The Journey To Success Begins

It’s a new year full of promises. My goals are set and my plans are in place. Now it is time to put the work in as the journey to success begins. Seeds that I planted in 2020 are beginning to emerge. All the work I put in last year will begin to pay off.

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The Journey To Success Begins

I have to constantly remind myself to enjoy every step as the journey to success begins. One way I do this is to look back at my journey so far. I asked myself, “How did I get here?” I have always hated writing. In college, during my career with DEA, and even now, as one of my sources of income depends on writing reports, I struggle with writing.

Why?

So why did I choose to start a blog in April 2020? Why would I want to put down my thoughts on paper when I never could stand writing. The only answer is divine inspiration. It is something I’m supposed to do. My entire life I have been led by divine inspiration. I believe that God has a purpose for me to fulfill and writing seems to be a big part of that.

Looking back at my life, I grew up as a shy child who lacked confidence. I never felt like I belonged and always looked at other people as better than me. Even though I had many successes, I would only focus on the failures. I was constantly looking at the negative things that went on in my life.

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Let’s Begin
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As I grew, I constantly found myself in situations that were outside of my comfort zone. These were always situations that I volunteered for, such as trying out for sports teams. I volunteered to join the military and parachute training even though I was scared of heights. I didn’t know how I kept finding myself in these situations. Even though I excelled in my training and was winning awards, I still lacked self-confidence. All of my achievements didn’t matter.

Cancer

In 2008, I was diagnosed with colorectal cancer and remember asking myself, “What have I done in my life?” Taking a look at my life, I added up all my achievements and my successes. I found peace because I had lived a full life.

Another great find was my self-confidence and I stopped caring about other people’s opinions. I focused on myself and began to take notice of all the “God winks” taking place daily. “God winks” are seemingly coincidental events that happen in our lives. Thinking about someone you haven’t heard from in a long time and they call you. This phone call eventually leads you to someone who becomes a great client.

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January 2020

Fast forward to January 2020, when I became inspired to start an online business to help people. I couldn’t shake the thought that I needed to pass on lessons that I have learned throughout my life. I have learned so much about how the mind works by training and working alongside military special operations operatives. The thought wouldn’t leave me that there were people in the world who needed to know what I have learned.

I started InspireChief.com and began doing the one thing that I hated more than anything, writing. I never learned how to type, so when I do, it’s with two fingers. Luckily, I found dictation software and I don’t have to type, which saves me a lot of time.

Relationships Are Key

Through my journey to success, I began to enjoy blogging. I have built relationships with people throughout the world.  I enjoy cultivating these relationships the most. Relationships are important and I began using social media to build more relationships.

During my 30 year career with the military and DEA, I was told three times, “thank you,” by strangers. These two little words are powerful and gave me the energy to carry on the fight. In the last nine months, I have been thanked several times and told that my articles have helped people. Whenever I hear I have helped someone, it fills me with energy and keeps me going. Humans are not solitary people, we need interaction and relationships. Relationships need to be tended to so they can flourish. A simple comment like “thank you” goes a long way.

The Journey To Success Begins For 2021

As the journey to success begins for 2021, I know I’m here today by divine intervention. I still receive “God winks” frequently. I know there’s more to do. My journey to success has been great and I have enjoyed it. Make sure you enjoy yours and keep your eyes and ears open for your “God winks.”

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2021 A New Beginning

In my first post of this new year, 2021 a new beginning, I want to talk about taking everything we did at the end of December and utilize it in 2021. If you haven’t read my posts from December then I will encourage you to go back and read them. I talked about words you need to replace in your vocabulary, setting goals, and doing a self-analysis.

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2021 A New Start

For me, 2020 was a great year despite everything that went on in the world. Today I’m a different person than I was this time last year. I am excited about the new beginning 2021 brings. The possibilities are endless and the choice is yours on what you want to do with the next 365 days. I am set up better for 2021 because of everything I did at the end of 2020.

You can decide today how your life is going to be like a year from now. You just need to make the decision to change. The decision is not enough though. The most important part of making any decision is to make a commitment to that decision. Your commitment will get you through difficult times.

2021 New Year’s Resolutions

Many people make New Year’s resolutions during this time. I have never made New Year’s resolutions. Most New Year’s resolutions made by people only last about two weeks. By January 15th they have already quit on them. The reason is that they never committed to their resolutions.

Let’s take the gym for example. Before COVID, you could find me in the gym almost every morning. Many people make a resolution to lose weight and at the beginning of January and the gym becomes very crowded. Normally, I could go through my workouts without any interference but not at the beginning of January. I don’t like the crowds but I only have to put up with them for the first two weeks. By then, most people have quit because it got too hard and they didn’t commit.

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2021

Begin Today

Now that we’re in 2021 don’t be like most people. Begin today working on a new you. Start carving out the life that you want to live and stop listening to the opinion of others. Read your goals and begin working on your plan. I’m a better person today because of the decision I made last year and the commitment I made to that decision. It wasn’t easy and in fact, it was very hard at times. Stretching my comfort zone was difficult and I wanted to quit several times.

