Posts Tagged ‘Mark Twain’

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. Below are 21 quotes that I like 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.

1. “Within each successful person is an ordinary person who found the courage to act – to face the big challenges and make their dreams come true.” Jinny S. Ditzler, Your Best Year Yet!
2. “No matter what you want in life, you can get it by building rapport. If you can fill the needs of the people who have what you want, bingo – they’ll fill your needs as well. Rapport building works in sales, public relations, and life itself.” Steven Cody & Richard Harte, What’s Keeping Your Customers Up At Night?
3. “… All dreams are meaningful and significant. Meaningful, because they contain a message which can be understood if one has the key for its translation. Significant, because we do not dream of anything that is trifling, even though it may be expressed in a language which hides the significance of the dream message behind a trifling façade.” Erich Fromm, The Forgotten Language
4. “If one has both knowledge and wisdom, the lamp illuminates even the darkest night.” Chao-Hsiu Chen, The Master
5. “Being on the way requires a move forward and sometimes a step of faith into the unknown.” Kavula John, Light For Our Path 2007
6. “One big difference between those who truly succeed in making things happen and the ones who don’t: Those who do, act.” Jinny S. Ditzler, Your Best Year Yet!
7. “Thoughts, feelings and actions are essential to closing a sale, or being successful in public relations, shepherding, bricklaying, you name it. How we think, feel and act will determine everything else.” Steven Cody & Richard Harte, What’s Keeping Your Customers Up At Night?
8. “For what are your possessions but things you keep and guard for fear you might need them tomorrow? And tomorrow, what shall tomorrow bring to the over-prudent dog burying bones in the trackless sand as he follows the pilgrims to the holy city?” Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet
9. “We are all caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied into a single garment of destiny, whatever affects one directly, affect all indirectly.” Martin Luther King
10. “As a manager it is extremely important to work hard at uncovering the facts involved in whatever the problem or situation he [or she] faces, and based on those facts, to make the appropriate decision. One must draw a balance, however, between fact-finding and decision-making.” John Gardner
11. “It’s important to understand what’s in people’s minds, and separate it from what they are actually saying and discussing with their peers.” Arunas Chesonis
12. “Worrying about something is like paying interest on a debt you don’t even know if you owe.”  Mark Twain
13. “It’s easy to focus on what you think is important, but it’s always about the other person, and their needs, and this takes you down the right strategic path.” Peter Bouffard
14. “I do not have to do anything extraordinary. All I need to do is wake up and see what’s been here waiting for me all the time. It’s already here and all is well.” Maria Nemeth
15. “If you focus on the goals, you will make your bosses happy, but you sell yourself short – life, love, and work are all a series of journeys. Goals happen, are temporary and then are gone and leave emptiness.” Simon Grant
16. “Recognize the divergence between what you as a professional view as your ethical standard, and what some clients see as merely a stance that is variable on request.” Oliver Campbell
17. “Don’t be afraid to show your vulnerability and ask for help. If your intention is clear and honest, people will rally around you and unify toward a common goal.” Nanci Govinder
18. “As long as you are honest you can resolve 99 percent of all situations amicably and without regret.” Seaton McLean
19. “If you don’t throw up your hands when things go wrong, but think it isn’t over and that you still have a chance, anything is possible.” Claire Hoy
20. “Labour for learning before you grow old, for learning is better than silver and gold. Silver and gold will vanish away, but a good education will never decay.” Popular Jamaican Saying
21. “Miracles rest not so much upon healing power coming suddenly near us from afar, but upon our perceptions being made finer, so that for the moment our eyes can see and our ears can hear what has been there around us always.” Willa Cather

How can you use this information? What do you have to add to the conversation? 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.

I have read a lot of really good books this year (2011 Books for Mentoring), and because I am at active reader, I always learn at least one thing from the books that I read. This is the time of year when you find the various lists for the best books of the year. I already gave you the list of some of the books that I have thoroughly enjoyed. But, I have also been thinking about which book was most impactful and practical for me.

