Beth K. Vogt's Blog, page 23

In Others’ Words: It’s Not About Luck

 

I’ll skip over luck, thank you very much, and go for opportunities every time.

Even those “lucky breaks” people talk about? Those were just opportunities in disguise. 

Think about it: That time you met someone who knew someone … and that other someone helped you along the path to your dream.

Or that part-time, temporary job that somehow helped you be in the right place at the right time for the job you wanted all along. Or maybe you learned a skill that you needed to to help you land a better paying job the next time.

Sometimes we hear about someone else’s life and we think, “Wow! They got so lucky!” And we’re a bit envious, thinking about how easy it was for them to get where they got, to have it so good.

But we don’t know the whole story. The challenges they faced along the way. The step by step by step opportunities they took — the chances, the hard work, the doors they knocked on. Some doors opened. Some doors didn’t. And all of that added up to that “easy, wonderful” life we’re looking at now.

The next time you’re waiting around for luck to change your life? Looking for opportunity instead.

In Your Words: When has an unexpected opportunity changed your life?

In Others' Words: It's Not About Luck quote by https://buff.ly/2JjSjje #opportunities #quotes
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'You just don't luck into things as much as you'd like to think you do ...' https://buff.ly/2JjSjje #quotes #BarbaraBush
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In Others’ Words: Hold Your Ground

 

I wonder how many battles have been won because someone held their ground?

Yes, I understand that winning is often seen as advancing — taking something from your opponent.

But there’s a very real sense when winning is all about not giving way … not letting your opponent take something from you.

At that point, when your adversary is trying to advance, holding your ground is winning.

Holding your ground is declaring, “You see this? This is mine and you can’t have it. I am not backing down. I am not giving up. And you are not getting past me, either.”

Sometimes holding your ground is literal — a battle for a hill or a beach or a boundary line.

And sometimes holding your ground is figurative. You’re fighting for a belief or a value or a right.

Literal or figurative, both are worth defending. Both are worth holding your ground for … realizing that the “win” might take time and might not always be about forward motion.

 

In Others’ Words: Where are you holding your ground today? What helps you hold your ground now so you can win a little more later?

 

In Others' Words: Hold Your Ground https://buff.ly/2JYyZsP #persevere #quotes
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'Victory is won not in miles but in inches. Win a little now, hold your ground, and later, win a little more.' Quote by Louis L'Amour https://buff.ly/2JYyZsP #victory #persevere
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In Others’ Words: The Certainty of Happiness

What determines your happiness: your circumstances or your attitude?

I would have to say there were times … are times … I allow my circumstances to determine whether I’m happy or not.

Things go right — the way I want them to go — and I’m happy. All good.

Things go wrong? I’m fighting against the drag of my emotions. And sometimes … sometimes, I let the discouraged, displeased, disappointed reactions rule the day.

There are times I can control my circumstances … and times I can’t. But I can control my attitude. (And when I can’t, well, that’s a good time to be quiet. Very, very quiet.)

Recently, I traveled with my agent to visit my publisher in Chicago. We flew into Chicago O’Hare Airport, which I try to avoid whenever I travel. When your publisher is in Chicago, Chicago O’Hare is unavoidable.

The trip in? No problem. The trip back to Denver? Delayed. That’s when I started getting a bit tense, especially because it was snowing. My agent? She smiled and said, “Don’t stress about what you can’t control.”

Good attitude, right?

I can’t control the weather. I also had no control over our delayed flight. N-O-N-E. We’d either make it back to Colorado that night, or we wouldn’t.

Want to know what I did?

I followed her lead and I faked the right attitude — and we were both happier. 

In Your Words: What attitude helps you be happy when circumstances are working against you?

 

In Others' Words: The Certainty of Happiness https://wp.me/p63waO-2Ch #perspective #quotes
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'A happy person is not a person in a certain set of circumstances, but rather a person with a certain set of attitudes.' quote by Hugh Downs https://wp.me/p63waO-2Ch #happiness #perspective
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In Others’ Words: Preparing for Tomorrow

 

Even as I prep this post, I’m mulling over the quote:

“The best preparation for tomorrow is doing your best today.”

I agree with H. Jackson Brown Jr.  . . . and then, part of me trips over the words “doing your best.”

“Doing your best” doesn’t mean today went exactly as you planned. “Doing your best” doesn’t mean today was perfect … or that you were perfect. If that was the case, none of us would be prepared for tomorrow.

Sometimes doing our best means holding on until tomorrow … being brave enough to believe that tomorrow is coming … and that God hasn’t abandoned us today.

Doing our best sometimes means we decide between competing values — family vs. career or honesty vs. loyalty — and something has to be given up for the sake of something or someone else. Our time, our talents, our emotions are limited, after all.

And sometimes doing our best means being content with today … being grateful for today … and anticipating the chance to try again tomorrow.

 

In Your Words: How do you prepare for your tomorrows today?

In Others' Words: Preparing for Tomorrow https://wp.me/p63waO-2C0 #doyourbest #perspective
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'The best preparation for tomorrow is doing your best today.' quote by H. Jackson Brown Jr. https://wp.me/p63waO-2C0 #today #tomorrow
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In Others’ Words: Taking a Closer Look at Failure

 

I wish I’d had a better understanding of failure when I was younger.

I wished I’d known things like:

Failure happens — to everybody. Everybody. Not. Just. Me.
Failure may feel awful … like the end of the world … but most of the times, you wake up the next day and get a second chance at things. 
Failure does not define you. You are never a failure just because something you did failed. 
Failure makes you smarter … but only if you see it as an opportunity to learn something. 
Failure provides you with choices — to try again or to quit. Always try again.