I just kept working on my plan, even on days that I didn’t want to. I kept speaking what I wanted and not what I had. Celebrating the small victories was a big help. I made productive use of each day and always moved forward. Some days I made giant leaps and others, small steps. When I fell I always fell forward. The most important thing I did was persevere by focusing on the WHY.

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Let’s Go Do It

Let’s go make 2021 your year! You’ve made your decision and committed to that decision. Your goals are set and you have a solid plan. You have a WHY that is big and emotional. Hopefully, it scares you. You know nothing’s going to get in your way and you will overcome all obstacles. Persevere and NEVER QUIT!

2021 a new beginning, it can be for you. If you enjoyed this article, please like, comment, and follow. Let me know what you want to change in 2021. If you need help with anything, InspireChief is here for you. You can purchase my courses above. Let’s make 2021 a great year together.

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All Aboard!!

“This Train Is Moving on, You Can Get on, You Can Get off, But the Train Keeps Moving on! We Are Going to the Top of the Mountain!”

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The End Of Year Self-Analysis

This is it, 2020 is finally coming to an end and it has been a wild ride. This time last year who would have thought that 2020 would become such a train wreck. Now, rest assured, on January 1, 2021 everything’s not gonna miraculously become better. For me and my family, as well as a lot of people, 2020 was a rough year and I’m glad it’s coming to an end. 2021 is filled with great possibilities and it’s always exciting to begin something new. Now that we are in the last few days of 2020 it is a great time to do an end-of-year self-analysis.

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Year-End Analysis

Let’s bring 2020 to a close with a few ways to conduct an end of year self-analysis. I like to do an end of year self-analysis to take inventory of my life. I look at different aspects of my life to see where I became better, stayed the same, and where I’m worse off. Some of the areas that I look at are my goals, my plan, my education, and my expenses.

Self-Analysis Of Goals

Since our goals are simply what we want they are easy to analyze. Did I accomplish them or not? Doing an end of year self-analysis of your goals is crucial to set goals for next year. I break down my goals to make sure they were specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bounded. If I accomplished my goals easily, I know I need to set more challenging ones for next year. If I did not accomplish my goals, I want to find out why. Maybe I overestimated my abilities and set unattainable goals.

Analyzing The Plan

The next thing I do when conducting an end of year self-analysis is going over my plan. Accomplishing the goals I set for myself all depends on my plan. If the plan I had didn’t succeed then I need to change my plan. By analyzing my plan I don’t waste time doing things that didn’t achieve the results I expected. Achieving great results means my plan is working so I continue with the plan next year. If it ain’t broke don’t fix it.

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Learning

I always like to go over my education from the previous year. I look at the courses I purchased, books I read, and the people I listened to. Writing down what I learned, if anything, from these different educational tools, helps me to see if I’m on the right path. You can analyze what you learned about yourself, your business/career, and your relationship.

For me, education is important, and I never want to stop learning. This analysis of my education from the past year also helps me to analyze my goals. For example, if I didn’t achieve a goal in my business but I learned some new marketing tactics then I know I’m on the right track. If you are failing, don’t beat yourself up. As long as you are learning and doing you’re on the right track. Everything you’ve done in the past year is like sowing seeds that will begin to sprout soon.

Money

Finally, I conduct an end of year analysis of my expenses. I want to see where my money is going. Am I investing my money or spending my money? For my business, some of the things I look at are courses I purchased, marketing expenses, as-well-as apps, and plug-ins. I want to see whether they were worth it or not. By conducting this end-of-year analysis of my expenses I get a good indication of my return on investment. I can then determine what expenses I cut and what I continue for next year.

Bye 2020

Let’s all say goodbye to 2020 and look forward to making 2021 a better year. Decide today where you want to be this time next year. Conduct an end of year self-analysis and put together a winning plan for next year. Commit to working on your plan every day and you will be a different person by the end of 2021.

I wish everyone a HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

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What Christmas Means To Me

It’s almost here, that wonderful day filled with excitement and happy faces. Christmas is a special day for so many people, especially me. It is a day I look forward to every year. I enjoy every bit of the Christmas season, which for me begins the day after Thanksgiving. It officially kicks off at the end of the Macy’s Thanksgiving parade with the arrival of Santa.

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The Meaning Of Christmas

The most important thing about Christmas is I celebrate the birth of my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Every year when I was growing up my parents would recite the story. Mary and Joseph arriving in Bethlehem only to find out there was no place to stay. A kind innkeeper making room in a manger where she gave birth. They told us about the star that guided the three Kings who arrived bearing gifts. To me, this is the true meaning of Christmas.

Christmas has brought so many wonderful memories. One is how much I loved it when my mother would begin decorating our house. She would bring out all the beautiful Christmas decorations that I hadn’t seen in almost a year. My favorite was her nativity scene and I would help her place the little figurines in the manger.

Shops At Christmas

We would go out in the cold evening to the little shops downtown. I loved how everything was lit up. As I got older, shopping malls took the place of those small shops. I got a job in one of the malls and loved coming to work during the holiday season. The store I worked at played Christmas carols. Everyone seemed friendlier as they were enjoying shopping for gifts.

