Besides having family and great friends in motivating me to be better.   I have been reading and finding other ways of being better.  In doing so, I have been reminded of past quotes and .  I would like to share a few of them with you.

“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.”

"By changing nothing, nothing changes."

"Sometimes good things fall apart so better things can fall together."

"Use what talents you possess, the woods will be very silent if no birds sang there except those that sang best."

"All our dreams can come true - if we have the courage to pursue them."

And here is one that I just found and am putting it into use.

"Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending."
Add Comment
 
 
A college student arrived a few minutes late for his final exam in mathematics.  The room was quiet, with everyone working hard, and the profes sor silently handed him the test.  It consisted of five math problems on the first page and two on the second.  The student sat down and began to work.  He solved the first five problems in half the time, but the two on the second page were tougher.  Everyone else finished the exam and left, so the student was alone by the end of the time period.  He finished the final problem at the last second.

The next day he got a phone call in his dorm room from the professor.  “I don’t believe it!  You solved the final two problems?”

“Uh, yeah,” the student said.  “What’s the big deal?”

“Those were brain teasers,” the prof explained.  “I announced before the exam that they wouldn’t count toward your final grade, but you missed that because you were late.  But hardly anyone solves those problems in so short a time!  You must be a genius!”

“Genius” sometimes means just not realizing that something is impossible.

Some days you have have to wonder how you’ll do all you have to do. You'll ask whatever made you think that you could challenge the incumbent players in your industry, let alone create a company that could one day be worth something. Those days are inevitable, but they pass. And when they do, you're usually left with a sense of pride that you have greater capacity for achievement than you realized.

Every successful entrepreneur faced doubts, both within and without: Steve Jobs was fired from Apple. Fred Smith of Fedex was told his blueprint for overnight delivery was wildly impractical, and Jack Bogle of the Vanguard Group was told his idea for a financial services company owned by its shareholders was doomed to failure.

The only antidote is to believe in yourself and your idea–but mainly in yourself. After all, every business plan is wrong in its original form: A good part of entrepreneurial genius is being able change quickly. Jennifer Hyman of Rent the Runway, for example, originally thought her business was about saving frugal women money on their workday wardrobes. After watching one of her customers try on a couture gown, though, she realized she was in the business of helping women realize their Cinderella fantasies. Ideas change, but the entrepreneurs don't.

And what gives entrepreneurs the ability to pull off the impossible, is belief. Belief leads you to ask “what’s possible?” and then follows that question with “what else is possible?”  You have to do this in your business, if you intend to survive.  A positive attitude, creativity and determination combine to create genius.

Former First Lady Nancy Reagan recounts a story about the genius of the Greatest Generation.  “Once, at the University of California, a student got up to say that it was impossible for people of her generation to understand the next generation of young people.

‘You grew up in a different world,’ the student said. ‘Today we have television, jet planes, space travel, nuclear energy, computers...’

“When the student paused for breath, Nancy said:  ‘You're right.  We didn't have those things when we were young.  We invented them.’”

Mackay’s Moral:  What could you accomplish if no one told you it was impossible?
Add Comment
 
 
According to About.com: Home buying the credit score is comprised of five elements, the breakdown is as follows:
  • 35% - Payment History: Number of accounts paid; Collections or negative public records; Delinquent accounts; total number of past due items, how long past due; how long since you made a late payment.
  • 30% - Amounts You Owe: How much you owe on accounts and the types of accounts with balances; How much of your credit lines you've used; Amounts you owe vs. their original balances; Number of zero balance accounts.
  • 15% - Length of Your Credit Score: Total length of time tracked by your credit report; Length os time since accounts were opened; Time that's passed since the last activity: The longer you show good credit history, the better your score.
  • 10% - Types of Credit Used: Total number of accounts and types of accounts (credit cards, mortgages, car, etc.). A mixture of accounts usually generates better scores than only numerous credit cards; they practically throw credit cards at us, yet the credit score goes down with too many credit cards.
  • 10% - New Credit: Number of accounts recently opened; Proportion of new accounts to total accounts; Number of recent credit inquiries; The time that has passed since recent inquiries or newly opened accounts; if you've re-established a positive credit history after encountering payment problems.
 
 
Here's a great story to help in motivating us to continue to be our best.  Steve Young once said, "The principle is competing against yourself.  It's about self improvement, about being better than you were the day before."  Don't give up, keep striving for your goals.
"Quit, give up, you're beaten" 
They shout at you and plead 
"There's just too much against you 
This time you can't succeed". 

