Lou Solarte - Chicago Golf Lessons

Words of wisdom are pieces of advice passed on over the years, which influenced countless people around the world by shaping and defining their lives.  Some of these words come from authors, poets, politicians, historical figures, and religious writings, whereas some seem to be as old as time itself and their origins remain unknown. Don't just read each one, contemplate its meaning and consider these words of wisdom: One line of wisdom can change your life more than volumes of books.

Action

• Be afraid only of standing still
• Spend your time and energy creating not criticizing
• Action without thought is like shooting without aim
• Suppressing a moment of anger may save a day of sorrow
• Motion is not necessarily action
• Action first, prayer second
• Do more, hope less
• He who knows no laziness will know prosperity
• Do something every day that you don't want to do, but know you should do
• Every action has an opposite and equal reaction
• Every man must bear the consequences of his own actions
• Constant occupation prevents temptation
• Inactivity breeds ignorance
• If you do nothing, nothing will happen
• If you wish for a thing and do not get it, try working for it
• The smallest deed is better than the grandest intention
• It is never too late in life to make a new start
• Do things that make you smarter
• The energy we use in getting even would be better spent in getting ahead
• A jo! urney of a thousand miles must begin with a single step
• There are those who wait for something to happen, and those who make something happen
• Oversleeping will never make your dreams come true
• There are those who have ideas and there are those who do something about them
• Imagine what you would attempt to do if you knew you couldn't fail, then do it

Adversity

• Face adversity with a smile
• You learn more from people who disagree with you than from those who agree with you
• See problems as opportunities for growth and self-mastery
• With no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant
• The crisis of yesterday is the joke of tomorrow
• Accept temporary inconvenience for a permanent improvement
• Don't let a rut become a grave
• The best way to handle any crisis is to remain calm

Anger

• Don't criticize others when you are angry with yourself
• Let anger die quickly
• One who cannot tolerate small ills will find it hard to accomplish great things
• Do not become angry with people who do not agree with your opinion
• Every minute you are angry you lose 60 seconds of happiness
• Keep your head when those around you are losing theirs
• Don't carry grudges
• No situation is so bad that losing your temper will not make it worse
• Let go of anger; it hurts you more than the person at whom you are angry
• Bury the hatchet
• Showing anger is a sign of weakness

Arguing

• The only way to get the best of an argument is to avoid it
• Never say, "You're wrong!"
• If you are wrong, admit it quickly and emphatically
• The weaker the argument, the stronger the words
• Do not argue if you know you are wrong
• Show respect for other people's opinions
• It is not who is right but what is right that's important
• It takes two to fight

Assistance

• Don't be afraid to ask for help

Attitude

• Think positively and positive things will happen
• The best is yet to be
• Focus on the big picture
• Even the longest day will come to an end
• Concentrate on your strengths instead of dwelling on your weaknesses
• The optimist sees the doughnut, the pessimist sees the hole
• Hope for the best, but prepare for the worst
• The willingness to do creates the ability to do
• Expect nothing and you will not be disappointed
• If you look hard enough, you can find the positive in any situation
• Improve your performance by improving your attitude
• No one can make you feel inferior without your consent
• Change your thoughts and you will change your mood
• Avoid negative people, places, and things
• You cannot lose what you never had
• Everything is good for something

Belief

• Faith is stronger than hope
• Believe in the goodness of others
• Everything happens for a good reason

Benevolence

• Forgive and forget
• Be kind to strangers
• Try to make someone happy each and every day
• Show respect for all living things
• Don't talk about people behind their backs
• Be kind to the unkind
• It is nice to be important, but it is more important to be nice
• Be the first to forgive
• Society succeeds when it is easy for people to do good deeds
• Compliment people every day
• Make the other person feel important - and do it sincerely
• Make others feel appreciated
• Choose being kind over being right
• Don't deny anyone the opportunity to do something nice for you
• Value all life
• Lift people up
• If you want to feel good, help others
• Always stop to think when your fun will cause another's unhappiness
• Let the other person save face
• Within each person is a treasure, but sometimes you have to dig for it
• Say hello to others

Change

• If you do what you have always done, you will get what you have always gotten
• Dump your unwanted baggage

Character

• Character is what we are; reputation is what others think we are
• Personality opens doors; character keeps them open
• Never promise more than you are willing to give
• Adversity tests whether you are what you thought you were
• Give people more than they expect -- cheerfully
• Practice what you preach
• Keep an open mind
• Ability helps you get to the top, but character keeps you from falling
• Perform whatever you promise
• Remember the power of kindness
• Never subtract from your character to add to your popularity
• Share the credit
• People with tact have less to retract
• Never use profanity
• Do more than is expected
• Maturity is about experience, not age
• Keep your promises
• Be genuinely interested in other people
• If you take care of your character, your reputation will take care of itself
• A person's reputation can be ruined by one lie
• Don't keep people waiting

Almost every wise saying has an opposite.  For example, "the squeaky wheel gets the grease" and its opposite "the nail that sticks up gets nailed down".  Both sayings sound good and are persuasive in communication; that is why some of these sayings have survived since the beginning of recorded history. It is up to you to decide if the words you read or hear make sense to you.  Never accept an idea just because it sounds good.

