Making it to the NFL

I was reading an article in Sports Illustrated awhile ago about Jim Harbaugh (the head football coach at Stanford) and his brother who coaches in the NFL.  This was my favorite quote from the entire article:


Once in a while, Jim Harbaugh asks his Stanford players to name the one thing you have to do to make an NFL team. The answers come quickly: You have to be talented. You have to work hard. Nope, Jim says. A lot of guys are talented and work hard and never make it. "The one thing you have to do to make an NFL team," he says, "is take another man's job away from him. And those men really like those jobs."

I think this principle applies in a number of other careers and situations that are competitive by their nature.

Don’t grab what you can’t hold on to

This is an interesting story from the early days of the oil industry (as reported in this piece from Biofuels Digest).


I thought at the time it would be, therefore, useful to relate something of the character of the man who founded Saudi Aramco, Harry Deward Collier ... Collier was a marine engineer by training, who joined Standard Oil in 1903 when it became clear that the marine industry was going to completely convert over from coal to oil, and he took a leading part in that transition. His own father had participated in the transition from sail to steam. His grandfather had participated in the transition from the New England whalers to the great Yankee Clippers, as a fleet owner and china trader.  From his own story, Henry Deward Collier understood the transitory nature of transportation technologies, the importance of thinking globally, the importance of China.


He had a little trick he would play. He would ask you, “Would you like a nickel?” This was back in the day when a nickel was worth something.


“Sure,” you’d say, “what do I have to do for it?”


“There is is, take it.” And he’d point to a nickel by the stove. What the victim didn’t know is that he’d have heated up the nickel, so it was burning hot, and when you picked it up you’d drop it right away.


“What the Sam Hill you do that for?” you’d say.


“Don’t grab what you can’t hold on to,” he’d answer. “Study the problem, make a tool, make a friend. if you do that, there’s nothing you can’t get a hold of and keep holding onto.”


This story makes me wonder what I'm grabbing for that I'm not prepared to actually hold on to.  And, conversely, I wonder what I could (or should) be grabbing for if I only studied the problem, made a tool, and made a friend.

You are the Third Person

A friend of mine forwarded this essay by Zig Ziglar to me.  It's a good perspective.


Several years ago, I heard the statement that "every third person is either remarkably handsome and unusually bright, or amazingly beautiful and absolutely brilliant." I encourage you to make a mental note. The next two people you see, look them over real good. When you do, chances are excellent that you will come to the conclusion that it is neither one of them! That means it has to be you, if the formula is to hold true. When you think about it in these terms, I believe you will come to the conclusion that, yes, it does have to be you. 


From this moment on, I encourage you to think of yourself as that "third person," and as that third person, I want to share with you some important considerations about yourself. Several billion people have walked this earth, but there never has been, nor will there ever be, a person exactly like you. Your uniqueness gives you real value. 


Think about it like this: If man can take moldy bread and make penicillin out of it, think what an awesome God can make out of you. Listen to what St. Augustine said in 399 A.D. (and I paraphrase with this): Man travels hundreds of miles to gaze at the broad expanse of the ocean. He looks in awe at the heavens above. He stares in wonderment at the fields, the mountains, the rivers and the streams. And then he passes himself by without a thought -- God's most amazing creation. It is important that you think well, not egotistically, about yourself because the way you see yourself has a direct bearing on how you see and treat others. If you see yourself as happy, secure, self-sufficient and as a good friend, you'll attract happy, secure, self-sufficient, good friends. 


To get along well with people requires an elimination of prejudice, which, in virtually every case, is circumstantial, based either on ignorance or never having had any real relationship with those of a different race or culture. This does not mean that I'm suggesting or even mildly hinting that you have to agree with everybody on everything. To do so would be to invite disaster in your life. But it does mean that you can disagree without being disagreeable. You can disagree and yet respect that person's right to believe as he or she believes. You can have a different opinion without denying the other person the right to have the opinion he or she has. When you adopt that attitude and take that approach, you will probably be amazed to discover on occasion that your friend's point of view was right and yours was wrong. That's a sobering thought. 


When you take the right attitude toward another person, you not only avoid building a wall between the two of you, you also establish common ground and lay a solid foundation on which to build a relationship. It certainly is something to think about and something I have found to be very enlightening and beneficial. 


I encourage you to replay the tapes of your life. Explore the number of times people who were "different" from you turned out to be really great people, who had opinions with which you disagreed but that turned out to be correct. Take the approach I'm suggesting and you will become a happier, healthier, friendlier, better person. 

