Self Appraisal

A little boy went into a drug store, reached for a soda carton and pulled it over to the telephone. He climbed onto the carton so that he could reach the buttons on the phone and proceeded to punch in seven digits (phone numbers).

The store-owner observed and listened to the conversation:

Boy: "Lady, Can you give me the job of cutting your lawn?

Woman: (at the other end of the phone line): "I already have someone to cut my lawn."

Boy: "Lady, I will cut your lawn for half the price of the person who cuts your lawn now."

Woman: I'm very satisfied with the person who is presently cutting my lawn.

Boy: (with more perseverance) : "Lady, I'll even sweep your curb and your sidewalk, so on Sunday you will have the prettiest lawn in all of Palm beach , Florida."

Woman: No, thank you..


With a smile on his face, the little boy replaced the receiver. The store-owner, who was listening to all this, walked over to the boy.

Store Owner: "Son... I like your attitude; I like that positive spirit and would like to offer you a job."

Boy: "No thanks,

Store Owner: But you were really pleading for one.

Boy: No Sir, I was just checking my performance at the job I already have. I am the one who is working for that lady I was talking to!"

This is what we call "Self Appraisal"

Smart and clever boy!

- Author Unknown

Be Careful What You Plant!!!

An emperor in the Far East was growing old and knew it was time to choose his successor. Instead of choosing one of his assistants or his children, he decided something different. He called young people in the kingdom together one day. He said, "It is time for me to step down and choose the next emperor. I have decided to choose one of you."

The kids were shocked! Nevertheless, the emperor continued. "I am going to give each one of you a seed today. One very special seed. I want you to plant the seed, water it and come back here after one year from today with what you have grown from this one seed. I will then judge the plants that you bring, and the one I choose will be the next emperor!"

One boy named Ling was there that day and he, like the others, received a seed. He went home and excitedly told his mother the story. She helped him get a pot and planting soil, and he planted the seed and watered it carefully. Every day he would water it and watch to see if it had grown. After about three weeks, some of the other youths began to talk about their seeds and the plants that were beginning to grow.

Ling kept checking his seed, but nothing ever grew. 3 weeks, 4 weeks, 5 weeks went by. Still nothing. By now, others were talking about their plants but Ling did not have a plant, and he felt like a failure.

Six months went by, still nothing in Ling's pot. He just knew he had killed his seed. Everyone else had trees and tall plants, but he had nothing. Ling did not say anything to his friends, however. He just kept waiting for his seed to grow.

A year finally went by and all the youths of the kingdom brought their plants to the emperor for inspection. Ling told his mother that he was not going to take an empty pot. However,his mother advised to be honest to the King about what happened . Ling felt sick to his stomach, but he knew his mother was right. He took his empty pot to the palace. When Ling arrived, he was amazed at the variety of plants grown by the other youths. They were beautiful in all shapes and sizes. Ling put his empty pot on the floor and many of the other kinds laughed at him. A few felt sorry for him and just said, "Hey nice try."

When the emperor arrived, he surveyed the room and greeted the young people. Ling just tried to hide in the back. "What great plants, trees and flowers you have grown," said the emperor. "Today, one of you will be appointed the next emperor!" All of a sudden, the emperor spotted Ling at the back of the room with his empty pot. He ordered his guards to bring him to the front. Ling was terrified. "The emperor knows I'm a failure! Maybe he will have me killed!"

When Ling got to the front, the Emperor asked his name. "My name is Ling," he replied. All the kids were laughing and making fun of him.

The emperor asked everyone to quiet down. He looked at Ling, and then announced to the crowd, "Behold your new emperor! His name is Ling!"

Ling could not believe it. Ling could not even grow his seed. How could he be the new emperor? Then the emperor said, "One year ago today, I gave everyone here a seed. I told you to take the seed, plant it, water it, and bring it back to me today. But I gave you all boiled seeds, which would not grow. All of you, except Ling, have brought me trees and plants and flowers. When you found that the seed would not grow, you substituted another seed for the one I gave you. Ling was the only one with the courage and honesty to bring me a pot with my seed in it. Therefore, he is the one who will be the new emperor!"

If you plant honesty, you will reap trust.
If you plant goodness, you will reap friends.
If you plant humility, you will reap greatness.
If you plant perseverance, you will reap victory.
If you plant consideration, you will reap harmony.
If you plant hard work, you will reap success.
If you plant forgiveness, you will reap reconciliation.
If you plant openness, you will reap intimacy.
If you plant patience, you will reap improvements.
If you plant faith, you will reap miracles.
However, if you plant dishonesty, you will reap distrust.
If you plant selfishness, you will reap loneliness.
If you plant pride, you will reap destruction.
If you plant envy, you will reap trouble.
If you plant laziness, you will reap stagnation.
If you plant bitterness, you will reap isolation.
If you plant greed, you will reap loss.
If you plant gossip, you will reap enemies.
If you plant worries, you will reap wrinkles.
If you plant sin, you will reap guilt.