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Merry Christmas

The Catalog

One of my favorite memories as a child was the day that the JCPenney Christmas catalog would arrive. We would fight over it and immediately go to the toy section and start our list to Santa. Visiting my grandparents was very special.  I can remember some of the foods that only appeared during Christmas. Foods like peanut brittle and eggnog, always with a scoop of ice cream in it. Then there was a fruitcake, why I don’t know, it was awful, but it was there every year.

Children

As I got older and had children, my excitement turned from me to watching them. There is no better sight than the joy of a child on Christmas morning. I remember working late into the night putting together toys and building bikes. Then as soon as the sun came up being jumped on by children eager to show you what Santa brought.

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Today, I don’t have little children around and our two daughters are currently away at school. This season is a time of coming back together as a family. It is time to remember how important my family is to me. I wouldn’t be where I am today without my family. I will enjoy every moment that we are together until they have to leave again.

What Christmas means to me is a wonderful time celebrating Christ and reliving memories from the last 60 years. There are so many wonderful memories of this season. I am looking forward to making many more Christmas memories in the future. I wish everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

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A Tribute To My Friend

This is a very hard post for me to write, but I wanted to write a tribute to my friend. I’ve been absent from WordPress for the last couple of weeks for a few different reasons. Normally I’ll spend a couple of hours a day reading and commenting on different blog posts. Recently, several things have happened that have gotten in the way of my normal day-to-day activities.

Firstly, one of my other businesses has become busy and I’ve had to write some rush reports and meet some quick deadlines. Secondly, I’ve been dealing with a torn meniscus and arthritis in my left knee. It is very painful and has limited my activities. I’ve had to stop my morning walks which gives me the energy and inspiration for the rest of the day.

The main reason is, I’m dealing with the unexpected death of a friend. Last month, I wrote about how he was in the hospital fighting for his life. He recovered, was released from the hospital, and seemed to be back to his old self. On Thanksgiving afternoon, he was rushed back to the hospital and we were told Friday afternoon he was gone.

A Tribute To My Friend

Tom Keller was a great man. Everyone should strive to live their life like Tom lived his. I write a series about inspiring people whom I admire and Tom would definitely make that list. During his Celebration of Life Service, the pastor spoke about how God wants us all to live a life of abundance. Tom was the perfect example of living an abundant life. Tom had an abundance of love, an abundance of compassion, an abundance of unselfishness, an abundance of leadership, and an abundance of joy.

I met Tom 13 years ago when we moved to South Florida. Our daughters were in the same second-grade class. One evening I took my family to the soccer field to watch Tom’s daughter, Chrissy play. I was introduced to Tom and instantly liked him. This will tell you a lot about Tom because at that time in my life I didn’t like many people, especially when I first met them.

Even though we didn’t see each other much, I still considered him a friend. I always enjoyed the times when I would run into him. That’s how Tom was, everyone enjoyed seeing him because he always made you feel welcome. I never saw him when he wasn’t smiling.

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A Tribute

A Godsend

About four years ago, Tom and his wife Livi asked my wife to join their business. I then got to spend more time with Tom and get to know him better. Whenever we were together, Tom asked a lot of questions and was always interested in my opinion on different topics. I always came out of our discussions much smarter than when I went in.

One story that sums up the type of man Tom Keller was, happened about two years ago. I was getting ready to move my two daughters to college. One was moving into an apartment in Orlando and the other into a dorm in Alabama. One day, Tom asked me how I was going to move all their things. I told him that I was going to have to rent a truck because they each had a lot of stuff.

Immediately, Tom offered to let me use his Ford Expedition. I knew he had just recently purchased the vehicle and I turned him down. Tom wouldn’t take no for an answer and over the next few weeks continued to insist I take the truck. As Sofia and I were driving Tom’s Expedition to drop the girls off at college, I looked at my wife and asked, “Who else do you know that would just give you the keys to their vehicle?” My wife responded, “Nobody except Tom Keller.”

Abundance

Like I said before, Tom lived a life of abundance and had so many quality traits. These are a few of Tom’s traits that I’m going to try to emulate in my life.

  • Leadership – Tom was a great leader and was looked up to by many people. He worked diligently with the youth in his church. He always led by example and didn’t mind getting his hands dirty.
  • A Provider – Tom was an intelligent businessman and worked hard to build a profitable business with his wife. He provided for his family and passed on his knowledge to his children.
  • Unselfishness – Tom was the most unselfish man I have ever met. He would help anyone at any time. It didn’t matter where, what, or when, Tom would be there. The story above about Tom giving me his vehicle is just the tip of the iceberg of his unselfish acts.
  • Joy for Life – Tom was always smiling even when I knew he was going through stressful situations. I never had a conversation with him that wasn’t positive. If things weren’t going well, a minute with Tom would brighten your day. Tom loved his family and enjoyed getting the most out of life on family vacations.

