Lasting motivation proceeds forth from the heart. People can be temporarily motivated by other people and things around them. Permanent, enduring motivation, however, can only come from within.

To gain credibility, you must consistently demonstrate three things: Initiative: You have to get up to go up. Sacrifice: You have to give up to go up. Maturity: You have to grow up to go up. If you show the way, people will want to follow you. The higher you go, the greater the number of people who will be willing to travel with you.

Rotten Attitudes ruin a team.

When I was 17, I made the decision to have a good attitude. I was a junior in high school; the coach said I was going to be the captain of my basketball team. I thought – that surprised me because I wasn’t the best player. John Thomas was better than me, and I was probably second or third best player. And I kept thinking, “Why am I going to be the captain?” I think everybody else was thinking that too. And the coach then answered, “The reason John is going to be the captain is he has the best attitude on the team. He encourages others, he believes we can win, he never gives up.”

The most talented do not always end up as celebrities, and those with less talent often do. Upsets are written into our history and occur around us every day.

Life can be boring unless you put some effort into it.

The greatest enemy of good thinking is busyness.