The bedrock of all resolutions
My all-time fave college professor Dr. Knoll plied our class with this question:
“What is the greatest of all virtues?”
To some that seemed like a needlessly abstract question. But Dr. Knoll was quite serious and he pressed us hard for an answer. Our replies:
“Love.”
“Respect.”
“Honesty.”
“Patience.”
“Determination.”
He nodded, acknowledging all of these as good and worthwhile answers. But he insisted we hadn’t yet hit the nail on the head.
We kept at it, but finally threw up our hands in frustration.
“COURAGE,” he said.
“COURAGE. Because without COURAGE, none of the other virtues are worth anything!”
How incredibly true. Courage. Yessir, if you’re going to seek, pray for, or cultivate any virtue at all, the one to start with is courage.
One of my buddies here in Chicago, Alex Kircher, is an up-and-coming, 20-something guy who like me and like all of you is struggling to emerge from his cocoon. If you’ve ever watched a caterpillar wrench itself from its former home, you know how badly you wish you could grab a little pair of scissors and help it along. Yet most of us know that to shortcut that process for another only serves to weaken and even kill the emerging butterfly.
I’ve been observing Alex as he makes his transformation. He wrote a blog post yesterday about his resolution to come out of hiding and be courageous.
He talked about how when you’re a kid, everyone says you can become President and do great things. You believe them. They seem to believe in you. But then you get older and life happens and people criticize you for who you are and what you aspire to and the things you stand for and it hurts.
You stagger under that criticism and begin to wither on the inside. Eventually you become fearful of sticking your head above the crowd because you know a tomato is guaranteed to come flying. You know how bad that tomato smarts when it hits its target.
And there you are in that limited, ever-narrowing box.
Nassim Taleb says, “The three most harmful addictions are heroin, carbohydrates, and a monthly salary.”
You know what makes those three things so addictive?
- They all insulate you from risk, pain and growth.
Alex resolved that in 2011 he’s coming out from under his rock. Damn the torpedoes, he’s going to rise up and be the man God made him to be.
He says, “I’m sick of playing the victim and letting life intimidate me into having its way with me. I am done with letting others’ views of my life hold me back. I am done with avoiding the task of dreaming. I have come to a point where I am saying that 1.1.11 is the start of something new and amazing in my life.”
Rock on, Alex. I’m cheering you all the way.
My friend, I challenge you to aspire to be a Top 1% Player.
If you’re a Top 1% player, that means:
- You receive as much attention as 50 of your friends put together.
- You endure more criticism than 10 of your friends put together.
- Every decision you make influences 100 people or more, and maybe thousands, whether you can visibly see it or not.
- You make a million dollars a year.
- You pay at least $500,000 a year in various kinds of taxes.
- You walk a tightrope. You carry a responsibility for being a wise steward of all you have.
- Cynics, skeptics, fools and mockers blame you for the ills in the world.
- Some of your friends may expect you to pick up the tab at lunch, just because you can.
- People build entire websites and maybe even write books dedicated to informing the world how evil you are.
- You have false friends and true enemies.
- You may sometimes feel that you can only truly trust people who knew you “before you made it big.”
- If you fall, the trip to the bottom will be long and hard.
- If you fall, you’ll know that if you experienced high altitude once, and you can do it again.
- You will have all kinds of well meaning people offering you utterly stupid advice. You may need to travel halfway ’round the globe to find mentors who can lead you to the next level of success.
- You will have problems that most people cannot relate to. Problems that most people would be thankful for.
- One month in your life may offer more experiences and treasures than some people receive in an entire lifetime.
- You will need to learn how to not feel guilty for having a blessed and abundant life.
- You will need to understand that you meet the same people on the way down as you met on the way up, so in spite of the cynics and fools, you need to treat everyone with dignity and cordiality.
- You will most likely realize that you need far more wisdom than any mere mortal can provide. If you’re wide awake and not sleepwalking, your experiences and your success will humble you.
