Who are you not to be?

"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 doesn't serve the world. Thee's 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're liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others."

- Nelson Mandela

My list of things to do today

I won't break my back for a million bucks I can't take to my grave
So why put off for tomorrow what I could get done today

Like go for a walk, say a little prayer
Take a deep breath of mountain air
Put on my glove and play some catch
It's time that I make time for that
Wade the shore and cast a line
Look up a long lost friend of mine
Sit on the porch and give my girl a kiss
Start livin', that's the next thing on my list

Raise a little hell, laugh 'til it hurts
Put an extra five in the plate at church
Call up my folks just to chat
It's time that I make time for that
Stay up late, then oversleep
Show her what she means to me
Catch up on all the things I've always missed
Just start livin', that's the next thing on my list

Under an old brass paperweight
Is my list of things to do today

- Toby Keith 

Click

Dance

 I hope you never lose your sense of wonder
You get your fill to eat
But always keep that hunger
May you never take one single breath for granted
God forbid love ever leave you empty handed
I hope you still feel small
When you stand by the ocean
Whenever one door closes, I hope one more opens
Promise me you'll give faith a fighting chance

And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance
I hope you dance
I hope you dance

I hope you never fear those mountains in the distance,
Never settle for the path of least resistance,
Livin' might mean takin' chances but they're worth takin',
Lovin' might be a mistake but it's worth makin',
Don't let some hell bent heart leave you bitter,
When you come close to sellin' out reconsider,
Give the heavens above more than just a passing glance,
And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance. - Lee Ann Womack
click

Laughing

"They all laughed at Christopher Columbus
When he said the world was round
They all laughed when Edison recorded sound
They all laughed at Wilbur and his brother
When they said that man could fly...

"They told Marconi
Wireless was a phony
It's the same old cry...

"They all laughed at Rockefeller Center
Now they're fighting to get in
They all laughed at Whitney and his cotton gin
They all laughed at Fulton and his steamboat
Hershey and his chocolate bar...

"Ford and his Lizzie
Kept the laughers busy
That's how people are
They laughed at me wanting you
Said it would be, "Hello, Goodbye."
And oh, you came through
Now they're eating humble pie..."

- George Gershwin

Conclusion: if you are being laughed at you might be on to something... 

I won't grow up

"Oh maturity's a wrapped up package deal so it seems
And ditching teenage fantasy means ditching all your dreams
All your friends and peers and family solemnly tell you you will
Have to grow up be an adult yeah be bored and unfulfilled
Oh when no ones yet explained to me exactly what's so great
About slaving 50 years away on something that you hate,
About meekly shuffling down the path of mediocrity
Well if that's your road then take it but it's not the road for me

And I won't sit down
And I won't shut up
And most of all I will not grow up
And I won't sit down
And I won't shut up
And most of all I yeah I won't grow up"
- Lyrics from Frank Turner song, Photosynthesis

I came across this band when I lived in England - i think his songs are great and if I was clever, I would sort out how to put a song in a post, but you should definitely check out his songs especially the one by Photosynthis if you are venturing out.  Check out his songs for free on his MySpace page.  Click.

If

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or, being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;

If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with triumph and disaster
And treat those two imposters just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with wornout tools;

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on";

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings - nor lose the common touch;
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run -
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man my son!

-Rudyard Kipling

Friends are the Inspiration.

Here is a shout out to my inspirational friends and their blogs / websites - check them out.

Katherine Bell - writes about her experiences at Stanford Medical School.  Click.

Meagan Donahue - Venture capitalist writes about her life experiences. Click.

Curtis Williamson - Entrepreneur.  Sign up for a race if you live between SD and SB. Click.

Ray Jones - Singer / Song Writer and Entrepreneur.  Click.

Larry Chiang - Author of "What they don't teach you at Stanford Business School." Click.

Elizabeth Heng - Future President.  Click

Garth Brooks

We call them cool
Those hearts that have no scars to show
The ones that never do let go
And risk the tables being turned

We call them fools
Who have to dance within the flame
Who chance the sorrow and the shame
That always comes with getting burned

But you've got to be tough when consumed by desire
'Cause it's not enough just to stand outside the fire - Garth Brooks

Job's Commencement Speech at Stanford

"You've got to find what you love, and that is as true for work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work, and the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking, and don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it, and like any great relationship it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking. Don't settle...

"Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important thing I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life, because almost everything--all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure--these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart...

"Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma, which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice, heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary." - Steve Jobs

What I love about him is his passion and his disdain for dogma and you can see it in the products he creates.  His competitors seem to just copy him.

I think you should watch the speech if you haven't ever heard it because every time I hear it I am inspired.  Click.

Einstein Inspiration

These are some quotes from Albert Einstein I like:

Learn from yesterday, life for today, hope for tomorrow.  The important thing is not to stop questioning.

Logic will get you from A to B.  Imagination will take you everywhere.

Imagination is everything.  It is the preview of life's coming attractions.

If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough.

It's not that I'm so smart, it's just that I stay with problems longer.

I have no particular talent.  I am merely inquisitive.

- Albert Einstein


I just think Albert Einstein is amazing and want to spend some time studying theoretical physics...  why am I obsessed with dead people?  Maybe its because I was a history major.  Anyway, I think we can learn a lot from the past. 

More Quotes

Most people give up when they're about to achieve success.  They quit on the one yard line.  They give up at the last minute of the game, one foot from a winning touchdown.  - Ross Perot

Success is measured by how far you bounce back after hitting bottom.  - General George S. Patton

(these quotes I got from the blog I mentioned in my last post)

Mark Twain and Inspiring Blog

"Keep away from people who try to belittle  your ambitions.  Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great."

- Mark Twain 

I love Mark Twain - what a legend.  More inspiration from Mark Twain to come. 

Also,

This is seriously a great blog



ps I like to keep these posts short and sweet - I don't like lots of words as you can see.