I am Truly Blessed

I didn’t know Tom as long as others but I feel blessed and honored to have known him these few years. Even though his body is gone, his energy remains and you can see it in his children. Ryan has his leadership qualities, Lauren has his unselfishness, and Chrissy has his joy for life and determination to succeed. On the program printed for his Celebration of Life Service, it shows his date of birth and date of death separated by a dash. The two dates aren’t nearly as important as the dash which represents what he did with his life. Tom Keller made the most of his dash and will be missed.

He is now with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. He is home and has earned his wings. I believe that there are angels that walk among us here on earth, Tom Keller was one of them.

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Inspiring People Whom I Admire Part V

This is another installment in my series Inspiring People Whom I Admire Part V. A few weeks ago I wrote about the inspirational story of Irene Sendler. Today I want to continue that theme of inspiring women in the World War II era and tell you the story of Sophie Scholl.

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Inspiring People Whom I Admire Part V

Sophie Scholl was born on May 9, 1921, in Germany. At the age of 12, she joined the League of German Girls as did most of her classmates. This displeased her father who was an ardent Nazi critic. Initially, she was very enthusiastic but eventually also became critical of the Nazis. Her brother Hans, at one time, eagerly participated in the Hitler Youth program became disillusioned as well. Hans was even arrested in 1937 for participating in the German Youth Movement. Seeing her brother arrested affected her deeply.

Disillusioned

After graduating from secondary school, she became a kindergarten teacher. She had hoped this would be recognized as an alternative service to the National Labor Service. Unfortunately for Sophie, it wasn’t. National Labor Service was a prerequisite to be admitted to the University. Therefore, Sophie served six months of auxiliary war service. The military-like regimen of the Labor Service caused her to change her initial views of National Socialism. She would eventually begin to practice passive resistance.

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Sophie Scholl

In 1942 she enrolled at the University of Munich and attended with her brother Hans. During the summer, Sophie, Hans, and their friends began to question and resist the principles and policies of the Nazi regime. They adopted passive resistance strategies that were being used by students in the United States fighting racial discrimination.

White Rose

The group called themselves, White Rose, and co-authored six Anti-Nazi Third Reich political resistance leaflets. These leaflets instructed Germans to passively resist the Nazis. During school breaks, Hans and some of his friends were conscripted into the military and sent to the eastern front. There, some of the group witnessed a group of naked Jews shot in a pit. They were horrified and it emboldened their efforts when they returned to school.

Sophie was an invaluable member of White Rose. As a female, her chances of being randomly stopped by the SS were much less. Between June 1942 and February 1943 they prepared and distributed the six leaflets. In January 1943, the White Rose, using hand-operated duplicating machines, produced, and distributed between 6000 to 9000 copies of their 5th leaflet, “Appeal to All Germans.”

Resist

Readers of the leaflets were urged to support the resistance movement in their struggle for freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and protection of individuals from the arbitrary action of the criminal dictator state. The leaflets caused a sensation and the Gestapo initiated an intensive search for the publishers.

Arrest

On February 18, 1943, Hans and Sophie brought a suitcase full of leaflets to the University. They dropped stacks of leaflets in the hallways for the students to find when class let out. After dropping off the leaflets they discovered that some copies remained in the suitcase. Not wanting to waste a single leaflet Sophie grabbed the copies and ran up the stairs to the top floor of the building. There she flung the copies into the air over the railing.

Unfortunately, Sophie was observed by a custodian who supported the Nazis and notified the police. Hans and Sophie were taken into Gestapo custody. Eventually, the rest of the group was arrested, interrogated, and charged with treason. Sophie assumed full responsibility in an attempt to protect the other members of the White Rose.

Mock Trial

In the People’s Court on February 21, 1943, Sophie was recorded as saying:

“Somebody, after all, had to make a start. What we wrote and said is also believed by many others. They just do not dare express themselves as we did.”

No testimony was allowed for the defendants; this was their only defense. Sophie and Han’s defiance, in the face of certain death, gained them the admiration of many people.

Last Day

On February 22, 1943, Sophie, and Hans, along with their friend Christopher Probst, were adjudged guilty of treason and condemned to death by guillotine. A few hours later as she walked to her execution, still brave and defiant, she uttered her last words:

“Such a fine, sunny day, and I have to go… What does my death matter, if through us, thousands of people are awakened and stirred to action?”

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Legacy

After her death, a copy of the sixth leaflet was smuggled out of Germany to the UK, where it was used by the Allied Forces. In mid-1943, they dropped millions of propaganda copies over Germany. The leaflet was now retitled, The Manifesto of the Students of Munich.

I admire Sophie, her brother, and their friends for having the courage to stand up for what is right. Knowing that if they were caught it would mean certain death, they were still willing to make the sacrifice. Their small part in resisting the tyranny of Hitler and his National Socialist Party contributed to Germany’s defeat. The symbolic value of what Sophie and the White Rose accomplished cannot be measured. It is because of her courage and sacrifice that I’m proud to include Sophie Scholl in this series of Inspiring People Whom I Admire Part V.

