My T.V. today...The arm's length Ash wand that fell out of the tree onto my head and my first Monarch Butterfly sighting...and the drunk dressed all in white, already suffering from 'too much' early in the afternoon, puking on the Rhododendron next to the bus stop!

A Voltaire fan and 18th Century enlighenment scholar sent me this 'found' and free article:

Key To Success: 10 Success Tips For Maximum Achievement
By Sharif Khan

First off, I would echo the voice of 18th century French
philosopher Voltaire, made popular and relevant in today’s
leadership lexicon by "Good to Great" author Jim Collins, who
said, "Good is the Enemy of Great."

1. "Good is the Enemy of Great." Get rid of the good to make
room for the great in your life. Instead of keeping the main
thing the main thing, we major in too many minor things. In
other words, many people do a few things that are good, a lot
of things that are mediocre, but nothing that is GREAT.

Find the ONE thing you can be the best in the world at and
focus unrelentingly on improving that one thing, polishing it
to perfection.

Choose great over good in ALL areas of your life! It is far
better to have a few great things than a lot of good or
mediocre things.

Instead of having six cheap shirts that you don’t feel so great
in, have one fine quality shirt that you can feel proud to wear
and that makes you feel like a million bucks! Instead of having
five or six ho-hum paintings to decorate your walls, invest in
ONE magnificent masterpiece that leaves you breathless and
enriches your soul every time you look at it! Instead of going
to the usual cottage retreat every long-weekend, save up your
money and go on one GREAT vacation that you’ve always dreamed
of like going on a European boat-cruise, snorkeling in the Red
Sea, or taking an art class in Paris. Instead of many mediocre
friendships, have a few great friendships that energize and
inspire you and that you can spend quality time fostering
deeper relationships. You get the point.

Greatness is a choice! And choice is the democratic equalizer
of all people. Everyone, regardless of their rank, social
status or income level has the power to choose great over good.

2. Commit to an annual theme. Instead of making and breaking a
number of well-wished but half-hearted New Year’s Resolutions,
commit to an annual or lifetime theme. Pick a theme that
defines your singular life purpose or what you are most
passionate about and stick to it.

For example, my theme is: "Write First!" I have this theme
posted right in front of me above my computer. My purpose is to
write.

I write first and ask questions later. I focus on writing (or
things related to developing my writing) first and then worry
about the urgent but non-important interruptions (paying bills,
answering calls and emails, responding to invitations, etc.)
that plague everyone. This theme takes precedence over
everything else except my spiritual relationship with my
Creator. The only exception to this rule would be a genuinely
important priority that falls in one of my top values in life
or attending to a family emergency.

Your main theme for 2006 could be "Family First!" or "Health
First!" or "Listen First!" or "Service Above Self." Just pick
one and commit to it.

Beside your main theme, make a list of your top values such as
love, health, giving, peace, wealth, etc. to ground yourself
and distinguish between important and non-important but urgent
matters. In his autobiography, Benjamin Franklin listed
thirteen virtues (Temperance, Silence, Order, Resolution,
Frugality, Industry, Sincerity, Justice, Moderation,
Cleanliness, Tranquility, Chastity, and Humility) to which he
governed his life and gave a week’s strict attention to
mastering one virtue at a time repeating the list in order
every thirteen weeks.

3. Practice a policy of planned neglect. In other words, once
you have established your theme or singular purpose (the one
thing you can be the best in the world at) get into the habit
of practicing your main habit FIRST before anything else.

Everything else that’s non-important can get neglected and keep
getting put-off. In other words, your daily to-do list will keep
changing around your main theme which will remain constant –
with very few exceptions.

4. Make a stop doing list. I’m not sure where I first heard
this idea, but I borrowed it most recently from Jim Collin’s
book, "Good to Great." Too many people have important to-do
lists that keep getting longer and longer. But very few people
have ‘stop-doing’ lists. Make a list of everything you are
doing that is not contributing to your core genius or main
purpose and core values – and stop doing it! Forget about your
image and what other people will think, and STOP doing what’s
not great in your life.

5. Be Simple. Get rid of the good to make room for the great.
Literally! Get rid of the junk in your basement and file
folders!

Anything you haven’t touched or looked at in a year you
probably need to get rid of it. Donate books and magazines you
haven’t read and clothes you know you’re never going to wear.
Empty your mind and physical space of unnecessary clutter and
make room for abundance! (Daily meditation is a great way to
empty the mind and allow new inspiration).