So be careful what you plant now, it will determine what you will reap tomorrow, the seeds you now scatter, Will make life worse or better, your life or the ones who will come after. Yes, someday, you will enjoy the fruits, or you will pay for the choices you plant today.

Touch a heart, leave a hope, stroke a faith and lend a hand.

Life begins with simple things.

The value of life lies not in the length of the days but how we make use of them.

- Author Unknown

The Importance of Dreaming Big

"Aim for the stars; that way the lowest thing you can hit is the moon."

We all have been given a gift of dreaming. Sometimes dreaming helps us to escape reality and create a vision of the future that we want. Every worthwhile goal always starts with the big dream. However, there is a huge difference between dreaming big and having big goals. Dreams are wonderful, but they are only a product of our imagination.

Until we take action and turn our dream into the goal, it will remain a beautiful castle build in the air. Goals, on the other hand, are achievable because they are always followed by an action.

One can't be effective without another. If you have a great vision, but fail to take action, it will remain just a dream. If you act without having a clear vision in mind, you are just wasting your time and effort. Only a combination of great Vision and thought out action will make a positive difference in your life.

I've always admired people, who were not afraid to turn their most daring dreams into reality, even if their goals seemed unrealistic to others. Those are people we read about in newspapers and motivational books. We look up to them, respect and admire them for their determination and willpower, but very rare we think that we are capable of doing same things.

It happens, because most of us underestimate the word "realistic". High goal doesn't automatically equal unachievable.

>> Why is it important to set BIG goals?

We all possess such qualities as self-discipline, determination, self-confidence, and creativity, but some people use them more than others.

If you go to the gym, but only lift weights that are easy and don't require any effort, your muscles will inevitably atrophy and you'll grow weaker. Similar, if you always underestimate your abilities, you are doomed to live your life way below your standards and never discover what you're truly capable of. Just as you need to strain your muscles to make them stronger, you have to challenge yourself by setting goals that is slightly out of your reach.

Only when you go beyond your current capacities, you can find out what you are capable of.

>> How to put an elephant in refrigerator?

A few days ago my niece has asked me a great riddle, "Do you know how to put an elephant in the refrigerator?"

I was struggling to come up with the answer for a couple of minutes, before she cried: "You should open the fridge, put the elephant inside and close the door!!"

That's it! It was so obvious! Why didn't I think about it myself?! Probably because I am a grown up and that's what grown ups do. When trying to find solution to a problem, we usually choose the longest, most complicated and time consuming way to do it. We work so hard, concentrating our mind on little details, estimating what can go wrong in the process, trying to predict problems that can arise in the process that we completely miss the "BIG PICTURE".

Your big goal is an elephant that you have to squeeze into a little door of reality.

How do you go about it?

You are absolutely correct! First you find an elephant (figure out what is it that you want to achieve) and then you open the door (transform your dream into a goal)!

>> Choose the elephant!

There are a lot of elephants in the jungles of your dreams. You need to know what your elephant looks like. Otherwise you might end up with a rhino or a crocodile.

That is why it is critical to decide exactly what you want to achieve. No one is going to give you an answer to this question. You must find an answer within.

When choosing your big goal you need to consider how it makes you feel. Does it give you inspiration? A little thrill? An excitement? In other words, does it feel right?

>> Open the door!

When you know what you want to achieve you can start working on figuring out HOW to do it.

First you need to come up with an action plan. But be flexible to change it. You don't have to have everything figured out to the little details. Just know where you're going and break your goal into smaller objectives, so you can monitor your progress.

Your plan is your route that shows you how to get to the destination point - your goal. But if there are some obstacles on your way, you can always choose another road that will lead you to exact same place. If you see only one road to your goal and refuse to make any adjustments in your plans, you'll most likely overlook other opportunities and have to deal with a lot more problems.

>> Don't be afraid to fail

"Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly."
~ Robert F. Kennedy

In our society word "failure" is opposed to the word "success". There's even such term as "fear of failure". In reality failure and success lie on the same side of the coin.

Our success greatly depends on the amount of attempts we make. If we increase the number of attempts we automatically increase the number of times we fail. But the more we fail, the more we learn, the better we become at what we are doing and the higher chances we have to succeed.

Don't be afraid to fail. Even if you set a big goal and fail, you'll learn something new and acquire valuable experience. If you succeed, you'll get all the benefits of your goal (popularity, respect of others, satisfaction, higher self-esteem, financial abundance, happy relationships and so on.) However, if you don't try, you'll acquire neither.

So why not go for a really big goal, if you have nothing to lose?

- Arina

Take the Hit

Take the responsibility. Take the hit. If you do that, you will have no need to blame others or continually find fault with them.

