"To be sure, great performers are well trained, experienced, smart, and in some cases, divinely talented. But the way their brains work during a performance is a lot more like a squirrel's than like Einstein's. Like squirrels, the best in every business do what they have learned to do without questioning their abilities—they flat out trust their skills, which is why we call this high-performance state of mind the "Trusting Mindset." Routine access to the Trusting Mindset is what separates great performers from the rest of the pack." ~ Dr. John Eliot from Overachievement

"Life is change. Growth is optional" - Karen Kaiser Clark  

“Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it. Begin it now!” Goethe

"You will come to know that what appears today is to be a sacrifice will prove instead to be the greatest investment that you will ever make." ~ Gordon B. Hinkley

"If we win or lose this weekend, it will not make a difference in our lives. But why we play and how we play will make a difference in our lives forever." -- Beth Anders, Olympic field hockey player and U.S. coach

"First say to yourself what you would be; and then do what you have to do." ~ Epictetus

"Our greatest glory is not in never failing, but in rising up every time we fail." ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Dream lofty dreams, and as you dream you shall become. Your vision is the promise of what you shall one day be. Your idea is the prophecy of what you shall at last unveil.” - James Allen

"...why be an average person? All the great achievements of history have been made by strong individuals who refused to consult statistics or to listen to those who could prove convincingly that what they wanted to do, and in fact ultimately did do, was completely impossible." ~ Eric Butterworth

Thoughts on Progress: “Progress comes to those who train and train; Reliance on secret techniques will get you nowhere.”

It’s funny how it all comes back to fundamentals. In the immortal words of Aristotle: "We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not an act, but a habit."

"TAKE TIME to dream - it is what the future is made of."

"If anything is within the powers and province of man, believe it is within your own compass also." -- Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, Roman emperor (121-180)

"Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing" - Helen Keller

"Life is change. Growth is optional" - Karen Kaiser Clark

"We must walk consciously only part way toward our goal, and then leap in the dark to our success." - Henry David Thoreau

"If you have much give of your wealth, if you have little give of your heart." - Arab proverb

"You cannot do a kindness too soon, for you never know how soon it will be too late." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Sports do not build character. They reveal it." - John Wooden

"I've worked too hard and too long to let anything stand in the way of my goals. I will not let my teammates down and I will not let myself down." - Mia Hamm

"To give less than your best is to sacrifice the gift." Steve Prefontaine

"Ask not what your teammates can do for you. Ask what you can do for your teammates." - Magic Johnson

"If you set goals and go after them with all the determination you can muster, your gifts will take you places that will amaze you." ~ Les Brown

"Success is almost totally dependent upon drive and persistence. The extra energy required to make another effort or try another approach is the secret of winning." - Denis Waitley

"Life has no limitations, except the ones you make." - Les Brown

"It is of practical value to learn to like yourself. Since you must spend so much time with yourself you might as well get some satisfaction out of the relationship."
--Norman Vincent Peale

" Exercise alone provides psychological and physical benefits. However, if you also adopt a strategy that engages your mind while you exercise, you can get a whole host of psychological benefits fairly quickly."
--James Rippe

"It's not what happens to you; it's what you do about it that makes the difference."
--W. Mitchell

"The man who can drive himself further once the effort gets painful is the man who will win."
--Roger Bannister

"We distinguish the excellent man from the common man by saying that the former is the one who makes great demands upon himself, and the latter who makes no demands on himself."
--Jose Ortega Y Gasset

"We learn the rope of life by untying its knots."
--Jean Toomer

"If we did all the things we are capable of, we would literally astound ourselves."
--Thomas Edison

"Always and never are two words you should always remember never to use."
--Wendell Johnson

"Blessed are those who can give without remembering and take without forgetting."
--Elizabeth Bibesco

"I never learned from a man who agreed with me."
--Robert A. Heinlein

"It takes less time to do a thing right, than it does to explain why you did it wrong."
--Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

"Leap and the net will appear."
--Julie Cameron

"Yes, risk taking is inherently failure-prone. Otherwise, it would be called sure-thing-taking."
--Tim McMahon

"Take risks: if you win, you will be happy; if you lose, you will be wise."
--Anon.

