• What do you call a football coach who reached the Super Bowl 4 times and lost all four times?
• He won a ring with the Cowboys as an assistant coach and another as a player.
• You call him a successful coach – Dan Reeves died over the holiday unable to attain the ultimate dream of a pro football player but one of the most successful coaches in the American Football Conference as head coach of Denver.
• Perhaps a good time to reconsider the definition of success – the accomplishment of an aim.
• It’s up to us not to discard our own accomplishments because they got caught between the fine line of success and failure.

• My mother, Adele, never passed by a cemetery without saying something like “people are dying to go there” which may explain where I got my sense of humor.
• She would really love Betty White’s take who lived to within weeks of 100 and because of her fame and longevity faced numerous previous hoaxes about her premature demise.
• White a trailblazer for life also looked to her mother according to The Washington Post: “She would always say, ‘Nobody knows. People think they do — you can believe whatever you want to believe what happens at that last moment — but nobody ever knows until it happens.’ … Growing up, whenever we’d lose somebody, she’d always say, ‘Now they know the secret.’”
• “Tell them that at 90 there’s no need to get impatient,” she said in 2012 “I’m hurrying as best as I can.”
• Despite all the questions prompted by the beloved comedian’s extended golden years, Betty White who lived as full a life as possible wrote in her autobiography “I’ll be dying to find out”.

The Gift of Your Time

• Silly us – we’re running around looking for gifts to give this holiday season when the number one thing that people crave is free.
• Giving someone your time especially in our fast-paced digital world is the gift that means the most.
• Without distraction, 100% focused on them.
• Have you ever purchased a gift for someone that you just couldn’t wait for them to open? That’s the enthusiasm that you need to tie a bow around what could bring more happiness than the most expensive present.
• Rick Warren author of The Purpose Driven Life: What on Earth Am I Here For? says:  “Time is your most precious gift because you only have a set amount of it. You can make more money, but you can’t make more time.  
• ‘“When you give someone your time, you are giving them a portion of your life that you’ll never get back. Your time is your life. That is why the greatest gift you can give someone is your time.
• “Relationships take time and effort, and the best way to spell love is “T-I-M-E.”

Flush Away Loneliness

• Sociologist Philip Slater’s book The Pursuit of Loneliness came up with the term “Toilet Assumption”, the incorrect belief that undesirable feelings will disappear if they are ignored.
• The internet and social media are ways we can withdraw and live in isolation while assuming connection to others.
• The Loneliness Solution: balance the same amount of time you devote to virtual connection with actual connection – in person, talking on the phone, Zoom and to the extent that safety allows in-person interaction.
• What makes us content is to hear, see and experience joyful moments.

Enjoy Every Day

• Here is what 63-year-old Dan Doctoroff, a former New York City deputy mayor said upon receiving the diagnosis of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (A.L.S) commonly called Lou Gehrig’s disease which usually results in death within three to five years after symptoms appear (his father and uncle died of A.L.S).
• “I’ve always been incredibly ambitious. I’ve been very, very focused on goals. I don’t want to live my life that way anymore. I want to try and enjoy every day, and what’s important is being with family and friends.”
• He has only a 20% chance that his symptoms won’t turn into A.L.S. but a 100% chance that he will live the rest of his life focused on what is really important.

Second guessing is a bet against you

• We do it all the time sometimes out of insecurity but why be first in line to doubt yourself?
• Buying a lottery ticket is confidence that you’re going to win (and you pay for it) even though the odds are crazy against you.
• The owners of FanDuel aren’t going broke, they’re betting on a business to get users to lose some of their money.
• Here’s the sure thing: anything worth you doing is worth you believing in – to do less is to be first to sabotage yourself.

• The Philadelphia Flyers hockey team lost 10 games in a row resulting in their coach being fired, playoff hopes dinged and confidence sink to the lowest possible level.
• When we sense things going south, why can’t we turn it around? When everything in our lives goes well, good things are expected and they come easier.
• When adversity gets into our heads, we bear down, try harder, become obsessed with getting back on track.
• Fearing ups and downs makes things worse.
• Anticipating an upswing breeds resilience to endure.
• Think of a rollercoaster – it rises and then falls – again and again – and most people like it so much they wait in long lines to ride them again.
• Losing streaks are tests to see if we’re still believing in ourselves.

If you’re shy, try … 

• Focusing on other people doesn’t always require speaking.
• Ask questions, people who love to talk often think those asking questions are also conversing at the same level and they like it.
• Go first, break the ice – most other people are also shy and they appreciate your initiative.
• The quietest people are often the most persuasive – use your gift wisely.

Bad moods are often caused by things that are minor

• There is a cure.
• Ask, is what’s bothering me this minute worth being bitter.
• People who flip off things that get them down are taking charge of their happiness.
• Then when a big problem occurs, focus on a big solution.
• If you’ve ever played golf with someone who messes up shots and laughs off mistakes and still has fun, just watch how to do it.
• Every irritation is not worth the same level of misery.

Why are we even listening to people who say negative things to us?

• Ignore them.
• Change the subject
• Laugh it off
• Never engage, never enrage
• No one can get into your head if you clap back words meant to hurt or control us.