Persistence

"It is not the critic that counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles. Or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, and comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement. And at worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat."

-President Theodore Roosevelt, "The Man in the Arena", Paris, 1910

"But the great man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude"

    -Emerson

'Motivation is what gets you started; habit is what keeps you going' 

don’t ask for life to be easier, ask to be stronger  - anonymous

His backup plans do not lead to different destinations, such as "If I don't get into business school, I'll be a schoolteacher." His backup plans lead to the same destination, and if he has to arrive late by a back road, that's fine.

            -Bronson

Some folks go through life pleased that the glass is half full.

Others spend a lifetime lamenting that it's half-empty.

The truth is: There is a glass with a certain volume of liquid in it.

From there, it's up to you!

-Dr. James S. Vuocolo

Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.

                                                        ---Ralph Waldo Emerson

"It is all right to have an opinion; it is not good to be judgmental."

"For no one else knows my lack of ability the way I do. I am pushing against it all the time."

--Steinbeck

In the end everything will be okay.

If everything is not okay, it’s not the end.

-Anonymous

Don't ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what
makes you come alive, and go do that, because what the world
needs is people who are alive. - Gil Bailie

it is good to collect things but it is better to go on walks.

                        -anatole france

There is an immeasurable difference between late and too late

                                                                                    -Og Mandino

do unto others not necessarily as you would have done unto you but do unto others as they would prefer to be done unto   - Bradford

Words and ideas can change the world

                                        --D.P.S.

And all you touch and all you see

Is all your life will ever be.

                                        --Pink Floyd

Do not look where you fell, but where you slipped.

It is something to be able to paint a particular picture, or to carve a

statue, and so to make a few objects beautiful; but it is far more

glorious to carve and paint the very atmosphere and medium through

which we look, which morally we can do.  To affect the quality of the

day, that is the highest of arts.

                -- Henry David Thoreau, "Where I Live"

Turns out not where but who you’re with that really matters.

-“The Best of What’s Around”  Dave Matthew’s Band

So he went through a great deal of trouble to acquire, and little to maintain.

-Machiavelli

"Don't worry about the world coming to an end today. It's already tomorrow in Australia."

          Charles Schultz

Don't think your way into a new way of living....Live your way into a

new way of thinking.

“Only those who risk going too far
can possibly find out how far they can go”
TS Eliot

"Orville Wright didn't have a pilots license"

There's a powerful transformative effect when you surround yourself with like-minded people. Peer pressure is a great thing when it helps you accomplish your goals instead of distracting you from them.

            -Po Bronson

"There are risks and costs to a program of action. But they are far less than the long-range risks and costs of comfortable inaction."

"I never wear a watch, because I always know it's now -- and now is when you should do it."

If you’re too tired to go out tonight, just think how you’ll feel at seventy three.

                                                                        -Beefeater ad

Stay ready so you never have to get ready

            -Atlanta Q-back coach

Practice makes permanent not perfect

                        -quote inside MIT boathouse

Why We Play D-III Athletics

It's not about getting a scholarship, getting drafted, or making SportsCenter. It's a deep need in us that comes from the heart. We need to practice, to play, to lift, to hustle, to sweat. We do it all for our teammates and for the student in our calculus class that we don't even know. We don't practice with a future major league first baseman; we practice with a future sports agent. We don't life weights with a future Olympic wrestler; we lift with a future doctor. We don't run with a future Wimbledon champion; we run with a future CEO. It's a bigger part of us than our friends and family can understand. Sometimes we play for 2,000 fans; sometimes 25. But we still play hard. You cheer for us because you know us. You know more than just our names. Like all of you, we are students first. We don't sign autographs. But we do sign graduate school applications, MCAT exams, and student body petitions. When we miss a kick or strike out, we don't let down an entire state. We only let down our teammates, coaches, and fans. But the hurt is still the same. We train hard, lift, throw, run, kick, tackle, shoot, dribble, and lift some more, and in the morning we go to class. And in that class we are nothing more than students. It's about pride--in ourselves, in our school. It's about our love and passion for the game. And when it's over, when we walk off that court or field for the last time, our hearts crumble. Those tears are real. But deep down inside, we are very proud of ourselves. We will forever be what few can claim... college athletes.

-Author unknown

Here's to those who warm up for a marathon by swimming

2.4 miles and biking 112...

"The only good wind is a tail wind." - Anonymous bicycler, 1898.

Admiral Halsey said that there are no extraordinary people, only ordinary people called up to do extraordinary things.  He couldn’t have been more wrong.

Extraordinary people are those who don’t wait to be called upon, but seek out extraordinary things to do.  They’re the ones who believe an unchallenged life is one not worth living, who are unafraid to set extraordinary goals and then bring to bear on those visions perseverance, talent and a special strain of courage most of us can only faintly imagine.  They view failure not as defeat but as setback, never entertaining for a single moment the possibility that failure might indicate impossibility.

To extraordinary people such as Leah, Bob, Samir and Valerie, Ironman is not an obstacle to be overcome but an experience to be savored.  Were it otherwise, they’d put it out of their minds as soon as the finish line was breached, rather than re-live it endlessly starting even before they’ve left the finish area.  Flushed, exhausted, amped to the gills and dazed as they might be, they’ll grab anybody they can, complete strangers if necessary and gush out detailed descriptions of every stroke, gear change, flat tire, aid station, cramp, angelic volunteer and blistered step they can recall (and they can recall them all), yammering like speed-freak nightingales and pausing for breath only for as long as it takes to swig a little high-fructose buzz juice and re-fortify themselves for more. 

Extraordinary, Admiral Halsey, and nothing less.

                                     -From an article in City Sports, Summer ‘00

I want to be in the profession of improving people's lives.

