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	<title>Mr. Conroy</title>
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	<description>Personal Development</description>
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		<title>The Eight Habits of Highly Effective People</title>
		<link>https://mrconroy.com/the-eight-habits-of-highly-effective-people/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Conroy]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Thu, 26 Jul 2012 00:22:44 +0000</pubDate>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://mrconroy.com/?p=766</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[I see eight unique human endowments or capabilities associated with Stephen Covey’s two books: The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People and The 8th Habit: From Effectiveness to Greatness. One way to look at these two books is to identify the unique human capability or endowment associated with each habit. There are three primary and [&#8230;]]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><img class="alignright" src="https://mrconroy.com/images/stephen-covey.png" title="My salute to the passing of Stephen Covey on July 16, 2012." style="width:150px; height:auto;">I see eight unique human endowments or capabilities associated with Stephen Covey’s two books: <i>The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People</i> and <i>The 8th Habit: From Effectiveness to Greatness</i>.</p>
<p>One way to look at these two books is to identify the unique human capability or endowment associated with each habit. There are three primary and three secondary unique human endowments. Animals do not possess any of them. They are on a continuum—from low to high levels. The seventh and eighth human endowments evolve from the application and mastery of the primary and secondary human endowments.</p>
<p>The <b>Primary Human Endowments</b> move you from dependence to independence, and on to self-mastery:</p>
<blockquote><p>
1) <font color="red">self-awareness</font> or <font color="red">self-knowledge</font><br />
2) <font color="red">imagination</font> and <font color="red">conscience</font><br />
3) <font color="red">volition</font> or <font color="red">will power</font>
</p></blockquote>
<p>The <b>Secondary Human Endowments</b> help you work effectively with others to develop interdependence:</p>
<blockquote><p>
4) an <font color="red">abundance mentality</font><br />
5) <font color="red">courage</font> and <font color="red">consideration</font><br />
6) <font color="red">creativity</font>
</p></blockquote>
<p>The <i>seventh endowment</i> is <font color="red">self-renewal</font>. It relates to rejuvenation—recharging your own internal battery.</p>
<p>The <i>eighth endowment</i> is <font color="red">promoting leadership</font>. It complements the first seven endowments to help you find your voice and then inspire others to find theirs. It moves you from effectiveness to greatness.</p>
<hr>
<h4>Primary Human Endowments</h4>
<p>These enable you to use the secondary endowments more effectively.</p>
<h3>Associated with <font color="#0099cc">Habit 1</font>:</h3>
<p><font color="#0099cc">Be Proactive</font> is the endowment of <font color="red">self-knowledge</font> or <font color="red">self-awareness</font>, an ability to choose your response. It becomes your response-ability.</p>
<p>At the low end of the continuum are the ineffective people who transfer responsibility by blaming others, their environment, or anything or anybody &#8220;out there&#8221; so that they do not have to take responsibility for their results. They spend a considerable amount of energy blaming and criticizing those around them. They refuse to take responsibility for their actions—it is always someone else’s fault. They are victims of the circumstances they have created.</p>
<p><img src="https://mrconroy.com/images/arrow01.png" title="Victim &#8594; Choose Response" class="centered"></p>
<p>At the upper end of the continuum toward increasing effectiveness is self-awareness or self-knowledge: &#8220;I know my tendencies; I know the scripts or programs that are in me; but I am not those scripts. I can rewrite my scripts.&#8221; They are aware that they are the creative force of their life. They are not the victim of conditions or conditioning. They can choose their response to any situation, to any person.</p>
<p>So on the continuum; they go from being a victim to having a self-determining creative power through self-awareness so they can choose their response to any condition or conditioning. They know that they cannot control what happens, but they can control their reaction to that event. They are not a victim, at the mercy of anyone or anything that comes their way.</p>
<h3>Associated with <font color="#0099cc">Habit 2</font>:</h3>
<p><font color="#0099cc">Begin With the End In Mind</font> is the endowment of <font color="red">imagination</font> and <font color="red">conscience</font>. If they are the programmer, they write the program. They decide what they are going to do with the time, talent, and tools they have to work with: &#8220;Within my small circle of influence, I am going to decide.&#8221;</p>
<p><img src="https://mrconroy.com/images/arrow02.png" title="Futility &#8594; Hope and Purpose" class="centered"></p>
