Category: Character

Integrity - It's Kind Of A Big Deal

11/19/2021

I found a fabulous article about Integrity, all from the perspective of a wonderful difference maker who was a long-time educator and basketball coach. His name was John Wooden. Here is the article about the connection he had to Integrity - Click HERE.

One of the main things I drew from this article - and from studying the man for most of my life, is that this is such a necessary building block for a good life and we all need to work on it as such. It goes way beyond ourselves too. If we lead a life of integrity, that helps us to connect with more people for sure. It's one of the things (the many things), that the world needs more of for sure. It can lead to a good night sleep, I tell you that. Living a life of character and integrity... it's the softest pillow ever!! We don't have to be worried about lies, or things we said or did, coming back to cause us much trouble.

His "Pyramid of Success" is something that has stood the test of many years. Integrity is like the cement that holds all of these blocks together. It is easy to see that all of these parts of his pyramid - and those Positivity Project character terms really do make life much easier to navigate through.

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Clarity In Our Future

6/23/2020

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There are so many things going on where many people are worried about their future. I get it. The economy. Fears about our health with the Covid19 Pandemic around us. All of the civil unrest. Everything that seems to have a political connection to it. The simple fact of human interaction is still not happening like it normally does.

There have been plenty of things that have cleared up too. Things in life that have been shown to be important and things that have not shown that we need to get rid of too. There are plenty of people I think that have learned some important lessons throughout the year 2020 so far. For others, maybe the lessons have not been found yet. Maybe some people are still focusing on the things that are causing most of their troubles.

I found something to tie into this thought in John O'Leary's book "In Awe", where John talks about Fr. Tom Hoar being on his podcast and he brought up a very important question that we need to ask ourselves - Have you had enough? With Fr. Hoar, it's all tied into addiction. He mentions about changing happening when we have had enough of the the life that we have been living and we are deeply looking for something better. He also mentions about being addicted to the unimportant. This is something that caught my eye. Not only do I think we all have addictions to some things in our lives - things that are unimportant are eating up a lot of everyone's time at one point or another in life. I know it's happening to me.

Of the many things happening in this year of 2020, I have found an extreme understanding of many things I don't want to focus on any more. The hate that has sprung up in our lives, heck, it's always been there - but we are seeing it more and more now. Politics! If there is one thing that I have developed a strong distaste for in recent years, it's this. I still vote, but I will not let these political leaders affect my life where I blindly close my eyes, heart and mind to people who have a different opinion than I do. It's a fine line of controlling the information, the opinions of others, the messages that I let affect me and my life and still being able to function in society. The lack of character in our world is something that I do not want to join in with just to fit in.

I need to continue this journey of being better than the guy I was the day before. The important lessons that continue to be thrown at me, I need to not only continue to learn from them but I also need to make the changes in my life that I got from those lessons. In a small way... YES is my answer to that question - Have you had enough? Yes, I've had enough of holding myself back from going after my goals and dreams. Yes, I've had enough of my negative thinking towards others and myself. Yes, I've had enough of mortgaging my future for being comfortable today & not putting in the hard work so that my tomorrows will be better. This pandemic has taught me a lot about wanting clarity for my future. I for one, need to ramp up my efforts for making the changes I know I need to make. What about you?

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Wise Thoughts From The King Himself - No, It's Not Elvis or LeBron.

9/27/2016

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"Success depends less on strength of body than upon strength of mind and character." -- Arnold Palmer

We all lost a great American on Sunday September 25. Arnold Palmer of course meant a lot to the golfing world, but it should really go way beyond that. He was really the first one that tied in sports to the business world. Every professional athlete no matter the sport can point to him as being the reason why there are the business connections to athletics today.

Arnold also made a difference with people in general with his charities, connections to hospitals, etc., he was really one for the common working men and women in our country and around the world. He came from a working class family and it showed in everything he did. This quote of his is directly connected to why I think he was so successful throughout life and not just in golf.

Our state of mind is one of the foundation blocks of whatever success we want to have in our lives. I’ve told my students over the years along with trying to remember it myself: The most valuable space in the world is the space between our ears. We have to guard what goes in it along with what we think about too. We are what we think – we’ve heard that over and over again throughout our lives. Mr. Palmer was there as proof. He worked very hard at thinking about the right things to do in life and then he went out and did them. I think #1 on his list was how he treated people. Looking them in the eyes, being honest, spending his time with others, etc.