"Do what you feel in your heart to be right--for you'll be criticized anyway. You'll be damned if you do, and damned if you don't."
--Eleanor Roosevelt

"Don't be too timid and squeamish about your actions. All life is an experiment."
--Ralph Waldo Emerson

"We all have big changes in our lives that are more or less a second chance."
--Harrison Ford

"There's an alternative. There's always a third way, and it's not a combination of the other two ways. It's a different way."
--David Carradine

"The best way to predict your future is to create it."
--Anon.

"Courage doesn't always roar. Sometimes courage is the little voice at the end of the day that says I'll try again tomorrow."
--Mary Anne Radmacher

"Courage is the power to let go of the familiar."
--Raymond Lindquist

"Don't let anyone steal your dreams!"
--Brian Cavanough

“About the only thing that comes to us without effort is old age.”
--Gloria Pitzer

“Excuses are the nails used to build a house of failure.”
--Don Wilder and Bill Rechin

“Life doesn't happen to us, it happens from us.”
--Mike Wickett

"The question is not whether we will die, but how we will live."
--Joan Borysenko

"Get rid of anything less than excellent in your life, and your integrity will increase." --Brian Koslow

"Everything comes too late for those who only wait."
--Elbert Hubbard

"Tomorrow is the only day in the year that appeals to a lazy man."
--Jimmy Lyons

"Putting off an easy thing makes it hard. Putting off a hard thing makes it impossible."
--George Claude Lorimer

“Character is doing the right thing when nobody's looking. There are too many people who think that the only thing that's right is to get by, and the only thing that's wrong is to get caught.”
--J.C. Watts
“Promise only what you can deliver. Then deliver more than you promise.”
--Anon.
“What I need is someone who will make me do what I can.”
--Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Ability is sexless.”
--Christabel Pankhurst

Don't be afraid to give your best to what seemingly are small jobs. Every time you conquer one it makes you that much stronger. If you do the little jobs well, the big ones will tend to take care of themselves.
--Dale Carnegie
Don't say you don't have enough time. You have exactly the same number of hours per day that were given to Helen Keller, Pasteur, Michelangelo, Mother Teresa, Leonardo da Vinci, Thomas Jefferson, and Albert Einstein.
--H. Jackson Brown, Jr.
You have to accept whatever comes, and the only important thing is that you meet it with courage and with the best that you have to give.
--Eleanor Roosevelt

Life isn't about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.
--George Bernard Shaw

Enthusiasm is that kindling spark which marks the difference between the leaders in every activity and the laggards who put in just enough to get by.
--Anon

I try to do the right thing at the right time. They may just be little things, but usually they make the difference between winning and losing.
--Kareem Abdul-Jabar

I believe half the unhappiness in life comes from people being afraid to go straight at things.
--William J. Lock
Optimism is the foundation of courage.
--Nicholas Murray Butler
Energy and persistence conquer all things.
--Benjamin Franklin

"Difficulties are things that show what men are."
--Epictetus

"It's not what you've got, it's what you use that makes a difference."
--Zig Ziglar

"Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does."
--William James

"He who fears being conquered is sure of defeat."
--Napoleon

"Great things are done by a series of small things brought together."
--Vincent van Gogh

"The art of life lies in constant readjustment to our surroundings."
--Okakura Kakuzo

Happiness is not the absence of conflict, but the ability to cope with it."
-Anon.