<p>At the low end of the continuum is the sense of futility about goals, purposes, and improvement efforts. After all, if they are totally victims, if they are a product of what has happened to them, what can they realistically do about anything? So they wander through life wishing that things will turn out well, that the environment may be positive, so they can have your daily bread and maybe some positive fruits. They have developed the “lottery” mentality. They go through life believing that if they are lucky enough everything will turn out OK. </p>
<p>At the other end is a sense of hope and purpose: &#8220;I have created the future in my mind. I can see it, and I can imagine what it will be like.&#8221; These are the people who have the capability to imagine a new course of action and pursue it conscientiously.</p>
<h3>Associated with <font color="#0099cc">Habit 3</font>:</h3>
<p><font color="#0099cc">Put First Things First</font> is the endowment of <font color="red">volition</font> or <font color="red">willpower</font>.</p>
<p>At the low end of the continuum is the ineffective, flaky life of floating and coasting, avoiding responsibility and taking the easy way out, exercising little initiative or willpower. Their life is very volatile.</p>
<p>They are constantly putting out fires as they move from crisis to crisis. They are dominated every day by these two negatives: can’t and won’t. They are constantly in a state of self-doubt; &#8220;shoulda, woulda, couldaing&#8221; all over themselves.</p>
<p><img src="https://mrconroy.com/images/arrow03.png" title="Crisis to Crisis &#8594; Controlled Discipline" class="centered"></p>
<p>At the top end is a highly disciplined life that focuses heavily on the highly important but not necessarily urgent activities of life. It is a life of leverage and influence, of controlled discipline.</p>
<p>They are focused on the important but not necessarily urgent matters of their life and have developed the will power to realize them. They are in control, in the driver’s seat, of their life. They have a map of their destination and are enjoying the journey, and the inevitable detours along the way, as they move consistently in the direction of their destination. </p>
<hr>
<h4>Secondary Human Endowments</h4>
<p>These take the primary endowments to the next level.</p>
<h3>Associated with <font color="#0099cc">Habit 4</font>:</h3>
<p><font color="#0099cc">Think Win-Win</font> is the endowment of an <font color="red">abundance mentality</font>—the creation of an abundance mindset. Why? Their security comes from principles. Everything is seen through principles. When their wife makes a mistake, they are not accusing her of anything or blaming her for the results. Why? Their security does not come from their wife living up to their expectations. Their security comes from within themselves—their fundamental principles.</p>
<p>They are principle-centered. As people become increasingly principle-centered, they love to share—indeed, they flourish—when they pass on, they pass recognition and power on to everyone around them who is a part of the team. Why? The recognition and power is not a limited pie with only so many pieces to go around. It is an ever-enlarging pie. There is enough for everyone that wants a piece of it. When it seems that the pie has run out—almost, as if by magic, more appears. It is like the water tap that seems to float in the sky—never running out of water.</p>
<p><img src="https://mrconroy.com/images/arrow04.png" title="Scarcity Mentality &#8594; Abundance Mentality" class="centered"></p>
<p>The basic paradigm and assumption about limited resources is flawed. The scarcity mindset will, more times than not, lead to destructive and unnecessary competition. The great capabilities of people are hardly even tapped. The abundance mentality produces more profit, power, and recognition for everybody. The expression “My cup runneth over!” is a true representation of the abundance mentality.</p>
<p>On the continuum, they move from a scarcity to an abundance mentality.  They develop feelings of intrinsic self-worth and a benevolent desire for mutual benefit. </p>
<h3>Associated with <font color="#0099cc">Habit 5</font>:</h3>
<p><font color="#0099cc">Seek First to Understand, Then to Be Understood</font> is the endowment of <font color="red">courage</font> balanced with <font color="red">consideration</font>. Does it take courage and consideration to not be understood first? Think about it. Think about the obstacles and challenges they face daily. Don’t they go something like this?</p>
<p>“You need to first understand my point of view. I hear where you are coming from. So let me tell you my story first, and then you can say what you want.&#8221; And the other person says, &#8220;Okay, I&#8217;ll try to understand, I will hear you out first.&#8221; But the whole time they are sitting there &#8220;listening&#8221; to you they are not active listeners, they are passive and selective listeners. They are just pretending to listen. They are so busy preparing, in their mind, their reply to what they think you have said, they only tune in long enough to hear a word here and there. They look attentive and absorbed in your point of view, but, they are not.</p>
<p>What happens when they show their home movies or relate some chapter of their autobiography? When they ask their audience to &#8220;let me tell you my experience&#8221;? Invariably, the other person tunes out unless he/she feels you first understand where he/she is coming from.</p>
<p><img src="https://mrconroy.com/images/arrow05.png" title="Partial Communication &#8594; Complete Communication" class="centered"></p>
