Give it a try.

Don't bother just to be better than your contemporaries or predecessors. Try to be better than yourself. - William Faulkner


Too often we become discontented with our lives, stuck in a mundane, day-in-day-out existence. While I have been determined not to plague myself with resolutions, I am finding that I have become determined to challenge myself, to become greater, more fulfilled. Recently, something occurred to me: what if the great thinkers, dreamers, athletes, poets, had never bothered to challenge themselves, never bothered to bring their visions for the world around them into reality? What would the world be like without the thoughts of Abraham Lincoln or Maya Angelou, the songs of Bob Dylan and Michael Jackson? Where would we be without the ambition of Henry Ford or Mary Pickford? They started by offering themselves the challenge of personal transcendence.

We have an opportunity everyday to be challenged, not by any outside means, but solely by ourselves. And with that opportunity comes not only the chance to become the person you imagine yourself being, but greater than you ever imagined. That's a challenge worth taking.

When talent, genius, and education are not enough.

Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than successful men of talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipresent. - Calvin Coolidge

After witnessing the Wimbledon win of Roger Federer yesterday, I found myself questioning what it is that separates the champions from the rest. Looking beyond the world-wide accolades of people who win major tournaments, what is it that makes people the champions of their own lives? How can I become someone who strives to be the best, even if it is only the best "me"?

No amount of planning and preparation, no amount of learning and intelligence has the ability to replace what essentially is that determination that pushes people over that threshold separating failure from success.

Aspiring to greatness is something that never ends, once making the decision to follow that path.

There have been countless numbers of people who have desired the rewards of the "winners", but few as determined, as resolved, who never falter in this will. These champions never leave their determination behind, through set-backs and voices of what "cannot be".

How willing are you to be like that?

What we all long for...

Acceptance. It is the true thing everyone longs for. The one thing everyone craves. To walk in a room and to be greeted by everyone with hugs and smiles. And in that small passing moment, you truly know you're loved, needed, and accepted. - Rena Harmon

Last night, I had the great fortune to catch the Hallmark Hall of Fame movie, Front of the Class. If you missed it, once on DVD, you might want to check it out.

The true story follows the life of Bradley Cohen, a young man who, plagued from childhood with Tourette's Syndrome, overcame odds to become a second grade teacher. Despite encountering ignorance of the disability many, many times, he finally found the right school (and administration) to accept him and his condition. They also grew to know him as a fantastic educator.

And all it took for him to reach great heights was for others to accept him as he was.

Just think how every hardship, every ambition, every dream, despite all difficulties, would make our most sought after goals more possible.

It seems we all want this same thing: acceptance. It is one of our many commonalities as human beings. To be who we are, and loved anyway; that is one of the greatest things one could ever hope for.

The change lies with you...

You must be the change you wish to see in the world. - Mahatma Gandhi

It all starts with you. One of the things I remember when I feel myself or circumstances stagnating is this: Nothing changes if nothing changes.

When you make a decision to do something different, to be something different, to take a different attitude, and to create change, then that is exactly what happens.

We live in a world that is faltering on many a front. People are losing jobs, losing homes, losing livelihoods. If you are in the position to do something, do it. It's not the time to look the other way and hope that the economy will change, that someone else will help. Change starts with you. Even in small ways. Even if it means placing change in a Salvation Army kettle.

The world is imperfect, yes. But that does not mean it must continue to worsen before it gets better. In times of discontent, it was the small acts by people, acts that moved us forward, that made all the real difference. When people decide to put aside their differences and come together to find real solutions to problems that change was created.

It starts with one voice. It starts with you.