The Invisible Mentor

Posts Tagged ‘Dorothea Brande’

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Next week I’ll have a list of books to read this summer. But today instead of having a new book review, because I have many new readers I have included a link to seven book reviews I have already done.

Some of the books on this list you may not have heard of before, but all of them are worth reading. The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin and Analects of Confucius are similar in the sense that both have lessons for us to live by. Though some of the lessons are outdated, there are some that are still applicable today.

If you’d like to understand your friends and customers better and know why they behave the way they do, The New Birth Order may shed some light on the issue. Bunker Bean and Jonathan Livingston Seagull demonstrate that if you believe in yourself you can accomplish anything, but the message is delivered in very different ways. Bunker Bean may drive you nuts the way he drove me nuts, but I am glad that I took the time to finish reading it.

Dorothea Brande’s prescription for success is to act as if it was impossible to fail. Since I read Wake Up and Live! about five years ago there are several books that recommend that you should work through the resistance and complete more projects. If you have a firm belief that you could do anything, you’d take more risks and get more done. Your outcome would be similar if you acted as if it were impossible to fail.

Bunker Bean, Leon Wilson

Wake Up and Live!, Dorothea Brande (The review is in my newsletter)

Jonathan Livingston Seagull, Richard Bach (The review is in my newsletter)

The Analects of Confucius

The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin

Technique for Producing Ideas by James Webb Young

The New Birth Order, Dr. Kevin Leman

Timeless Ideas Worth Exploring

If you have a Kindle or the Kindle apps for PC click here to download free Kindle books.

How can you use this information? What do you have to add to the conversation? Let’s keep the conversation flowing, please let me know your thoughts in the comments section below. Many readers read this blog from other sites, so why don’t you pop over to The Invisible Mentor and subscribe (top on the right hand side) by email or RSS Feed.

Some of the book links are affiliate links.

A good quote can touch your heart and stir your soul. Many people have their favourite quote placed in a spot where they can see it every day. I love a good quote because it makes me think. I have been collecting quotes for several years now, but a few years ago it struck me that because I read so much, I should be extracting quotes from the books I read. I started doing that and I was having fun, but I stopped for no reason. I guess it’s like some things in life where we forget to do the things that bring us joy.

Below are 21 quotes that I like – and there is nothing magical about the number 21 – and some of them I pulled directly from books I read, so the only place you’ll see them is if you read the books they came from.

January 2011

“Learn to enjoy every minute of your life. Be happy now. Don’t wait for something outside of yourself to make you happy in the future. Think how really precious is the time you have to spend, whether it’s at work or with your family. Every minute should be enjoyed and savored.” Earl Nightingale, Radio Announcer, Author and Speaker

“The secret of getting ahead is getting started. The secret of getting started is breaking your complex overwhelming tasks into small manageable tasks, and then starting on the first one.” Mark Twain, American Writer

“Do something every day towards your intention, however remote your goal may have to be.” Dorothea Brande, Wake Up And Live!

February 2011

“To succeed, planning alone is insufficient. One must improvise.” Salvor Hardin (Character in Foundation by Isaac Asimov)

“Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature nor do the children of man as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing.” Helen Keller

“Take the first step in faith, you don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.” Martin Luther King Jr.

March 2011

“It was character that got us out of bed, commitment that moved us into action and discipline that enabled us to follow through.” Zig Ziglar, American author, salesperson, and motivational speaker

“If you run after two hares, you will catch neither.” Thomas Fuller

“I will laugh at the world. And with my laughter all things will be reduced to their proper size. I will laugh at my failures and they will vanish in the clouds of new dreams; I will laugh at my successes and they will shrink to their true value. I will laugh at evil and it will die untasted; I will laugh at goodness and it will thrive and abound. Each day will be triumphant only when my smiles bring forth smiles from others.” Og Mandino, The Greatest Secret In The World

April 2011

“The abundant life does not come to those who have had a lot of obstacles removed from their path by others.  It develops from within and is rooted in strong mental and moral fiber.”  William Mather Lewis

