Here’s a touching story that we may learn something from.
Let’s sort out our priorities today! The older I get, the more I enjoy Saturday mornings.
Perhaps it’s the quiet solitude that comes with being the first to rise, or maybe it’s the unbounded joy of not having to be at work.
Either way, the first few hours of a Saturday morning are most enjoyable.
A few weeks ago, I was shuffling toward the kitchen with a steaming cup of coffee in one hand and the morning paper in the other.
What began as a typical Saturday morning turned into one of those lessons that life seems to hand you from time to time.
Let me tell you about it.
I turned the volume up on my radio in order to listen to a Saturday morning talk show. I heard an older sounding chap with a golden voice.
You know the kind, he sounded like he should be in the broadcasting business himself.
He was talking about “a thousand marbles” to someone named “Tom”.
I was intrigued and sat down to listen to what he had to say. “Well, Tom, it sure sounds like you’re busy with your job.
I’m sure they pay you well but it’s a shame you have to be away from home and your family so much.
Hard to believe a young fellow should have to work sixty or seventy hours a week to make ends meet. Too bad you missed your daughter’s dance recital”.
He continued, “Let me tell you something Tom, something that has helped me keep a good perspective on my own priorities”.
And that’s when he began to explain his theory of a “thousand marbles”.
”You see, I sat down one day and did a little arithmetic. The average person lives about seventy-five years.
I know, some live more and some live less, but on average, folks live about seventy-five years”.
”Now then, I multiplied 75 times 52 and I came up with 3900 which is the number of Saturdays that the average person has in their entire lifetime.
Now stick with me Tom, I’m getting to the important part”.
”It took me until I was fifty-five years old to think about all this in any detail”, he went on, “and by that time I had lived through over twenty-eight hundred Saturdays. I got to thinking that if I lived to be seventy-five, I only had about a thousand of them left to enjoy”.
”So I went to a toy store and bought every single marble they had. I ended up having to visit three toy stores to roundup 1000 marbles. I took them home and put them inside of a large, clear plastic container right here in my workshop next to the radio. Every Saturday since then, I have taken one marble out and thrown it away”.
”I found that by watching the marbles diminish, I focused more on the really important things in life.
There is nothing like watching your time here on this earth run out to help get your priorities straight”.
”Now let me tell you one last thing before I sign-off with you and take my lovely wife out for breakfast. This morning, I took the very last marble out of the container. I figure if I make it until next Saturday then God has blessed me with a little extra time to be with my loved ones……”
”It was nice to talk to you Tom, I hope you spend more time with your loved ones, and I hope to meet you again someday. Have a good morning!”.
You could have heard a pin drop when he finished.
Even the show’s moderator didn’t have anything to say for a few moments.
I guess he gave us all a lot to think about. I had planned to do some work that morning, then go to the gym.
Instead, I went upstairs and woke my wife up with a kiss.
”C’mon honey, I’m taking you and the kids to breakfast.”
”What brought this on”? she asked with a smile.
”Oh, nothing special”, I said.
”It has just been a long time since we spent a Saturday together with the kids.
Hey, can we stop at a toy store while we’re out? I need to buy some marbles.”
cheers!
Over the years I’ve been teaching kids about a simple but powerful concept – the ant philosophy. I think everybody should study ants. They have an amazing four-part philosophy, and here is the first part: ants never quit.
That’s a good philosophy. If they’re headed somewhere and you try to stop them, they’ll look for another way.
They’ll climb over, they’ll climb under, they’ll climb around. They keep looking for another way. What a neat philosophy, to never quit looking for a way to get where you’re supposed to go. Second, ants think winter all summer.
That’s an important perspective. You can’t be so naive as to think summer will last
forever. So ants are gathering in their winter food in the middle of summer.
An ancient story says, “Don’t build your house on the sand in the summer.” Why do we need that advice? Because it is important to be realistic. In the summer, you’ve got to think storm. You’ve got to think rocks as you enjoy the sand and sun. Think ahead.
The third part of the ant philosophy is that ants think summer all winter. That is so important. During the winter, ants remind themselves, “This won’t last long; we’ll soon be out of here.” And the first warm day, the ants are out. If it turns cold again,
they’ll dive back down, but then they come out the first warm day.
They can’t wait to get out. And here’s the last part of the ant philosophy. How much will an ant gather during the summer to prepare for the winter? All that he possibly can. What an incredible philosophy, the “all-that-you-possibly-can” philosophy.
