The 5-5-5 Plan

Week 16 – 5-5-5 Plan – Theme – Future

 

Monday:

            Quote: Dwight Eisenhower once said – “Neither a wise man nor a brave man lies down on the tracks of history to wait for the train of the future to run over him.”

 

            Word: Succinct – This adjective describes concise speaking or writing. Literally, the word suggests your flow of words is “belted” very tightly, since it comes from a word meaning encircled, as with a sash or belt. I thought that was fascinating!

 

Tuesday:

            Quote: Albert Camus said, “Real generosity toward the future consists in giving all to what is present.”

And because this is so short another concise offer by Franklin D. Roosevelt one said, “The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today.”

 

            Word: Pithy – this word is a compliment for a style of word or use that is both brief and forceful – it can be used for both a writer and a speaker. It derives from the less-used noun “pith” which means “essence”. The quotes today were pithy!

 

Wednesday:

            Quote: Martin De Vries once said, “The hinge of the future is on the door of the present. Keep men of honor and integrity in places of trust and you will not fear the future.”

 

            Word: Terse – means brief, to the point. This adjective for speaking (or writing) minimally comes from the classics.  – It comes from a Latin verb meaning “cleansed.” In other words, you have “washed away” all unnecessary words.

 

Thursday:

            Quote:  John Homer Miller said something wonderful I think, “In a life well lived, each succeeding day becomes better than the last. Each day, each year, each experience does not stand alone; it cannot be separated from what has happened before or what may happen after. Yesterday determines today, and today helps determine tomorrow.”

You create your future by creating this day – the only place you really can live.

 

            Word: Coherent – which means to make sense, organized and logical – which I thought the quote today was – very coherent – it made sense!

 

 

Friday:

            Quote: Three quotes for this last day of the week on future –

The first from Oscar Wilde who said, “I like men who have a future and women who have a past.” –

 

And then Hugh White said this simple truth, “The past cannot be changed, the future is still in your power.”

 

To end this week on future focus I will quote Franklin D. Roosevelt who said, “The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today.”

 

The only limits to our realization of tomorrow will be – are our – doubts (fears) negative feelings – of today.

We can create our future just as we create our day by the way we think – it’s a beautiful thing!

 

            Word: Candor – meaning truthfulness, great honesty, frankness – These quotes today had great candor – Speak with candor in all you say -

 

You Create Your Day by the way You Think! Be Present!

Go make it a Magnificent Day!

 

 

 

Week 15 – 5-5-5 Plan – Theme – Giving  April 14 – April 18

 

Monday:

This week is all about giving – giving in general and most giving of self – I’ve been involved in the JDRF (Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation) charity for quite some time and this past weekend I was honored to be the announcer at the yearly auction so I looked up and used a lot of giving quotes – some of the ones I’m doing this week are longer – and I may do more than one quote a day this week – what can I loose by giving you more?

So this week let your focus be on giving –

 

            Quote:  Our first giving quote come from Charles H. Burr – “Getters generally don’t get happiness; givers get it. You simply give to others a bit of yourself – a thoughtful act a helpful idea, a word of appreciation, a lift over a rough spot, a sense of understanding, a timely suggestion. You take something out of your mind, garnished in kindness out of your heart, and put it into the other fellow’s mind and heart.”

 

The second one from John Bunyan: “A man there was, they called him mad; the more he gave, the more he had.”

 

            Word: Munificent – From the latin word for gift – this word means very generous in giving – Thanks to the munificence of the parent association – our school will be able to build a new library this year.

 

 

Tuesday:

            Quote: Andrew Cordier once said, “It should be our purpose in life to see that each of us makes such a contribution as will enable us to say that we, individually and collectively, are part of the answer to the world problem and not part of the problem itself.” Isn’t that a great thought? To give, to contribute!

 

Second quote today is by Malcolm Forbes: “Give naught, get same. Give much, get same.”

 

            Word: Indulgent- the adjective mostly means lenient or willing to gratify –

 

 

Wednesday:

            Quote: A long quote today however it’s a good one – said by B.C. Forbes: “D’ye think I’m in business for my health?” How often have you heard that? Every time I hear it I conclude that the man doesn’t know what he is in business for. What are we in business for? We are in business to benefit others. If we are not, then our business won’t prosper permanently. All business is a matter of reciprocity, of giving something in exchange for something else. Unless we give, we cannot receive. And the man or concern that gives us most naturally gets most in return. He reaps most who serves most. The most notably successful businesses are those that have rendered signally valuable services to the people.”

