Human Spirit
Matthew Kelly is one of, if not my favorite author and speaker. If you scroll through these pages you will see numerous references to his book, The Rhythm of Life, (my all-time favorite) along with quotes and nuggets I have pulled from his work. I’m currently reading another book of his, Rediscovering Catholicism, and came across this passage today that resonated with me.
I am more intimately aware than ever before that we all waste life. We waste it one day at a time, a day here and a day there. We waste some days caught up in unforgiveness, and we waste other days immersed in frivolous and irresponsible activities.
Life is passing us by. Life is wonderful but brief, and yet, filled with unimaginable potential. Within each of us, there is a light. It is the light of God, and when it shines, it reflects not only the wonder of God, but also the greatness of human spirit. We live in difficult times. I pray that we never become fearful, but rather, that we turn our focus to nurturing the light within us. I hope that we allow the light within us to be nourished and to grow. Darkness has one enemy that it can never defeat - light.
Let your light shine!
Rework - Inspiration is Perishable
I just finished reading Rework on my back patio this afternoon (weather is unbelievable today). Great book - ultimate page turner. Its 250+ pages but very 
short chapters and many illustrations keep the content concise and impactful. Rather than drone on with a long review about the book and what impact it had on me, Im just going to sum it up with the short “conclusion” chapter from the text because I dont know that anything I could type in this space would describe it better for you.
We all have ideas. Ideas are immortal. They last forever.
What doesnt last forever is inspiration. Inspiration is like fresh fruit or milk: it has an expiration date.
If you want to do something, you’ve got to do it now. You can’t put it on the shelf and wait two months to get around to it. You can’t just say you’ll do it later. Later, you wont be pumped up about it anymore.
If you are inspired on a Friday, swear off the weekend and dive into the project. When you’re high on inspiration, you can get two weeks of work done in 24 hours. Inspiration is a time machine in that way.
Inspiration is magical thing, a productivity multiplier, a motivator. But, it wont wait for you. Inspiration is a now thing. If it grabs you, grab it right back and put it to work.
Period. End of Story!
Fearless doesn’t really mean “without fear.” What it means in practice is, “unafraid of things that one shouldn’t be afraid of.” Being fearless means giving a presentation to an important customer without losing a night’s sleep. It means being willing to take intellectual risks and forge a new path.
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From Seth Godin’s new book, Linchpin. Reading it and loving it.
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Successful men, in all callings, never stop acquiring specialized knowledge related to their major purpose, business, or profession. Those who are not successful usually make the mistake of believing that the knowledge acquiring period ends when one finishes school. The person who stops studying merely because he has finished school is forever hopelessly doomed to mediocrity, no matter what his calling. The way of success is the way of the constant pursuit of knowledge.
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Napoleon Hill in Think and Grow Rich
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Most of us have two lives. The life we live and the unlived life within us. Between the two stands Resistance.
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Steven Pressfield (The War of Art)
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Some people dream and wait for their dreams to come true. Other people listen to the movements of their hearts and dream their dreams by listening to the gentle voice within. They commit themselves to excellence and armed with their dreams as a blueprint for their lives, they go out onto the stage of life chasing their rainbow, living life passionately.
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Matthew Kelly from his Book - The Rhythm of Life
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Do you know what this is a picture of? This is a picture of $1,000,000,000. That’s right, JK Rowling, author of the wildly popular Harry Potter series has amassed a personal fortune of over 1 billion and all of that money came from her own mind and her own pen and paper. My friend, Dean Jackson recently posted this blog on his website www.DailyDashboard.com. Click on the picture above to read his thoughts about the value of writing.
I have a plan to read these books this year. Some I have read before and are worth reading again each year. For those of you that are keeping score at home, that is 36 books (one not pictured because I already lent it to someone). It looks like a lot, but its only 28 pages a day (9975 total). In fact, Chances are very good that I will surpass this now that I think about it. The books on the bottom row will take priority over the novels on the top. I usually am working on 3 at a time. Books read: Meatball Sundae by Seth Godin. Reading: The Purpose Driven Life, First Things First and Camel Club. If you click on the picture above, it will take you to an interactive bookshelf - pretty cool.
