“As Pat Riley, the basketball coach, said, "Anytime you stop striving to get better, you're bound to get worse.”

“Epictetus, a Greek philosopher, once wrote, “Circumstances do not make the man. They merely reveal him to himself.”

“Ideas are a mode of transportation, a vehicle that you can use to take yourself from wherever you are to wherever you want to go.”

“The law of increasing returns says that the more you focus on doing the few things that represent the most valuable use of your time, the better you become at those activities and the less time it takes you to accomplish each one.”

“The first requisite for success is the ability to apply your physical and mental energies to one problem incessantly without growing weary.”

“your ability to select your most important task at each moment, and then to get started on that task and to get it done both quickly and well, will probably have more of an impact on your success than any other quality or skill you can develop.”

“You are where you are and what you are because of yourself. Everything you are today, or ever will be in the future, is up to you. Your life today is the sum total result of your choices, decisions and actions up to this point. You can create your own future by changing your behaviors. You can make new choices and decisions that are more consistent with the person you want to be and the things you want to accomplish with your life.”

“The biggest mistake we could ever make in our lives is to think we work for anybody but ourselves.”

“it's impossible to remain angry or blame other people for problems in your life when you are saying , "I am responsible”

“Josh Billings wrote, “It’s not what a man knows that hurts him; it’s what he knows that isn’t true.”

“The biggest enemies we have to overcome on the road to success are not lack of ability and lack of opportunity but fears of failure and rejection and the doubts that they trigger.”

“Fear and self-doubt have always been the greatest enemies of human potential.”

“Your decision to be, have and do something out of ordinary entails facing  difficulties that are out of the ordinary as well. Sometimes your greatest asset is  simply your ability to stay with it longer than anyone else.”

Valuing Yourself and Your Needs (As a Parent): This is about taking care of your OWN needs as a parent because when you consistently put yourself last to be taken care of and habitually continue to sacrifice your basic necessities to make everyone else happy…Essentially, what you’re teaching your children is that they’re here to be of service to others, then themselves. In other words, you’re teaching them to take advantage of you and use you as they please, which in turn communicates to them that they’re most likely to be used. To prevent this from happening, you need to set consistent limits that protect you from demands that could be overbearing and unfair. That way, you’re communicating that your basic needs are just as important as theirs. It’s true…often times parents that are constantly sacrificing themselves are idealized and praised by other parents. You know… the ones that have no hobbies, no friends and no avenue of enjoyment. Is this really desirable? Parents constantly stressed about the needs of others in the family are usually irritable, and unmotivated to try anything new, fun or exciting. How can parents do this long term with no outlet? Instead, us parents need to enjoy ourselves and focus on being re-energized. When you take good care of yourself, you provide the means to take better care of your children. Going out to dinner or cocktails, trips to the gym 3 or 4 times a week, date night with your spouse or even some alone time reading or going for a walk allows you to be a more productive, interested and patient parent.”

“Just as your car runs more smoothly and requires less energy to go faster and  farther when the wheels are in perfect alignment, you perform better when your  thoughts, feelings, emotions, goals, and values are in balance.”