And as I start to hang my head 
In front of failures face 
My downward fall is broken by 
The memory of a race 

And hope refills my weakened will 
As I recall that scene 
Or just the thought of that short race 
Rejuvenates my being 

Childrens race, young boys 
Young men, how I remember well 
Excitement sure, but also fear 
It wasn't hard to tell 

They all lined up so full of hope 
Each thought to win that race 
Or tie for first, or if not that 
At least take second place 

The fathers watched from off the side 
Each cheering for his son 
And each boy hoped to show his dad 
That he could be the one 

The whistle blew and off they went 
Young hearts and hopes afire 
To win and be the hero there 
Was each young boys desire 

And one boy in particular 
Whose dad was in the crowd 
Was running near the lead and thought 
"My dad will be so proud" 

But as they speeded down the field 
Across a shallow dip 
The little boy who thought to win 
Lost his step and slipped 

Trying hard to catch himself 
With hands flew out to brace 
And amid the laughter of the crowd 
He fell flat on his face 

But as he fell his dad stood up 
And showed his anxious face 
Which to the boy so clearly said 
"Get up and win the race" 

He quickly rose, no damage done 
Behind a bit that's all 
And ran with all his night and mind 
To make up for the fall 

So anxious to restore himself 
To catch up and to win 
His mind went faster than his legs 
He slipped and fell again 

He wised then that he had quit before 
With only one disgrace 
"I'm hopeless as a runner now 
I shouldn't try to race" 

But in the laughing crowd he searched 
And found his fathers face 
That steady look which said again 
"Get up and win the race" 

So up he jumped to try again 
Ten yards behind the last 
If I'm going to gain those yards he though 
I've got to move real fast 

Exerting everything he had 
He regained eight or ten 
But trying hard to catch the lead 
He slipped and fell again 

Defeat, he lay there silently 
A tear dropped from his eye 
There's no sense running anymore 
Three strikes, I'm out, why try? 

The will to rise had disappeared 
All hope had fled away 
So far behind so error prone 
A loser all the way 

"I've lost, so what", he thought 
I'll live with my disgrace 
But then he thought about his dad 
Whom soon he'd have to face 

"Get up" the echo sounded low 
"Get up" and take your place 
You were not meant for failure here 
"Get up", and win the race 

With borrowed will "Get up" it said 
"You haven't lost at all" 
For winning is no more than this 
To rise each time you fall 

So up he rose to run once more 
And with a new commit 
He resolved, that win or lose 
At least he shouldn't quit 

So far behind the others now 
The most he'd ever been 
Still he'd give it all he had 
And run as though to win 

Three times he'd fallen, stumbling 
Three times he'd rose again 
Too far behind to hope to win 
He still ran to the end 

They cheered the winning runner 
As he crossed the line first place 
Head high and proud and happy 
No falling, no disgrace 

But when the fallen youngster 
Crossed the line, last place 
The crowd gave him the greater cheer 
For finishing the race 

And even though he came in last 
With head bent low, unproud 
You would have thought he'd won the race 
To listen to the crowd 

And to his dad he sadly said 
"I didn't do too well" 
"To me you won", his father said 
"You rose each time you fell" 
 
 
The 10 quotes that I like and use.  Hope you enjoy them as well.

"Knowledge becomes power only when we put it into use."

"You'll always miss 100% of the shots you don't take."  -Wayne Gretzky

"What would like be if we had no courage to attempt anything?"  -Vincent Van Gogh

"Our greatest glory is not in never failing, but in rising every time we fall."  -Confucius

"In order to succeed, your desire for success should be greater than your fear of failure." 
-Bill Cosby

"The richest man is not he who has the most, but he who needs the least."

"You must be the change you wish to see in the world."  -Ghandi

"We are what we repeatedly do; excellence, then, is not an act but a habit."  
-Aristotle

"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 and fabulous?  Actually, who are you not to be?  You are a child of God.  Your playing small does not serve the world.  There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you.  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."  -Marianne Williamson

"Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do."  -John Wooden

What are your favorite quotes?  Please share!
 
Needs vs Wants 02/13/2012
 
Knowing the difference between "needs" and "wants" is an important part of learning to manage money, especially in tough economic times.  It is easy to spend money. What's not easy is spending money wisely. One way to help you spend wisely is to separate your needs from your wants, and spend money primarily on your needs.

Needs are the essentials, the basics of life that you must have to survive: food, housing, clothing.  Some expenses that relate to your job (that is, your ability to pay for the basics) also are needs, such as transportation to and from work, and health care coverage to keep you well enough to go to work.

Wants are nice to have but are not essential: eating out, going to movies, text messaging, or getting the newest cell phone and ring tones.

Before you buy something, ask yourself, "Do I need this item, or do I just want it?" You may be surprised at how many things are actually "wants."