A guy I once knew used to constantly call me to complain about everybody and their brother. To listen to him, you would think that the entire world was against him and that he never made a mistake in his life.

From day one, nothing was ever his fault. Everyone else was to blame. In truth, he was his own biggest blind spot and sad to say, he eventually became a total loser because he never remedied his biggest problem - himself.

So when things go wrong, look at yourself first. Don’t instinctively blame others or the circumstances - or use them to cover your behind. Be the leader. Stand tall and take the hit.

If you accept the glory, be willing to accept the blame.


- By Donald Trump

Count Your Blessings, Not Your Problems.

A well-known speaker started off his seminar by holding up a QR.500 Note, he asked, "Who would like this QR.500 note?"

Hands started going up. He said, "I am going to give this QR.500/- to one of you but first, let me do this. He proceeded to crumple up the QR.500/-.

He then asked, "Who still wants it?"

Still the hands were up in the air.

Well, he replied, "What if I do this?"

And he dropped it on the ground and started to grind it into the floor with his shoe. He picked it up, now crumpled and dirty.

"Now, who still wants it?"

Still the hands went into the air. My friends, we have all learned a very valuable lesson.
No matter what I did to the money, you still wanted it because it did not decrease in value. It was still worth QR.500.

Many times in our lives, we are dropped, crumpled, and ground into the dirt by the decisions we make and the circumstances that come our way. We feel as though we are worthless.

But no matter what has happened or what will happen, you will never lose your value. Dirty or clean, crumpled or finely creased, you are still priceless to those who DO LOVE you. The worth of our lives comes not in what we do or who we know, but by WHO WE ARE.
You are special- Don 't EVER forget it."

If you do not pass this on, you may never know the lives it touches, the hurting hearts it speaks to, or the hope that it can bring.

Count your blessings, not your problems.

And remember:

amateurs built the ark;
professionals built the Titanic.

If God brings you to it - He will bring you through it.

- Author Unknown

Inspiring Story - Don't Give Up

One day I decided to quit...

I quit my job, my relationship, my spirituality...

I wanted to quit my life.

I went to the woods to have one last talk with God.

"God", I said. "Can you give me one good reason not to quit?"

His answer surprised me...

"Look around", He said. "Do you see the fern and the bamboo?"

"Yes", I replied.

"When I planted the fern and the bamboo seeds, I took very good care of them. I gave them light. I gave them water.

The fern quickly grew from the earth. Its brilliant green covered the floor. Yet nothing came from the bamboo seed.


But I did not quit on the bamboo. In the second year the Fern grew more vibrant and plentiful.

And again, nothing came from the bamboo seed. But I did not quit on the bamboo. He said.

"In year three there was still nothing from the bamboo seed. But I would not quit.

In year four, again, there was nothing from the bamboo see.

I would not quit." He said.

"Then in the fifth year a tiny sprout emerged from the earth.


Compared to the fern it was seemingly small and insignificant...But just 6 months later the bamboo rose to over 100 feet tall.

It had spent the five years growing roots. Those roots made it strong and gave it what it needed to survive.

I would not give any of my creations a challenge it could not handle."

He said to me. "Did you know, my child, that all this time you have been struggling, you have actually been growing roots?"


"I would not quit on the bamboo. I will never quit on you."

"Don't compare yourself to others." He said. "The bamboo had a different purpose than the fern. Yet they both make

the forest beautiful."

"Your time will come", God said to me. "You will rise high"

"How high should I rise?" I asked.

"How high will the bamboo rise?" He asked in return.

"As high as it can?" I questioned.

"Yes." He said, "Give me glory by rising as high as you can."

I left the forest and bring back this story.

I hope these words can help you see that God will never give up on you.

- Unknown

Lessons Of Life

I feared being alone
until I learned to like
myself.

I feared failure
until I realized that I only
fail when I don't try.

I feared success
until I realized
that I had to try
in order to be happy
with myself.

I feared people's opinions
until I learned that
people would have opinions
about me anyway.

I feared rejection
until I learned to
have faith in myself.

I feared pain
until I learned that
it's necessary
for growth.

I feared the truth
until I saw the
ugliness in lies.

I feared life
until I experienced
its beauty.

I feared death
until I realized that it's
not an end, but a beginning.

I feared my destiny,
until I realized that
I had the power to change
my life.

I feared hate
until I saw that it
was nothing more than
ignorance.

I feared love
until it touched my heart,
making the darkness fade
into endless sunny days.

I feared ridicule
until I learned how
to laugh at myself.

I feared growing old
until I realized that
I gained wisdom every day.

I feared the future
until I realized that
life just kept getting
better.

I feared the past
until I realized that
it could no longer hurt me.

I feared the dark
until I saw the beauty
of the starlight.

I feared the light
until I learned that the
truth would give me
strength.

- Unknown -