don’t get discouraged if it’s hard; it’s supposed to be hard. Make yourself someone who handles hard well, and then, whatever comes at you, you’ll be great. – Kara Lawson, Women’s Basketball Coach, Duke University
Ordinary People
There are sufficient ordinary people; the world does not require that you be yet another one. Therefore, feel free to do what it takes to become extraordinary, should that interest you. --Steven R. Hobbs
Unavoidable Ills
We must make the best of those ills which cannot be avoided. --Clarence Day
Two Types of People
There are two types of people, those who are victims and those who are empowered. The victim focuses on the wrongs he has endured. The empowered focuses on not being a victim. --Steven R. Hobbs
Choosing Joys and Sorrows
We choose our joys and sorrows long before we experience them. --Khalil Gibran
Hard Work Wins
Hard work wins. You get out of life what you put into it. You cannot control the outcome, but you are one hundred percent in control of the effort. And before you complain about what somebody did to you or said to you, go to the nearest mirror, look at it and say, what could I have done to change the outcome? And no matter how good you are, how hard you work, sooner or later, bad things are gonna happen to you. How you deal with those bad things will tell your mother and me if we raised a man. –Randolph Elder in Dear Father, Dear Son by Larry Elder
Capacity for Good and Evil
I don't think that you have any insight whatsoever into your capacity for good until you have some well-developed insight into your capacity for evil. ― Jordan B. Peterson
I Am Only One
I am only one, but I am one. I cannot do everything, but I can do something. And I will not let what I cannot do interfere with what I can do. --Edward Everett Hale
Early to Bed
Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise. --Benjamin Franklin
The Good Wolf
Characteristics of a good wolf:
He prioritizes and protects his own pack.
His stated values are in alignment with those in his pack.
He acts according to his values, with rare exception.
He takes immediate responsibility and makes amends for mistakes.
—Steven R. Hobbs
Largest Burden
The purpose of life is finding the largest burden that you can bear and bearing it. ― Jordan B. Peterson
Living Messages
Children are the living messages we send to a time we will not see. --Neil Postman
Great Man
“A man is great by deeds, not by birth.” --Chanakya
Cannot Do, Can Do
“Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.” --John Wooden
I've Failed
“I’ve failed over and over again in my life, and that is why I succeed.” --Michael Jordan
Improving the Universe
There is only one corner of the universe you can be certain of improving, and that’s your own self. --Aldous Huxley
Seeking Liberty
“Whoever seeks in liberty anything other than liberty itself is born for servitude.” --Alexis de Tocqueville
Nothing Will Work
“Nothing will work unless you do.” --Maya Angelou
Other People's Faults
“It’s silly to escape other people’s faults. They are inescapable. Just try to escape your own.” — Marcus Aurelius
Build Me a Son
“Build me a son, O Lord, who will be strong enough to know when he is weak, and brave enough to face himself when he is afraid; one who will be proud and unbending in honest defeat, and humble and gentle in victory.
“Build me a son whose wishes will not take the place of deeds; a son who will know Thee - and that to know himself is the foundation stone of knowledge.
“Lead him, I pray, not in the path of ease and comfort, but under the stress and spur of difficulties and challenge. Here let him learn to stand up in the storm; here let him learn compassion for those who fail.
“Build me a son whose heart will be clear, whose goal will be high; a son who will master himself before he seeks to master other men; one who will reach into the future, yet never forget the past.
“And after all these things are his, add, I pray, enough of a sense of humor, so that he may always be serious, yet never take himself too seriously. Give him humility so that he may always remember the simplicity of true greatness, the open mind of true wisdom, and the weakness of true strength.
“Then I, his father, will dare to whisper, ‘I have not lived in vain.’” —General Douglas MacArthur, a prayer for his son