<p>But what happens when you truly listen to another person? The whole relationship is transformed: &#8220;Someone started listening to me and they seemed to savor my words. They did not agree or disagree, they just were listening and I felt as if they truly understood how I saw the world. In that process, I found myself listening to myself. I started to feel a worth in myself. I started to feel I had a valuable contribution to make to society.&#8221; </p>
<p>The root cause of almost all people problems is this basic communication problem—people do not listen with empathy. They listen from within their autobiography. They lack the skill and attitude of empathy. They need approval; they lack courage. The ability to listen first requires restraint, respect, and reverence. The ability to make yourself understood requires the courage to understand the other person first and the consideration to wait for the person to understand you, after you have understood them.</p>
<p>On the continuum, they go from fight and flight instincts to mature two-way communication where empathy dominates, and courage is balanced with consideration. They move from a partial one-sided communication to complete two-way communication. Everyone gets the message loud and clear!</p>
<h3>Associated with <font color="#0099cc">Habit 6</font>:</h3>
<p><font color="#0099cc">Synergize</font> is the endowment of <font color="red">creativity</font>, the creation of something. How? By yourself? No way, through two or more respectful minds communicating, they produce solutions that are far better than what either originally proposed.</p>
<p>They combine the strengths of people through positive teamwork, achieving goals no one person could have done on their own. They get the best performance out of a group of people by encouraging meaningful contribution, and modeling inspirational and supportive leadership.</p>
<p>Most negotiation is positional bargaining and results, at best, is a compromise. Think about it. When a union negotiates it takes the position on all issues established by their membership. When a company negotiates it takes the position of its shareholders on all issues. The resulting agreement is a compromise between the parties—a give and take.</p>
<p><img src="https://mrconroy.com/images/arrow06.png" title="One-Sided Solutions &#8594; Dynamic Solutions" class="centered"></p>
<p>When you get into synergistic communication, the individual positions take a secondary role. The focus becomes an understanding of basic underlying needs and interests, finding solutions to satisfy everyone.</p>
<p>You get people thinking. You get into the spirit of teamwork; you start to build a very powerful bond, an emotional bank account, where people are willing to subordinate their immediate wants for long-term relationships. With courage and consideration you end up communicating openly with each other and invariably create win-win solutions that neither side could have anticipated or created on their own. </p>
<p>On the continuum, you go from defensive communication, to compromise transactions, to synergistic and creative alternatives and transformations. You move from limited one-sided solutions to dynamic inspirational solutions.</p>
<h3>Associated with <font color="#0099cc">Habit 7</font>:</h3>
<p><font color="#0099cc">Sharpen the Saw</font> is the unique endowment of continuous improvement or <font color="red">self-renewal</font> to overcome entropy. If you do not constantly improve and renew yourself, you will fall into entropy, closed systems, and styles.</p>
<p>It is the endowment that is needed to help you to continuously move you through the primary and secondary human endowments and keep you continuously growing from dependence to independence as you work more and more effectively with others.</p>
<p>It is this endowment that will continuously reassess the primary and secondary human endowment areas and ensure there is constant and continuous growth over time.</p>
<p><img src="https://mrconroy.com/images/arrow07.png" title="Ripe &#038; Rotting &#8594; Green and Growing" class="centered"></p>
<p>I have, for over forty years, been using the CANI (Constant And Never-ending Improvement) system, developed by a Texas sales trainer, Zig Ziglar to keep, as Zig would say, “Green and Growing”. Zig says that you need CANI to give yourself regular major surgery—an attitudectomy—a check-up from the neck-up—to get rid of the stinkin’ thinkin’. If you don’t do that, Zig says, you will soon be “Ripe and Rotting”. </p>
<p>At one end of the continuum is entropy (everything breaks down), and the other end is continuous improvement, innovation, and refinement. On the continuum, you go from a condition of entropy to a condition of continuous renewal, improvement, innovation, and refinement. Or, as Zig Ziglar would say, you move from the condition of “Ripe and Rotting” to one of “Green &#038; Growing”.</p>
<h3>Associated with <font color="#0099cc">Habit 8</font>:</h3>
