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I need your help! (Picking a favorite quote)

Feb
14

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As I mentioned in hint #18 in the “Win a Zune” contest earlier today, no one in my new company has a title on their business card. Instead each person has a favorite quote and/or tag cloud that represents that person’s unique role and personality.

My tag cloud will probably look something like this:

Designer Developer Architect
IllusionistMentorTrainer
CommunityPeople Builder
FatherHusband
FriendEmcee UX
Organizational Change Leader
Follower

but I'm having a difficult time deciding on a favorite quote. Here are the ones that I've narrowed this down to:

“We would accomplish many more things if we did not think of them as impossible.”
Vince Lombardi

 

Leaders are made, they are not born. They are made by hard effort, which is the price which all of us must pay to achieve any goal that is worthwhile.
Vince Lombardi

 

The quality of a person's life is in direct proportion to their commitment to excellence, regardless of their chosen field of endeavor.
Vince Lombard

 

It's easy to have faith in yourself and have discipline when you're a winner, when you're number one. What you've got to have is faith and discipline when you're not yet a winner.
Vince Lombardi

 

I firmly believe that any man's finest hour, the greatest fulfillment of all that he holds dear, is the moment when he has worked his heart out in a good cause and lies exhausted on the field of battle-victorious.
Vince Lombardi

 

Genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration. Accordingly a genius is often merely a talented person who has done all of his or her homework.
Thomas Edison

 

Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.
Thomas Edison

 

If we're growing, we're always going to be out of our comfort zone.
John Maxwell

 

A great leader's courage to fulfill his vision comes from passion, not position.
John Maxwell

 

The greatest mistake we make is living in constant fear that we will make one.”
John Maxwell

 

The whole idea of motivation is a trap. Forget motivation. Just do it. Exercise, lose weight, test your blood sugar, or whatever. Do it without motivation. And then, guess what? After you start doing the thing, that's when the motivation comes and makes it easy for you to keep on doing it.
John Maxwell

 

A man must be big enough to admit his mistakes, smart enough to profit from them, and strong enough to correct them.
John Maxwell

 

A big man is one who makes us feel bigger when we are with him.
John Maxwell

I know... I can hear it now, “this is your narrowed down list?” Yes, it is.

This is not a contest, I'm not offering a Zune to Guess My Favorite Quote, but I would really like to know which quote you think best fits me, and would go best on a card that I will be giving out to millions of people... maybe not millions, but you get the idea.

Thanks!

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 14th, 2007 at 6:00 am and is filed under Random. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

 
  • Anonymous
    Kristian -


    That's a great quote!



    How are things in Redmond? We'll have to talk when I'm up there for the MVP Summit.
  • Anonymous
    You forgot a part of your personality that makes you so fun ... THAT SENSE OF HUMOR! The jokes. Oh, how I remember the jokes. Our poor waitresses in Tulsa ... they haven't recovered. :)


    Humor is mankind's greatest blessing.

    Mark Twain



    ~ kristian
  • Anonymous
    My favorite:


    "Those who stay will be champions." - Bo Schembechler



    I know, I know, you weren't looking for MORE options... hehe...
  • Anonymous
    > If we're growing, we're always going to be out of our comfort zone.


    Since you are mentoring people, I think this is the best one!



    > “We would accomplish many more things if we did not think of them as impossible.”



    This is my second choice.





    > Leaders are made, they are not born. They are made by hard effort, which is the price which all of us must pay to achieve any goal that is worthwhile.

    > A great leader's courage to fulfill his vision comes from passion, not position.



    Since "Leader" is not in your cloud, nix these, unless you add the word.





    > The quality of a person's life is in direct proportion to their commitment to excellence, regardless of their chosen field of endeavor.



    Not quite





    > It's easy to have faith in yourself and have discipline when you're a winner, when you're number one. What you've got to have is faith and discipline when you're not yet a winner.

    > The greatest mistake we make is living in constant fear that we will make one.”

    > A man must be big enough to admit his mistakes, smart enough to profit from them, and strong enough to correct them.



    I don't think I would want these on my business card when I give it to a client.





    > I firmly believe that any man's finest hour, the greatest fulfillment of all that he holds dear, is the moment when he has worked his heart out in a good cause and lies exhausted on the field of battle-victorious.

    > The whole idea of motivation is a trap. Forget motivation. Just do it. Exercise, lose weight, test your blood sugar, or whatever. Do it without motivation. And then, guess what? After you start doing the thing, that's when the motivation comes and makes it easy for you to keep on doing it.



    Too wordy.





    > Genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration. Accordingly a genius is often merely a talented person who has done all of his or her homework.



    Possible, but overused.





    > Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.



    Not quite





    > A big man is one who makes us feel bigger when we are with him.



    Not quite



    ** Note: Caleb, the comments in the threads are not being sorted properly.
  • Anonymous
    Rick - That's definitly the one that I've been leaning towards.


    Thanks for the input everyone!
  • Anonymous
    “We would accomplish many more things if we did not think of them as impossible.” Vince Lombardi


    This one reminds me of you. You should use it.



    Rick Michaels


  • Anonymous
    “We would accomplish many more things if we did not think of them as impossible.” Vince Lombardi


    This one reminds me of you. You should use it.



    Rick Michaels


  • Anonymous
    "Cogito, ergo sum" - René Descartes


    ;) Buddy Lindsey
  • Anonymous
    My favorite:


    "Those who stay will be champions." - Bo Schembechler



    I know, I know, you weren't looking for MORE options... hehe...
  • Anonymous
    Always forgive your enemies; nothing annoys them so much.
    Oscar Wilde



    Life is too important to be taken seriously.

    Oscar Wilde



    Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read.

    Groucho Marx



    A child of five would understand this. Send someone to fetch a child of five.

    Groucho Marx



    Always listen to experts. They'll tell you what can't be done and why. Then do it.

    Robert Heinlein



    Writing is not necessarily something to be ashamed of, but do it in private and wash your hands afterwards.

    Robert Heinlein



    A poet who reads his verse in public may have other nasty habits.

    Robert Heinlein
  • Anonymous
    Wow. What happens at TechEd... gets blogged about and is forever immortalized on the Internet! I don't think that's the kind of help that I was looking for Brendon!


    Too funny. I thought that I had buried all of that in case I ever decide to run for office! :)
  • Anonymous
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Caleb Jenkins, is a recognized Silverlight expert and Senior Architect Team Lead at Six Flags Corp, a National Speaker for INETA, a Technical Editor for Wrox Press and is a Microsoft MVP. He lives in the Dallas, TX area where he continues to date his beautiful wife and busy himself playing Candy Land and xBox 360 with their four incredible children. Eventually he’ll post some of the gazillion interviews that he's recorded on CommunityCast.tv or blog more... or stop speaking of himself in the third person. more...

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