And most of all I hope you will harness your freedom for two purposes:
1. Earning more freedom for yourself
2. Purchasing more freedom for other people.
I admonish you, dear reader, to take COURAGE. To walk the more difficult road and aspire to be a 1% player.
The world desperately needs more Top 1% Players.
To Alex and to all others who aspire to stick your head above the crowd, to be a Top 1% Player, to make something great of your life, I am FOR you.
Carpe Diem – Seize the Day. Be blessed this day and in this New Year.
Perry Marshall
Hello Perry,
What an inspiring post. I don’t think I can agree with you more on the Top 1% part. Inspires to take on the new year with the biggest virtue of call – “Courage”
Being in the Top 1% allows one to help far more people than being in the 99%.
Just by reading this we are on the path to being part of the 1% who desire to be better.
Inspiring and so very true. My new year’s resolution is to put a sign above my desk that simply says “Courage”. That way I’ll see it every time I look up, and I’ll be reminded about the kind of person I need to be to reach my goals. Thank you!
I could not agree more!!
Excellent post.
I Accept Your Challenge!
Good Luck in 2011.
Great post Perry,
I also think courage is the greatest virtue.
Happy new year to you.
Thanks, Perry. Made me think of this:
ANYWAY
People are unreasonable, illogical and self-centered.
Love them anyway!
If you do good, people will accuse you
of selfish, ulterior motives.
Do good anyway!
If you are successful, you will win
false friends and enemies.
Succeed anyway!
The good you do will be forgotten tomorrow.
Do good anyway!
Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable.
Be honest and frank anyway!
What you spend years building may be
destroyed overnight.
Build anyway!
People really need help
but may attack you if you help them.
Help them anyway!
Give the world the best you have
and you’ll get kicked in the teeth.
Give the world the best you’ve got anyway!
–Attributed to Mother Teresa
Thanks Jack–Mother Teresa–There’s an Excellent Example of a Top 1% Player.
A little more wisdom from Her is…
Let us not be satisfied with just giving (or getting) money. Money is not enough, money can be got, but they need your hearts to love them. So, spread your love everywhere you go.
Mother Teresa
Loneliness is the most terrible poverty.
Mother Teresa
Love begins at home, and it is not how much we do… but how much love we put in that action.
Mother Teresa
Be faithful in small things because it is in them that your strength lies.
Mother Teresa
Perry–in the meantime–has a gift for putting concepts such as these into sharper–Business&Advertising Speak–Filling A Very Important Need … Because Our Ears Are NOT All Tuned … Alike.
Let’s raise up the best 2011 That We Can–CHEERS !!
-Mary
Hi Perry,
This TED talk by Brene Brown
http://www.ted.com/talks/brene_brown_on_vulnerability.html puts a unique spin on the concept of Courage. Essentially she says the word’s root in latin “cour” means heart. The way she puts it is courage is the willingness to share from your heart regardless of the consequences. An antidote to shame. A very inspiring talk. It doesn’t contradict the traditional view but adds weight with a different emphasis.
Blessings
Bernard
Well put, Perry.
Without courage, we never venture out to obtain any other virtue.
Somewhere after courage, on the road to charity, I love this quote on persistence:
“Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent” (Calvin Coolidge).
Good for you Alex
It’s a plus that you are learning this lesson at a young age. I am 67 and have not learned it fully yet.
I hope you can teach this lesson to those even younger than you and get them started on the right road!
Great post, Perry. I had also heard that the quality of courage doesn’t recognize or even grant the existence of the notion of “failure.”
Thanks for your inspiring words, Perry.
My resolve is to be more courageoius this new year 2011. Just put an e-book on line and will concentrate on Marketing it with the mind to helping people obtain an awareness to the dreaded Breast Cancer disease. Thanks for this Post it was great.
Kudos on a message well-said and more timely than ever. To all who embrace these tenets I turn down an empty glass..!