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Inspiring People Whom I Admire Part IV

This is a continuation of the series, Inspiring People Whom I Admire Part IV. I want to create a group of people who have different traits that I admire. Within this imaginary group, I would love to sit down and talk to each one of them. I added the inspirational Kalpana Chawla to this group in my post, Inspiring People Whom I Admire Part III.

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I began researching people from the World War II era. There are a lot of stories of heroic men but the heroic women of World War II are commonly forgotten. I did find stories about a few women and was going to include all of them in one post. Then I ran across a story about Irena Sendler and her story was so compelling that I want to dedicate this post to her memory.

Inspiring People Whom I Admire Part IV – Irena Sendler

She was born Irena Krzyzanowska on 2/15/1910 in Warsaw, Poland, and grew up in the town of Otwock, Poland. When the Nazis invaded Warsaw in 1939, she began feeding and sheltering Jews. After the Warsaw Ghetto was erected in 1940, she could no longer help the Jews that were isolated inside. The Warsaw Ghetto was the size of New York City’s Central Park and 450,000 Jewish people were forced into the area. Irena then began saving orphan children.

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Irena Sendler

Zegota

In order to enter the Warsaw Ghetto, Irena used papers as a Polish social worker she had gotten from a member of Zegota. Zegota was a Polish underground group that assisted Jewish people. Additionally, She also had papers from a worker of the Contagious Disease Department.

Irena and helpers made over 3000 false documents to help Jewish families before she joined Zegota. After joining, She eventually became in charge of the children’s division of Zegota. During the Nazi occupation, she rescued 2500 Jewish children in Poland. She made sure that every family she placed a child with, had to agree that they would return the child to their family after the war.

Methods Used

Irena and 10 others would enter the Warsaw Ghetto and smuggle out children using the following methods:

1. Using an ambulance and hiding a child underneath the stretcher.

2. Escaping through the Courthouse.

3. Using sewer pipes or other secret underground passages.

4. A trolley could carry a child in a sack, trunk, or suitcase.

5. They would have the child pretend to be sick or sometimes would actually be sick and it was legal to remove them via ambulance.

Sentenced To Death

Irena was arrested on October 20, 1943. She was taken to the notorious Piawiak Prison where she was questioned and tortured. Consequently, her legs and feet were fractured during these torture sessions. The Nazis sentenced her to death and she was to be shot.

Unbeknownst to her, Zegota had bribed the German executioner who helped her escape. After she escaped, the Germans loudly proclaimed her execution and put up posters all around Warsaw stating that she had been shot. Irena actually saw and read the posters. For the remainder of the war, she remained hidden.

Finding The Children

Irena was the only one who knew the location of the children she had saved. She had written down their names and locations on tissue paper and buried them in jars. After the war, she located and dug up each one. Afterward, she began the arduous task of finding the children and locating a living parent. Unfortunately, almost all the parents died while being interned at the Treblinka death camp.

Life In A Jar

In 1999, four students began looking for information on Irena Sendler as a National History Day Project. They wrote a play titled, “Life in a Jar,” and began performing it wherever they could. From this play sprung, “Life in a Jar: The Irena Sendler Project” to get the word out of her heroic efforts. Her story was virtually unknown worldwide until they started performing the play. Even in her own country of Poland communism had buried her story.

On May 12, 2008, Irena Sendler died at the age of 98 in Warsaw Poland. Many of the children she rescued continue to tell her story. Her story was immortalized in the book, “Life in a Jar” by Jack Mayer. The book has been made into a film and the play continues to be performed today. There is even an Irena Sendler Exhibit in Fort Scott, Kansas. You can find more information on irenasendler.org.

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File – In this Monday, May 30, 2005 photo, Irena Sendler, right, a Polish woman who saved the lives of hundreds of Jewish children during World War II, meets with American students who created a play about her life, in Warsaw, Poland. The students’ teacher, Norman Conard, is being honored by the Polish government and San Francisco based Taube Philanthropies in Warsaw on Monday, June 11, 2018, for his role in making Sendler’s story known to the world. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

A Special Person

I am always moved by these courageous actions of people who lived during times of adversity. Their bravery and unselfish deeds by willingly risking their lives to save others are admirable. Irena Sendler was a special person.

Final Thoughts

Irena Sendler is an inspirational person. We should all have her bravery and compassion for others. I hope you enjoyed reading Inspiring People Whom I Admire – Part IV as much as I did writing it. If you did, click the like button. Leave a comment below, I love reading your comments. If you would like to join my team, click the subscribe button above and leave your email address. Don’t forget to follow my blog.

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Works Cited

“Facts about Irena.” Life in a Jar, 14 Jan. 2020, irenasendler.org/facts-about-irena/.

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Quotes On Focusing On Yourself

Hello everyone! Today I give you some inspirational quotes on focusing on yourself. Don’t forget to like, comment, and follow. Get my monthly newsletters by subscribing below and support my blog by clicking on my links and purchasing from Amazon.