Wow, what a great seminar to attend – the ant seminar. Never give up, look ahead, stay positive and do all you can.
To Your Success,
Bobby
For every disciplined effort, there are multiple rewards.
That’s one of life’s great arrangements. In fact, it’s an extension of the Biblical law that says that if you sow well, you will reap well.
Here’s a unique part of the Law of Sowing and Reaping. Not only does it suggest that we’ll all reap what we’ve sown, it also suggests that we’ll reap much more. Life is full of laws that both govern and explain behaviors, but this may well be the major law we need to understand: for every disciplined effort, there are multiple rewards.
What a concept! If you render unique service, your reward will be multiplied. If you’re fair and honest and patient with others, your reward will be multiplied. If you give more than you expect to receive, your reward is more than you expect. But remember: the key word here, as you might well imagine, is discipline.
Everything of value requires care, attention, and discipline. Our thoughts require discipline. We must consistently determine our inner boundaries and our codes of conduct, or our thoughts will be confused. And if our thoughts are confused, we will become hopelessly lost in the maze of life. Confused thoughts produce confused results.
Remember the law: “For every disciplined effort, there are multiple rewards. ” Learn the discipline of writing a card or a letter to a friend. Learn the discipline of paying your bills on time, arriving to appointments on time, or using your time more effectively.
Learn the discipline of paying attention, or paying your taxes or paying yourself. Learn the discipline of having regular meetings with your associates, or your spouse, or your child, or your parent. Learn the discipline of learning all you can learn, of teaching all you can teach, of reading all you can read.
For each discipline, multiple rewards. For each book, new knowledge. For each success, new ambition. For each challenge, new understanding. For each failure, new determination. Life is like that. Even the bad experiences of life provide their own special contribution. But a word of caution here for those who neglect the need for care and attention to life’s disciplines: everything has its price.
Everything affects everything else. Neglect discipline, and there will be a price > to pay. All things of value can be taken for granted with the passing of time.
That’s what we call the Law of Familiarity. Without the > discipline of paying constant, daily attention, we take things for granted. Be serious. Life’s not a practice session.
If you’re often inclined to toss your clothes onto the chair rather than hanging them in the closet, be careful. It could suggest a lack of discipline. And remember, a lack of discipline in the small areas of life can cost you heavily in the more important areas of life.
You cannot clean up your company until you learn the discipline of cleaning your own Garage. You cannot be impatient with your children and be patient with your distributors or your employees. You cannot inspire others to sell more when that goal is inconsistent with your own conduct. You cannot admonish others to read good books when you don’t have a library card.
Think about your life at this moment. What areas need attention right now? Perhaps you had a disagreement with someone you love or someone who loves you, and your anger won’t allow you to speak to that person. Wouldn’t this be an ideal time to examine your need for a new discipline? Perhaps you’re on the brink of giving up, or starting over, or starting out. And the only missing ingredient to your incredible success story in the future is a new and self-imposed discipline that will make you try harder and work more intensely than you ever thought you could.
The most valuable form of discipline is the one that you impose upon yourself. Don’t wait for things to deteriorate so drastically that someone else must impose discipline in your life. Wouldn’t that be tragic? How could you possibly explain the fact that someone else thought more of you than you thought of yourself?
That they forced you to get up early and get out into the marketplace when you would have been content to let success go to someone else who cared more about themselves.
Your life, my life, the life of each one of us is going to serve as either a warning or an example. A warning of the consequences of neglect, self-pity, lack of direction and ambition … or an example of talent put to use, of discipline self-imposed, and of objectives clearly perceived and intensely pursued.
To your success
Bobby Wan
Like to share this great product I saw on youtube. Don’t be victim of check washing!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwUTvIyRvdk
cheers,
Bob
If you haven’t seen this…. make sure you do…. Bring out
your tissues before watching this video… Delightful &
moving.
Celine Dion with Charihsse Pempengco
http://piperoo.multiply.com/video/item/23/Charisse_Pempengco_duet_with_Celin
Really interesting thing
Why a wedding ring should be put on the fourth finger?
Pls follow the below step, really god made this miracle( this is from a Chinese excerpt)
Firstly, show your palm, centre finger bend and put together back to back
Secondly, the rest 4 fingers tips to tips
Games begin, follow the below arrangement, 5 fingers but only 1 pair can’t split
Try to open your thumb, the thumbs represent parents, it can be open cause all humans do go thru sickness and die.