Choices / Decision

• Every path leads two ways
• He who follows another is always behind
• It takes just one decision to change your life forever
• Your head must take your heart into consideration when making decisions
• It is OK to change your mind
• Either lead, follow, or get out of the way

Commitment

• Don't make commitments you don't plan to keep

Courage

• It is better to be a coward for a minute than dead for the rest of your life

Communication

• Don't criticize, condemn, or complain
• You have two ears and one mouth; use them in the same proportion
• Silence is the hardest argument to refute
• Think why you are saying no before saying no
• Think why you are saying yes before saying yes
• If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all
• Call people by name
• Words have the power to destroy or heal
• Give honest and sincere appreciation
• Don't try to top others' stories
• Talk less and say more
• When you have nothing to say, say nothing
• Silence is sometimes the best answer
• Encourage others to talk about themselves
• The key to communication is saying something so that your audience can understand it
• Ask questions that other people will enjoy answering
• If little ears should not hear it, then big mouths should not say it
• Stack two layers of praise around every critique
• Great minds discuss ideas, average minds discuss e! vents, small minds discuss people
• Be interested and you will be interesting
• Talk about your own mistakes before criticizing those of another person
• Criticize the behavior, not the person
• Diplomacy is thinking twice before saying nothing
• The answer depends on the question

Competition

• Do not disparage your competitor

Death

• There is only one way to enter this world, but many ways to exit it

Destiny

• Take charge of your own destiny
• Assume responsibility for the quality of your own life
• Decide who you want to become
• The past does not determine the future
• Successful people believe that they are destined for great things
• Destiny is not a matter of chance, it is matter of choice

Excellence

• Whatever is worth doing at all, is worth doing well
• If it isn't broken, improve it

Excuses

• Being human is a privilege, not an excuse

Experience

• Experience is what you get when looking for something else

Failure

• Do not be ashamed to fail
• If God wanted us to accept failure as "His will", He wouldn't have given us persistence.
• The key to failure is trying to please everybody
• When something in your life breaks down, put it back together again
• You never really lose until you quit trying
• Failure isn't falling down, it's staying down

Fairness

• Life isn't fair

Giving

• Our own success should contribute to the success of others
• Helping other people with their troubles helps you to forget your own
• You always help yourself by helping others
• You get out of the world just what you put into it

Genius

• A genius is a crackpot whose crazy idea actually works

Goals

• If you aim at nothing, you usually get it

Happiness

• The world likes a happy person
• Be responsible for your own happiness
• Happiness does not consist in things, but in thoughts
• Create rituals of things you look forward to doing on a regular basis
• Be happy with what you have while working for what you want
• Get what you want, then enjoy it
• Relish small pleasures
• Some pursue happiness - others create it
• Do not rely on others for your happiness
• The happiness of your life depends on the quality of your thoughts
• Find joy in what you have
• Authentic happiness is always independent of external conditions
• Work enjoyed is as much fun as leisure
• Love and work are two of the most important ingredients of a happy life
• Happiness is hard to find in ourselves and impossible to find anywhere else
• Live beneath your means
• Nothing in excess

Health

• Become addicted to good and healthy ways
• Health is the greatest of human blessings
• Have enough reasons for wanting to stay healthy
• Cheerfulness is the principle ingredient in health
• Get in shape and stay there

Hope

• Never take away hope from another

Humor

• Humor is the best ice-breaker
• Lighten up

Individuality

• Think for yourself
• Leave the herd and think for yourself
• It is harder to stand up against a crowd than to go along with it
• Treat other people as individuals
• Don't expect other people to solve your problems

Management

• Ask questions instead of issuing orders

Meaning of Life

• Use your life to make something that will outlast it
• Your achievements live longer than you do
• The meaning of life is to find meaning
• Play the hand that's dealt you
• Find your own philosophy

Miscellaneous

• Even logic has its limits
• Hunger is the first course to a good dinner
• Seek and ye shall find
• Dramatize your ideas
• Never ask a barber if you need a haircut
• Age is only important if you are cheese
• The nail that sticks up gets nailed down
• Always leave them wanting more
• All the negatives of politics do not come close to outweighing the few positives

The wisdom is not in the words, it is in the interpretation and the meaning behind the words.  With so few words used to create such powerful statements and ideas, it is understandable why there are so many interpretations of each.  As a general rule, the fewer the words, the more interpretations there are.  In some cases, quotes, sayings, proverbs, and other words of wisdom have a completely different meaning when taken out of context.  It is the beliefs you adopt and the actions you take as a result of the words that are most important.