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 Several months ago when I started my blog I wrote a post titled, It’s Not About Me, It’s About You. The purpose of that post was to say to become successful we need to serve others. Some people need the gifts that you have. People need to read the content that you’re writing. It might make them smile, be the bit of inspiration they’re looking for, or provide some information that helps them out. Taking your eyes off yourself and helping others will help you persevere. People are counting on you.

“I think self-knowledge is a key to happiness. We can build happy lives only on the foundation of our own natures, our own values and our own interests.” – Gretchen Rubin

Quotes On Focusing On Yourself

Now I’m going to switch it up a little bit. I want you to focus on yourself. The reason for this is, you can’t fully serve someone else if you don’t completely like the person you are. Your priority is to fix yourself and be happy with who you are. I believe we are all good people deep down inside. We are all different people so don’t compare yourself with others. There is no comparison to you.

“The only one you should compare yourself to is you. Your mission is to become better today than you were yesterday. You do that by focusing on what you can do today to improve and grow.” – John Maxwell

How many of you have watched a commercial and wanted to be like the “perfect” people in the ad? Advertisers use these “perfect” people because they want you to compare yourself with them. By doing so, you feel inferior and want to do something about it. Therefore, you spend money on their products to become the person in the advertisement. That’s just not going to happen.

“Life isn’t about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.” – George Bernard Shaw

“Respect your efforts, respect yourself. Self-respect leads to self-discipline. When you have both firmly under your belt, that’s real power.” – Clint Eastwood

You Are Unique

You can’t compare yourself with anyone because you are unique. Take a moment and look at your fingerprints. No one has the same fingerprints as you. Even though there are 7.8 billion people in the world, no two people have the same fingerprints. Our bodies are made up of DNA and these genetic markers are responsible for you looking the way you do. Our DNA comes from the beginning of time. Your unique DNA is a mixture of everyone in your bloodline. According to my DNA results, I am 1.64% Nigerian. This comes from one of my ancestors who lived approximately 50,000 years ago.

“Stop feeling sorry for yourself and you will be happy.” – Stephen Fry

“Knowing others is wisdom, knowing yourself is Enlightenment.” – Lao Tzu

I was one of those people who always compared himself to others and wanted to be one of these “perfect” people. I never liked my body type even when I was in perfect shape. My looks were something I always wanted to change despite the compliments that I was given. One of the things that I despised was my voice. I put off starting a podcast for this very same reason. The other day I had a fellow blogger comment that she enjoyed listening to my voice on my podcasts. We just don’t see ourselves or hear ourselves as others do.

“Your life is the fruit of your own doing. You have no one to blame but yourself.” – Joseph Campbell

Fall In Love

Today, go ahead and look in the mirror because I want you to fall in love with the person that you see. The person looking back at you is the “perfect” person because they are the best they can be at that time. You can’t fully serve others or attract others if you don’t like the person that you are. Once you begin to love yourself, you will begin to attract more people to you. There is an old saying, “If you want to fix the world, begin by fixing you.”

“The more you are like yourself, the less you are like anyone else, which makes you unique.” – Walt Disney

You Are Beautiful

You are a beautiful person just the way you are today. We are all created for greatness no matter your size, facial features, or your muscle tone. If you want to change something about yourself to better your health, give you more confidence, or whatever reason, I say, go do it. But first, fall in love with the original you. If you’re not in love with the way you were created, you will always be looking for flaws. When you fix one thing another flaw will come to your attention. You will always be chasing perfection because you never loved the original you.

“It isn’t the mountains ahead to climb that wear you out; it’s the pebble in your shoe.” – Muhammad Ali

Positive Affirmations

So how can you begin to love the person that you are right now, today? Well, your perception of who you are today is based on your words and thoughts of the past. Since the invention of television, we have been subjected to years of being told we are inferior. So you have to change those thoughts in the way you see yourself. Start today by looking in the mirror and telling yourself, “I love you.” Here are some positive affirmations to help you.

  • I love myself

  • I am joyous, happy, and free

  • I am my own person

  • I am totally healthy

  • I am willing to release the thoughts in me that created these conditions

  • I deserve the best and accept it now

  • I am in the process of positive change

  • I appreciate everything that I do

  • I approve of myself the way that I am

  • I experience love and kindness wherever I go

These are a few examples, I encourage you to change them and come up with new ones to fit you. By repeating these several times a day, over time you will notice a change in the way you look, feel, and act.

You can find several books on positive affirmations. One that I just finished and can recommend is You Can Heal Your Life by Louise Hay. It is a wonderful book about changing your life through positive affirmations. I have added a link to the book on the side or bottom of my webpage.

“You, yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection.”
– Buddha

Final Thoughts

I hope you enjoyed reading Quotes On Focusing On Yourself. Do you love yourself? Are you programming your subconscious mind with positive affirmations? If so, leave a comment below and let me know. I always enjoy reading your comments. As always, I appreciate all the likes and follows. Don’t forget to subscribe to my email list. Just click on the red button above and leave your email address.

This article may include affiliate links. http://www.inspirechief.com participates in affiliate programs and receives commissions when purchases are made through the links. This is at no extra cost to you.

