On Parenting and Falconry

While I am inclined to favor the cultivation of personal responsibility over the imposition of regulation, I cannot help but note the irony of the fact that to practice the sport of falconry you must first obtain a license that comes only on the completion of a challenging and comprehensive written examination and a two …

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Liberty and Responsibility

"Liberty means responsibility. That is why most men dread it." ~ George Bernard Shaw Freedom is balanced by responsibility in all matters. Too much freedom with too little responsibility produces situations that quickly spiral out of control. Insufficient freedom coupled with a heavy load of responsibility is likely to implode for lack of maneuvering room. …

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Good Company

"The key is to keep company only with people who uplift you, whose presence calls forth your best.”~ Epictetus I discovered this simple truth the other day and despite its simplicity it is one of the most profound statements I've come across in a while. To follow this advice you needn't be hardhearted, you just …

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The Discriminating Powers of the Mind

"A multitude of causes unknown to former times are now acting with a combined force to blunt the discriminating powers of the mind, and unfitting it for all voluntary exertion to reduce it to a state of almost savage torpor." ~ William Wordsworth Reactions to challenging those within your sphere of influence to think outside …

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Hidden Resources

"What a man believes may be ascertained, not from his creed, but from the assumptions on which he habitually acts." ~ George Bernard Shaw My management and sales team and I invested an hour of increasingly precious time discussing the limiting assumptions that were preventing our company, Energetix Corporation, from becoming the best place to …

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A True Lady or Gentleman

I am inclined to agree more with Theodore Roosevelt's assessment that courtesy is "as much a mark of a gentleman" than with Honore de Balzac's less encouraging assessment of courtesy being "only a thin veneer on the general selfishness." While the latter may be more predominantly the case, the former holds in it the promise …

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Short but Sweet

Sometimes the shortest conversations yield the most abundant harvests. I had two such conversations yesterday and it is my pleasure to give a snippet of each, along with my resultant realizations, in hopes that your lives are enriched in the sharing. The first conversation was with a woman who was filled with an infectious spirit …

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Intrinsic Value III

"Reputation is what the world thinks a man is; character is what he really is. Anyone can play shuttlecock with a man’s reputation; his character is his alone. No one can injure his character but he himself. Character is the sword; reputation is the scabbard. Many men acquire insomnia in standing guard over their reputation, …

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Intrinsic Value II

"Life is not competition with others. In its truest sense it is rivalry with ourselves. We should each day seek to break the record of our yesterday. We should seek each day to live stronger, better, truer lives; each day to master some weakness of yesterday; each day to repair past follies; each day to …

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Success is Optional

"Success is a science; if you have the conditions, you get the result." ~ Oscar Wilde A perfectly aligned set of circumstances is more often the exception than the rule. Resources are frequently insufficient, tools are disorganized, agreements are not set and objections stand in the way no matter what you undertake, so one of …

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