 

Second quote is from Martin Luther: “The heart of the giver makes the gift dear and precious.” I take that to mean that when we love others the gift (of whatever) is more precious.

 

            Word: Reciprocity – a relationship between people involving the exchange of goods, services, favors or obligations, especially a mutual exchange of privileges between trading nations or recognition of licenses between states

 

 

 

Thursday:

            Quote: Oscar Hammerstein 11 said, “Why you are born and why you are living depend entirely on what you are getting out of this world and what you are giving to it. I cannot prove that this is a balance of mathematical perfection, but my own observation of life leads me to the conclusion that there is a very real relationship, both quantitatively and qualitatively, between what you contribute and what you get out of this world.

 

Second quote for today is from Robert South, “If there be any truer measure of a man than by what de does, it must be by what he gives.”

Roll call

 

            Word: Lagniappe – (Lan – yop) the noun first referred to a small gift a store owner might give a customer but is coming increasingly as to be used as an unexpected gift or benefit –

 

 

Friday:

            Quote: Today I will again give two quotes – the first is from Bonaro W. Overstreet who said, “We can give only what we have to give. We can write out a check for a good cause only if we have money in the bank to cover the check. And in like fashion we can give understanding only if we have understanding. We can give a contagious sense of the heights and depths of life only if we have earned, and have in our possession, a feeling of those heights and depths.”

 

Which is why living life to the fullest, taking every bit we can to learn, grow, be and do is so vital – we aren’t sleeping our lives away – we are grasping it in both hands –

 

Second quote is one of my favorites and is part of a longer piece I used to read every day – it’s by St. Francis of Assisi –

“O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console; to be understood, as to understand, to be loved, as to love; for it is in giving that we receive, it is in pardoning that we are pardoned, and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.”

 

            Word: Magnanimous – Noble in spirit – generous giving – I pray that I am magnanimous in sharing inspiration with you!

 

You Create Your Day by the way You Think! Be Present!

Go make it a Magnificent Day!

 

 

 

Week 5 – 5-5-5 Plan – Theme – Forgiveness – April 7 through April 11

 

Monday:

It’s interesting that this week is forgiveness – when I’ve just come from spending the weekend at a Christian woman’s retreat at the coast – we are reading “The Winged Life” by Hannah Hurnard – and it’s interesting that it was not about forgiveness necessarily however that is a strong focus at a Christian event – since we have been forgiven – it’s a good thing to remember so we can forgive others –

And I’ve just ordered the book Amish Grace recommended to me by one of our Create Your Ultimate Year members – Robert Brazler – it’s all about how the Amish community forgave the man who killed those school girls a year or so ago – so for some reason forgiveness is popping up a lot lately – take that as you will – I only know that this week forgiveness is the theme –

 

One of the best reasons to talk about forgiveness is how much good it will do for all of us – and the first person to forgive is ourselves – what if we started this week just forgiving ourselves for all the stuff we’re sorry we’ve done – anything that was less than stellar so simply the ordinary things we don’t much like that we do –

Sometime today say – “I forgive me.” You’ll feel amazing!

 

            Quote:  The quote today is short and I think powerful – it was uttered by Malcolm Forbes – “The only unforgivable sin: Being unforgiving.” –

Wow!

 

            Word: Amnesty, (talk about mercy), if you receive amnesty for a wrong doing you get a pardon either literally or figuratively – the root word means – absence of memory, the bad thing you did is literally forgotten.

 

Tuesday:

            Quote: Today’s quote is a good call to action and was made my Theodore C. Speers, D.D. “How to forgive is something we have to learn, not as a duty or an obligation but as an experience akin to the experience of love; it must come into being spontaneously.” –

We can do if we practice it –

I forgave them – what a wonderful thing to say!

 

            Word: Placate, – there seem to be plenty of verbs that mean – to lessen someone’s anger or hard feelings – one placates under the same conditions that one mollifies –

Mollify – from the Latin word for soften – this word means to calm and temper, or to sooth hostile feelings

 

Wednesday:

            Quote: I liked this quote by Jean De La Bruyere – “Two persons cannot long be friends if they cannot forgive each other’s little failings.” They can not be married to each other happily or work together either – if there isn’t some form of forgiveness going on – in a lot of my work with companies it’s the little hurts that leave the longest scars -

 

            Word: Conciliate – this verb means to overcome distrust or hostility or to try to gain or regain someone’s friendship. How can you overcome (conciliate) distrust with someone?

