YOU ARE AT THE TOP WHEN: by ZIG ZIGLAR

YOU ARE AT THE TOP WHEN: by ZIG ZIGLAR 

1. You clearly understand that failure is an event, not a person; that yesterday ended last night, and today is a brand-new day. 

2. You have made friends with your past, are focused on the present and are optimistic about your future. 

3.You know that success (a win) doesn't make you, and failure (a loss) doesn't break you. 

4. You are filled with faith, hope and love; and live without anger, greed, guilt, envy or thoughts of revenge. 

5. You are mature enough to delay gratification and shift your focus from your rights to your responsibilities. 

6. You know that failure to stand for what is morally right is the prelude to being the victim of what is criminally wrong. 

7. You are secure in who you are, so you are at peace with God and in fellowship with man. 

8. You have made friends of your adversaries, and have gained the love and respect of those who know you best. 

9. You understand that others can give you pleasure, but genuine happiness comes when you do things for others. 

10. You are pleasant to the grouch, courteous to the rude and generous to the needy. 

11. You love the unlovable, and give hope to the helpless, friendship to the friendless and encouragement to the discouraged. 

12. You can look back in forgiveness, forward in hope, down in compassion and up with gratitude.

13. You know that "he who would be the greatest among you must become the servant of all." 

14. You recognize, confess, develop and use your God-given physical, mental and spiritual abilities to the glory of God and for the benefit of mankind. 

15. You stand in front of the Creator of the universe, and He says to you, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant."

THE THREE TREES

THE THREE TREES 

Once there were three trees on a hill in the woods. They were discussing their hopes and dreams when the first tree said, "Someday I hope to be a treasure chest. I could be filled with gold, silver and precious gems. I could be decorated with intricate carving and everyone would see the beauty." 

Then the second tree said, "Someday I will be a mighty ship. I will take kings and queens across the waters and sail to the corners of the world. Everyone will feel safe in me because of the strength of my hull." 

Finally the third tree said, "I want to grow to be the tallest and straightest tree in the forest. People will see me on top of the hill and look up to my branches, and think of the heavens and God and how close to them I am reaching. I will be the greatest tree of all time and people will always remember me." 

After a few years of praying that their dreams would come true, a group of woodsmen came upon the trees. When one came to the first tree he said, "This looks like a strong tree, I think I should be able to sell the wood to a carpenter," and he began cutting it down. The tree was happy, because he knew that the carpenter would make him into a treasure chest. 

At the second tree the woodsman said, "This looks like a strong tree, I should be able to sell it to the shipyard." The second tree was happy because he knew he was on his way to becoming a mighty ship. 

When the woodsmen came upon the third tree, the tree was frightened because he knew that if they cut him down his dreams would not come true. One of the woodsmen said, "I don't need anything special from my tree, so I'll take this one", and he cut it down. 

When the first tree arrived at the carpenters, he was made into a feed box for animals. He was then placed in a barn and filled with hay. This was not at all what he had prayed for.

Good Luck, Bad Luck, Who Knows?

Good Luck, Bad Luck, Who Knows? 

There is a Chinese story of a farmer who used an old horse to till his fields. One day, the horse escaped into the hills and when the farmer's neighbors sympathized with the old man over his bad luck, the farmer replied, "Bad luck? Good luck? Who knows?" A week later, the horse returned with a herd of horses from the hills and this time the neighbors congratulated the farmer on his good luck. His reply was, "Good luck? Bad luck? Who knows?"

Then, when the farmer's son was attempting to tame one of the wild horses, he fell off its back and broke his leg. Everyone thought this very bad luck. Not the farmer, whose only reaction was, "Bad luck? Good luck? Who knows?"

Some weeks later, the army marched into the village and conscripted every able-bodied youth they found there. When they saw the farmer's son with his broken leg, they let him off. Now was that good luck or bad luck? Who knows?

Everything that seems on the surface to be an evil may be a good in disguise. And everything that seems good on the surface may really be an evil. So we are wise when we leave it to God to decide what is good fortune and what is misfortune, and thank him that all things turn out for good with those who love him.

26 Successful People Who Failed At First

26 Successful People Who Failed At First

We always hear the success stories but we rarely hear about the struggles and failures of the world's most successful people. Here then, are 26 famous winners who started with a whimper.  

1. Winston Churchill failed the sixth grade. He was defeated in every public office role he ran for. Then he became the British prime minister at the age of 62.  

2. Thomas Edison's teachers told him he was "too stupid to learn anything." Edison also famously invented 1,000 light bulbs before creating one that worked.  

3.Harland David Sanders, the famous KFC "Colonel," couldn't sell his chicken. More than 1,000 restaurants rejected him. But then one did, and today there are KFC restaurants bearing his image all over the world.  

4. R.H. Macy had a history failing businesses, including a dud Macy's in NYC. But Macy kept up the hard work and ended up with the biggest department store in the world.  

5. Steven Spielberg was rejected from his dream school, the University of Southern California, three times. He sought out an education somewhere else and dropped out to be a director.  

6. Charlie Chaplin's act was rejected by executives because they thought it was too obscure for people to understand. But then they took a chance on Chaplin, who went on to become America's first bonafide movie star.  

7. Marilyn Monroe's first contract with Columbia Pictures expired because they told her she wasn't pretty or talented enough to be an actress.  

8. Soichiro Honda was passed over for an engineering job at Toyota and left unemployed. But then he began making motorcycles, started a business and became a billionaire.  

9. Vera Wang failed to make the U.S. Olympic figure-skating team. Then she became an editor at Vogue and was passed over for the editor-in-chief position. She began designing wedding gowns at 40 and today is the premier designer in the business, with a multi-billion dollar industry.  

10. Walt Disney was fired by a newspaper editor because he "lacked imagination and had no good ideas." Several more of his businesses failed before the premiere of his movie Snow White. Today, most childhoods wouldn't be the same without his ideas.  

11. Albert Einstein didn't speak until age four and didn't read until age seven. His teachers labeled him "slow" and "mentally handicapped." But Einstein just had a different way of thinking. He later won the Nobel prize in physics.  

12. Charles Darwin was considered an average student. He gave up on a career in medicine and was going to school to become a parson. But as Darwin studied nature, he found his calling.  

13. Sir Isaac Newton was tasked with running the family farm but was a miserable failure. Newton was sent off to Cambridge University and became a physics scholar.  

14. Dick Cheney flunked out of Yale twice. George W. Bush once joked: "So now we know –if you graduate from Yale, you become president. If you drop out, you get to be vice president."