<p><font color="#0099cc">Find Your Voice; Inspire Others to Find Theirs</font> is the unique endowment of <font color="red">promoting leadership</font> that will enable you to move you from effectiveness to greatness. As information and knowledge continue to expand at accelerating rates, it becomes more and more crucial to develop leaders that can make sense of ever increasing volumes of meaningful and relevant information and communicate with others how to do the same. In addition, populations are aging. The largest segment of the world population—the baby boomers—are retiring and leaving the work force. We need to replace them with leaders that have the technological savvy to handle this plethora of data. But, the knowledge and use of technology is not enough. We need leaders that have the ability to use technology <b><u>and</u></b> work with people. The information age requires that not only do we need to know how to work a computer; but, we also need leaders who can efficiently and effectively communicate this ability to a wide range of people—one-on-one or in networks—with different personalities. Technology is a wonderful tool, but it is still only that, a tool.</p>
<p><img src="https://mrconroy.com/images/arrow08.png" title="Isolation &#8594; One Interconnected World" class="centered"></p>
<p>One-on-one interpersonal communication skills are a must in this, the age of specialization. As people acquire a depth of knowledge they become more and more reliant of others to understand and apply the information they do not have any expertise in.</p>
<p>As John Donne (1572-1631) said in his Meditation XVII, 1624: &#8220;&#8230;No man is an island, entire of itself&#8230;&#8221; Human beings do not thrive when isolated from others—people are not isolated from one another, mankind is interconnected. To move from effectiveness to greatness you need to find your voice and inspire others to find theirs.</p>
<p>At one end of the continuum is isolation, and at the other end is a world community that thrives on the input of everyone within that society. As technology gets into the hands of the masses world-wide I believe that we will see increasing evidence of the voice of one individual. Can you imagine what would have happened in 1989 China had Tiananmen Square protests (the picture of a young man standing in front of a tank is permanently etched in my mind) if today’s technology were available then? Ask the people in North Africa if they make a difference in their nation and in their society. The day is not far away when governments will have to start paying more attention to the individuals in their nations. The people in Egypt and Algeria have tasted the power of the ability to get huge groups of people out in protest.</p>
<hr>
<p>My hope in combining these two books – <i>The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People</i> and <i>The 8th Habit: From Effectiveness to Greatness</i> – into one, the way I have in this paper, will give everyone a different perspective to this information, benefit the lives of many other people, and encourage everyone to make this system a part of their everyday lives.</p>
<p><center>***</center></p>
<p>This blog post was adapted from:</p>
<ul>
<li>www.StephenCovey.com
</li>
<li>www.RobertFinkelstein.wordpress.com
</li>
</ul>
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		<item>
		<title>113 Random Thoughts—For Those Who Wish to Think</title>
		<link>https://mrconroy.com/113-random-thoughts-for-those-who-wish-to-think/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Conroy]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Wed, 25 Jul 2012 23:32:37 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://mrconroy.com/?p=759</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[If I missed giving credit where credit is due, send me an email. Success is getting up just one more time than you fall down. A sense of humor is what makes you laugh at something which would make you mad if it happened to you. An authority is a person who can tell you [&#8230;]]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>If I missed giving credit where credit is due, <a href="contact" title="Contact me">send me an email</a>.</p>
<ol>
<li>Success is getting up just one more time than you fall down.
</li>
<li>A sense of humor is what makes you laugh at something which would make you mad if it happened to you.
</li>
<li>An authority is a person who can tell you more about something than you really care to know.
</li>
<li>The world seems to be changing so fast nowadays you could not stay wrong all the time even if you tried.
</li>
<li>The best time to look for work is after you get the job.
</li>
<li>Doing business without advertising is like winking at a girl in the dark. You know what you are doing, but nobody else does.
</li>
<li>Do not ever be afraid to admit you were wrong. It is like saying your wiser today than you were yesterday.
</li>
<li>There is a big difference between advice and help.
</li>
<li>No one ever listened himself out of a job.
</li>
<li>Do not be afraid to go out on a limb. That is where the fruit is.
</li>
<li>Some people do not want advice. They just see you as a wastebasket for their worries.
</li>
<li>If you want long friendships, develop a short memory.
</li>
<li>Man&#8217;s mind, stretched by a new idea, never goes back to its original shape and size.
</li>
<li>Three things never return: the past, the neglected opportunity, and the spoken word.
</li>
<li>Some great people make other people fell small, but really great people make everyone feel great.
</li>
<li>Love may not make the world go around, but it sure makes the trip worthwhile.
</li>
<li>The young want to change the world. The old want to change the young.
</li>
<li>What a lot of people are looking for these days is less to do, more time to do it, and higher pay for not getting it done in the first place.
</li>
<li>You can do a little with faith; you can to nothing without it.
</li>
<li>We too often love things and use people when we should be using things and loving people.
