Life without dreams is like a bird with a broken wing - it can't fly.
Constantine 'Costa' Gratsos had made his fortune as a lifelong associate of shipping icon Aristotle Onassis. He took a liking to me, became my first mentor, and showed me how to swim in the deep, dangerous waters of business.
I may be wrong, but I am never in doubt! And anyone who has been around me for even a minute understands that my self-confidence and self-esteem is sometimes overwhelming!
Jim Newman, the business visionary who created the term 'comfort zone,' showed me how to expand my horizons. Thanks to Jim, after I attended one of his PACE Seminars in 1978; I moved out of my comfort zone at Bear Stearns and became a super successful oilman.
The road to success is always under construction... there are lots of pot holes but no traffic jams.
Jerry Ormand was already a legendary Texas oilman when I met him. Yet he took the time to introduce me to the fine points of the oil business and how to survive and prosper amid the chaos of a rough-and-tumble industry.
Good lawyers win so-so lawsuits. Great lawyers can win lawsuits in which you have little or no chance to win.
I have written and said countless times it is not what happens to you in life that makes a difference! It is how we react to what happens to us in life that creates our history and - more importantly - our future!
Progress often masquerades as trouble.
A famous man once said, 'A sure formula for failure is to try and please everyone.' Some might say I built a career on doing just the opposite of pleasing everyone.
Wishing, hoping, and dreaming without an action plan - is nothing more than a pipe dream!
The more emotional distractions you have the harder it is to accomplish your goals - especially at the extreme levels!
Year-end goals are terrific! Affirmations with goals are even better! And goals, affirmations, along with visualization is even more effective!
I have said many times: We have self-esteem or don't, based on how we were raised! Self-esteem is normally produced in your first 7-8 years of life.
The truth is, successful people are not ten times smarter than you. They don't really work ten times harder than you. So why are they successful? Because their dreams are so much bigger than yours!
Our lives are a series of lowered expectations year after year. We got pounded by everything around us. Just like our parents and their parents. We are products of our social and economic milieu.
The best form of customer service is self service. Constantly empower customers to get their own answers themselves.
As I have said many times - no 1 loves me as much as I love myself! And if you can't really love yourself, you can't love anything you do!
Entrepreneurship is enduring pain for a long time without relinquishing.
Super-success is not for everyone, and you will endure weeks and months and years of hard work, obstacles, failures, victories, pain, and any manner of 'negative' experiences to reap the rewards of success, drink from the golden goblet, own the brass ring.
