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A Better Way to Live - 17 Rules to Live By
by Og Mandino
- Count your blessings. Once you realize how valuable you are
and how much you have going for you, the smiles will return, the sun will
break out, the music will play, and you will finally be able to move
forward toward the life that God intended for you . . . with grace, strength
courage and confidence.
- Today and everyday, deliver more than you are getting paid to do.
The victory of success will be half won when you learn the secret of putting
out more than is expected in all that you do. Make yourself so valuable
in your work that eventually you will become indispensable. Exercise your
privilege to go the extra mile, and enjoy all the rewards you receive. You
deserve them!
- Whenever you make a mistake or get knocked down by life,
don't look back at it too long. Mistakes are life's way of teaching you.
Your capacity for occasional blunders is inseparable from your capacity
to reach your goals. No one wins them all, and your failures, when they
happen, are just part of your growth. Shake off your blunders. How will
you know your limits without an occasional failure? Never quit. Your
turn will come.
- Always reward your long hours of labor and toil in the
very best way, surrounded by your family. Nurture their love carefully,
remembering that your children need models, not critics, and your own
progress will hasten when you constantly strive to present your best side
to your children. And even if you have failed at all else in the eyes of
the world, if you have a loving family, you are a success.
- Build this day on the foundation of pleasant thoughts.
Never fret at any imperfections that you fear may impede your progress.
Remind yourself, as often as necessary, that you are a creature of God and
have the power to achieve any dream by lifting up your thoughts. You can
fly when you decide that you can. Never consider defeat again. Let the
vision in your heart be in your life's blueprint. Smile!
- Let your actions speak for you, but be forever on guard
against the terrible traps of false pride and conceit that can halt your
progress. The next time you are tempted to boast, just place your fist
in a full pail of water, and when you remove it, the hole remaining will
give you a correct measure of your importance.
- Each day is a special gift from God, and while life may
not always be fair, you must never allow the pains, hurdles and handicaps
of the moment to poison your attitude and plans for yourself and your
future. You can never win when you wear the ugly cloak of self-pity, and
the sour sound of whining will certainly frighten away any opportunity for
success. Never again. There is a better way.
- Never again clutter you days or nights with so many
menial and unimportant things that you have no time to accept a real
challenge when it comes along. This applies to play as well as work. A DAY
MERELY SURVIVED IS NO CAUSE FOR CELEBRATION. You are not here to fritter
away your precious hours when you have the ability to accomplish so much by
making a slight change in your routine. No more busywork. No more hiding
from success. Leave time, leave space, to grow. Now! This is your day!
- Live this day as if it will be your last. Remember that
you will only find "tomorrow" on the calendars of fools. Forget
yesterday's defeats, and ignore the problems of tomorrow. This is it.
Doomsday. All you have. Make it the best day of your year. The saddest
words you can ever utter are, "If I had my life to live over again...."
Take the baton, now. Run with it! This is your day!
- Beginning today, treat everyone you meet, friend or foe,
loved one or stranger, as if they were going to be dead at midnight.
Extend to each person, no matter how trivial the contact, all the care and
kindness and understanding and love that you can muster, and do it with no
thought of any reward. Your live will never be the same.
- Laugh at yourself and at life. Not in the spirit of
derision or whining self-pity, but as a remedy, a miracle drug, that will
ease your pain, cure your depression, and help you to put in perspective
that seemingly terrible defeat of the moment. Banish tension and concern
and worry with laughter at your predicaments, thus freeing your mind to
think clearly toward the solution that is certain to come. Never take
yourself to seriously.
- Never neglect the little things. Never skimp on the
extra effort, that additional few minutes, that soft word of praise or
thanks, that delivery of the very best that you can do. It does not matter
what others think, it is of prime importance, however, what you think about
you. You can never do your best, which should be your trademark, if you
are cutting corners and shirking responsibilities. You are special. Act
it. Never neglect the little things!
- Welcome every morning with a smile. Look on the new
day as another special gift from your Creator, another golden opportunity
to complete what you were unable to finish yesterday. Be a self-starter.
Let your first hour set the theme of success and positive action that is
certain to echo through your entire day. Today will never happen again.
Don't waste it with a false start or no start at all. You were not born
to fail.
- You will achieve your grand dream, a day at a time,
so set goals for each day - - - not long and difficult projects, but chores
that will take you, step by step, toward your rainbow. Write them down, if
you must, but limit your list so that you won't have to drag today's undone
matters into tomorrow. Remember that you cannot build your pyramid in
twenty-four hours. Be patient. Never allow your day to become so
cluttered that you neglect your most important goal - - - to do the best
you can, enjoy this day, and rest satisfied with what you have
accomplished.
- Never allow anyone to rain on your parade and thus
cast a pall of gloom and defeat on the entire day. Remember that no
talent, no self-denial, no brains, no character, are required to set up
in the fault-finding business. Nothing external can have any power over
you unless you permit it. Your time is too precious to be sacrificed in
wasted days combating in menial forces of hate, jealousy, and envy. Guard
your fragile life carefully. Only God can shape a flower, but any foolish
child can pull it to pieces.
- Search for the seed of good in every adversity.
Master the principle and you will own a precious shield that will guard
you well though all the darkest valleys you must traverse. Stars may be
from the bottom of a deep well, when they cannot be discerned from the
mountaintop. So will you learn things in adversity that you would never
have discovered without trouble. There is always a seed of good. Find it
and prosper.
- Realize that true happiness lies within you. Waste
no time and effort searching for peace and contentment and joy in the
world outside. Remember that there is no happiness in having or in
getting, but only in giving. Reach out. Share. Smile. Hug. Happiness
is a perfume you cannot pour on others without getting a few drops on
yourself.
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This article Copyright © 1993 by by Og Mandino. According to the author, the text on this page may be freely reproduced and distributed. If you have any questions about this, please check out our Copyright Policy.
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