995. "A great man is always willing to be little."

"A great man is always willing to be little." Ralph Waldo Emerson


Great leaders are born and made, in my opinion. There is a certain knack for leadership, that some people just have. It's hard for you to define leadership but a wise man once told me the best definition ever. He said, "you can't define leadership, but when you see it, you know it." And strongly believe this is true, when you see a leader in action, it resonates with leadership. There are those who lead with an iron fist (but you need an absurd amount of power to do this), there are some who lead from a high pedestal (but you also need a lot of power). And the fact about both of these types of leaders is that their subordinates do not like them much.


In those two examples, their subordinates follow because they must, but at first change they will leave or kill the leader. The best way to lead is in the midst of your follows. Julius Caesar would never send his men to do what he wouldn't do himself, Lieutenant General "Chesty" Puller made sure to always fight with his men. The fact of the matter is, if you want to be a great leader, you must be with the majority. This is for three reasons. 


The first reason is because you will know your followers needs and wants more closely, and without your followers, you are nothing. The second is you will earn the respect of your followers because they know you are right their with them, feeling the same things they feel. And third and possibly most important is that you will be able to bond with your followers, there is nothing greater than a close, tight knit "family". This doesn't just apply to war scenarios but any aspect in life where you want to be a leader. Be it in a group project, a group of friends, an organization you belong to. If there's one thing to learn from this is to never let power go to your head, stay the little guy while being the leader and earn respect along the way. Have a good weekend and ill be back on monday! 

996. "It's not whether you get knocked down, it's whether you get up."

"It's not whether you get knocked down, it's whether you get up." Vince Lombardi

Let's face it, no one lives a perfect life. At one time or another you will get knocked down. You might lose your job, a family member, you may pull a Bill Buckner in you High School State Championship. All of these are excellent reasons to get down on yourself and be depressed. However, if you stay too long in this state of mind, the event has beaten you. 

Ive been there before. I once lost a Little League game on the last play, in the Summer League Soccer League Championship, I scored an own goal, and while trying to impress the varsity soccer coach when I was in 8th grade, I broke my leg during a game. All of these could have brought me into a mental state that collapsed my life for an extended period of time. 

Admittedly, each action brought about a brief bit of agony as is only natural. Everyone after an even like these WILL be affected, but it's what you make of these events that determine who you are, determine your character. In each of those events listed above, I eventually prevailed. In Little League, we made it to the championship, in the Soccer League, we came back from trailing 2-0 to win, and when the doctor told me it'd be a full year before I might have the possibility to play sports again, I was trying out for the basketball team after 6 weeks.

The truth of the matter is that anything can be overcome with a proper state of mind. The past can't be changed, but your state of mind can. Accept that something happened, and move on. However, don't FORGET that it happened because it is important to learn something from these moments, So keep a good head on your shoulders, learn something, and eventually you will develop great character.

997. "I never did a day's work in my life. It was all fun."

"I never did a day's work in my life. It was all fun." -Thomas Edison


As a senior in college, I hear this again and again. Find what your passionate about, and find work there. To me, as a business major, it is tough to make sense of this. The job market is as tough as ever, and I'm willing to take whatever job I am offered. My goal is to eventually end up working in a field that I am passionate about e.g. sports, gaming, travelling, etc. But for now its all business.


However, the more I reflect on this quote, the more I see doors opening. I look at my brother, who turned down a job out of college to try and become a movie director in Hollywood. He's a long way from that distinction, and may never reach his goal, but he is surrounded by the industry that he loves. He works 5 days a week 12+ hours a day on a successful T.V. game show. He's move from a general PA to the head PA. While T.V. isn't his end goal, it is the means to get there, and he's having fun doing it.


What this boils down to is, if you're passionate about something, do it. Find a way into the industry and work from the bottom up. If the pay isn't good, work a second job. Eventually if you're passionate about it, and hustle, you will end up in a job you love doing. When you have a job you love doing, you truly will never work another day in your life. Remember, you only live this life once, so if you have the option of working for good money, but being miserable, or doing what you love, go with your heart.

998. "It's a job that's never started that takes the longest to finish."