                                ---BAT   11.6.93 11:44 am

Every encounter is an opportunity.

                        -Babak Azad

Footprints

As I walk along the beach,

I look at all the footprints in front of me.

Some people have come before me and left imprints –the only

Physical evidence

That they have been here.

These are their marks.

I’ve walked along the beach many times, but

For the first time, I look behind me.

I never realized it, but I am leaving footprints in the sand as well,

Adding to those before me.

I was unaware that my presence and passing here

Would not go unnoticed.

I start to become more observant.

I notice what kinds of footprints people have been making.

Some people walk bare-footed, others with shoes.

Some people have strange-shaped feet, some prints just go too deep, and

Some have a  trail of sand after them, a sign that this person has dragged his feet.

I try to play a game to see if I can walk exactly in someone else’s footprints.

Sometime their foot is just the right size, but

Their stride is a different length,

And I don’t want to adjust mine.

Then when our strides are the same,

My foot either completely dwarfs a footprint,

Or doesn’t fit in half of it.

Every once in a while, though, I find a near-perfect match,

(There is no such thing as an identical pair of footprints)

But it seems that as soon as I get into a rhythm with these set of prints,

The tide comes up and washes my guide away.  (so I need to create my own, with no guide, with only my past experience, my desires, my imagination to lead me.)

I am more aware of what

Kinds of footprints I am leaving behind.

These are my marks;

This is the temporary proof that I have been here, for,

Like those who have preceded me,

My footprints will be washed away, soon erased.

But not so soon, for some people will see my prints.

I do not walk on the beach in the middle of the night, for

I want my marks to be seen.

I may choose to walk on the beach on a swelteringly hot, Sunday afternoon;

In this way, many people may see what I have done,

But because the masses are so great,

My prints will be smudged over very quickly by others,

And those prints that do remain will be but one out of many.

So I choose to walk along the beach in the late afternoon,

After the hectic day has ended,

My prints may not be seen by everybody, but

For that group of people that walks at sunset,

My prints will make a difference.

Soon after sunset, though, the tide will come again,

As it always does,

Washing away my marks, but

There will be more prints for other to see, for

Someone new shall pass this way once again.

                                                Babak Azad-Tatari

                                                10/13/93

The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them.

                                                                        -Albert Einstein

Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things. (management is efficiency in climbing the ladder of success; leadership determines whether the ladder is leaning against the right wall)

                                                                        -Peter Drucker and Warren Bennis

"Great spirits are always met by violent opposition from mediocre minds"

-Albert Einstein

Treat a man as he is and he will remain as he is.  Treat a man as he can and should be and he will become as he can and should be.

                                                                        -Goethe

never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has. 

                        -margaret mead

Generation Y is turning into Generation XL.

                                    U.S. surgeon general Richard H. Carmona

What does it take, in your opinion, to be a successful entrepreneur?
Most people talk about their dreams, few take the time to do whatever it takes, and put in the time to make those dreams come true.     – Mark Cuban

Luck is where preparation meets opportunity

                                                                        -Anonymous

If a woman has to choose between catching a fly ball and saving

an infant's life, she will choose to save the infant's life

without even considering if there are men on base.

                              -- Dave Barry

Sometimes I lie awake at night, and I ask, "Where have I gone

wrong?" Then a voice says to me, "This is going to take more than

one night."

                              -- Charlie Brown,

"Women, can't live with 'em.....pass the beer nuts."

                                                                        -Norm Peterson (“Cheers”)

"I'm 75, and when I wake up every day, I say, 'Man, I made another one.'”

            - Burl Toler Sr.

"Fake it ‘til you make it."

All you have to have is some desire, some enthusiasm, a plan and don't

      believe in the word can't

                                                                                    -Dick Vitale

You miss 100% of the shots you didn’t take.

if you think you are too small to be effective, then

you obviously have never been in bed with a mosquito...

“There are three types of people: the players, the spectators, the haters........ looking forward to keeping the first two and getting rid of the last category...”

                                                -Claudine Grier

Today, I fight a different battle.  You see, I have trouble walking and I have trouble standing for a long period of time… Cancer has taken away a lot of my physical abilities.  Cancer is attacking and destroying my body.  But what cancer cannot touch is my mind, my heart and my soul… I have faith in God… and hope that things might get better for me.  But, even if they don’t, I promise you this.  I will never ever give up.  I will never ever quit.  And if cancer gets me… then I’ll just try my best to go to heaven and I’ll try my best to be the best coach they’ve ever seen up there.

I learned a great lesson from these guys… they amazed me!  They did things I wasn’t sure they could do, because they absolutely refused to give up!  That was the theme of our championship season – ‘Never ever give up!’  That’s the lesson I learned from them and that’s the message I leave with you: ‘Never give up, never ever give up!’

                                                -Jim Valvano

"Lately, I've found myself talking about what I call the Brilliant Masses.  The Brilliant Masses are composed of nothing less than the many great people of our generation, the bright, the talented, the intelligent, the resourceful, and the creative - far too many of whom are operating at quarter-speed, unsure of their place in the world, contributing far too little to the productive engine of modern civilization, still feeling like observers, all feeling like they haven't come close to living up to their potential.  The Brillilant Masses are mostly intellectually motivated, so if they cross over and get involved, their commitment is conditioned on being respected, and conditioned on a minimum of unncecessary idiocy, and conditioned on winning/succeeding.  They *like* being cerebral. In their tribes, it's cool.

Being guided by the heart is almost never something an intellectually motivated person chooses to do. It's something that happens to them-usually something painful. Joe chose to assist John Stanford when Joe was still intellectually inspired, but he didn't *commit* to the district until John-and John's death- had changed him.

So where is his generation?

Waiting for the pain that opens up its heart."

                                                                        -Po Bronson “What should I do w/ my life?”