Great post Perry! I especially liked: “You endure more criticism than 10 of your friends put together.”
Here is the thing it takes $54 to save a hungru child’s life. My goal is by creating value to save one child’s life a day. Do not know how on earth I learn this stuff but got to do it for the child’s sake, they need a life
Dear Perry,
At the moment I’m taking a wee break from some computer training. I’m teaching myself InDesign. Your post above exudes power, confidence, assertion, direction, renewal, and beginnings, all of which are EXACTLY what my year will be full of. Last year, I fell from grace. i was pushed, i jumped, I slipped: take your pick.
But here’s the thing: when we plummet, arms and legs flailing for purchase and findning none, and when we then hit rock bottom, as i did ten months ago, it’s not how hard we fall that defines us, it’show high we bounce. And Perry, in 2011, I shall bounce very high indeed.
Thank you for reminding me, this New year’s day, to be that 1 percent. No matter what. Happy New Year to you.
Really cool post. I’m in. 2011 is gonna be awesome!
Hello: Perry
Wonderful and Inspirational Letter for anyone that wants to achieve greatness in there pursuit to be all they can be. Starts with you living with a servants heart. Greatness comes from inside each person and by never giving up. Start with a dream then a vision then turn it into reality. By help people with there dream. Help enough people reach there dream and you are almost guaranteed to be one of the top 1%
Hey Perry,
THANK YOU.
I am FOR this post.
Outstanding way you put the whole message–concise and easy-to-understand.
Courage will always carry you further than you expected to go. And your description of the “top 1%-er”…
thank you for putting it right in our minds!
Very Inspiring, can you think of anything more rewarding than being able to purchase freedom for others, such as parents who have given lovingly for so many years and believed that the old system of education and hard work would afford them a comfortable lifestyle? I am dedicated to being able to assist as many people as possible, live the life they really deserve with dignity and comfort.
Happy New Year, everyone !
Perry … ya always deliver value.
With so much “stuff” comin to our ‘in Boxes’ from all over, just to have someone read your E mails says something!
But once again, it was time well spent.
In my last newsletter I asked my “invite only” list of around 1000, what they thought my “Unique Ability” was.
One of the most thought provoking said “Your ability to do, say and deal with whom ever you choose.”
At the heart of your post … the reason we put up with all those loser, jealous types and politely inform them they need to get in the back of the very long line before they can ‘hate us’ cause their is lots of people in front of them …
is for that “Freedom” of doing whatever we damn well want!
Life ain’t fair, and that’s good news!
Happy New Year and keep given that great value!
Sheldon
Toronto, Canada
I am going to use the courage I am known for to rise to the top 1% in 2011.
Thanks for a good post.
Great post! At 66, I have experienced a few moments of such courage and those turned out to be my most successful times. Then, it seems, I stutter along in complacency until the next courageous experience.
Thanks for the reminder that I now need to muster up some courage for these trying times!
Don
I love the list of bullet points that accompany the “1% ‘ers”
May I add one that I think will resonate?
As a 1% ‘er…
You’ll find yourself saying “NO” both verbally, and more often by flat out ignoring inquiries and requests 100x more than anyone else in your circle of friends.
Saying “NO” that often takes courage that 99% of others will never understand.
Even Christ himself had to dust of his sandals and move on when the time came to do so, and by traveling West to the next town he was saying “NO” to everyone that wanted him to travel East.
Thank you Perry. Internet marketing can be a lonely road, but reading you alleviates the pain. We can therefore pray for courage.
Perry this article is right on! The timing couldn’t be better. Being at top 1% of our game does include risk, pain and growth. I’d rather be at the top experiencing it then at the bottom.
Thank you for being at the top of your game and I appreciate how much you have inspired my life.
An article so worth sharing with the world. I can’t wait to help so many more people step up “their game”.