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Quotes About Time; 1440 Minutes

I hope you enjoy these quotes about time; 1440 minutes. I pray they inspire you to make a change today.

Time is what we want most, but what we use worst.
~ William Penn

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Quotes About Time; 1440 Minutes

Today I began thinking about time and what time means to us. Throughout my life, I’ve never spent much time thinking about, well…. time. But seeing how I recently turned 60 and a friend of mine described it as entering the fourth quarter of life, time has pushed itself to the front of the line of my thinking process. I am now closer to the end of my life than the beginning.

The two most powerful warriors are patience and time.
~ Leo Tolstoy

The life expectancy in the United States is currently 78.93 years. That would put me at the end of the fourth quarter, but I’m playing for overtime. Taking this number it would give me 18.93 years to accomplish everything I want to accomplish in life. That’s a lot of time and I can accomplish a lot of things. It all depends on how I use my remaining years.

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Photo by Joey Nguyu1ec5n on Pexels.com

1440

When we break time into clock minutes, there are 1440 minutes in a day. That gives us 525,600 minutes every year. If we all live for 80 years, that would equal 42,048,000 minutes. That’s how many minutes we would have in a lifetime. An important fact to remember is, everyone has the same amount of minutes, 1440, every day. No one is different. None of us have fewer minutes than somebody else. We are all allotted 1440 minutes a day. How are you using your 1440 minutes?

In every day, there are 1,440 minutes. That means we have 1,440 daily opportunities to make a positive impact.
~ Les Brown

Time is money.
~ Benjamin Franklin

One thing that I have noticed as I’ve gotten older is that time is very fleeting. I’ve heard a lot of people say this and I have also experienced it. Time seems to speed up as we age. I think back on my life and my school years. High school and college each last four years. Eight years passed by in a blink of an eye. My career, marriage, and raising my children all passed by in a blink of an eye.

The key is in not spending time, but in investing it.
~ Stephen R. Covey.

Friends

I believe what started me on the topic of time was two recent events that have happened in my life. As I write this, I have a friend who’s in the hospital fighting for his life. He’s only a couple years older than me and lives a very healthy lifestyle. One day he is fine and the next he is in an ambulance headed for the hospital. The other event was that my sister-in-law passed away this summer. She was only 55 years old. Like my friend, she was fine one day, in the hospital the next, and died two days later. We don’t know how much time we have.

Time is the most valuable thing a man can spend.
~ Theophrastus.

Death

Death is inevitable, no one can escape it. I have been in dangerous situations and have cheated death on more than one occasion. I have been shot at and one time could even feel the bullet as it passed behind my neck. I’ve been on helicopters that almost crashed on more than one occasion and have beaten cancer. So Death and I have had several conversations and they have all ended with the words of Arya Stark in Game of Thrones, “Not Today.”

A man who dares to waste one hour of time has not discovered the value of life.
~ Charles Darwin

Would you do anything different in your life if you knew exactly how much time you had left? I don’t know how much time I have left, but I choose to spend it spreading positivity and inspiration. The news media does a good enough job of spreading negativity, they don’t need any help. It wasn’t always like that. When I grew up news stations just told you what was happening, the good and the bad. Today, unfortunately, negativity sells. So that’s what we get.

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What Choice Will You Make?

Choices

You can choose to use your 1440 minutes any way you want. Why not use them to:

      – Make someone feel better.

      – Improve yourself.

      – Be positive.

      – Change your mindset.

      – Tell yourself how good and deserving you are.

      – Write a plan for yourself.

      – Set some goals.

      – Do better things today than you did yesterday.

      – Have a wonderful conversation with your significant other.

      – Say hello to strangers.

      – Give thanks for everything you have, the good, the bad, and the ugly.

Doubt Demons

You know I don’t always wake up with a positive mindset. Sometimes I have to talk my way into being positive. Some days the Doubt Demons win. The next day I have to continue the fight until I win and get back my positive mindset. Every day is different but the one constant is that I am in control of what I think and say. The choice is always mine on how I spend my 1440 minutes.

Time is a created thing. To say, “I don’t have time” is to say, “I don’t want to.”
~ Lao Tzu

It’s not that we have little time, but more that we waste a good deal of it.
~ Seneca

I don’t know how much time I have left, none of us do. We do know that we are all allotted our 1440 minutes each day to choose how we are going to spend them. So don’t wait until tomorrow to do what you want to do. Get out there today and live the life you want to live. Know what your worth and don’t settle for anything less. Go become that person others want to be.

No one is promised tomorrow.

It’s really clear that the most precious resource we all have is time.
~ Steve Jobs

Final Thoughts

Thank you for reading, Quotes About Time; 1440 Minutes. If you have any comments I would like to hear them. Subscribe to my email list by clicking on the button above and receive my checklist to keep you moving forward in attaining your goals.

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“This Train Is Moving on, You Can Get on, You Can Get off, But the Train Keeps Moving on! We Are Going to the Top of the Mountain!”