Open-Mindedness

• Realize that there are other points of view

Opportunity

• Profit from your mistakes
• Be open to new ideas

Passion

• Do not work just for the money
• Doing something you love is never a waste of time
• All great things in life are achieved with passion
• Show enthusiasm in both work and leisure
• The more you love, the more you love life
• He enjoys life who makes others enjoy it
• Profit from what you love doing

Patience

• Given enough time, running water can hollow out a stone

Perception

• To the ant, a few drops of rain is a flood
• The mind can make things better or worse than they actually are
• Life is what your thoughts make it
• An imagination can make reality more enjoyable
• The difference between stumbling blocks and stepping stones is the way you use them
• The optimist sees opportunity in every difficulty
• Wherever you are right now has the potential to be paradise
• The memory of the past is usually better than the actual past
• The good old days were never really that good
• Don't let someone else's reality become yours
• The grass may be greener on the other side, but it still has to be mowed
• The only normal people are the ones you do not know very well

Persistence and Determination

• Hang on longer than your competition
• Don't expect different results from the same behavior
• When you come to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on
• Never give up on what you really want to do
• By improving your own life, you begin to improve the world

Personal Growth

• Hold yourself to a higher standard
• Begin a program of self-mastery
• Become a skilled learner
• Act like the person you want to be
• Spend your years ripening instead of rotting
• Bring something to the table
• We become strong only after we have acknowledged our weaknesses
• Learning is addicting
• Do not put self-imposed limitations on yourself
• Inspired people inspire people
• Raise the bar in your life
• Improve yourself every way that you can
• Small daily changes make life spectacular
• When you cease to grow, you begin to die
• It is not what you are, it is what you do not become that hurts
• Small changes add up to a big change

Problem Solving

• When you can't solve the problem, manage it
• A problem adequately stated is a problem well on its way to being solved
• Do not look where you fell, but where you slipped

Preparation and Prevention

• An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure

Procrastination

• Do not wait for a rainy day to fix your roof

Progress

• Look back and see how far you have come

Recovery

• The sun shines after every storm
• This too shall pass
• Make the best of a bad situation

Regret

• Put your mind in gear before you put your tongue in action
• Yesterday will never come again, but you have today
• Careless hurry may cause endless regret
• Present neglect makes future regret
• Regret nothing
• If you would not write it and sign it, do not say it
• Planning your future saves you from regretting your past

Rejection

• You cannot please all of the people all of the time

Relationships

• A marriage is made in heaven, but the details are worked out on earth
• Time spent with your children is not wasted
• Love is something you give, not something you look for
• Better alone than in bad company
• In a friendship, because you share, the good times are doubled and the bad times are cut in half
• Love your children for who they are, not for what you want them to be

Relaxation

• Get the butterflies in your stomach to fly in formation

Responsibility

• Stop blaming others for your failures
• Quit blaming everything on your parents
• Hold yourself accountable for the way you feel
• It is up to you to make your life great

Risk

• A person must risk something of significance in order to achieve something of significance

Sales

• If you can sell it to yourself, then you can sell it to anyone
• You get what you pay for
• Everyone is selling something

Skepticism

• Look at the source as well as the advice
• Examine what is said more than who said it
• Question authority
• Question everything

Security

• Don't throw away the old bucket until you are sure the new one holds water
• There is no security on this earth; there is only opportunity

Self-Control

• You will know what is more than enough before you know what is enough

Self-Discovery

• Examine what you believe in

Self-Esteem

• Stick up for yourself
• Promote yourself but do not demote another
• If you make yourself a doormat, you will be stepped on
• The biggest human temptation is to settle for too little
• Do not sell yourself short
• Feeling good about yourself is a sign of success
• The more content you are with yourself, the fewer material things you need

Success

• There is no elevator to success - only stairs
• The dictionary is the only place success comes before work
• The more you lean on somebody else, the leaner are your chances for success
• Use your own definition of success

Teamwork

• Snowflakes are some of nature's most fragile things -- but look at what they can do when they stick together

Time Mastery

• You always find time to do the things you really want to
• Do not fight a battle if there is nothing to win
• Be on time
• Time should be spent solving problems, not worrying about them
• Since you cannot make more time, spend the time you have more wisely
• Never say you do not have enough time
• Make sure the prize you chase is worth the effort
• Don't major in minor things