</li>
<li>No one can make you feel more humble than the repairman who discovers you have been trying to fix it yourself.
</li>
<li>Idealism increases in direct proportion to one&#8217;s distance from the problem.
</li>
<li>Few things make us feel better than having our judgment vindicated.
</li>
<li>Do a few good turns today. You will not get dizzy.
</li>
<li>The third day of a diet is not too bad. By then you are off of it.
</li>
<li>The young man knows the rules, but the old man knows the exceptions.
</li>
<li>The person who gets ahead is the one who does more than is necessary . . . and keeps doing it.
</li>
<li>He who dares wins.
</li>
<li>In order to appreciate excellence you must yourself have struggled for it.
</li>
<li>Having a conscience does not prevent us from sinning. It merely prevents us from enjoying it.
</li>
<li>If you do a favor for someone and expect a favor in return, it is a trade, not an act of kindness.
</li>
<li>Weller&#8217;s law: Nothing is impossible for the man who does not have to do it himself.
</li>
<li>There is no limit to what can be accomplished if it does not matter who gets the credit.
</li>
<li>School is known by the people it keeps.
</li>
<li>The trouble with some people today is that they are educated beyond their intelligence.
</li>
<li>You can hire people to work for you, but you must win their hearts to have them work with you.
</li>
<li>Every man is a damn fool for at least five minutes every day; wisdom consists of not exceeding the limit.
</li>
<li>Chisholm&#8217;s Law: Anytime things appear to be going better, you have overlooked something.
</li>
<li>The tragedy of life is not that we die, but is rather, as Albert Schweitzer has said, &#8221; . . . what dies inside a man while he lives&#8221;.
</li>
<li>Experience is the name everyone gives to their mistakes.
</li>
<li>The obscure we see eventually, the completely apparent take a little longer.
</li>
<li>People who wait until they feel like doing a job, rarely do.
</li>
<li>Do a few good turns today: you will not get dizzy.
</li>
<li>The people most preoccupied with titles and status are usually the least deserving of them.
</li>
<li>Competition does not create character, it exposes it.
</li>
<li>There are three kinds of teachers, successful, unsuccessful, and those who give seminars telling the second group how the first group did it.
</li>
<li>The first essential of doing a job well is the wish to see the job done at all.
</li>
<li>The difference between promising ideas and productive results is a good manager.
</li>
<li>Few things make us feel better than having our judgment vindicated.
</li>
<li>People, who tell you what kind of people they are, usually are not.
</li>
<li>When you make out your income tax this year, we trust you remember that it’s better to give than to deceive.
</li>
<li>Anytime you want to demonstrate something, the number of faults is proportionate to the number to observers.
</li>
<li>Poise is the ability to keep talking while the other guy picks up the check.
</li>
<li>Eighty percent of success is showing up.
</li>
<li>Nothing is more beautiful than cheerfulness in an old face.
</li>
<li>The young make the mistake of thinking that education can take the place of experience. The old, that experience can take the place of education.
</li>
<li>Have old memories but young hopes.
</li>
<li>You can really never get away. You can only take yourself somewhere else.
</li>
<li>Definition of a Genius: A person who aims at something no one else can see . . . and hits it !
</li>
<li>Luxuries are what other people buy.
</li>
<li>Tact is changing the subject without changing your mind.
</li>
<li>The young and the old have all the answers. Those in between are stuck with the questions.
</li>
<li>Carrying your cares to bed is like sleeping with a pack on your back.
</li>
<li>A long dispute means that both parties are wrong.
</li>
<li>It is much easier to be critical than to be correct.
</li>
<li>You will not strain your eyes if you look at the bright side of things.
</li>
<li>I will say this for adversity, people seem to be able to stand it and that is more than I can say for prosperity.
</li>
<li>Discontent is the penalty we pay for being race horses instead of cows.
</li>
<li>Joggers make dependable spouses; in those outfits they wear, home is the only place they can go.
</li>
<li>Give your decision, never your reasons: your decisions may be right, your reasons are sure to be wrong.
</li>
<li>You can not build a reputation on what youaare going to do.
</li>
<li>Change never helps those who do not help themselves
</li>
<li>Fifty years ago people finished a day&#8217;s work and needed rest. Today they need exercise.
</li>
<li>As scarce as truth is, the supply seems greater than the demand.
</li>
<li>Truth is shorter than fiction.
</li>
<li>Everyone is counting something: Dollars, Pounds, Accomplishments, Calories . . .
</li>
<li>Forgiveness does not change the past, but it does enlarge the future.