I will definately grab MORE courage in 2011 and play bigger than ever.
Happy New Year to ALL….
Being in the top 10%, I believe is rather easy; I am both intriqued and
Challenged by going for the 1% proposition…I’m in!!
I totally agree about courage. It takes courage to be honest but if you are… what great strength comes from it.
Cheers and Happy New Year Perry
Perry, without a tempered view of courage, one lacking experience may interpret that as the trumpet call to change the world.
But my experience has taught me that we can’t change the world, we can only change ourselves: God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, COURAGE to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference.
Happy New Year to everyone.
Perry, super and true post. So many let fear hold them back because it does take courage to be ourselves and not listen to the naysayers.
I have so much respect for your, your wisdome, and all you have accomplished.
Keep up the great writing, and Have a Happy New Year!
Chris
Hi Perry,thanks for that brilliant piece.Iam of thesame opinion that courage is the greatest attribute of mankind.Most people spend their lives,living in the cover of themselves,not because they do not want to be themselves,but because they lack the courage.Thanks for reminding me personally this word courage.
Wishing you the best of the new year!
Cheers!
Perry, if I said “best post I’ve read this year” that wouldn’t mean enough, but I’m including last year too! That was so very well said. I particularly love that you reinforced the WHY at the end.
I read somewhere that other people’s insistence on pulling us down to mediocre comes from the caveman days… they try to keep us safe, since the outliers of the pack tended to die horrible deaths. In those days, being too courageous would get you killed fast, and not courageous enough would mean you starved.
Well, this isn’t those days. Go out and excel, everyone! Happy New Year!
/Cheer
Excellent post Perry! Perfect timing for the New Year. I’m going to read Alex’s post next. Success to all!!
Hi Perry,
Thanks for the inspiring post. Happy New Year and wishing you all the best.
My 12year old daughter Issa looked at me strangely this morning as I am singing in the kitchen “I used to be a caterpillar but now I will fly – 2011 I will touch the sky!” – then I open my laptop and the first email I open is Perry’s. Thanks Perry. Cheers and happy happy new year, MaryO??punu?op:o)
Thanks Perry for such a great post!
It’s worth adding what Rollo May said: “The opposite of courage in our society is not cowardness; it’s conformity.” Yes, a monthly salary relates to it.
The complete message is delivered by Earl Nightingale in this extraordinary 10-minute video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0r8isgQ6PM
Oscar, the Strangest Secret is an awesome audio. everyone who gets the chance should listen to it as a kickstart to an awesome, sensational, outstanding 2011.
For some time, I have been feeling sorry for myself and blaming the most foolish things for my shortcomings.
I am not at the bottom (though, when I was sniveling, you would have heard me say that I was), and I am relieved that I didn’t just hit the “Mark as Read” button on this email message.
I have allowed myself to become overloaded with information and done nothing (or very little) with it. Now is the day for a new attitude. I am the only one who is accountable for everything that I do from now on.
I have only one question (and I’m not cracking a joke): Where do I start?
……….
Perry,
A scared man is a dead man.
Thanks for the awesome post.
ML
……….
Hi Perry,
happy new year to you and I wish all the greatness for you that you desire.
Your blog/post is truly inspirational and I feel it hit the nail on the head in terms of what we all need to do.
It is in the same vein as the Marieanne Williamson poem, which begins
“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”
May you and all your readers Shine as you were meant to do and Achieve your greatness as an inspiration to others.
Paul
Perry, thank you. I do enjoy your writing so much and look forward to your essays.
This is a high vision and very stimulating. I wonder if anyone would be willing to entertain the possibility that a person can be in the top 1% and radiate so much Love that all opposition melts. Or if not that, that the Love would neutralize the effect of others’ envy so that it could not hurt. I know that what we deeply believe and expect will actually happen,so I personally would not affirm that I will be criticized as much as 10 people I know. However, I am not a millionaire yet, so I respect your experience as valid for you.