Character is also a huge building block in success. He was a great model for how important character comes into play. I think the game of golf, played the right way of course, helps with showing us all about character in life. Who better to show us about character and golf than “the King” himself. Without character, it’s been said, nothing great happens. If things do happen without it, it probably won’t last too long. What Arnold Palmer built in his lifetime, won’t easily be knocked over. There’s too much character and a positive mindset behind it all.

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Being Honest - Especially With Ourselves

9/22/2015

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"You need to be brutally honest with yourself." -- Mark Cuban

When it comes down to it, I think most of us are the least honest with ourselves compared to trying to be honest with other people. There are things about ourselves that only we know about, but yet we have a difficult time sometimes being honest with ourselves about fixing or improving things in our lives. Maybe it’s just me, but I find myself having difficulty sometimes being honest with myself. This is something that I’ve been working on little by little over the years.

I think the sooner we can become honest with ourselves, our whole world can change. If we are honest with ourselves then that will hopefully lead to doing things better which hopefully lead to better habits. Better habits will lead to better results, but it really starts with us being honest with ourselves.

Look around today at the lack of honesty. Companies have issues with this. Politicians have issues with this. There are all walks of life and professions that have trouble being honest. It’s one of the biggest things in our life that needs to be looked at being fixed. But remember, the government can‘t do it for us, that’s for sure. I think too many people are looking at the government or others to fix this issue. We need to be the ones and it starts by one, ourselves.

Everyday actions, everyday thoughts, everyday in the way we treat others – that’s one way to lead by example to set a new example on how things should be done. It’s amazing to see so many of the world’s problems caused by character type issues. It can be fixed. It has to be fixed as the direction and path that we are on as a society is not a good one at all. It’s up to us plain and simple. Is it easy work? Heck no. Is it worth doing? You better believe it is. Just remember, it’s not one of us trying to do it all on our own. It’s all of us doing what we can do, and the first step is to be honest with ourselves. That first step will help us to do what we have to do to help others for sure. Now be honest – what can you do?

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Dreams And Character Go Together... Quote Of The Week!

2/3/2015

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"Dreams are the touchstones of our character." -- Henry David Thoreau

Character in today’s world seems to be taking hits left and right. There seems to be so many examples of people with a lack of character and all the problems that come with it. Not only the problems for that person that makes choices and decisions without character, but for so many others that they know and those that don’t know too.

Dreaming has always been an important part of people doing things and being successful. It seems in today’s world the need for us to dream and think about things that can make our lives better is greater than ever before. The reason Mr. Thoreau is right on with this thought is that our dreams connect directly with our character.

It’s really 2-way mind set that connects these two important pieces to our life-success puzzle. Dreams definitely connect with our character in that our character gives us the fuel to go after our dreams. If our character is in check and going in the right direction, our dreams are just a little bit easier to go after. Another key is to indeed have some dreams to go after in the first place.

The side of the street on this is that our character, if it’s in order and going in the right direction, can overwhelmingly help our dreams come to reality. It gives us the foundation, the basis of going after not only our dreams but to have our live go in a very good direction. You also have to remember – as much as bad character choices and decisions hurt ourselves along with hurting others; when we have our character in order, things are a lot better for ourselves and for others that have contact with us.

So we all need to do what we can to zero in on making our dreams big, bold, positive and from our hearts; along with focusing in our character too. These are big puzzle pieces to our path towards success in our lives. I know this is a great reminder for me and I will be working hard every day to focus in on these and other pieces of the puzzle I need to put together.

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Great lessons in Golf and in Life from A Great Teacher of Both.... Quote of the Week

9/21/2014

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In Honor of Ryder Cup Week 2014 -

"Success in this game depends less on strength of body than strength of mind and character. - Arnold Palmer

As far as I'm concerned, this coming week is the greatest sporting week ever. The Ryder Cup is my Super Bowl, World Series, NBA Finals, Stanley Cup finals all rolled into one. From this great week where the USA team will be looking to take back the Ryder Cup in Scotland against a very tough team from Europe, I have found a great quote from one of the best golfers and leaders that we sure can learn a lot from.

