What I love about Cristi and Brooks is that they are not afraid to try new things. They are both entrepreneurs and I love to watch their energy and how an idea becomes a real business, one that even takes life of its own. Our son in law, Brooks had an idea and wanted to build a company making sunglasses made out of wood and he did. He named it Proof and it is doing very well. Inside every pair of sunglasses he writes some "quote" the sunglasses are sustainable and unique because no two pair are the same simply because there are no two pieces of wood that are identical. He also donates part of the proceeds to help eye clinics in India. In honor of this two year old business I will post a few of my favorite quotes and poems of people who make it happen.
From Zig ziglar:
“A lot of people have gone further than they thought they could because someone else thought they could”
“Success is the doing, not the getting; in the trying, not the
triumph. Success is a personal standard, reaching for the highest that is in
us, becoming all that we can be. If we do our best, we are a success.”
“If you go out looking for friends, you’re going to find they
are very scarce. If you go out to be a friend, you’ll find them everywhere.”
“You can have everything in life that you want if you just give
enough other people what they want.”
“Make today worth remembering.”
“You never know when a moment and a few sincere words can have
an impact on a life.”
“There are no traffic jams on the extra mile.”
“The greatest of all mistakes is to do nothing because you think
you can only do a little.”
“Of course motivation is not permanent. But then, neither is
bathing; but it is something you should do on a regular basis.”
“Many marriages would be better if the husband and wife
clearly understood that they’re on the same side. ”
“The chief cause of failure and unhappiness is trading what you
want most for what you want right now”
“There has never been a statue erected to honor a critic.”
“You cannot consistently perform in a manner which is
inconsistent with the way you see yourself.”
“Some of us learn from other people’s mistakes and the
rest of us have to be other people.”
“The more you are grateful for what you have the more you
will have to be grateful for”
“When obstacles arise, you change your direction to reach your
goal; you do not change your decision to get there.”
“You are what you are and you are where you are because of what
has gone into your mind. You change what you are and you change where you are
by changing what goes into your mind.”
“You don’t have to be great to start, but you have to
start to be great”
“It is literally true that you can succeed best and quickest by
helping others to succeed.” -Napoleon Hill
“It will all be okay in the end. If it’s not okay, it’s not the
end.” -unknown
“Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgment
that something else is more important than fear.”
“Do more than belong: participate. Do more than care: help. Do
more than believe: practice. Do more than be fair: be kind. Do more than
forgive: forget. Do more than dream: work.” -William Arthur Ward
“It`s not hard to make decisions when you know what your values
are.” -Roy Disney
“Blessed are those who can give without remembering and take without
forgetting.” – Elizabeth Asquith Bibesco
“It’s not how much we give but how much love we put into
giving.” – Mother Teresa
“We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we
give.” – Winston Churchill
“God gave you a gift of 86,400 seconds today. Have you used one
to say “thank you?” ~William A. Ward
“To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent
people and the affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest
critics and to endure the betrayal of false friends. To appreciate beauty; to
find the best in others; to leave the world a bit better whether by a healthy
child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition; to know that even one
life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded.” —
Ralph Waldo Emerson
“It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how
the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The
credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by
dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short
again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but
who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a
worthy cause; who, at the best, knows in the end the triumph of high
achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring
greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who
knew neither victory nor defeat.” –Theodore Roosevelt (1910)
"The time is always right to do what is right.” – Martin Luther
King, Jr.
THE ONES WHO DO
Here’s to the crazy ones.
The misfits.
The rebels.
The troublemakers.
The round pegs in the square holes.
The ones who see things differently.
They’re not fond of rules.
And they have no respect for the status quo.
You can praise them, disagree with them, quote them,
disbelieve them, glorify or vilify them.
About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them.
Because they change things.
They invent. They imagine. They heal.
They explore. They create. They inspire.
They push the human race forward.
Maybe they have to be crazy.
How else can you stare at an empty canvas and see a work of art?
Or sit in silence and hear a song that’s never been written?
Or gaze at a red planet and see a laboratory on wheels?
We make tools for these kinds of people.
While some see them as the crazy ones,
we see genius.
Because the people who are crazy enough to think
they can change the world, are the ones who do.
-Apple
And this advice from Amy is what I have told young women in my Church and my girls.
“Some people want it to
happen, some wish it would happen and others make it happen” – Michael Jordan
"I cannot stress enough how important I think it is for young
women to get their education and to have a plan for how to support both
themselves and their families. Back when I was these girls age my limited
view of life made me think that I should just focus on getting married and
having kids and letting my husband take care of me – well that was a TERRIBLE
plan and if I ever hear young girls mimic my plan I immediately jump in to try
and save them from themselves! Look I am a huge advocate of
motherhood and I think mothers that get to stay home and be full-time moms to
their kids are the luckiest women in the world. But can any girl expect
that to be available to them or even plan that to be available to them – HECK
NO! I will share with you what I have told my daughter since she
was old enough to listen – you plan your life as if you will be supporting
yourself and your family all by yourself, and if it works out that you are
blessed enough to not have to support your family then you count your blessings
and still have your plan and skills ready to go at a moment’s notice to be able
to support a family on your own, because nothing in life is certain, and you
had better be fully prepared to be the sole supporter.
I feel so lucky that I choose to be an Entrepreneur. Sure
it has been an incredibly challenging lifestyle to live – balance is a constant
struggle for every entrepreneur – but I have learned more amazing lessons by my
trying and failing and trying and failing an trying and failing and continuing
to get back up and keep moving forward than I could have learned in any other
way of life.
I saw a great quote today on Entrepreneurship. It read:
“Entrepreneurship is living a few years of your life like most
people won’t, so you can spend the rest of your life like most be can’t.”
There is a lot of truth to that quote. You will work your
guts out more than anyone could ever prepare you for. You will take more
bumps and bruises and more scrapes and cuts then there are Band-Aids to cover
them. Your failures are seen by many and your efforts are often
appreciated by very few. But at the end of the day I can’t think of any
career that will afford you more of an opportunity to learn and grow at an
unbelievable pace, or that will give you the opportunity to influence other
people’s lives by affording them opportunities to excel, and nothing else will
give you more of an opportunity to create something truly marvelous!
Yes I am glad I chose to be an Entrepreneur and I wouldn’t
change it for the world." Amy