I have thought for a long time that in America it is the destiny of many to use business as a training ground for spiritual growth, and your article suggests this to me. I take your word of Courage to heart and am grateful for this challenge. It is perfect for me to hear this now. We need courage in ministry too. Blessings to you and all your students.
Monthly paycheck addicting and bad for entrepreneurs… love it. Soo true.
Perry Hi
I have subscribed to your posts and articles for years
and always relish seeing Perry Marshall in my inbox
you have always been informative, inspirational and
educationaland on behalf of all I thank you.
regards and a bumper 2011 kribbs
Great post Perry! Inspiring and timely! Thank for for the inspiration.
Happy New Year
Robin
Maya Angelou had the same thoughts:
Courage is the most important of all the virtues, because without courage you can’t practice any other virtue consistently. You can practice any virtue erratically, but nothing consistently without courage.
Maya Angelou
I also found it very interesting that your post about the top 1% came up on 1-1-11.
Mike
Nothing sharpens your entrepreneurial thinking & motivates a person more than not having the comfort of a fixed monthly salary.
Ditching the corporate lifestyle for the excitement of having control over your own financial fortunes is something I did some 14 years ago without a moment of regret.
100% true and thanks for sharing this with us.
Now the question is..
How to have Courage?
and the Answer is…
Courage comes ONLY with the PURPOSE/TARGET in life and it is directly proportional to it.
Best Regards,
Shakeel
Great post, printed it and is beside my computer screen, will read it every morning. Neil
Thanks Perry
Have a fabulously happy and successful New Year.
Chris
Inspiring NY post Perry. Here’s to practicing courage in our day to day life.
Pablo
Love this Perry – it helps to know that everyone has courage, and all we need to do is reveal it to ourselves and others.
This post is AWESOME! I linked to it from my blog….hope that’s OK!
Lisa~
Of course! Happy new year.
Thanks! and Happy Happy New Year!! You have made mine!!
Thanks!!
Lisa~
The truth of what you say is evident. Courage enables us all, gets us going, gets us out of the house, away from the carbs and the paycheck. What you do with it, where you start, is a personal very personal thing, but the key is to take one step. Then another THEN ANOTHER. Then begin to work out where you wanna go.
Very inspirational and motivating. I hope all the people around us should think about this and bring there courage in open and perform,
As everyone of us is a different person with differnt goals and direction and at the end that adds up to the betterment of all.
Thanks again.
Sheraz.
Winston Churchill was once asked to do a speech at a college about what is the secret to success
He walked up to the stage and took off his coat, took off his hat, and walked up to the microphone while all the kids in the audience waited eagerly for his speech about how to be successful. He walked up to the microphone and said: “Never give up. Never give up. Never. Never. Never. Never.”
And then he put on his coat and he put on his hat and he walked off the stage. He felt that there was no need to say anything else because that was the secret of sucess.
What a cool guy!
Don’t ever compromise with poverty. Tell it to get stuffed instead!
Winston Churchill also said that success comes from having the courage to go from one failure to another without any loss of enthusiasm.
Gandhi once said that “first they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, and then you win” How true is that!
Thanks Perry!
Wishing you and all readers of this blog lots of Courage in 2011.
Awesome post Perry.
I would only argue that, while courage is essential, the more important virtue was hinted at in the bullet point of what it means to be in the top 1%:
•You will most likely realize that you need far more wisdom than any mere mortal can provide. If you’re wide awake and not sleepwalking, your experiences and your success will humble you.
To be Awake is the most important virtue.
One can be a very courageous sleepwalker, dreaming of overcoming their dream-dragons, but no matter how they spin it, they are still ASLEEP.
Powerful Blog Post Perry especially for the 1st Day of a Brand New Year! What an Excellent way to start the New Year with Excellent Blog Post! It’s so inspiring and educative.
Hey Perry
What a wonderful inspirational post to start 2011.