"It's a job that's never started that takes the longest to finish" -J.R.R. Tolkien

How many ideas have you had in your life that you thought were awesome? You thought you'd love to do this project. Perhaps building a new deck, or simply set up a lemonade stand. Than months later you realized you never even started it. I know personally to me this has happened often. Ive had ideas for websites, I wanted to write a book once, and even things as simple as cooking dinner Ive put off (thank you fast food).

To me this goes hand in hand with the old saying "why put off to tomorrow what you can do today." And I've also recently found how to answer this question. As stated in my first blog, #1000, I have started reading Richard Branson books, and the one I finished already is "Screw it, Let's do it". I really am starting to believe in this. Just the other day I was at a club with two of my roommates and some of my friends. All of a sudden my one roommate said "my cousin is having a house party in Philly, wanna go?" Everything inside me was saying "you know were already here, I'm comfortable here and Philly is 30-40 min away." However, I said screw it, lets do it! And it turned out that I ended up having 10x the fun I would have had if I stayed.

Not every decision you will make will turn out with a 10:1 worthwhile ratio, in fact some decisions might be worse, but if you never try it you will never know. You live life once, why not push yourself everyday? The more you turn those "no's" into "yes's" the more spontaneous fun you will begin to have. I know my life has become a lot more fun and interesting and I encourage all to start any ideas you might have in your head, just try them out. The sooner you start them, the sooner they will be complete and the greater the sense of accomplishment you will have.

999. "If you reject the food, ignore the customs, fear the religion and avoid the people, you might better stay at home"

"If you reject the food, ignore the customs, fear the religion and avoid the people, you might better stay at home" -James Michener

This quote has stuck by me for a long time. I am a lover of travel, meeting new people and learning new customs. I have studied in three different continents and visited four of the seven, with the remaining three as my goal. We live in a world that is connected in ways never before seen, the world is truly flat. Business now has few boarders in this world and travel has few restrictions. I can hop on a plane and land in Egypt, or China, or Russia within a day. Thats mind blowing.


Ive traveled with a countless amount of people who refuse to challenge themselves while traveling. They eat at McDonald's, instead of trying local cuisine. They interact with their small group, instead of reaching out to locals. And I could go on and on about this, but it boils down to one thing. When you are traveling, it is not the local that is the 'foreigner', rather it is the opposite. You are the foreigner in a new land, so why not try new things and embrace where you are?


My philosophy for traveling has always been this. Determine your comfort level, and then increase it by 1. If you always push yourself to new small steps, you'll be amazed at what you can conquer and discover about yourself. So don't be afraid to try new things, even if its a small as a different culture in your own country (Theres a big difference between the city life of New York and the country of Mississippi). Challenge yourself everyday and eventually nothing will be able to stop you.

1000. "You don’t learn to walk by following rules. You learn by doing, and by falling over."

"You don’t learn to walk by following rules. You learn by doing, and by falling over." -Sir Richard Branson


This quote is actually what inspired me to start this blog. I'm currently at a point in my life (senior year of college) where I am going to be faced with many challenges. I'm going to be entering the 'real world' for the first time, starting a new life soon wherever my job takes me, and meeting new people everyday. I started reading more books in an attempt to 'grow up'. Currently I'm reading 'Business Stripped Bare' by Richard Branson and I stumbled upon this quote.


This quote immediately stuck out to me. In order to get somewhere in life, you have to try. Your endeavors might not always be successful but if you keep at them, eventually you will learn. And that is the biggest take-aways from this quote. Challenge yourself, and don't be afraid to fail. However, when you fail you have to be able to pick yourself up and try again and learn from your mistakes. This quote doesn't mean that you should break the rules and be a rebel, but rather that you shouldn't be afraid of taken the path less traveled. You don't have to fit into a certain algorithm of successes. Learn from your mistakes, dive head first (with some research) into things, and continue to strive for excellence.


This is my first real blog, and I am certainly diving right in, so my posts might not always be great reads, or fancy, or edited properly, but I promise I will learn along the way, listen to my readers and hopefully by the end, will have something special to be proud of.