And the winner is…

Drum roll please!

Cover via Amazon

…How to Read Literature Like  Professor by Thomas Foster. When I first started to read How to Read Literature Like a Professor, I thought it was going to be very boring and academic, but I was pleasantly surprised. The book is essentially a guide on how to read to get the most from what you are reading. Foster recommends that while you are reading to constantly ask yourself, “Where have I seen this before?” And you should also question what you are reading in the text. Since reading How to Read Literature Like a Professor, I now read very differently. And I pay even more attention than I usually do while reading.

Additionally, I ask more questions about the significance of events occurring in the book. If a character has a heart ailment, I ask myself why the author allowed that to happen. If there is water in a scene, I ponder about the significance, whether it’s a cleansing, or a rebirth and so on. Having read How to Read Literature Like a Professor I am a far more discerning reader, which deepens my understanding of the books I read.

Because of this new questioning while reading, I found out that The Hunger Games Trilogy was loosely based on the Greek myth of Theseus. The protagonist, 16-year old Katniss Everdeen is viewed as a modern day Theseus.

And another unexpected benefit occurred during the summer while I was researching and writing many Profiles in Wisdom. Another question I have been asking myself as a result of having read How to Read Literature Like a Professor is where have I heard of this person before?

For instance, Ada Lovelace was the first computer programmer and she worked with Charles Babbage the father of computers. Lovelace was the daughter of Lord Byron and Lady Byron. Lady Byron was an abolitionist who became great friends with Harriet Beecher Stowe, the author of Uncle Tom’s Cabin. At one point in her life, Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain) was her neighbour. Beecher Stowe met with Abraham Lincoln who remarked, “So this is the little woman who wrote the book that made this big war,” in reference to the American Civil War. Through Charles Babbage, Ada Lovelace met Mary Fairfax Somerville who became one of her mentors. Mary Somerville was also one of the people who American astronomer Maria Mitchell had letters of introduction to when she visited Europe. Lord Byron made several references to Sappho, one of the greatest female poets who ever lived.

It’s uncanny how many connections were among the people who I researched, and it wasn’t planned on my part – it just happened – and it strengthened my knowledge on the people who I profiled. As I upload the many profiles I have already written, you will see the many connections for yourself. That’s what reading How to Read Literature Like a Professor will do for you.

How to Read Literature Like a Professor is a book that you will constantly refer to because it is packed with so much useful information. This is the book that has had the biggest impact on me in 2011. Of all the books that you’ve read in 2011, which one has had the most impact, and is the most practical? If you haven’t read Thomas Foster’s How to Read Literature Like a Professor, pick up a copy today and click here to read my review. How to Read Literature Like a Professor makes a great book for mentoring.

How can you use this information? What do you have to add to the conversation? 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 book links are affiliate links.

Interviewee Name: Steve Kayser

Company Name: Cincom Systems

Website: http://www.cincom.com/, http://expertaccess.cincom.com, http://radio.cincom.com 

Avil Beckford: Tell me a little bit about yourself.

Steve Kayser:  A non-PR, non marketing, non-writer type running a national PR department for Cincom Systems, a global software company.

Avil Beckford: Tell me about your big break and who gave you.

Steve Kayser: Just one? I have had big breaks all my life. Every day. Every month. Every year.

Tom Nies gave me my latest big break. He asked me to run PR for Cincom Systems North America. When I told him I didn’t know anything about PR he said, “Read this book – you’ll be fine.” The book he gave me was The Fall of Advertising and the Rise of PR, by Al Ries. I read it. Then called Al Ries. Explained my situation and asked his advice and also asked him to contribute to a fledgling online E-Zine I was developing called Expert Access. He did become a contributor and we went from 5,000 subscribers to 25,000 in about 1 month because of it. Al Ries (and his daughter Laura Ries) have done several interviews and articles with me … And,  Al Ries was also one of the first guests we had on Expert Access Radio — http://radio.cincom.com.