When I first read the quote from the great Arnold Palmer, I thought of golf being the wonderful teacher about what's important in life. Then when I read it again, I thought of Mr. Palmer recognizing the fact that maybe he was also talking about life itself. The funny thing about this quote is that both the game of life and the game of golf can strengthen your body, but it really can work on strengthening your mind along with your character.

As I sit here at my kitchen table on a cool and windy Sunday September morning with my cup of coffee of course, I can see the importance of being open to learning the lessons that both life and golf are able to give to us. The key is we have to be open to learning from both. Now, don't get me wrong - there are other athletic events, artistic events, social events, etc. that teach life lessons too. We need to be open to learning from them as well, whichever we connect to. My favorite among many events is the Ryder Cup. What are your favorite things in life that also offer life lessons?

No matter what they are, first of all have some favorite events in life that you get enjoyment from along with the lessons. Second, be open to the lessons hidden within those events that tie into life.
The above quote has the key ingredients of strength of mind and character. Two HUGE pieces of success in life for sure along with the importance of strength of body. So whether we are talking about my favorite event, the Ryder Cup, or you are talking about your favorite event. Hopefully it teaches you important lessons about life too. Take a few moments to think about those events in life that you connect with and what lessons you are getting from them to make your life, and the lives of those around you better. What lessons do they offer even after the event is over? Then also take a few moments to tune into the Ryder Cup this week and listen to some of the many great stories from the history of this great event to those stories of the current team members on both sides. Also remember that these events that we pour ourselves into should offer us lessons to use in life as well as finding enjoyment in watching them. So again I ask, what are your favorite events in life that you connect with and what lessons do you get from them? I still enjoy learning from others - so share away with some comments or get in touch with me. USA, USA, USA!!

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Quote of the Week - May 19, 2014

5/19/2014

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"Watch your thoughts; they become words.
Watch your words; they become actions.
Watch your actions; they become habits.
Watch your habits; they become character.
Watch your character; it becomes your destiny."

~ Author Unknown

As our seniors finish up their year this week, I saw this quote and it fit perfectly. it's obvious a great quote for them as the graduate soon and get on with their adult lives, but it's also a great reminder for the rest of us that have already graduated along with those that have not finished up school. In fact, this quote has come up a couple of times in our Principles of Leadership class this term. We have heard it from a couple of our guest speakers in the past few weeks.

This should get us thinking along with reminding us that the sooner we start working on these items in our life, the more of a difference we can make not only with our own life but in the lives of others too. It gives us something to focus on everyday. As we get older, the thoughts of not only our destiny come more into our minds, but also that of our legacy. What will we be leaving behind once we are gone? What were we really all about?

This also gets me thinking and I hope it does for you too, that we can go after anything we want in life if we just take these ideas to heart. It's very difficult to watch and control our thinking - but it's worth it. The 6 inches between our ears should be the most guarded area in the world to us, but usually it's not. We need to keep in mind what enters our mind. (funny, but true). The words we think and then speak, they are very powerful. They can be uplifting for ourselves and others; but they can also cause pain too if we are not careful.

The actions that follow our words are something too that we must keep an eye on. I know I've been trying very hard on this one, not always successful, but always trying to improve my actions following my words. The battle that I think we are all on, I know this is very true for me, is dealing with our habits. Habits are things that we need to constantly look at and work on. They do become what we are all about and since habits are tough to break, I think we need to focus on making those habits good ones since they do become our character and who we are. This leads obviously to our destiny. In other words what we spend our short time here on earth doing, being, thinking, and showing others - does become our destiny.

So as our seniors graduate this spring, they will probably find out soon enough that this is something that will take the rest of their lives to work on. Along with the fact that "school" is usually never over as life is the biggest school of all. We constantly learn, fail, get up, fix things, get better hopefully, and keep going. The key is to remember this quote often so that it can continue to be something we work on every day. What would be your message to yourself, your fellow graduates, or maybe it's the advice that we could give to graduates in general? What would it be?

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Integrity - It's Kind Of A Big Deal

Clarity In Our Future

Wise Thoughts From The King Himself - No, It's Not Elvis or LeBron.

Being Honest - Especially With Ourselves

Dreams And Character Go Together... Quote Of The Week!

Great lessons in Golf and in Life from A Great Teacher of Both.... Quote of the Week

Quote of the Week - May 19, 2014

Coach John Daly

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