</li>
<li>Short visits make long friends.
</li>
<li>Aim for perfection ! Half right is always half wrong.
</li>
<li>Money is a wonderful thing, but it is possible to pay too high a price for it.
</li>
<li>To figure the cost of living, just take your income and add 10 percent.
</li>
<li>People who think they know it all, are a pain in the neck to those of us who really do.
</li>
<li>It is nice to be important, but it is more important to be nice.
</li>
<li>Leadership is the activity of influencing people to cooperate toward some goal they come to find desirable.
</li>
<li>They call it take-home pay because there is no other place you can afford to go with it.
</li>
<li>Ability: Ability may get you to the top, but it takes character to keep you there.
</li>
<li>Attitude: Nothing will work unless you do.
</li>
<li>Faith: There are many things that are essential to arriving at true peace of mind, and one of the most important is faith, which cannot be acquired without prayer.
</li>
<li>Mind: You cannot attain and maintain physical condition unless you are morally and mentally conditioned. It is impossible to be in moral condition unless you are spiritually conditioned. I always told my players that our team condition depended on two factors: How hard they worked on the floor during practice, and How well they behaved between practices.
</li>
<li>Perseverance: It is not so important who starts the game but who finishes it.
</li>
<li>Sports: Sports do not build character, they reveal it.
</li>
<li>Youth: Young people need models, not critics —John Wooden
</li>
<li>You have to expect things of yourself before you can do them —Michael Jordan
</li>
<li>&#8220;One man practicing sportsmanship is far better than 50 men preaching it.<br />
One man practicing sportsmanship is better than 100 men teaching it.<br />
Build up your weaknesses until they become your strong points.&#8221; —Knute Rockne
</li>
<li>The angry man will defeat himself in battle as well as in life —Samurai Maxim
</li>
<li>Most people live and die with their music still unplayed. They never dare to try. —Mary Kay Ash
</li>
<li>One loss is good for the soul. Too many losses are not good for the coach. —Knute Rockne
</li>
<li>Avoid fruits and nuts. You are what you eat. —Jim Davis (Garfield the Cat)
</li>
<li>Three are three kinds of people in the world: those that make things happen, those that watch things happen, and those that look around and wonder what happened.
</li>
<li>Parkinson&#8217;s Law: Whatever can go wrong, will.
</li>
<li>Get rid of the stinkin&#8217; thinkin&#8217;. Give yourself major surgery—an attitudectomy—a check-up from the neck up: Zig Ziglar
</li>
<li>Practice does not make perfect. Practice makes permanent. Only correct practice makes perfect.
</li>
<li>New income tax form. Line one: how much did you make. Line two: send it.
</li>
<li>The trouble with common sense is that it is not very common. —Will Rogers
</li>
<li>One day I was sitting sad and lonely a voice came to me out of the blue saying: &#8220;Cheer up, things could get worse!&#8221; So I did. And sure enough, things got worse.
</li>
<li>Definition of insanity: Doing the same thing over and over, expecting different results. —Albert Einstein
</li>
<li>To succeed: double your failure rate.
</li>
<li>The challenging we can do immediately, the impossible just takes a little longer.
</li>
<li>Always do more than is expected of you.
</li>
<li>When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.
</li>
<li>The year that Babe Ruth was the home-run king, he was also the strike-out king.
</li>
<li>The opposite of success is not failure, it is giving up!
</li>
<li>Remember, life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.