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Inspiring People Whom I Admire – Part III

This will be the third part of this series, Inspiring People Whom I Admire. Parts 1 and 2 were based on books that I had read. This post was inspired by another post I had read on brainfiguring.com and is about Kalpana Chawla, an astronaut from the country of India. I hope you enjoy Inspiring People Whom I Admire – Part III.

“The path from dreams to success does exist. May you have the vision to find it, the courage to get on to it, and the perseverance to follow it.”
~ Kalpana Chawla

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People Whom I Admire – Part III

I’ve always been interested in space travel and I watch every launch I can. I remember watching the first astronauts launch in the 1960s and I continue to watch the SpaceX launches. My first recollection of seeing Kalpana Chawla was when she was a member of mission STS-107 and was about to board the space shuttle Columbia on January 16, 2003. As the seven Columbia crew members were shown walking to their vehicle, Kalpana stood out to me. She appeared too young and small to be an astronaut. What stood out to me was how she carried herself with such confidence.

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Kalpana Chawla

Born To Fly

Kalpana Chawla was born July 1, 1961, in Karnal, India. She always enjoyed flying and held many pilots licenses. She could fly about any airplane. Her family was middle class and she graduated from high school in 1976. After graduating from high school, she found herself as the only female in the aeronautics batch at Punjab University. Her parents resisted her career choice but nothing could stop Kalpana.

“Do something because you really want to do it. If you’re doing it just for the goal and don’t enjoy the path, then I think you’re cheating yourself.”
~ Kalpana Chawla

Big Dreamer

Kalpana always had big dreams. Her dreams were to travel beyond the blue yonder, fly into the heavens, and touch the stars someday. She became the first female Indian born NASA astronaut. Kalpana wanted to show the world that dreams do come true with hard work and patience. She said, “You can retrieve what you dream with strength, endurance, willpower, and confidence. She was 1 of 2000 applicants for a civilian scientist’s position on Columbia’s voyage.

Space Shuttle Photos

When she was living in the dorms while studying for her bachelor, masters, and doctorate degrees, she had pictures of the space shuttle taped to her walls. She didn’t think, at the time she was putting them up, that one day she would fly on one. When I read about this it didn’t surprise me because what you look at every day becomes your thoughts in your subconscious. Your thoughts turn into reality.

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Space Shuttle

Kalpana is a great example that we can become anything we want if we put our minds to it. She dreamed of flying to the stars and surrounded herself with pictures of the space shuttle, which became her thoughts. Her thoughts directed her actions and her actions became her reality. She set goals to keep her on track and enjoyed the journey. Her thoughts on goals were, “When you are going for a goal, the journey is the best part.”

It’s easy for me to be motivated and inspired by seeing somebody who just goes all out to do something.
~ Kalpana Chawla

Dreams Come True

Kalpana’s first opportunity to travel beyond the blue yonder and fly into the heavens came when she was selected to be part of the crew on mission STS-87 in November 1997. She flew on the space shuttle Columbia as they completed 252 orbits of the earth in just over two weeks. In 2000, she was selected for her second voyage on Columbia as a mission specialist on STS-107. Because of many delays they didn’t launch until January 16, 2003. It was an ill-fated launch due to a piece of foam that broke off and damaged the heat tiles on the spacecraft wing.

I would say if you have a dream, follow it. It doesn’t really matter whether you are a woman or from India or from wherever.
~ Kalpana Chawla

Tragedy Strikes

On February 1, 2003, I was running on a treadmill at my gym and turned on the TV to watch Columbia land. They showed maps of the flight path Columbia would take to land at Kennedy Space Center. I began reading at the bottom of the screen that they had lost communication. The next images were from cameras in Texas and showed fiery streaks in the sky. I realized at that moment that Columbia had broken up and the crew had perished. It was a sad day for the world and particularly the country of India.

If you want to do something, what does it matter where you are ranked?
~ Kalpana Chawla

Nothing Could Stop Her

Kalpana Chawla had accomplished much while growing up in a male-dominated society and country. In the 1970s and 1980s, women in India were fighting battles against:

            – Dowry

            – Rape

            – Caste Crimes

            – Unjust Laws

            – Better Working Conditions

            – and more.

My admiration for Kalpana Chawla comes from the fact that she would not let anything stop her from her dreams. She had a definite purpose and persevered to achieve her dreams. For millions of young Indians, she was inspirational. She gave them hope that they could dream and work hard to achieve those dreams.

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All Aboard!!

This Train Is Moving On. You Can Get On, You Can Get Off, But The Train Keeps Moving On! We Are Going To The Top Of The Mountain!

Final Thoughts

Kalpana Chawla is an inspirational person. She is a role model for women and men alike. I hope you enjoyed Inspiring People Whom I Admire – Part III. If you did, click the like button. Leave a comment below, I love reading your comments. If you would like to join my team, click the subscribe button above and leave your email address. Don’t forget to follow my blog.

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This article may include affiliate links. http://www.inspirechief.com is a participant of the Amazon.com Services LLC Associates Program. As an Amazon Associate, I earn a commission from qualifying purchases. http://www.inspirechief.com participates in other affiliate programs and receives commissions when purchases are made through the links. This is at no extra cost to you.

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