Principles

August 17, 2011 @ 6:06 pm by Dr. Tim

I recently got back from a missions trip to Bogota, Columbia and was struck by the passion, generosity and kindness I experienced from people with far more stress and far less resources than I have in my life. The trip reminded me of a few principles we can sometimes forget in unpredictable times.

1. Failure is simply part of the game: Professionals know how to fail and then keep playing until they win the game! Yes, the old strategies seem fractured and most of us missed “the shot” this year. Now is the time for superstars to rise out of the failures!

   “I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.”
   Michael Jordan

2. We can always turn challenges into success: Make sure you are spending time in strategy, visioning and brainstorming to discover what to do with the opportunities that are out there waiting to be found.

   “This time, like all times, is a very good one, if we but know what to do with it.”
   Ralph Waldo Emerson

3. Tough times reveal our character: How we respond to challenge defines us! It is easy to be in sales when things are all going in our favor. Tough times mold us and can bring out our best if we let it.

   “The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.”
   Martin Luther King, Jr.

4. We have the power to control our attitude: No one can dictate our response to tough times – only we have that power! We must keep perspective and not let negative news, events and people tear us apart. Yes, the challenges are very real, but we are talented, strong and capable people who can choose how we deal with these challenges.

   “We who lived in concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms — to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.”
   Viktor Frankl