 

 

Thursday:

            Quote: Our quote today comes from a person named Lord Herbert – Lord of what I have not an idea! – “He that cannot forgive others, breaks the bridge over which he must pass himself; for every man has need to be forgiven.”  Which is really – every person has need to be forgiven – so when we forgive we are forgiven – so fab!

 

            Word: Camaraderie – from the old French word that means roommate, this noun means a light-hearted report or mutual trust among friends.

 

 

Friday:

            Quote: Two short quotes for you today to wrap up the week on forgiveness –

A fun one by Oscar Wilde – “Always forgive your enemies; nothing annoys them so much.” –

And this deep truth from Alan Paton, “When a deep injury is done to us, we never recover until we forgive.”

Think that through – something done to us – something we didn’t like or that hurt or was unfair – the only way to recover – is to forgive – and it’s in our power!

 

            Word: Mag-nan-imous – form the Latin word meaning Great Soul – this adjective means extremely generous and forgiving and more generally courageously noble in mind and heart. – The Magnanimous world series losers sent champagne to the winning team

 

You Create Your Day by the way You Think! Be Present!

Go make it a Magnificent Day!

 

 

 

Week 13 – 5-5-5 Plan – Theme – Fear   March 31 – April 4

 

Monday:

This weeks theme is fear – it’s a good topic and one each of us wrestles with – some of us more than others and sometimes more often that other times – fear – can help us – to run from harm – or hurt us – run from opportunity – so this week we will hear what others have to say about fear and see if it helps us live an even more magnificent life.

 

            Quote:  The ancient philosophers talked of fear so it’s been in the human condition or nature always – probably since Adam and Eve – Epictetus said, “It is our attitude toward events, not events themselves, which we can control. Nothing is by its own nature calamitous – even death is terrible only if we fear it.”

 

            Word: Calamitous – which is derived from calamity – an event causing great and often sudden damage or distress; a disaster – missing the call is not a calamity – unless is was because the house burnt down, or you were unable to rise – that would be calamitous!

 

Tuesday:

            Quote: Elbert Hubbard (who must be old – with a name like Elbert) once said, “The great Big Black Things that have loomed against the horizon of my life, threatening to devour me, simply loomed and nothing more. The things that have really made me miss my train have always been sweet, soft, pretty, pleasant things of which I was not in the least afraid.”

 

            Word: Vehement – intense, forceful, marked by strong feeling – whenever I think of the word vehement – it feels bad – like a forceful feeling about something wrong, She vehemently opposes that candidate – however in this real meaning it could be any strong emotion – I’m vehemently in favor of learning new things – what can you be vehement about today?

 

Wednesday:

            Quote: Napoleon Bonaparte said something so true and something for us to ponder – “The people to fear are not those who disagree with you, but those who disagree with you and are too cowardly to let you know.”

 

            Word: Discerning – keenly perceptive, shrewd – this word helps us to know the difference between those we know disagree with us and those we don’t know that do disagree and don’t tell -

 

  

Thursday:

            Quote: John Paul Jones said, “If fear is cultivated it will become stronger. If faith is cultivated it will achieve the mastery. We have a right to believe that faith is the stronger emotion because it is positive whereas fear is negative.”

This is like the white wolf and the black wolf – the one who will win and survive is the one you feed!

Another – great saying or quote I’ve recently heard and used is a new take on the Fake it till you Make it saying – The new one I heard and like better is, “Faith it till you make it!”

 

            Word: Faith: complete trust or confidence in someone or something; – strong belief in God or in the doctrines of a religion –

Do you have faith in yourself? Why or why not? A great question for us to ponder this morning -

 

Friday:

            Quote: Oscar Wilde is giving us the quote to end the week and I think it’s interesting – He said, “The reason we all like to think so well of others is that we are all afraid of ourselves. The basis of optimism is sheer terror.”

Afraid of ourselves is such an interesting concept – I know many people never take a good look inside themselves – maybe because of fear – fear of what they will find both good and bad – there is an old tale told of when God and the angels thought of where to hide wisdom so that man would need to seek for it they ruled out the top of the world and the bottom of the sea – since men would ultimately conquer those locations – and after thinking of the nature of man they decided to hide this precious gift where very few would even look – inside each of us –

One of the reasons I’m so excited about these calls is that you are the type of people who are looking inside – or at least giving yourself the time if you choose to –

 

            Word: Optimism – hopefulness and confidence about the future or the successful outcome of something – so is our hope and confidence based in our fear of making a fool of ourselves? I know I’ve acted confident even what I wasn’t and also was hopeful when all reason was against it – so maybe our fears do fuel a positive – I’m going to hope they do!

