When you're nice to people, they want to be nice back to you.

You don't know you're going to get a 'No' until you ask, and if you don't ask, you've given yourself the No.

If you want something different, you are going to have to do something different.

To achieve major success in life - to achieve those things that are most important to you - you must assume 100% responsibility for your life. Nothing less will do.

Each day is an adventure in discovering the meaning of life. It is each little thing that you do that day - whether it be spending time with your friends, running in a cross-country meet or just simply staring at the crashing ocean- that holds the key to discovering the meaning of life. I would rather be out enjoying these things than pondering them. We may never really discover the meaning of life, but the knowledge we gain in our quest to discover it is truly more valuable.

I have a friend, a pastor, who applied with me and 419 other people for 25 seats on a special advisory board. Though I believed she was infinitely more qualified than me, she wasn't selected and I was. When I saw her at her church weeks later, I asked her how she felt about the decision. While disappointment, self-doubt and defeat would have been normal reactions to the Board's decision, my friend said she felt great. 'How come?' I asked. She said with a smile, 'I just figured God had something better in store for me.'

The day you change your responses is the day your life will begin to get better.