It is the first time I have visited your site but I will be a regular visitor from now on.
With all good wishes for a very happy and prosperous new year.
Regards
Chris
Right on Perry!
Thank you for such an inspiring message! I agree with your professor, Courage helps us overcome the obstacles and criticism we encounter when resolving to achieve our goals whether personal or in business.
After reading your post I think that Courage is a form of Faith; trust in something without proof. You need Courage to fight for what you want to be, become and accomplish.
Sometimes we don’t have a clue if it will work out or not, buy we do it anyway, out of Faith.
Thanks again and Happy New Year!
Courage, well put. Sometimes I know what I need to do, but it takes me forever to even get the courage to start. Other times merely starting is not possible – you just got to take the plunge.
Chapter 16, stanzas 1-3, of the Bhagavad Gita lists the 26 soul qualities that make man god-like. #1 is “abhayam” — which is translated as a fearlessness or courage. I never thought it was a coincidence that it came first.
I remember the story of your professor from your newsletter. It struck a cord with me. And I appreciate the New Year reminder.
Thanks Perry
Yours words are a fresh drink of water….
Have a great year…Be Blessed…and as always
Live well…Laugh often….Love much….
LIFE IS GOOD……
Thanks Perry.
I find I do need to be reminded now and then what it really means to be the 1%.
John
Happy 2011 Perry,
What an awesome post to start off the new year with.
“Love.”“Respect.”“Honesty.”“Patience.”“Determination.”
are must have virtues to be successful in any thing you do,the professor is right, if you don’t have the COURAGE to act on ‘um, there practically useless, to the individual that is.
“All our Dreams can come true, if we have the COURAGE to pursue them”.-(Walt Disney 1901-1966)
Have a Super Blessed 2011,
Ron
C O U R A G E … the perfect screen saver.
Thanks, Perry.
Hi
I would be happy to read your no cost mini-course; I have seen many that fall short, but I am still searching.
D Hagan 1/2/2011
Inspiring post. The following quote from you is so true…
“You will need to understand that you meet the same people on the way down as you met on the way up, so in spite of the cynics and fools, you need to treat everyone with dignity and cordiality.”
Thanks Perry
I have a plan, and I have the courage.
So I have committed to this in 2011.
And although we’ve never met, how nice it is to take on the encouragement of a stranger.
I feel like 2010 was teaching that to go for this level of abundance, I now understand the importance of ignoring’ so many of those negative opinions & just focus on my own journey.
I find I don’t need as much courage when I don’t care about anyone else, just take 100% self responsibility.
I wonder if anyone else reading your blog feels the same?
Thanks again for sharing,
Becky
wow, what a post!
Very inspiring… 1% it is!
Hi Perry,
A great post to read on the first Monday morning of the New Year! Here’s aiming at the top 1%!
Cheers,
Mike
Hi Perry,
Just completed reading Alex’s, color me impressed by some one who is prepared to walk the walk…
One of the greatest sales trainers I know – Tommie Hopkins has this to say – If you don’t set goals for the year head in a years time you will be a year older, if you do set goals for the year ahead in a years time you will still be a year older but you will have achieved some of those goals so why not set goals and strive to achieve them.
Remember when your feet hit the deck in the morning you still have 100% of your life ahead of you – so why not use it??
Best regards and all success in 2010.
Nick Johnson
http://www.dogtreatjar.org
Thanks for another highly inspirational post Perry. Happy new year!
Hi Perry,
Again I really connect with you and what you are saying. Loved this post. I am putting your link to this post on my blog site.
I am making a video for the New Year 1/1/11, to send in my emails and post on my FB page. It is not the usual… making resolutions. In fact, I am saying the same things as you are. It takes courage to emerge from the cocoon. Love your analogies!
Keep emerging and have a fabulous 2011!
Dee
Great post, go for it.
