TO OVERCOME PROBLEMS

Attack every problem with enthusiasm as if your survival depended upon it

WHO DARES WIN

COURAGE

" Tank man" blocking a column of tanks heading east on Beijing's Chang'an Boulevard (Avenue of Eternal Peace) near Tiananmen Square during the student uprising in china. Photo taken by Jeff Widener on June 5, 1989.


Courage is not the absence of fear. It is acting in spite of it.

MARK TWAIN

PRESENCE OF MIND

When NASA began the launch of astronauts into space, they found out that the pens wouldn't work at zero gravity (ink won't flow down to the writing surface).

To solve this problem, it took them one decade and $12 million.

They developed a pen that worked at zero gravity, upside down, underwater, in practically any surface including crystal and in a temperature range from below freezing to over 300 degrees C.

And what did the Russians do...?

They used a pencil

TOO STUPID ?

A partially deaf boy came home from school one day carrying a note from officials at the school.The note suggested that the parents take the boy out of school, claiming that he was " too stupid to learn" .

The boy's mother Nancy Matthews read the note and said, "My son Tom is not too stupid to learn. I will teach him myself." And so she did.

When Tom died on oct 18 1931 , the people of the United States of America paid tribute him by turning of the nation's lights for one minute.

This Tom - THOMAS ALVA EDISON had invented the light bulb - and not only that, but motion pictures and the record player. In all, Thomas Alva Edison had more than one thousand patents to his credit.

POWER TO CHOOSE

"Becoming aware of my character defects leads me naturally to the next step of blaming my parents," one woman quips.

Benjamin Franklin didnot feel that way. Becoming aware of his character defects led him to something quite remarkable.

Franklin noticed that he had difficulty getting along with people. He tended to argue too much. He had trouble making and keeping friends. So he made a choice. He chose to examine his own personality and make a list of what he considered undesirable personality traits.

It was New Year's Day. Franklin finished his list of personality traits he wanted to change. He identified 13 character flaws and determined to work on each one for a week. He did this for an entire year and finally checked each trait off his list.

Benjamin Franklin developed one of the finest personalities in America. People looked up to him and admired him. When the colonies needed help from France, they sent Franklin. The French liked him and gave him what he wanted.

Suppose Franklin had chosen to go through life without using his greatest power -- his power to choose.

Suppose he reasoned that there was really nothing he could do about himself. Would France have supported the colonies?

The history of the world may have been significantly different.

R U WISE ?

MANY RECEIVE ADVICE

ONLY THE WISE PROFIT FROM IT

EFFORT

A giant ship's engine once failed to start . The captain and the ship's owners tried one expert after another, but none of them could figure but how to fix the engine.

Then they brought in an old man who had been fixing ships since he was a youngster. He carried a large bag of tools with him, and when he arrived, he immediately went to work.He inspected the engine very carefully, top to bottom.

Two of the ship's owners were there, watching this man, hoping he would know what to do. After looking things over, the old man reached into his bag and pulled out a small hammer. He gently tapped something. Instantly, the engine lurched into life. He carefully put his hammer away. The engine was fixed!

A week later, the owners received a bill from the old man for ten thousand dollars.

"What?!" the owners exclaimed. "He hardly did anything!"

So they wrote the old man a note saying, "Please send us an itemized bill."

The man sent a bill that read:

Tapping with a hammer ......................... $ 2.00

Knowing where to tap ......................... $ 9998.00

Effort is important, but knowing where to make an effort in your life makes all the difference

REST

Rest is not idleness and to lie sometimes on the grass under the trees on a summer day, Listening to the murmur of water or Watching the clouds float across the sky , is by no means a waste of time

JOHN LUBBOCK