Which is why our parents will leave us one day
Pls close up your thumb, then open your second finger, the fingers represent brothers and sisters,
they do have their own families which is why they will leave us too
Now close up your second finger, open up your little fingers, this represents your children.
Sooner or later they too will leave us for they have their own living to live
Nevertheless, close up your little finer, try to open your fourth finger which we put our wedding rings on,
you will be surprised to find that it cannot be open at all. B
ecause it represent husband and wife, this whole life you will be attached to each other!!!!!
Real love will stick together forever and ever
Thumb represent parents
Second finger represents brothers & sisters
Centre finger represents own self
Fourth finger represents your partner
Last finger represents your children
cheers,
Bobby
One of the most important components of public speaking is the sound of your voice. It influences the impact of your message, and might even make or break the success of your speech. Fortunately, for many people, good voice quality can be learned.
Instructions :
- Breathe from your diaphragm – Practice long and controlled exhales. When you speak, use breath to punctuate your point. For example, take a breath at the end of each phrase whether you need to or not. Use that opportunity to pause and let the listeners absorb what you say.
- Use pitch – Lower pitches generally are more soothing to hear. However, modulating your pitch for emphasis will keep your listeners engaged. Develop your pitch by practicing humming.
- Moderate your volume – Find out if you speak too loudly or too softly. When you begin speaking, ask your audience how your volume is (each situation is different). Try to stay at the appropriate volume throughout your speech.
- Moderate your pace – This one is also closely related to breath. If you speak too quickly, people can’t keep up. If you speak too slowly, people will lose interest. Record your speech to determine if you need to change your pace. Get feedback from others.
- Articulate – Try exaggerating your lip movement to reduce mumbling. Practice articulating tongue twisters and extending and exaggerating vowel sounds. Become an expert at articulating tongue twisters as quickly and crisply as possible. Focus on the ones you find difficult.
- Practice your speech in advance and determine where you want to pause for a breath. For more emphasis, pause for more than one breath. Mark your breathing points in your notes.
- Loosen up before you begin. Look side to side. Roll your head in half-circles and roll your shoulders back. Shift your rib cage from side to side. Yawn. Stretch. Touch your toes while completely relaxing your upper body, then slowly stand up, one vertebra at a time, raising your head last. Repeat as needed.
- Posture – Stand up straight and tall to allow full lung capacity and airflow.
- Record your voice repeatedly using different ways of speaking. Determine which one is most pleasing.
- Practice breath control – Take a deep breath, and while you exhale, count to 10 (or recite the months or days of the week). Try gradually increasing your volume as you count, using your abdominal muscles—not your throat—for volume. Don’t let your larynx tense up.
cheers
A cab driver taught me a million dollar lesson in customer satisfaction and expectation. Motivational speakers charge thousands of dollars to impart his kind of training to corporate executives and staff. It cost me a $12 taxi ride.
I had flown into Dallas for the sole purpose of calling on a client. Time was of the essence and my plan included a quick turnaround trip from and back to the airport. A spotless cab pulled up.
The driver rushed to open the passenger door for me and made sure I was comfortably seated before he closed the door. As he got in the driver’s seat, he mentioned that the neatly folded Wall Street Journal next to me for my use. He then showed me several tapes and asked me what type of music I would enjoy.
Well! I looked around for a “Candid Camera!” Wouldn’t you? I could not believe the service I was receiving! I took the opportunity to say, “Obviously you take great pride in your work. You must have a story to tell.”
“You bet,” he replied, “I used to be in Corporate America. But I got tired of thinking my best would never be good enough. I decided to find my niche in life where I could feel proud of being the best I could be.
I knew I would never be a rocket scientist, but I love driving cars, being of service and feeling like I have done a full day’s work and done it well. I evaluate my personal assets and… Wham! I became a cab driver.
One thing I know for sure, to be good in my business I could simply just meet the expectations of my passengers. But, to be GREAT in my business, I have to EXCEED the customer’s expectations! I like both the sound and the return of being ‘great’ better than just getting by on ‘average’”
Did I tip him big time? You bet! Corporate America’s loss is the traveling folk’s friend!
Lessons:
* Go an Extra Mile when providing any Service to others.
* The is no good or bad job. You can make any job good.
* Good service always brings good return.
cheers,
Bobby Wan
man was sick and tired of going to work every day while his wife stayed home.
He wanted her to see what he went through so he prayed:
’Dear Lord:
I go to work every day and put in 8 hours while my wife merely stays at home. I want her to know what I go through. So, please allow her body to switch with mine for a day.
Amen!’