“When we give from a place of love, rather than from a place of expectation, more usually comes back to us than we could ever have imagined.” Susan Jeffers, Feel The Fear And Do It Anyway

May 2011

“The greatest power that a person possesses is the power to choose.”  J. Martin Kohe

“Even a relatively minor action, if undertaken with conscious awareness of how imprints make us see an otherwise “neutral” or “empty” world as we do, will lead to tremendous results.” Geshe Michael Roach, The Diamond Cutter

June 2011

“Failure is not a single, cataclysmic event. You don’t fail overnight. Instead, failure is a few errors in judgment, repeated every day.” Jim Rohn

July 2011

“You only lose energy when life becomes dull in your mind. Your mind gets bored and therefore tired of doing nothing. Get interested in something! Get absolutely enthralled in something! Get out of yourself! Be somebody! Do something! The more you lose yourself in something bigger than yourself, the more energy you will have.” Norman Vincent Peale, Pastor, Speaker and Author

August 2011

“By being discontented, the spirit searches for ways to improve its condition and for a better channel for expressing itself. This sense of discontent is the engine that drives all creativity and innovation… Our blue moments are a necessary part of our human evolution.” Chin-Ning Chu, Working Woman’s Art of War

September 2011

“Every super successful [professional] is constantly working to improve skills. Why? You must be a perpetual student to become a master in any field. Those who never achieve their potential in life simply do not exercise their innate capacity to learn and grow.” Ted Nicholas, Magic Words That Bring You Riches

“We are all connected and operate within living fields of thought and perception. The world is not fixed but is in constant flux; accordingly, the future is not fixed, and so can be shaped.” Joseph Jaworski, Synchronicity: The Inner Path of Leadership

October 2011

“True effectiveness is a function of two things: what is produced (the golden eggs) and the producing asset or capacity to produce (the goose).” Stephen R. Covey, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

November 2011

“By looking carefully at things that excite us we can train our eyes to see what others may not notice.” David Finn, How To Look At Everything

December 2011

“Do all the good you can. By all the means you can. In all the ways you can. In all the places you can. At all the times you can. To all the people you can. As long as you can.” John Wesley (1703-1791), Founder of the Methodist Church

How can you use this information? What do you have to add to the conversation? Let’s keep the conversation flowing, please let me know your thoughts in the comments section below. Many readers read this blog from other sites, so why don’t you pop over to The Invisible Mentor and subscribe (top on the right hand side) by email or RSS Feed.

All book links are affiliate links.

I have been having fun just letting my mind wander and explore various ideas and see where it ends up. I hope that you enjoy this journey with me. Today, I have decided to explore the idea of taking action. Do you think it’s possible to achieve great success without taking action?

1. The Law of Attraction has become very popular since the movie The Secret was released. Many people believe that they can attract anything, and achieve their goals simply by visualizing them. Is it possible to achieve your goals without taking action?
2. Luck = Opportunity + Preparedness. Is it possible to prepare without taking action?
3. According to Dorothea Brande in her book, Wake Up and Live! – her formula for success is act as if it were impossible to fail. If your success were guaranteed, what actions would you take?
4. Looking at the major successes in your life to date, how did you achieve them? What kind of actions did you take?
5. Would the great thinkers and innovators of yesterday have accomplished so much if they didn’t take action?
6. I saw the following formula – Innovation = Meaningful Idea + Action. I would like to change the formula to Innovation = Great Idea + Purposeful Action. Innovation also occurs when you blend old ideas in ways they haven’t been combined before. What are your thoughts?
7. If our forefathers and mothers hadn’t taken action, would we enjoy the freedom and rights we have today?

There are no guarantees in life, but should that stop you from taking action? I personally do that think that anyone can attain spectacular success without taking action. What do you have to add to the conversation? Let’s keep the conversation flowing, please let me know your thoughts in the comments section below. Many readers read this blog from other sites, so why don’t you pop over to The Invisible Mentor and subscribe (top on the right side) by email or RSS Feed.

Further Reading

Could you Move Mountains, if you Acted as if it Were Impossible to Fail?

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