Trust

• Trust can be destroyed faster than it can be built
• Good people can do bad things
• It takes years to build trust, but only seconds to destroy it

Wealth

• Halving your wants quadruples your wealth
• No luxury should be purchased with debt
• Have more money by having fewer wants
• Share your wealth
• Love what you do
• Life becomes less complex when you eliminate needless wants
• The best ideas are the ones that make the most people happy

Wisdom

• One line of wisdom can change your life more than volumes of books
• Wisdom is to the soul as what health is to the body
• Wisdom should be shared
• Wisdom is revealed through action, not talk

Worry

• Why worry?
• If you are worrying about dying, then you are not spending enough time living
• Exercise instead of worry
• Worry gives you something to do, but it does not get you anywhere
• It does not make sense to worry about things that cannot be changed

It was a snowy winter night when George Bailey stood on the bridge of Bedford Falls and convinced himself that he was more valuable dead than alive.  George made a very common mistake on that cold, fictional night when he determined his worth based purely on his finances.  It took a second-class angel named Clarence to restore his self-esteem and show him vividly how valuable his life really was.  Although Frank Capra's It's a Wonderful Life is just a movie (and a great one at that), it's a great example of true self-esteem.

Self-esteem is value or worth that one bestows on oneself.  It is the inner feeling one has about oneself.  High self-esteem is a character trait of a healthy individual.  One can never have too much self-esteem.  Self-esteem is loving oneself, whereas over-confidence and narcissism are being in love with oneself.

Our current level of self-esteem is low, high, or somewhere in between and is always changing.  For many people, they go through life with low self-esteem and never do much to improve their situation in life because they feel deep inside they are just not worth it.  Many of these feelings of inadequacy come from childhood and the school system.  Adolescents have a seemingly natural ability to be able to lower the self-esteem of just about any individual.  Unfortunately, despite their age, some people never mature mentally past adolescence and the destructive criticism and mental abuse continues to be dished out to their children, employees, and/or students.

As adults, we often give ourselves low self-esteem by associating our self-worth with our bank accounts.  We see rejection and failure as permanent, and give into a negative mental attitude such as, "why not smoke, we're all going to die eventually anyway".

The best thing you can do for yourself is love yourself.  For those of you who think that sounds too mushy, I will rephrase that to: the best thing you can do for yourself is build your self-esteem.  Individuals with high-self esteem:

• are self-motivated
• accept responsibility for their actions
• take pride in their accomplishments
• are loving and lovable
• are capable of handling criticism
• take command and control of their lives
• are focused on goals
• have tolerance and respect for others
• have integrity
• are willing to take risks

Success without high self-esteem is not likely.  People detect low self-esteem in others and will treat them accordingly.  Fortunately, building self-esteem is quite easy, especially for those with a positive mental attitude.  Here are several ways you can build your self-esteem from both the outside in and the inside out.

Outside In

• Carry yourself well.  Keep your head up, shoulders back and chest out.  Don't be a sloucher.
• Dress for success. Look nice when going out in public.  A simple rule is to dress just a bit better than the others you come across.  Take care of your personal hygiene as well.
• Speak clearly and confidently. Do not slur your words or mumble.  Make eye contact when speaking with someone.
• Stay in shape. Take care of your bod.

Inside Out

• Realize your importance to others.  Think about all the lives that have been and are being touched by your life. 
• Self-worth is based on what you are capable of doing, not what you have done.  Since human potential is limitless, thus your potential is limitless; your self-worth is limitless as well.
• "No one can make you feel inferior without your consent" is one of the wisest truisms of our time said by the very bright Eleanor Roosevelt.  The feelings of emotion, such as inferiority, are something we generate within and over which we have control. Do not allow others' perceptions or comments to negatively affect your self-esteem.
• Engage in positive self-talk.  Your subconscious mind has much to do with your self-esteem. Be careful what you say to yourself because your subconscious mind is always listening.
• Invest in yourself. Books, tapes, classes, on-line courses, and anything that will feed your mind with knowledge and positive information are all great investments in you.  Work on specialized skills that will make you more marketable in the workplace. 
• Realize that rejection and failure made you stronger and smarter.  Rejection and failure are not always "bad" things.  Rumor has it, Colonel Sanders was rejected over 1000 times before he sold his chicken recipe.  Rejection and failure are a part of life and two things successful people encounter more often than those who are afraid to try.

Healthy self-esteem is an important part of happiness in life and high self-esteem is vital to success. You are a unique individual and have it within yourself to accomplish such wonderful things.  The moment you realize this, you will possess the gift of high self-esteem.