Sunday, June 24, 2007

Put your foot down where you mean to stand.

Put your foot down where you mean to stand.

This makes you think of ancient warriors placing their standard and vowing to fight to the death like Ancient Greek Spartans or Cheyenne Dog Soldiers.

Many an old time battle was lost or won entirely on the nature of the terrain. The important point here is to be sure of your ground before getting into a conflict. This was literally true in war where charging at an enemy and discovering your horses were stuck in a bog invited disaster. This taught the general idea of not getting into a dispute without a good grasp of all the details and likely consequences. If you take a stand on something you are "pinning your colors to the mast" and can expect opponents to start taking pot shots.

This applies to your everyday life when you decide to be confrontational on a point of principle or in a conflict with your boss or a customer. You must make sure you have the advantage before taking action "be sure of your ground"; ideally this means you will know your facts and be in the right. If you are confident of the outcome you can then deal firmly with the problem.

Sunday, June 17, 2007

Life is nine parts cards - one part skill.

Life is nine parts cards - one part skill.

How do some people succeed and others fail?

Commonsense tells you that the number of people who can get the plum jobs is limited. It is a statistical thing. An army of officers wouldn't win many battles no matter how good their orders were. A company of brilliant bosses wouldn't get a lot of work done without the sloggers. If everyone became a millionaire a million would not buy very much.

Success is relative and for most people comes through being the right person in the right place at the right time. Get your place and timing wrong and the glittering career will not be yours. Conversely, if you are a complete incompetent your best opportunities will be wasted.

But if you get the lucky breaks and apply your skill success can be achieved. This saying seems to be telling us that ability cannot flourish unless there is some form of opportunity and these opportunities are limited. In other words you need the lucky break (good cards) and only then can your skills be used to take advantage. It would appear that when Lady Luck smiles it is time to get cracking and make the most of it. Every dog has his day.

Sunday, June 10, 2007

Proverbs & Personal Growth

The blog is now available as an ebook: "Proverbs Can Make You a Wise Man"

Benefit from ancient wisdom.
As the glories of summer fade, leaves drift from trees to form a deep, leaf bed. In time this creates a nutrient-rich earth and new plants surge in the spring sunshine. The past passes its richness to the present.

It is your legacy.
Countless millions of people have lived on our planet since life began. During the course of their existence certain insights, recurring ideas, pieces of knowledge or wisdom helped them understand the human condition and cope with its problems. These were condensed into short, memorable, pithy sayings known as proverbs, maxims, axioms and the like. The Proverbs of the Nations accumulated and now provide a powerful source of knowledge and understanding to fortify and sustain your life. Your forebears have left you this legacy.

Learn to use it.
This book will show you how to utilize this vast store of priceless wisdom to lead a happy and fulfilled life. You can undo the damage of false thinking, spin, marketing and all the artificial, trendy gone-in-a-minute attitudes poisoning the human spirit with deception and delusion. Proverbs are organic and natural - created by ordinary people in moments of extraordinary insight.

The perfect solution for your needs.
Think of proverbs as rows of little bottles on a shelf in a pharmacy or herbalist's store. Each labeled and of a different color. You need to locate the phial for your specific problem. The good thing about proverbs is you can try them all without ill effect. But searching out the perfect one at any particular moment is more difficult. Opening pages at random can lead to amazing, enlightening discoveries but a more systematic approach can be helpful when time is short.

"Proverbs Can make You a Wise Man" is best used by dipping into the book whenever you feel the need for advice, consolation, inspiration or thought-provoking ideas. Contains all the entries in Power up with Proverbs but edited and expanded with the opportunity to search on keywords.

Purchase with the peace-of-mind guarantee of a full refund if not delighted. Only $17
Click the Buy Now button. Make payment then download Adobe PDF ebook.

Thank you, William Clark.

Sunday, June 03, 2007

Reproof never does a wise man harm.

Reproof never does a wise man harm.

How do you react when someone tells you off? It is a personality thing. Extroverts will become angry, possibly insulting and wish to retaliate immediately. Introverts will avoid conflict but will go off to ponder the matter and possibly seek revenge quietly. These are the extremes but what should a well-balanced ordinary individual do?

The first consideration is: is this reproof deserved. If "yes" then you should take it in the proper spirit, apologize if necessary, and resolve to be wiser in future. Don't shoot the messenger.

If undeserved, remaining calm and attempting to explain is usually the best course. If the reprover will not listen it might be best to remember: oppose not force while force is at its rage but stay awhile and let it waste. When everyone has calmed down, hopefully, reason will prevail.

Setbacks are often the starting point to advances and should be seen as an opportunity to retrench and prepare for better things.