Gratitude and other essentials

As Thanksgiving approaches, lets be grateful.

Business coach P.T. McClure offers this:

1. Be grateful for your life’s bounty.

Your family. Your friends. Your faith.

What your mistakes have taught you.

My career pursuits dominated my life.

I took my loving family for granted.

Big mistake.

It took many years to discover the error of my ways.

Be grateful for what you have while you have it.

Show your appreciation to those who love you.


2. Know your purpose. What are you here for?

Have you taken on a task without a clear purpose?

Without knowing what you want to accomplish?

Purpose is one key to living a fulfilling life.

I stumbled into journalism because it looked exciting.

I did not think about its essential purpose.

That took years to figure out. I was a slow learner.

Don’t be a slow learner. Figure out your purpose now.


3. Be willing to change bad habits.

This usually takes a painful wake-up call.

I was addicted to tobacco for a dozen years.

Beating it, giving it up . . . what a challenge that was.

A friend with emphysema influenced my decision to quit.

Keep smoking and end up with his condition.

Fear can be a strong motivator.


4. Never stop learning. Become a lifelong learner.

Hang onto your child-like fascination with life.

Albert Einstein advised us to be passionately curious.

We don’t know when our next powerful lesson may come.

One goal: Tap an instructive book or CD a week.

Take notes. Underline passages that make you say "ah-ha".

Have you heard anyone say, "I don’t have time to read?"

What a mistake. Read. Study. Make the most of life.


5. Find strong mentors. A half dozen are best.

When the student is ready, the teacher will appear.

Dozens of wise, experienced mentors have helped me.

They showed me the way. They asked the right questions.

They encouraged me and helped me solve problems.

My way of thanking them is to help others.

Be unselfish. Share the wisdom you have accumulated.


For more on this, read "Your Life’s Great Purpose".

Email me for a personally autographed copy.

Jerry@JerryBellune.com

Believe in yourself

Rev. Robert Schuller tells this story of a young math major.
He was late for an important test because he stayed up late studying.
At stake was a job as assistant to the math department dean.
If he aced the test, he might get the job, his ticket to graduate school.
Time ran out before he finished the last two problems.
His professor let him work on the problems over the weekend.
The young man copied two other problems from the chalkboard.
By Sunday night he had solved all but the last chalkboard problem.
Around midnight, he gave up and fell asleep.
On Monday he turned in his test believing he would get a poor grade.
He would not get the job nor be able to go to graduate school.
Two days later his professor called. He had just made history.
He had solved one of two "unsolvable" math problems.
Even Albert Einstein had been unable to solve either problem.
Because he was late he did not hear the professor’s explanation.
The other students knew they were unsolvable and didn’t try.
The young math student didn’t know this.
By the way, he won the assistant’s job.
Have you been dissuaded by those who say it can’t be done?
Have you given up a dream because of what naysayers said?
Believe in yourself. Stretch your wings. Go for it with all your heart.
Impossible dreams may not be impossible after all.
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