One of the lessons I took from that — People at the top value great thinking. They pass it on. If you take advantage of their thinking (in this instance Al Ries’ book) it can change everything for you. But you have to teach yourself – learn yourself. No handholding allowed.

It’s the biggest thing I would look for in new employees or partners now. Are they autodidacts? Can they teach themselves new things – continuously?

Avil Beckford: What’s one of the toughest decisions you’ve had to make and how did it impact your life?

Steve Kayser:  Having a baby in my 50’s. It was tough. Greatest thing that ever happened to me. Joy – Grace – Love. Beauty. All rolled up into one.  (I have 5 kids. Oldest son is a lawyer getting ready for the FBI. Youngest son is in Japan teaching English. My oldest daughter is a freshman at Ohio State. Then I have an 11 year old and a 1 autodidacts old.

Avil Beckford: What are three events that helped to shape your life?

Steve Kayser:

hahaha —

1. Being born. Seriously. What magic. Why me? Why you? Why here? Why now?
2. Being an MP in the Military  overseas- ( discipline/focus/)
3. That business failure mentioned above.

Avil Beckford: What’s an accomplishment that you are proudest of?

Steve Kayser:  Haven’t done them yet. I am immensely proud of my kids’ success in life so far.

Avil Beckford: How did mentors influence your life?

Steve Kayser:  Wow – where to start. See above. Some of those guys were. But I also read 3 to 5 books a week and find great mentoring there.

Avil Beckford: What’s one core message you received from your mentors?

Steve Kayser: CANEL – Continual and Never Ending Learning. Teach yourself. It’s the only way to reinvent yourself and stay relevant over time.

Avil Beckford: An invisible mentor is a unique leader you can learn things from by observing them from afar, in the capacity of an Invisible Mentor, what is one piece of advice that you would give to readers?

Steve Kayser:  Advice I stole from John Wooden. The two sets of 3.

Don’t Lie.  Don’t cheat. Don’t  Steal.

Don’t complain. Don’t Make excuses. Don’t Whine.

Avil Beckford: How do you integrate your personal and professional life?

Steve Kayser: Now there’s a tough one. How do you do it? It’s hard. Everyone has their own means of doing that.  I try to disconnect. But it’s hard. However, having a new baby makes it much easier. Nothing like a stinky diaper to keep you in the here and now. 

Avil Beckford: When you have some down time, how do you spend it? 

Steve Kayser: Playing piano. I play the piano bumpers for our radio shows. It’s a great stress reliever.

This one is called Enchantment -  there’s a  story behind it – comes from an interview I was doing with Guy Kawasaki…

http://www.writingriffs.com/2011/03/22/one-take-on-enchantment/

The music is at the bottom – 36 seconds.

Avil Beckford: What are five life lessons that you have learned so far?

Steve Kayser:

1. Don’t Lie.
2. Don’t cheat.
3. Don’t  Steal.
4. Don’t complain.
5. Don’t Make excuses.
6. Don’t Whine.

That’s 6. Sorta like a baker’s 1/2 dozen.

[Note from Avil] For those who English is a second language, a baker’s dozen is 13.

Avil Beckford: What process do you use to generate great ideas?

Steve Kayser: I find Vodka to be a great creative idea generator. But those ideas never seem to pan out so well.

Avil Beckford: What’s your favourite quotation and why?

Steve Kayser: It’s a tie.

• “This is so simple a child of 5 could figure it out. QUICK! Someone fetch a child of 5.”  Groucho Marx

• “Few things are harder to put up with than the annoyance of a good example.”  Pudd’n Head Wilson (AKA Mark Twain)

They fit so many situations. How could they not be your favorites too?

Avil Beckford: How do you define success? And in your opinion what’s the formula for success?

Steve Kayser: Wow – this is getting to be an in-depth psychological profile – am I’m flunking?

Success: Loving, being loved, enjoying life — and breathing. Breathing has a lot to recommend itself. You never really appreciate breathing and oxygen till you don’t have it. I know.

Avil Beckford: What are the steps you took to succeed in your field?

