Cathy Stucker - The Idea Lady

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Know How to Steer Before You Step on the Gas

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Here is this week’s Monday Morning Message from Wm. H. Danforth, founder of Ralston Purina: What is the Monday Morning Message?

Any fool can step on the gas, but it takes a real driver to steer his car and apply the brakes without accidents.

You have determined on your destination. You are steering your life to a definite goal. To cover the distance from where you are to where you are going is your job. There’s more to success than just “stepping on the gas.”

Why not, during this week, go over your plans and make dead sure that your steering wheel is all right; that your brakes are adjusted—both foot and emergency. Make sure there are no non-producers or flat tires in your department. Adjust everybody to the “Double Tonnage” program. Then step on the gas.

Each month advance your spark and speed.

The excitement of a new idea can cause us to jump in and get started before we really know where we want to end up or how we will get there.

Enthusiasm is great and will help you to reach your goal, but take the time to plan and make sure you are headed in the right direction and using your efforts wisely.

Persistence Wins

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Here is this week’s Monday Morning Message from Wm. H. Danforth, founder of Ralston Purina: What is the Monday Morning Message?

When we were in Spain we heard much of the persistence of Christopher Columbus in winning good Queen Isabella’s promise to finance his voyage of discovery. But could there be a greater example of persistency than those subsequent days described in his diary written in 1492?

Sept. 22—Today, we sailed due westward.
Sept. 23—Today, we sailed due westward.
Sept. 24—Today, we sailed due westward.
Oct. 8—Today, we sailed due westward.
Oct. 9—Today, we sailed due westward.
Oct. 10—Today, we sailed due westward.
Oct. 11—Today, we sailed due westward.
Oct. 12—Land!

Then, when we visited Old Carthage in Tunisia, Africa, we saw the ruins of that once magnificent city. Again we heard a marvelous story of persistence.

Marcus Portius Cato, in 157 B.C., was sent to Carthage to arbitrate between the Carthaginians and Numidians. Here he was so struck with the evidence of Carthaginian prosperity that he was convinced the security of Rome depended upon the annihilation of Carthage.

So, in and out of season, Cato kept repeating, “Delenda est Carthage!” (Carthage must be destroyed.) He never made a speech in the Senate on any subject without winding up with this slogan, “Carthage must be destroyed.” This simple repetition eventually brought war and Carthage fell before the Romans. Carthaginian civilization was utterly and completely destroyed.

Let’s label the next seven days ” Persistence Week.” Again may we concentrate on just one particular task and have the satisfaction as the week ends of saying, “PERSISTENCE WON.”

Often, we accept failure when success is right around the corner. We will never know how often we gave up when just a little more effort—a bit more persistence—would have brought success.

This week, instead of quickly saying, “This doesn’t work,” “I can’t do this,” or “I never succeed at anything,” commit to giving your best and persisting until you reach your goal.

Beyond the Ordinary

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Here is this week’s Monday Morning Message from Wm. H. Danforth, founder of Ralston Purina: What is the Monday Morning Message?

The great mass of humanity is satisfied with an ordinary level. Such people are not the worst, neither are they the best. Some of them even question any advance beyond the ordinary level. Their fight is simply to hold their own.

Our job as Leaders is to embody, yes even incarnate, that Higher Level before the very eyes of those around us. If we are to have dynamic influence, we must proclaim the message of these higher ideals, and then match our words by performance—actually living out these higher ideals.

He who would be a Leader must show by his own life—in his home, his business, his church, his community—the practicability of the new level to which he bids man come. He must carry his message in his face, in his acts. in his business, in his whole life.

This week let’s definitely set our hearts on a Higher Level; and through our daily habits force ourselves to live on this level.

Comparing ourselves to others can lead to being satisfied with an ordinary level of accomplishment. After all, as long as we are doing better than some other people, isn’t that good enough?

It might be good enough for those who aspire to be ordinary, but not for those who want to be their best. And that is the key—being YOUR best, not as good as someone else or better than someone else, but the best you can be.

Until the day you achieve perfection (and don’t hold your breath waiting for that!) there will always be room to improve. Look for ways you can reach new levels in all areas of your life.

The Resistance Test

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This week’s Monday Morning Message from Wm. H. Danforth, founder of Ralston Purina: What is the Monday Morning Message?

“When the prospect says ‘NO!’ is when the true salesman demonstrates his calibre.”

Think this through. A kite is a thing of beauty high up in the air, and so is a sail boat skimming through the waves—just because there is a strong wind blowing. A kite is tangled up with its tail and takes a nose-dive to earth when wind dies down. What’s the fun in trying to sail in a dead calm? Trout swim up stream. Resistance and “NO” develop MEN at their best.

“Safety First” means something passive. “Live Dangerously” means that you are safe only when you can stand against every danger. Life at its Best is the onward Spur which challenges me.

What application can you make to all of this during this week?

Physical strength is increased when we include resistance in our workouts. When we work against a force, our muscles work harder and become stronger.

The same is true for our minds and spirits. When we take the safe and easy route in everything we do, we get complacent lazy. It is when we challenge ourselves that we discover how much we are capable of accomplishing.

How will you challenge yourself this week?

Glimpses of Achievement

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This week’s Monday Morning Message from Wm. H. Danforth, founder of Ralston Purina: What is the Monday Morning Message?

Here are three quotations form Henry Ford’s (pictured at right) book, “My Life and Work.”

He says of Thomas A. Edison: His knowledge is almost universal. He is interested in every conceivable subject, and he recognizes no limitations. He believes that all things are possible. At the same time, he keeps his feet on the ground. He goes forward step by step. He regards “impossible” as a description for that which we have not at the moment the knowledge to achieve.

An educated man is not one whose memory is trained to carry a few dates in history— he is one who can accomplish things. A man who cannot think is not an educated man, however many college degrees he may have acquired. Thinking is the hardest work any one can do—which is probably the reason why we have so few thinkers.

Everything can always be done better than it is being done.

What will you do this week to retain some of the above thoughts so that the effect will be noticeable in your life?

Of the three quotes above, the one that spoke most clearly to me is the last: Everything can always be done better than it is being done.

How often do we accept things, shrugging and thinking, “That’s just the way it is.” In fact, anything and everything can be done better.

This week, instead of accepting what is, look for how you can make things better for yourself and others.