The First and Last Breath Don't Matter, It's All the Ones That Are In-Between

• It's more important to be happy than to be right.
• You can either be happy, or unhappy. Choose happy.
• Live life with an open hand, and open mind, and an open heart.
• Compliment three people every day.
• Watch a sunrise.
• Be the first to say "Hello."
• Don't waste an opportunity to tell someone you love them.
• Treat everyone as you want to be treated.
• Never give up on anybody; miracles happen.
• Remember someone's name.
• Pray not for things, but for wisdom and courage.
• Be tough-minded, but tender hearted.
• Be kinder than you have to be.
• Don't forget that a person's greatest emotional need is to feel appreciated.
• Keep your promises.
• Learn to show cheerfulness even when you don't feel like it.
• Remember that overnight success usually takes 15 years.
• Leave everything better than you found it.
• Remember that winners do what losers don't want to do.
• When you arrive at your job each day, let the first thing you say brighten everyone's day.
• Don't rain on other people's parades.
• Live beneath your means.
• Keep some things to yourself and don't promote havoc by backstabbing people you love.
• Stop rushing past life.
• Let go.
• Whatever it is, if you really want to eat it, eat it!
• Never piss off anyone who has access to you when you're asleep.
• Believe in God.

Credit: www.jaclyn-s.com

It Doesn't Take Talent To Hustle

"It doesn't take talent to hustle" is a quote from H. Jackson Brown that I saw on the back of a competitor's team shirts a year ago at our early-bird travel baseball tournament. It struck me as one of those quotes to remember. I shared it with Billy and he liked it so much that this past Jr. High baseball season he had it on the back of his team's shirts. Talent and natural abilities will only take you so far in sports...or in life. You have to be willing to work hard and hustle. Things won't always come easy for you and you have to know how to work in order to have success--in sports and in life. Sports are one great way for kids to learn such things.

Ashley is playing competitive club volleyball this winter. A couple weeks ago, she brought home a paper that her coach handed out to the team at practice that night. It was about her expectations for the players on the team. I was reading through the list the other day and it occurred to me how nearly everything on the paper could be applied to all of our everyday lives, not just to sports. Some of the things on the list include: be prepared, give 100% all the time, go as hard as you can for as long as you can, challenge each other to become better, hold each other accountable, everybody helps, eat right, and be active and find a way to contribute. All good things for team members to remember, but also for you and I to remember.

At the bottom of the sheet there is this list:

Things That Do Not Require Talent

• Punctuality
• Concentration
• Focus
• Mental Toughness
• Enthusiasm
• Communication
• Effort
• Hustle
• Awareness
• Attitude
• Rest
• Diet
• Patience

People sometimes disregard sports as a frivilous waste of time. I find that so frustrating, not only because I love sports so much, but because when they do that, they set aside the important things that can be learned from sports. Things that we all need to learn in order to be successful in all areas of our lives. No matter what our age or our situation, if we do our best to adhere to these suggestions, we give ourselves a great shot at achieving our goals in school, at work, in our activities and in our relationships with others.

"How do you go from where you are to where you wanna be? And I think you have to have an enthusiasm for life. You have to have a dream, a goal. And you have to be willing to work for it."

~ Jim Valvano

"The price of success is hard work, dedication to the job at hand, and the determination that whether we win or lose, we have applied the best of ourselves to the task at hand."

~ Vince Lombardi