"If you wait for inspiration you'll be standing on the corner after the parade is a mile down the street."
-Ben Nicholas

"All we are asked to bear we can bear."
-Elizabeth Goudge

"Success is a journey, not a destination."
--Ben Sweetland

"We aim above the mark to hit the mark."
--Ralph Waldo Emerson

"The man who removes a mountain begins by carrying away small stones."
--Chinese proverb

"We are never present with, but always beyond ourselves: fear, desire, hope, still push us on toward the future."
--Michel de Montaigne

"When you produce results you gain credibility. When you have credibility, you will have an easier time producing results."
--Brian Koslow

"A human being fashions his consequences as surely as he fastens his goods or his dwelling. Nothing that he says, thinks or does is without consequences." --Norman Cousins

"Faith is necessary to victory."
--William Hazlitt

"I have learned to use the word 'impossible' with the greatest caution."
--Werhner von Braun

"Self-pity in its early stages is as snug as a feather mattress. Only when it hardens does it become uncomfortable."
--Maya Angelou

"Records are made to be broken."
--Baseball saying

"Optimism is essential to achievement and is also the foundation of courage and of true progress."
--Nicholas Murray Butler

"Positive thinking is the key to success in business, education, pro football, anything that you can mention. I go out there thinking that I am going to complete every pass."
--Ron Jaworski

"or nail every serve"
-- Coach Boe

"We are not permitted to choose the frame of our destiny. But what we put into it is ours."
--Dag Hammarskjold

"You must have long range goals to keep you from being frustrated by short-range failures."
--Charles C. Noble

"There is no failure except in no longer trying."
--Elbert Hubbard

"Anybody can do just about anything with himself that he really wants to and makes up his mind to do. We are capable of greater things than we realize."
--Norman Vincent Peale

"Whatever I engage in, I must push inordinately."
--Andrew Carnegie

"There is no substitute for hard work."
--Thomas A Edison

"The great question is not whether you have failed, but whether you are content with failure."
--Laurence Peter

"In the game of life, it's a good idea to have a few early losses, which relieves you of the pressure of trying to maintain an undefeated season."
--Bill Vaughan

"Light tomorrow with today."
--Elizabeth Barrett Browning

"We are not permitted to choose the frame of our destiny. But what we put into it is ours."
--Dag Hammarskjold

"You must have long range goals to keep you from being frustrated by short-range failures."
--Charles C. Noble

"There is no failure except in no longer trying."
--Elbert Hubbard

"Anybody can do just about anything with himself that he really wants to and makes up his mind to do. We are capable of greater things than we realize."
--Norman Vincent Peale

"Whatever I engage in, I must push inordinately."
--Andrew Carnegie

Obstacles don't have to stop you. If you run into a wall, don't turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it, or work around it.
-Michael Jordan-

"Doubt whom you will, but never yourself."
--Christine Bovee

"Where the willingness is great, the difficulties cannot be great."
--Machiavelli

It is in your moments of decision that your destiny is shaped.
-Anthony Robbins-

You are never given a dream without also being given the power to make it true.
-unknown-

Knowing is not enough, we must apply. Willing is not enough, we must do.
-unknown-

A quitter never wins and a winner never quits.   
-Napoleon Hill-

I am only one, but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something; and because I cannot do everything I will not refuse to do the something that I can do.
-Edward Everett Hale-

She didn't know it couldn't be done, so she went ahead and did it.
-Mary's Almanac-

"When things go wrong, don't go with them."
--Anon.

The only way of finding the limits of the possible is by going beyond them into the impossible.
-Arthur C. Clarke-

When you reach for the stars, you may not quite get them, but you won't come up with a handful of mud either.
-Leo Burnett-

Even though you may not be responsible for what happens to you, you are responsible for how you react to what happens to you - it's just a matter of how you control your attitude.
-unknown-

We won't always know whose lives we touched and made better for our having cared, because actions can sometimes have unforeseen ramifications. What's important is that you do care and you act.
-Charlotte Lunsford-

Success is not a 'sometimes' thing. In other words, you don't do what is right once in awhile, but all the time. Success is a habit. Winning is a habit.
-Vincent Thomas Lombardi-

Each of us, if we would grow, must be committed to excellence and to victory, even though we know complete victory cannot be obtained, it must be pursued with all one's might. The championships, the money, the color; all of these things linger only in the memory. It is the spirit, the will to excel, the will to win; these are the things that endure.

          - Vince Lombardi