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The Bridge Builder

An old man going a lone highway,
Came, at the evening cold and gray,
To a chasm vast and deep and wide.
Through which was flowing a sullen tide
The old man crossed in the twilight dim,
The sullen stream had no fear for him;
But he turned when safe on the other side
And built a bridge to span the tide.

“Old man,” said a fellow pilgrim near,
“You are wasting your strength with building here;
Your journey will end with the ending day,
You never again will pass this way;
You’ve crossed the chasm, deep and wide,
Why build this bridge at evening tide?”

The builder lifted his old gray head;
“Good friend, in the path I have come,” he said,
“There followed after me to-day
A youth whose feet must pass this way.
This chasm that has been as naught to me
To that fair-haired youth may a pitfall be;
He, too, must cross in the twilight dim;
Good friend, I am building this bridge for him!”

By Will Allen Dromgoole

“Your goal as a leader isn’t to be indispensable to the people you lead; it is to leave your people something that is indispensable to them.” ~ John C. Maxwell, Leadership Gold

“Your life is like a book. The title page is your name, the preface your introductions to the world. The pages are a daily record of your efforts, trials, pleasures, discouragements, and achievements. Day by day your thoughts and acts are being inscribed in your book of life. Hour by hour, the record is being made that must stand for all time. Once the word ‘finish’ must be written, let it then be said of your book that it is a record of noble purpose, generous service, and work well-done.” ~ Grenville Kleiser, Training for Power and Leadership

“The average man does not know what to do with his life, yet wants another one which will last forever.” ~ Anatole France, Nobel Prize-Winning Novelist

“People will summarize your life in one sentence – pick it now.” ~ John C. Maxwell, Leadership Gold

The 10 Questions to Ask Yourself Daily

Am I investing in myself? (Personal Growth)
Am I genuinely interested in others? (Motive)
Am I doing what I love and loving what I do? (Passion)
Am I investing my time with the right people? (Relationships)
Am I staying in my strength zone? (Effectiveness)
Am I taking others to a higher level? (Mission)
Am I taking care of today? (Success)
Am I taking time to think? (Strategy)
Am I developing other leaders? (Legacy)
Am I pleasing God/ My faith? (Faith)

———— ———— ———— ————

Source: Leadership Gold by John C. Maxwell

“You will never change your life until you change something you do daily.” ~ John C. Maxwell, Leadership Gold

“A major stimulant to creative thinking is focused questions. There is something about a well-worded question that often penetrates to the heart of the matter and triggers new ideas and insights.” ~ Brian Tracy

“The english word thanks comes from the same root word as think. Maybe if leaders were more ‘think-ful’ about the contribution of others, they would be more ‘thankful’ to them.” ~ John C. Maxwell, Leadership Gold

“Good leaders understand that they are stewards. They must find the best people they can, giving them the opportunity to join in the journey developing them, and encouraging them to reach their potential. But they must hold on to people lightly. Those who start with you seldom finish with you.” ~ John C. Maxwell, Leadership Gold

“One of the greatest values of mentors is the ability to see ahead what others cannot see and to help them navigate a course to their destination.” ~ John C. Maxwell, Leadership Gold

“Every new level of growth we hope to experience as leaders calls for a new level of change. You cannot have one without the other. If you want to be a better leader, get ready to make some trades.” ~ John C. Maxwell, Leadership Gold

“Something in human nature tempts us to stay where we’re comfortable. We try to find a plateau, a resting place, where we have comfortable stress and adequate finances. Where we have comfortable associations with people, without he intimidation of meeting new people and entering strange situations. Of course, all of us need to plateau for a time. We climb and then plateau for assimilation. But once we’ve assimilated what we’ve learned, we climb again. It’s unfortunate when we’ve done our last climb. When we have made our last climb, we are old, whether forty or eighty.” ~ Fred Smith

“By avoiding risk, we really risk what is most important in life -reaching toward growth, our potential and a true contribution to a common goal.” ~ Max DePree

“The only thing we can control is what we do in the present. The more we replay yesterday, the further we get from today’s opportunities. And the further away we move from opportunities, the tougher the road is to get back. Opportunities never look as good coming as they do going, and they wait for no one. We need to be highly attentive to spot them. And we must be focused on our present capabilities, not past regrets.” ~ John C. Maxwell, Leadership Gold

“Every time you make a choice, you are turning the central part of you – the part that chooses – into something a little different than what it was before. Taking your life as a whole, with all your innumerable choices, you are slowly turning this central thing either into a heavenly creature or into a hellish creature.” ~ C. S. Lewis

“Perhaps our greatest power in life is the power to choose. Without question, choices are the most determining factor in how our lives turn out.” ~ John C. Maxwell, Leadership Gold

“What we do on some great occasion will probably depend on what we already are: and what we are will be the result of previous years of self-discipline.” ~ H. P. Liddon

“Leadership is influence, nothing more, nothing less. How do you gain influence from people? You invest in them. How do you invest in them? It starts with giving them time.” ~ John C. Maxwell, Leadership Gold

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 impostors 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 worn-out 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 breathe 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