</li>
</ol>
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		<title>What are you worth to the team?</title>
		<link>https://mrconroy.com/what-are-you-worth-to-the-team/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Conroy]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Wed, 11 Jul 2012 18:33:37 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://mrconroy.com/?p=602</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[I received this in a forwarded email a number of years ago. It came from the University of Calgary Dinosaur Basketball Program. It has a profound message: always do more than is expected of you, that way you will have the law of attraction on your side. The Law of Attraction states that whatever you [&#8230;]]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I received this in a forwarded email a number of years ago. It came from the University of Calgary Dinosaur Basketball Program. It has a profound message: always do more than is expected of you, that way you will have the law of attraction on your side.</p>
<p>The Law of Attraction states that whatever you give, without the expectation of receiving anything back in return, will come back to you ten-fold. It is as universal as the Law of Gravity—it does not matter if you believe in the Law of Gravity or not, when you step of a fifty-foot cliff on the edge of the sea, you will fall into the sea.</p>
<blockquote><p>
A father had three sons, and they all worked for the same man, a dealer in furs. One day the father went down to talk to the President of the Fur Company, Jim Watson, an old boyhood friend. He went into the office and said: &#8220;Jim, my three boys all work for you and I appreciate you giving them positions in your company. I have a question that is bothering me. You pay one of them $800 a month, the second one $1,000 a month, and the last one $1,700 a month. Why?</p>
<p>The President leaned back in his chair and was silent for a few moments. Then his face brightened as he answered, &#8220;Well maybe I can show you why right this minute. Can you stay here for a while?&#8221;</p>
<p>&#8220;I can stay all day,&#8221; the father said.</p>
<p>&#8220;Well you just might have to stay all day. Make yourself at home.&#8221;</p>
<p>He picked up the telephone and called one of the boys, the $800 boy. He said, &#8220;I understand the Ontario has just docked at the wharf, loaded with furs. Please go down there and see what cargo she is carrying, and let me know.&#8221; About three minutes later the President’s telephone rang and the young fellow said. &#8220;I did not even have to go down there to get the information. I telephoned down. They have fifteen hundred seal pelts.&#8221; The President said, &#8220;Thank-you.&#8221;</p>
<p>He buzzed the next boy, the $1,000 boy, and said, &#8220;The Ontario has just docked. Will you please go down and see what she has on board and let me know at your earliest convenience.&#8221; About an hour later the telephone rang and the second boy said: &#8220;I just went down and checked the Ontario. She’s got fifteen hundred seal pelts on board.&#8221;</p>
<p>He rang the third boy, the 1,700 boy. He said: &#8220;The Ontario has just docked. Will you please go down and see what she has on board and let me know at your earliest convenience.&#8221; The same story and the same request he made of the other two boys. The $1,700 boy came back four hours later and came right on into the Presidents’ office. He said: &#8220;Well, she had fifteen hundred seal pelts on board and all are in good shape. I bought them for five dollars apiece, and filled that order we had from one of our customers. He bought all of them from us for seven dollars apiece. The Ontario also had five hundred red fox pelts. Of course, we do not handle red fox, but I knew who wanted them, so I called him long distance and made a sale. The deal will net us about $4,000. There were also thirty-nine mink pelts on board. I went in and examined them. They are beautiful, they are the finest. Since you always like to handle the mink trade yourself, I took an option on them for an hour so I could report to you.&#8221;</p>
<p>The President said, &#8220;Thank-you,&#8221; and the young man left. Jim asked the father: &#8220;Is your question answered?&#8221;</p>
<p>&#8220;Yes replied the father, &#8220;one of the boys did not even obey you, the other went only halfway, but the third one gave you everything he had.&#8221;
</p></blockquote>
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		<title>11 things you didn&#8217;t learn in school</title>
		<link>https://mrconroy.com/11-things-you-didnt-learn-in-school/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Conroy]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Wed, 11 Jul 2012 18:00:15 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://mrconroy.com/?p=574</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[Excerpt from the book Dumbing Down Our Kids by educator Charles Sykes. It lists eleven things you did not learn in school. Sykes talks about how feel-good, politically-correct teachings have created a generation of kids with no concept of reality, and how this concept sets them up for failure in the real world—you will not [&#8230;]]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Excerpt from the book <i><b>Dumbing Down Our Kids</b></i> by educator Charles Sykes. It lists eleven things you did not learn in school.</p>
<p>Sykes talks about how feel-good, politically-correct teachings have created a generation of kids with no concept of reality, and how this concept sets them up for failure in the real world—you will not float in the air because you do not believe in gravity.<br />
</p>
<ol>
<li>Life is not fair &#8211; get used to it.</li>
<li>The world does not care about your self-esteem. The world will expect you to accomplish something <i>before</i> you feel good about yourself.</li>
<li>You will <i>not</i> make 40 thousand dollars a year right out of high school. You will not be a vice president with a car phone, until you <i>earn</i> both.</li>
<li>If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get a boss. He does not have tenure.</li>