I used to think failure was the worst thing that could happen. Now I realize failure happens. That’s the reality for everyone … and there’s freedom in accepting that truth. That doesn’t mean I don’t work as hard as I can to succeed — I do. But accepting the reality of failure allows me the chance to get over my mistakes and move on.

In Others’ Words: What helps you accept failure so that you can fall down but not stay down?

 

In Others' Words: Taking a Closer Look at Failure https://wp.me/p63waO-ep #quotes #failure
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' ... What we call failure is not the falling down but the staying down.' quote by Mary Pickford https://wp.me/p63waO-ep #failure #perspective
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photo by Avolore/stockxchng.com

In Others’ Words: Win or Lose … Like It!

 

I’ve seen poor losers … and I’ve seen poor winners, too.

I’m not impressed when people sulk when they lose a game. I feel bad for a team when their coach is a poor loser and yells at them … or worse, walks away from them.

I also don’t respect poor winners. You know what I mean: those people who gloat, who act like of course they should have won and you should have lost. And who act as if their winning make them better than you.

Celebrating a win is one thing — and one of my favorite moments to capture on the volleyball court is a moment of celebration. But boasting or bragging in such a way that you mock your opponent is blatant poor sportsmanship.

Winning and losing is all part of the game, no matter what sport you play. And winning and losing happens in all sorts of ways all through life. How we carry ourselves through our winning and losing moments reveals who were are without the trappings of a score or an award — an external evaluation that reveals our heart.

In Others’ Words:  What helps you accept both winning and losing with grace?

In others' Words: Win or Lose ... Like It! https://wp.me/p63waO-2Bh #quotes #competition
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'Win as if you were used to it, lose as if you enjoyed it for a change.' quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson https://wp.me/p63waO-2Bh #sports #winorlose
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In Others’ Words: Adding Beauty to Life

 

We all know people who add beauty to life.

I also believe each one of us wants to be like author L. M. Montgomery, in that we would like to add some type of beauty to life. Sometimes, though, we get tripped up. We don’t think we add beauty to the world because we think it has to look a certain way. Perfect, maybe. Or like how someone else adds beauty to the world.

I have friends who create beauty in ways I never will. They sew or quilt — and that, as far as I’m concerned, is just math with material. But it is undeniably a way to add beauty to life. Other friends garden. Or paint. Or sing. Or sculpt. Or dance. Or play various musical instruments. Or teach. Do you know that there’s beauty in sports? Take as many photos of volleyball as I do — you’ll see it.

There’s beauty, too, in kindness. And laughter. And forgiveness. And listening to someone — really listening — when they are talking. And friendship … now that’s a beautiful thing.

All this to say, you’re more qualified to add beauty to the world than you realize. Beauty truly is sometimes seen … and other times it’s spoken … and other times, you can’t even describe beauty. You just know that it’s taken your breath away . . . and enlarged your heart.

In Your Words: Who has added beauty to your life? And how do you add beauty to life? Go ahead and share! I’d love to know what you do to add beauty to life.

In Others' Words: Adding Beauty to Life https://wp.me/p63waO-2Bb #quotes #perspective
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'I would like to add some beauty to life.' quote by L.M. Montgomery https://wp.me/p63waO-2Bb #beauty #perspective
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In Others’ Words: The Second Chance of Easter

 

Easter is the biggest, grandest second chance in the history of mankind.

We like to dress Easter up in new clothes or disguise it as the Easter Bunny, but the truth is . . . the Truth is, Easter is all about God saying, “I want more for you” — and then providing the way for us to have all He’s ever promised us.

Grace.

Mercy.

Lovingkindness.

Forgiveness.

And all of this grandest of second chances stretches forward and backward through all eternity. 

Praying that you experience a beautiful Easter  . . . and a fresh revelation of God’s love for you. (Yes, you.)

 

'Easter is very important to me. It's a second chance.' Quote by Reba McEntire https://wp.me/p63waO-2AL #Easter2018 #perspective
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In Others’ Words: Don’t Change the World

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In Others’ Words: Planning and Planting for Shade in Years to Come

How often do we think about how our actions today will affect someone else in the future?

I can get so caught up in the here and now — crossing off all the things on my To Do list that I accomplished — that the future encompasses only a few days from now, and not much further. Oh, sure, I’m aware of some major dates:

my son’s visit in April with his wonderful girlfriend
my book deadline on May 1 and my book release on May 8 — those two are close!
birthdays, anniversaries, and even when my 17-year-old daughter’s Jr/Sr Banquet is (because it’s on my birthday)

But it’s all too rare that I think of how something I do or something I say might encourage someone years from now — provide them “shade,” so to speak.

It’s true, I could go out in my backyard and dig a hole and plant a tree that, years from now, would provide shade for my family — children and grandchildren and so on down the years. Or I could, given the advantage, invest wisely and provide financial “shade” for my family in the future. I’m sure they’d appreciate that, too.

But what else could I plant now that would offer “shade” — rest, refreshment, encouragement, protection — to people that I love years from now? 

Memories filled with laughter, perhaps?
Thoughts about my faith journey recorded in my Bible, along with underlined verses?
Notes or letters sent now or maybe put aside for my family to find later that express my love for them, my respect for them, my hopes and dreams for them?

 

I want to be mindful of how I use today and tomorrow … but I also want to consider what I’m planting now, and how  I’m providing shade for my family in years to come.

In Your Words: How has someone planted and provided shade in your life? How are you provided shade for someone in the future?

In Others' Words: Planning and Planting for Shade in Years to Come https://wp.me/p63waO-2AF #quotes #perspective
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'Someone is sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago.' #quote by Warren Buffet https://wp.me/p63waO-2AF #encouragement
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