THE THINGS THAT MOTIVATE I got a phone call one day from a friend who owns an Indian jewelry store in Arizona. Something fascinating had just happened, and she thought that, as a psychologist, I…
Sermon Illustrations
THE POWER OF ONE ATTITUDE A little over fifty years ago a Johns Hopkins professor gave a group of graduate students this assignment: Go to the slums. Take 200 boys, between the ages of 12…
LOOKING AHEAD When architect Frank Lloyd Wright was asked at age 83 which of his works he would select as his masterpiece, he replied, "My next one!" Bits & Pieces
A STRATEGY FOR MOTIVATION TO GOOD WORKS In 1784 Benjamin Franklin wrote the following letter to a man named Benjamin Webb: Dear Sir: Your situation grieves me and I send you herewith a banknote for…
THE ATTITUDE OF READINESS PAYS OFF In Ecclesiastes 11:1 we are instructed to "Cast thy bread upon the waters: for thou shalt find it after many days." This is God's law of returns. Here's how…
MOTIVATION: HANG ONTO YOUR DREAMS Chuck Givens says, "When I was a kid, I wrote down 181 dreams I wanted to achieve in my life. To date, I've made 160 come true." Givens got his…
THE LOCUS CLASSICUS OF MOTIVATION To me the greatest story on motivation, which we've shared in the past with our Parables, Etc. readers still remains the following: It's about the young man who took a…
THE SECRET Paul Harvey said, "Someday, I hope to enjoy enough of what the world calls success so that if somebody asks me, 'What's the secret of it?' I shall say this: 'I get up…
GOAL SETTING AS A MOTIVATOR Willard C. Butcher, one-time President of the Chase Manhattan Bank made these comments on stricter bureaucratic regulations: I would like to see our government adopt a goals-oriented approach to regulation.…
THE OCEAN OF TRUTH I seem to have been only like a boy playing on the seashore and diverting myself in now and then finding the smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary whilst…
APPROPRIATE TO SPEAK The commandment tells us to speak truthfully whenever it is appropriate for us to speak at all. Respect for truthfulness does not compel us to reveal our minds to everyone or on…
SELF ENCOURAGEMENT A young boy walked into a drug store and asked to use the telephone. He asked the operator to give him a certain number: "Hello, Dr. Anderson . . . do you want…
MOTIVATION Everybody but Sam had signed up for a new company pension plan that called for a small employee contribution. The company was paying the rest. Unforturately, 100% employee participation was needed; otherwise the plan…
MOTIVATING TEENAGERS A Community club was discussing the proposed establishment of a youth center. A youthful member of the club spoke out in favor of having a young person oversee the center; someone young enough,…
TESTIMONY This is a cheerful world as I see it from my garden under the shadows of my vines. But if I were to ascend some high mountain and look out over the wide lands,…
SUCCESS IS ALL IN HOW YOU SEE IT One day Charlie Brown is building a bird house. Lucy observes the fits and starts of his progress, or lack of it and asks politely, "How are…
BASIC VISION If I think of you as a friend and collaborator, my emotions on meeting you will be warm and positive. If I see you as an enemy and competitor, my emotions will be…
THE DIFFERENCE The main difference between an obstacle and an opportunity is one's attitude toward it. Chestnuts, Freshly Roasted
OPTIMIST/PESSIMIST An optimist may see a light where there is none, but why must the pessimist always run to blow it out? Michael de Saint-Pierre, as quoted in Great Quotes and Illustrations, compiled by George…
MAKING THE PORT To reach the port of success we must sail, sometimes with the wind and sometimes against it -- but we must sail, not drift or lie at anchor. Oliver Wendell Holmes