Perry, I have been working hard the past two weeks on figuring out exactly what we accomplished in 2010 and determining realistic goals we can accomplish in 2011. Just the act of documenting all of the numbers and creating a written, detailed plan for 2011 already makes me feel like I am in the top 5%
Achieving those goals will take some serious courage but I am up for the challenge. Very inspirational post.
That does put you in the top 5%, I’m sure. You Go!
Whether one’s business is internet marketing, offline or online marketing, mustering the courage to overcome the fear of failure is the first step to success.
Perry, your professor hit the nail on the head because one cannot act without courage.
This is another great post Perry.
I shared your Planet Earth is Forcing You Into Retirement some days ago.
This post is right in line with becoming
an entrepreneur because of course one
will not succeed in entrepreneurship
without fixing their head.
Yes We do need more 1%ers to go out
and help others.
We teach that first in our training.
What is interesting is most folks do
not buy into it.
Only a few % do.
The first thing I did online when I got serious
3 years ago was find a master mind group.
Yes there is income attached to it
but I would use the system if there was not.
Why?
Well ..I’m 55 years old and became an
entrepreneur at 42.
As an employee before that I understood right away
…I could not become a successful business builder
with an employee mindset.
I don’t believe you can be a 1%er without
programing your mind to think in that direction.
God Bless
Excellent, Perry – brief & powerful.
“A coward dies a thousand deaths, but the valiant taste death but once” “Julius Cesear”
Rock On Perry!
What makes a king out of a slave? Courage!
What makes the flag on the mast to wave?
Courage! What makes the elephant charge his tusk in the misty mist, or the dusky dusk? What makes the muskrat guard his musk? Courage!
What makes the sphinx the seventh wonder? Courage!
What makes the dawn come up like thunder? Courage!
What makes the Hottentot so hot? What puts the “ape” in apricot? What have they got that I ain’t got?
Perry, You’d make a great Wizard of OZ
All the best,
Nick.
Beautiful post, Mr. Marshall.
May I to put my two cents with an excerpt from Swami Sivananda?
“Radiant immortal Atman! Beloved children of Light! My first request to you, is: Begin the New Year by
lifting up your heart, mind, and your entire being to
God and asking Him earnestly and sincerely that the
New Year may be an ideal year filled with 365 ideal,
golden days divinely lived, filled with truthfulness,
compassion, kindness, purity, and nobility of thought,word and deed. May everyday that you live bring some benefit to all life around you! May everyday of this New Year that you live be the source of good and joy to others, and bring happiness to others! May it be helpful to all the living creatures, and even to inanimate and immobile things like trees and plants.
“Feel your oneness with all humanity. Be a world
citizen. May the oneness of all life and the
fraternity of mankind be always the guiding sentiment
in the living of your life! Be large-hearted. Be
forgiving, loving, expressing humaneness, friendliness and not allowing any negativity in your heart.
“And when you wake up in the morning, wake up with the resolution that “I will make this New Year four times as valuable, beautiful, ideal and useful as the year that has just passed. Let the future be better than the past.” Cast a bird’s-eye-view on the previous year-what have been its fine points, minus points and drawbacks. You may make up your mind, correct all the errors, and see that they are not repeated in the New Yar”.
Great post Perry – had to show it to some friends.
This one sums it up pretty much, in a visual way:
[IMG]http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m264/d_vertegaal/judgement_jealously.jpg[/IMG]
and a big thank you to all responders here, the’re worth the read too – a fabulous 2011 everybody !
Indeed, it takes courage really brave to gain entrance into the ranks of 1% above. Dare to swallow the bitter pill, when in the middle of the road will fail while, dare to try to rise again from the feeling of sinking. Dare to ignore the monthly salaries to catch up with sharpen skills. And dare withstand momentary pleasure to get a goal.
Please send a prayer for me, for my family supports what I seek, succeed in internet marketing. Of course, with the guidance of the articles I read from your blog.
Thanks!