Steve Kayser:

Stumbled. Staggered. Fell.  Those are kinda the steps.

No failures = no success

To succeed you have to fail at some time. No way around that I think.

Since I’ve literally reinvented myself 5 times during my life and am in the process of doing it again – I can only say what steps seem to be common in all of those endeavors:

A Joie de vivre  – a joy for living & loving life, learning, re-learning. I need to throw a quote in here.

“The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.”Alvin Toffler

Avil Beckford: What advice do you have for someone just starting out in your field?

Steve Kayser: See above quote. And never quit. Unless you die. And that might be just another opportunity to re-invent yourself.

Avil Beckford: If trusted friends could introduce you to five people that you’ve always wanted to meet, who would you choose? And what would you say to them?

Steve Kayser:

1. Abraham Lincoln: “And the War Came” – ask him about those four words in his second inauguration. The four most powerful words ever written.
2. Mark Twain (Samuel Langhorne Clemens): Ask him about his daughter’s elegy – his most poignant words ever written.
3. Oscar Wilde: Really? What did he think he was doing dying so early?
4. Nikola Tesla: Ask him where the diagrams/plans were for his wireless free energy. I know where most of them are. But I want it from him. And then I’d tell him “Nik — you should have married – and why weren’t you nicer to JP Morgan’s daughter?
5. Paul McCartney: How about us doing a ragtime gig together?

Avil Beckford: Which one book had a profound impact on your life? What was it about this book that impacted you so deeply?

Steve Kayser:

• Man’s Search for Meaning. Read it. Viktor Frankl.  It was originally to be published anonymously but his friends told him he should put his name on it. 60 million copies and years later … It still will shock the senses.
• The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles – By Steven Pressfield. A friend.  A mentor. Anther person I would have never met if I wouldn’t have failed miserably.  And this book is a contribution to all writers/artists/entrepreneurs.  It’s your roadmap to getting things done. Read it. You.

Here’s a synopsis I did with him:

http://www.writingriffs.com/2009/10/05/the-power-of-story-in-business-and-life-lessons-learned-from-bestselling-authors-steven-pressfield-robert-mckee-and-skip-press/

Avil Beckford: You are one of the 10 finalists on the reality show, So, How Would You Spend Your Time? Each finalist is placed on separate deserted islands for two years. You have a basic hut on the island and all the tools for survival; you just have to be imaginative and inventive when using them. How would you spend the two years? The prize is worth your while and at this stage in the game there really aren’t any losers among the 10 finalists, since each are guaranteed at least $2 million?

Steve Kayser: Working out. Getting the abs tightened up. Practice my ballroom and break-dancing.  Try to beat myself at checkers. Wait a minute. I’ve already done that.  Does anyone get to come with me? See — that’d change my answer probably.

Avil Beckford: What excites you about life?

Steve Kayser: Breathing. Adventure. Being alive at this time – in this place – with the people in my life -is an amazing opportunity. One to be excited about. You too?

Avil Beckford: How do you nurture your soul?

Steve Kayser: Been on a diet there. I’m malnourished- maybe spiritual anorexic right now. But … I try to pray every morning. In case the “Ultimate Greatness” isn’t paying attention I try to be quiet and listen sometime too. That’s called mediation I believe. But the chattering monkey minds are hard to quell – no? How do you do it? If I can find a special way to express kindness in a quiet, non-visible way to someone, I try to do it.

Avil Beckford: If you had a personal genie and she gave you one wish, what would you wish for?

Steve Kayser: An explosion of creative ideas that would make a dent in the universe. And … that she look like J-lo. Wait a minute. She better look like my wife – or I’d get in trouble.

Avil Beckford: Complete the following, I am happy when…..

Steve Kayser: I complete 31 questions on any form – especially the IRS form – but this one as well.

This reminds me of a psychological personality profile the head of our Global HR made me take one day because he realized I had avoided it for 10 years – and suspected I was hiding from it (I was).  The test took 3 hours.  When it came back he went over the results with me.