Don't be in a hurry

When I was reading through the June 2010 issue of the Ensign, I was struck by an article called "Don't Be In A Hurry".  Here are some relevant excerpts:

The year 1845 was a busy one for Latter-day Saints in Nauvoo, Illinois. Still mourning the violent death of the Prophet Joseph Smith, the Saints continued their efforts to complete the Nauvoo Temple, spread the gospel, and gather believers even as conflict with critics and dissenters hastened plans for an exodus to the West. On a Sunday in August 1845, Brigham Young (1801–77) paused from the demands of leadership to record a dream he’d had the previous night. “I dreamed … I saw Brother Joseph Smith,” he wrote, “and as I was going about my business, he said, ‘Brother Brigham, don’t be in a hurry.’” President Young said Joseph repeated the counsel twice more with “a degree of sharpness”: Brother Brigham, don’t be in a hurry. Brother Brigham, don’t be in a hurry...


Missionaries honor Nephi’s injunction every morning, consecrating their day to the Lord in prayer and study. What about the rest of us? Decades after that dream of Joseph, Brigham Young asked a congregation in Utah if they had prayed that morning as families. Observing that many had not, he proposed an all-too-familiar reason: “I was in too much of a hurry.” Then President Young gave us wise counsel. “Stop! Wait!” he pleaded, “When you get up in the morning, before you suffer yourselves to eat one mouthful of food, … bow down before the Lord, ask Him to forgive your sins, and protect you through the day, to preserve you from temptation and all evil, to guide your steps aright, that you may do something that day that shall be beneficial to the kingdom of God on the earth.” That counsel will bless our lives as it reminds us each morning to kneel in prayer before we tackle the tasks ahead...


Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin (1917–2008) of the Quorum of the Twelve observed how easily we fill our lives with “appointments, meetings, and tasks” and then act frightened at the prospect of some quiet time. Why would that be? He feared that we might “feel that the busier we are, the more important we are—as though our busyness defines our worth.” On another occasion, he reminded us that “being busy is not necessarily being spiritual”—for in fact, noise and busyness can actually crowd out the still, small voice of the Spirit.


President Gordon B. Hinckley (1910–2008) prescribed a remedy for this fever of busyness: meditation, or pondering, or introspection. President Hinckley recalled that his father “never ceased growing” because he made time for “thinking, meditating, [and] pondering.” You may have to turn off your TV, computer, cell phone, or MP3 player, but it’s worth it. As Sister Bonnie D. Parkin, former Relief Society general president, put it: “Take time to slow down and ponder so that you can feel the Lord’s love for you...”


“There seems to be little evidence,” Elder Richard L. Evans (1906–71) of the Quorum of the Twelve once said, “that the Creator of the universe was ever in a hurry. Everywhere, on this bounteous and beautiful earth … there is evidence of patient purpose and planning and working and waiting...”


Perhaps all this was summarized in eight words by the Psalmist long ago: “Be still, and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10). 

In general, I'm in far too much of a hurry on a daily basis.  I'm also in too much of a hurry to accomplish things that simply need time and patience to accomplish.

That's my boy

Just got an interesting email from my son JD.  He certainly doesn't lack in self-confidence although he needs to work on his spelling.  =)

Subject: Don't look til fathers day!
Body: Hi dad,sorry the title is cindav silly. Just  wanted to say Happy Fathers Day! I think your think your the 2nd best dad 1.me (future). I love you. JD

I'm sure JD will be a wonderful father in the future - much better than me I hope.  Same goes for AJ.

Who's Awesome?

Someone at work sent this image around as part of a larger message. Wanted to keep it for future reference. =)

Two Horses

A friend sent this to me by email and I really liked it...

There is a place in the countryside with a field that has two horses in it.

From a distance, each horse looks like any other horse, but if you'll stop your car, or go walking by, you will notice something quite amazing....

Looking into the eyes of one horse will disclose that he is blind. His owner, however has chosen not to have him put down, and has made a good home for him.

This alone is amazing.

If you stand nearby and listen, you will hear the sound of a bell. Then looking around for the source of the sound, you will see that it comes from the smaller horse in the field.

Attached to the horse's halter is a small bell. It lets the blind friend know exactly where the other horse is, so he can follow.

As you stand and watch these two friends, you'll see that the horse with the bell is always checking on the blind horse, and that the blind horse will listen for the bell and then slowly walk to where the other horse is, completely trusting that he will not be led astray.

When the horse with the bell returns to the shelter of the barn each evening, it stops occasionally and looks back, making sure that his blind friend isn't too far behind to hear the bell.

Like the owners of these two horses, GOD does not throw us away just because we are not perfect, or because we have unique problems or challenges.

He watches over us and even brings others into our lives to help us when we are in need..

Sometimes, we are like the blind horse being guided by the little ringing bell of those whom God places in our lives.

Other times we are the guide horse, helping others to find their way....

Good friends are like that... You may not always see them, but you know they are always there.

Please listen for my bell and I'll listen for yours.

And remember... Be kinder than necessary, because

Everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle.

Live simply,

Love generously,

Care deeply,

Speak kindly......

Leave the rest to God