6. Make HEALTH a priority NOW! Get a full physical check-up at
least once a year. If something’s bothering you or you don’t
feel right about something, get it checked out IMMEDIATELY!
Don’t wait, until it’s too late. Take a proactive approach to
your health by taking preventative measures, eating healthy and
exercising regularly. And make LOVE a top priority. If you
haven’t taken the time to tell your loved ones how deeply you
value and love them, then make time for it now.

Are you still reading this article? WHY? Pick-up your phone,
right now, and call your doctor to make that appointment! Call
your loved ones now and book some real quality time together.
Life is short and fragile. You may never get the chance again.

7. Dreams. The dream is a window into your soul, a gateway into
the unseen world, giving access to the unknown and revealing the
invisible behind all that is visible. In my book, "Psychology of
the Hero Soul," (http://www.herosoul.com; Chapter 14; pg. 77)I
mention the importance of dreams and how to harness your dreams
to awaken your creative potential. I can’t stress enough how
important it is to get into the habit of jotting down your
dreams and making an effort to interpret them. It is a great
way to develop self-awareness and self-understanding and will
enrich your life in many, many unforeseen ways.

Self-awareness and self-acceptance is so important in
developing your self-esteem. Take the time to seriously ask
yourself, "Who am I and what’s my purpose in life?" Write down
your strengths and weakness, your highest ambitions and deepest
fears, and make a list of everything you enjoy doing and all
your hobbies. Take some personality tests to gain deeper
understanding of who you are.

8. Face the brutal facts! Never hide from reality. Always get
the hard facts about any situation you are facing. It doesn’t
matter if you have a Harvard MBA and are the world’s greatest
optimist if you pick the wrong location to open up a retail
business!

Likewise, face the brutal facts about yourself. If you haven’t
even come close to achieving your dreams and goals, you need to
honestly ask yourself why you haven’t reached your goals and
figure out what has been preventing you. A great way to
accomplish this is to ask a few friends you trust and who know
you the following question: "How do you see me limiting
myself?" (I have Jack Canfield to thank for this great
question).

Once you have the facts and fully understand the problem, spend
over eighty percent of your time focusing on the solution.

9. ASK for help! If you need help, ask for it. If you don’t
ask, you don’t get. Ask for the sale, ask for the date, ask for
support. Stop worrying about your image, reject the rejection,
and ASK!

But don’t just be a taker. Please also give. Earn the right to
ask by being a giver. Be a generous giver because whatever you
put out into the world will return multiplied. The hero’s
journey is about following your bliss, and doing what you love
to do in service to others. "Service above self," is a great
motto to adopt.

10. Take Action! In my Hero Soul book, I have dedicated an
entire chapter on taking action. The great succeed by taking
continuous and concerted action toward a singular objective.
And they continue to take unrelenting, consistent action for a
period of years before becoming overnight successes.

If you do just five new things every day towards achieving your
biggest dream, you will one day be living your dream and as
Thoreau once said, ‘meet with a success unexpected in common
hours.’

But if you aren’t going to take action on the advice in this
article, why the heck are you reading it? Move on to something
else!

One of my favorite movies is "The Shawshank Redemption" (based
on Stephen King’s short story, Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank
Redemption) about a successful banker, Andy Dufresne, who is
convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of
his wife. I’m sure many of you have seen it.

For nineteen years Dufresne quietly chips away at his goal to
escape by literally chipping the wall in his cell – a little
bit every day – until one day he reaches his goal and escapes.

His jail buddy, Red, comments that all it took "was pressure
and time."

I don’t think I’ve ever seen any movie replayed so many times
on TV. It really intrigued me. So I did some research and found
out that according to IMDB, The Shawshank Redemption is the
second most popular movie of all time with The Godfather taking
first place! That’s quite the accomplishment given how long The
Godfather has been out.

Why is this movie so popular? I don’t really know the answer.
But I think it’s because many people feel like they’re living
in a prison and have been given a life sentence to doing work
they really hate. They want to break free from their shackles.

More than anything else, they want FREEDOM! And Shawshank
delivers that moment of freedom. It’s a beautiful story that
makes the soul weep with joy and provides the hope and promise
of being human.

The great thing about Shawshank is that it also provides a
solution: by quietly chipping away at your main goal and
consistently taking action everyday, you will achieve the
success and freedom you have been longing for. With ‘pressure
and time’ you can take the darkest coal and turn it into the
most brilliant, most magnificent diamond the world has ever
seen.

About the Author: Sharif Khan (http://www.herosoul.com;
) is a freelance writer, motivational
speaker, coach, and author of "Psychology of the Hero Soul," an
inspirational book on awakening the hero within and developing
people’s leadership potential. Call 416-417-1259 to learn about
Sharif's business writing, copywriting, and speaking services.

Source: http://www.isnare.com