GETTING READY FOR TOMORROW

 

You heard about the sign posted on a rancher's fence? On the other
side of the fence resides the biggest, meanest looking bull you can
imagine. The sign is intended to strike fear into the hearts of
would-be trespassers. It reads: "Don't attempt to cross this field
unless you can do it in 9.9 seconds. The bull can do it in 10 flat!"

 

Don't try to cross that field unless you are prepared! And isn't that
the way it is in life? We have to be ready when the opportunity arises
or else we will have little chance of success.

 

Sixth-grade schoolteacher Ms. Shelton believed in readiness. Students
remember how she walked in on the first day of class and began writing
words of an eighth-grade caliber on the chalkboard. They quickly
protested that the words were not on their level and they couldn't
learn them.

 

Their teacher insisted that the students could and would learn these
words. She said that she would never teach down to them. Ms. Shelton
ended by saying that one of the students in that classroom could go on
to greatness, maybe even be president some day, and she wanted to
prepare them for that day.

 

Ms. Shelton spoke those words many years ago. Little did she know that
someday one of her students - Jesse Jackson - would take them
seriously ("Leadership," Summer 1992). She believed that if they were
well prepared, they could achieve high goals.

 

Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, "People only see what they are prepared
to see." If that's true, then it is also true that they only become
what they are prepared to become. And a lot of life is just about
getting ready.

 

"I want to be doing something more significant with my life than what
I am doing now," a young man once said to me. He felt like what he was
doing was just not that important. Other people have said things to me
such as, "I only wish I had a meaningful relationship." And, "I'd
really like to get a better job, but I just don't see how."

 

You fill in the blanks. What is it you would like to happen that isn't
happening? Perhaps the answer is that you are not yet ready. Maybe you
need more time to prepare before you are truly ready for that which
you desire.

 

Think of today as another chance to prepare yourself for that exciting
future you are looking for. Today is not wasted. If you desire more from life, then you can use today as training. For you will experience only what you are prepared to experience. Something wonderful can happen. And you can use today to get ready for tomorrow.

 

 Steve Goodier

 

 

 

If you have the ability to complain about something, you also have the ability to take the positive action that will make it better. And taking positive action is infinitely more effective than merely complaining.

If you have cause to get angry, then you also can turn the energy of that anger in a positive direction. You can then resolve the situation in a way that is peaceful and valuable for all concerned.

If you have reason to be frustrated, you also have the motivation necessary to get beyond whatever is frustrating you. Whether you work to eliminate the cause of your frustration or grow beyond it, no frustration ever has to continue troubling you.

If you have experienced disappointment, you also have learned a valuable lesson. Go forward, apply what you have learned, and transform your disappointment into a positive turning point.

If you have known loss and sadness, then you also have gained a profound understanding of how very precious life is. Take the opportunity, for which you've paid so dearly, to raise yourself to a whole new level of meaning and fulfillment.

If you face a difficult challenge, you also have the opportunity to grow stronger, more capable, wise, experienced and resilient. Embrace those opportunities, for in them you will find the sweet substance of life.

Ralph Marston

 

 

When you admit to yourself that you have a particular weakness, you've taken an important step in getting beyond it. For once you see the weakness clearly, you will come up with many ways to work on it.

When you've discovered a weakness, you've identified a pathway to strength. Working to get just a single weakness out of the way can add increased power and effectiveness to everything you do.

For every weakness that you have, there is a strength with which you can replace it. From every weakness, there is something of value to be learned.

Weakness is nothing to be ashamed of. Rather, it is something to be worked on.

What if the very same factors that now work against you could be changed into forces that propel you forward? By having the courage to face your own weaknesses, you can make that happen.

See your weaknesses for what they are. And you'll see that they are filled with opportunity.

Ralph Marston