 

You Create Your Day by the way You Think! Be Present!

Go make it a Magnificent Day!

   

Week 12 – 5-5-5 Plan – Theme – Experience Mark 24 – March 28 2008

 

Monday: This weeks theme is Experience – and each of us has our own experience and experiences to bring to the party – the party I call life – and here’s something interesting to kick us off – Education is what you get from reading the small print in a contract. Experience is what you get from not reading it.

            Quote: Mark Twain gives us today’s quote “We should be careful to get out of an experience all the wisdom that is in it – not like the cat that sits down on a hot stove lid. She will never sit down on a hot stove lid again – and that is well; but also she will never sit down on a cold one anymore.”

 

I liked this quote because it reminded me that sometimes we’ll learn the lesson of ouch (which many lessons are) without the Aw Ha! That almost all lessons, especially the ouch ones provide.

 

            Word: Celebrated – much spoken of – famous or renowned, celebrated differs from distinguished in that no formal honor is bestowed – celebrated implies a wide recognition not necessarily for a specific accomplishment.

So it takes less talent – much chance to be celebrated – like celebrities – who sometimes are known simply by being known rather than for good work –

 

You Create Your Day by the way You Think! Be Present!

Go make it a Magnificent Day!

 

Tuesday:

            Quote: Today’s quote is from Ilka Chase who died in the early 50s however gives us good perspective now: Ilka said, “Everything you experience is what constitutes you as a human being, but the experience passes away and the person’s left. The person is the residue.”

I would add then that it is the lessons that we take away from our experiences that make us who we are – experiences can be pleasant or unpleasant and all of it gives us room to grow.

 

            Word: Savvy – Shrewdness or understanding, know- how, it refers to someone who is adept in a specific area due to a keen understanding or experience in that area.

When we know how to dress for a certain function we are savvy to what is needed and how we will be perceived.

 

You Create Your Day by the way You Think! Be Present!

Go make it a Magnificent Day!

 

Wednesday:

            Quote: A writer of renown gives us today’s quote on experience – Harriet Beecher Stowe – this is from a letter she wrote her two daughters in the 1800s –

“I long to put the experience of fifty years at once into your young lives, to give you at once the key to that treasure chamber every gem of which has cost me tears and struggles and prayers, but you must work for these inward treasures yourselves.”

That’s the beauty of experience and the bane of experience – the only way to get and grow from it is to experience it!

 

            Word: Accentuate – to emphasize, heighten the effect of.  – if the right parts of a story are accentuated, no embellishment may be necessary.

When we get up early we can accentuate the silence of the morning by being quiet with ourselves.

  

Thursday:

            Quote: Today’s quote is long and wonderful – it’s from George Matthew Adams –

“Any one who has had a long life of experiences is worth listening to, worth emulating, and worth trying to as a friend. No one can have too much experience in any line of endeavor. We readily welcome to our group of friends that one who talks with the voice of experience and common sense. We know that we are safe in his hands. He is not going to get us into trouble. Rather is he going to point out the pitfalls and mistakes that experience has taught him to avoid. There is no experience but what carries its lasting good for us along with it. And you don’t have to discard experience. It’s a coast for life! It never wears out.”

 

            Word: Campaign – a series of organized planned actions for a particular purpose – like an ad campaign, a marketing campaign – the pain in the behind political campaign!

 

Friday:

            Quote: Two quotes today both of them short – and both fun and thoughtful –

The first fun – this is a Belgian Proverb – it says “Experience is the comb that Nature gives us after we are bald.”

Now – thoughtful – Joseph Collins said, “A prudent person profits from personal experience, a wise one from the experience of others.”

In the speaking world, Cavett Robert – the founder of the National Speakers Association used to say learn from the OPE – Other People’s Experience – wise advice!

 

            Word: Apparent – readily understood or perceived. – apparent suggests the use of deductive reasoning.

It’s apparent that you are all excellent and experienced or you wouldn’t be on this call – or – it’s apparent that all of us are committed to improving ourselves!

 

You Create Your Day by the way You Think! Be Present!

Go make it a Magnificent Day!