<li>Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your grandparents had a different word for burger flipping &#8212; they called it opportunity.</li>
<li>If you mess up, it&#8217;s not your parents&#8217; fault, so don&#8217;t whine about your mistakes, instead, learn from them.</li>
<li>Before you were born, your parents were not as boring as they are now. They got that way from paying your bills, cleaning your clothes, and listening to you talk about how cool you are. So before you save the rain forest from the parasites of your parent&#8217;s generation, try delousing the closet in your own room.</li>
<li>Your school may have done away with winners and losers, but life has not. In some schools they have abolished failing grades, and they will give you as many times as you want to get the right answer. This does not bear the slightest resemblance to <i>anything</i> in real life.</li>
<li>Life is not divided into semesters. You do not get summers off and very few employers are interested in helping you find yourself. Do that on your own time!</li>
<li>Television is <i>not</i> real life. In real life people actually have to leave the coffee shop and go to jobs.</li>
<li>Be nice to nerds. Chances are you&#8217;ll end up working for one.</li>
</ol>
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		<title>Hey, wasn&#8217;t this us? Yes, it was!</title>
		<link>https://mrconroy.com/hey-wasnt-this-us-yes-it-was/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Conroy]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Wed, 11 Jul 2012 17:47:52 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://mrconroy.com/?p=564</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[I initially saw this article in Country Asides, an Edmonton Journal publication. I then located the source online at this blog. Enjoy. We had a little house with three bedrooms, one bathroom, and one car on the street. We had a mower that you had to push, to make the grass look neat. In the [&#8230;]]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I initially saw this article in <i>Country Asides</i>, an <i>Edmonton Journal</i> publication. I then located the source online at <a href="http://techpaul.wordpress.com/2010/10/11/hey-wasnt-this-us/">this blog</a>. Enjoy.</p>
<blockquote><p>
We had a little house with three bedrooms, one bathroom, and one car on the street.<br />
We had a mower that you had to push, to make the grass look neat.</p>
<p>In the kitchen on the wall we only had one phone,<br />
and no need for recording things, someone was always home.</p>
<p>We only had a living room where we would congregate,<br />
unless it was at mealtime, then the kitchen was where we ate.</p>
<p>We had no need for family rooms or extra rooms to dine.<br />
When meeting as a family those two rooms would work out just fine.</p>
<p>We only had one TV set and maybe one channel or two,<br />
but always there was one of them with something worth the view.<br />
For snacks we had potato chips that tasted like a chip.<br />
And if you wanted flavor there was Lipton’s onion dip.<br />
Store-bought snacks were rare because my mother liked to cook<br />
and nothing can compare to snacks in Betty Crocker’s book.</p>
<p>Weekends were for family trips or staying home to play.<br />
We all did things together—even go to church to pray.</p>
<p>When we did our weekend trips depending on the weather,<br />
no one stayed at home because we actually liked to be together.</p>
<p>Sometimes we would separate to do things on our own,<br />
but we knew where the others were without our own cell phone.<br />
Then there were the movies with your favorite movie star,<br />
and nothing can compare to watching movies in your car.</p>
<p>Then there were the picnics at the peak of summer season,<br />
pack a lunch, find some trees, and never need a reason.</p>
<p>Get a baseball game together with all the friends you know,<br />
have real action playing ball –and no video games to go.</p>
<p>Remember when the doctor used to be the family friend,<br />
and didn’t need insurance or a lawyer to defend?<br />
The way that he took care of you or what he had to do,<br />
because he took an oath, and strived to do the best for you.</p>
<p>Remember going to the store and shopping casually,<br />
and when you went to pay for it, you used your own money?</p>
<p>You had nothing to swipe, or punch in some amount;<br />
and remember when the cashier person had to really count?</p>
<p>The milkman used to go from door to door,<br />
and it was just a few cents more than going to the store.</p>
<p>There was a time when mailed letters came right to your door,<br />
without a lot of junk mail ads sent out by every store.<br />
The mailman knew each house by name and knew where it was sent;<br />
there were not loads of mail addressed to “present occupant.”</p>
<p>There was a time when just one glance was all that it would take,<br />
and you would know the kind of car, the model and the make.</p>
<p>They didn’t look like turtles trying to squeeze out every mile;<br />
they were streamlined, wore white walls, fins, and fender skirts and really had some style.</p>
<p>One time the music that you played whenever you would jive,<br />
was from a vinyl, big-holed record called a forty-five.</p>
<p>The record player had a post to keep them all in line<br />
and then the records would drop down and play one at a time.</p>
<p>Oh sure, we had our problems then, just like we do today<br />
and always we were striving, trying for a better way.<br />
Oh, the simple life we lived still seems like so much fun,<br />
how can you explain a game, just kick the can and run?</p>
<p>And why would boys put baseball cards between bicycle spokes<br />
and for a nickel, red machines had little bottled Cokes?</p>
<p>This life seemed so much easier and slower in some ways.<br />
I love the new technology but I sure do miss those days.<br />
So, time moves on, and so do we; and nothing stays the same,<br />
but I sure love to reminisce and walk down memory lane.
</p></blockquote>
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