God, in his infinite wisdom, granted the man’s wish.
The next morning, sure enough, the man awoke as a woman.
He arose, cooked breakfast for his mate, Awakened the kids, Set out their school clothes, Fed them breakfast, Packed their lunches, Drove them to school, Came home and picked up the dry cleaning, Took it to the cleaners And stopped at the bank to make a deposit,Went grocery shopping,
Then drove home to put away the groceries, Paid the bills and balanced the check book. He cleaned the cat’s litter box and bathed the dog. Then, it was already 1P.M.
And he hurried to make the beds, Do the laundry, vacuum, Dust, And sweep and mop the kitchen floor. Ran to the school to pick up the kids and got into an argument with them on the way home.
Set out milk and cookies and got the kids organized to do their homework. Then, set up the ironing board and watched TV while he did the ironing.
At 4:30 he began peeling potatoes and washing vegetables for salad, breaded the pork chops and snapped fresh beans for supper. After supper, He cleaned the kitchen, Ran the dishwasher, Folded laundry, Bathed the kids, And put them to bed.
At 9 P.M . He was exhausted and, though his daily chores weren’t finished, he went to bed where he was expected to make love, which he managed to get through without complaint.
The next morning, he awoke and immediately knelt by the bed and said: -
’Lord, I don’t know what I was thinking.
I was so wrong to envy my wife’s being able to stay home all day. Please, oh! Oh! Please, let us trade back. Amen!’
The Lord, in his infinite wisdom, replied:
’My son, I feel you have learned your lesson and I will be happy to change things back to the way they were. You’ll just have to wait nine months, though. You got pregnant last night.’
This has been voted Women’s Favourite E-mail of the Year!
EVER WONDER where we are headed…
Why the sun lightens our hair,
but darkens our skin?
Why women can’t put on mascara
with their mouth closed?
Why you don’t ever see the headline:
“Psychic Wins Lottery”?
Why “abbreviated” is such a long word?
Why Doctors call what they do “practice”?
Why you have to click on “Start”
to stop Windows 98?
Why lemon juice is made with artificial flavor, while dishwashing liquid
is made with real lemons?
Why the man who invests all your money is called a “Broker”?
Why there isn’t mouse flavored cat food?
Who tastes dog food when it has a
“new & improved” flavor?
Why Noah didn’t swat those two mosquitoes?
Why they sterilize the needle for lethal injections?
Why they don’t make the whole plane out of the material used for the
indestructible black box?
Why sheep don’t shrink when it rains?
Why they are called apartments when
they are all stuck together?
If con is the opposite of pro,
is Congress the opposite of progress?
Why they call the airport “the terminal”
if flying is so safe?
AND…
In case you need further proof that the human race is doomed because of
stupidity, here are some actual label instructions on consumer goods.
On a Myer hairdryer:
“Do not use while sleeping”.
(Darn, and that’s the only time I have to work on my hair).
On a bag of Chips:
You could be a winner! No purchase necessary. Details inside.
(The shoplifter special?)
On a bar of Palmolive soap:
“Directions: Use like regular soap”.
(And that would be how???)
On some frozen dinners:
“Serving suggestion: Defrost”.
(But, it’s just a suggestion).
On Nanna’s Tiramisu dessert
(printed on bottom):
“Do not turn upside down”.
(Well…duh, a bit late, huh)!
On Marks & Spencer Bread Pudding:
“Product will be hot after heating”.
(And you thought????…)
On packaging for a K-Mart iron:
“Do not iron clothes on body”.
> (But wouldn’t this save me more time?)
On Boot’s Children Cough Medicine:
“Do not drive a car or operate machinery after taking this medication”.
(We could do a lot to reduce the rate of construction accidents if we
could just get those 5 year olds with head colds off those forklifts.)
On Nytol Sleep Aid:
“Warning: May cause drowsiness”.
(And…I’m taking this because???)
On most brands of Christmas lights:
“For indoor or outdoor use only”.
(As opposed to…what?)
On a Japanese food processor:
“Not to be used for the other use”.
(Now, somebody out there, help me on this. I’m a bit curious.)
On Nobby’s peanuts:
“Warning: contains nuts”.
(Talk about a news flash!)
On an American Airlines packet of nuts:
“Instructions: Open packet, eat nuts”.
(Step 3: maybe, uh…fly Delta?)
I don’t blame the company; I blame the parents for this one:
On a child’s superman costume:
“Wearing of this garment does not enable you to fly”.
cheers and smiles,
Bobby Wan