In his best (which isn’t very good) deadpan attempt at humor he said,

“According to these scores you flunked.  You technically don’t have a personality”

I said “GREAT, That qualifies me for your job. I needed a break from all this hard work. When can I start?”

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.

Book links are affiliate links.

Related articles

• Protected: Marketing Lesson from the Grateful Dead – How to Steal a Great Name? (writingriffs.com)
• http://www.writingriffs.com/2009/10/05/the-power-of-story-in-business-and-life-lessons-learned-from-bestselling-authors-steven-pressfield-robert-mckee-and-skip-press/
• http://www.writingriffs.com/2011/03/22/one-take-on-enchantment/
• “Say Yes to Life,” A Review of Man’s Search For Meaning by Viktor Frankl

Summer is the time when most get caught up on their reading. And most are reading novels during this time, but what if you did something a little differently from the rest. Gene Waddell, an architectural historian and College Archivist at the College of Charleston in Charleston, SC, pulled together an extensive list of rare books that inspire learning. I have taken 10 books from his list, and as you will note, they are from a variety genres to build your general knowledge and increase your ability to strategize and solve problems.

1. Anthropology: Race, Language, Psychology, Prehistory, Kroeber
2. Antiquities of Athens by James Stuart; Nicholas Revett
3. Tomb of Tut-ankh-Amen: Discovered by the late Earl of Carnarvon and Howard Carter, Howard Carter
4. Roughing It, Mark Twain
5. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglas, Frederick Douglas
6. Diary of Samuel Pepys, ed. Richard Griffin Baybrook
7. New System of Chemical Philosophy, John Dalton
8. Emerson: Essays, Ralph Waldo Emerson
9. Travels in the Interior Districts of Africa, Mungo Park
10. The Wright Brothers Aëroplane, by Orville and Wilbur Wright Century Magazine, September 1908

Over the summer, try to read a couple of the above, and I will do the same. 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.

Some of the links to the books are for free downloads, some are Amazon affiliate links.

Photo Credit: Flickr via Apture

In Mashable’s blog post (WordPress 2.9 Now Available for Download) they mentioned the new WordPress was now available. I went to my blog and chose automatic download, something I’d done a few times before. The message said upgrade was successful so I felt pretty good.

A few hours later I tried to log on to my blog and got a strange error message. I contacted the firm which hosts my blog, and I sent an SOS message to Cathy Tibbles from Desperately Seeking WordPress to fix my blog. I felt helpless and stressed because I didn’t know what was wrong and I didn’t know how to fix the problem. I knew that I had not done anything wrong.

It took a while for Cathy to diagnose the problem, and for my blog to be working again – over two days. I lost all my comments and had to recreate all my categories. But, I am grateful because my blog is working properly again. While my blog was down, I typed in the URL for my blog and got the message This Account Has Been Suspending, not the kind of message one expects to see. Since I could fix the problem with my blog, I simple let it go and I felt the tightness in my chest go away.

It was a difficult process, but I am very proud of the way I responded. There were times when I was frustrated, but most of the time I was very calm. During the process,  because my blog is working properly again. I was reminded of the Mark Twain quote, “Worrying about something is like paying interest on a debt you don’t even know if you owe,” and the Serenity Prayer.

The Serenity Prayer

By Reinhold Niebuhr

God grant me the serenity

to accept the things I cannot change;

courage to change the things I can;

and wisdom to know the difference.

The Serenity Prayer has been adopted by Alcoholics Anonymous and some of the other twelve-step programs. The words of the prayer and the Mark Twain quote are very true. What are your thoughts? What are five things that you are stressed out about that you have no control over?

Too much stress prevents you from showing up as your authentic self, can you afford that? I would be eternally grateful if you would comment on blog posts that you have enjoyed so that I do not feel as if I am whistling in the dark. Let’s keep the conversation flowing.

Many readers read this blog from other sites, so why don’t you pop over here (top on the left side) The Invisible Mentor and subscribe by email or RSS Feed. I created a Mini Learning Toolkit and you can grab a copy by clicking here.