He that is good for making excuses is seldom good for anything else.

There is a single reason why 99 out of 100 average businesspeople never become leaders. That is their unwillingness to pay the price of responsibility. By the price of responsibility, I mean hard driving, continual work . . . the courage to make decisions, to stand the gaff . . . the scourging honesty of never fooling yourself about yourself. You travel the road to leadership heavily laden. While the nine-to-five-o'clock worker takes his ease, you are "toiling upward through the night." Laboriously you extend your mental frontiers. Any new effort, the psychologists say, wears a new groove in the brain. And the grooves that lead to the heights are not made between nine and five. They are burned in by midnight oil.

Success in life comes not from holding a good hand of cards, but in playing a poor hand well.

FOR MANY OF US, personal motivation is unfocused and diffused. When motivation is not tied to a specific goal, it rapidly disintegrates into inertia. But when motivation becomes focused on a single, well-defined goal, it becomes a powerful force for success and achievement.

Think of motivation as steam. If released into the open atmosphere, steam evaporates and disappears. If steam is trapped in a room, it can make you feel uncomfortably sticky and hot. But harness the steam to an engine, and it can pull a thousand-ton train.

It's the same with motivation. Motivation can escape from you, evaporating into thin air, leaving you feeling unenthusiastic and lethargic. Or motivation can be trapped inside, causing you to be agitated and filled with frustration. But motivation harnessed to a goal can get you to accomplish virtually anything you set your thoughts on.

Motive is meaningless until it is combined with action. That's why we call it motivation.

There is one word that blocks action, that poisons motivation, that smothers any chance for success and happiness. That killer word is can't.

So many individuals faced with a crisis or an opportunity react negatively. The first thing that pops into their minds and out of their mouths is "I can't."

"We need this report by Thursday," the boss tells us.

"No way," we reply. "It can't be done."

But life need not be lived that way. There is another word, one of the most powerful words in the English language—can.

The gap between what people think they can achieve and what is possible for them is actually very small.

"I can" cuts across all lines of work and all endeavors within a chosen profession, whether your ultimate goal is lifting enough weight to pass a firefighter's exam, closing a sale, getting a promotion, earning a Ph.D., making a million dollars, or landing a job in the first place.

"I can" is energizing. Say it to yourself right now: I can. Did you feel a lift, a small surge of well-being? Say it over and over, again and again, a hundred times a day. You'll soon find your enthusiasm spilling over into everything you do at work and at home.

There really are no good uses for the word "can't." But think you can, believe you can, and you'll find that you can indeed! 

Good management is the art of showing average people how to do the work of superior people.

LIVE YOUR LIFE EACH DAY as you would climb a mountain. An occasional glance toward the summit keeps the goal in mind, but many beautiful scenes are to be observed from each new vantage point. Climb slowly, steadily, enjoying each passing moment; and the view from the summit will serve as a fitting climax for the journey.

A MONARCH OF LONG AGO had twin sons. There was some confusion about which one was born first. As they grew to young manhood, the king sought a fair way to designate one of them as crown prince. All who knew the young men thought them equal in intelligence, wit, personal charm, health, and physical strength. Being a keenly observant king, he thought he detected a trait in one which was not shared by the other.

Calling them to his council chamber one day, he said, "My sons, the day will come when one of you must succeed me as king. The burdens of sovereignty are very heavy. To find out which of you is better able to bear them cheerfully, I am sending you together to a far corner of the kingdom. One of my advisors there will place equal burdens on your shoulders. My crown will one day go to the one who first returns bearing his burden like a king should."

In a spirit of friendly competition, the brothers set out together. Soon they overtook an aged woman struggling under a burden that seemed far too heavy for her frail body. One of the boys suggested that they stop to help her. The other protested: "We have a burden of our own to worry about. Let us be on our way."

The objector hurried on while the other stayed behind to give aid to the aged woman. Along the road, from day to day, he found others who also needed help. A blind man took him miles out of his way, and a lame man slowed him to a cripple's walk.

Eventually he did reach his father's advisor, where he secured his own burden and started home with it safely on his shoulders. When he arrived at the palace, his brother met him at the gate, and greeted him with dismay. He said, "I don't understand. I told our father the burden was too heavy to carry. However did you do it?"

The future king replied thoughtfully, "I suppose when I helped others carry their burdens, I found the strength to carry my own." 

WE DECEIVE OURSELVES when we fancy that only weakness needs support. Strength needs it more. A straw or a feather sustains itself long in the air.

To solve the human equation, we need to add love, subtract hate, multiply good, and divide between the truth and error.