Althouse: "If you can dream it, you can achieve it."

November 30, 2012

"If you can dream it, you can achieve it."

"Your attitude, not your aptitude, will determine your altitude."

Etc. etc.

43 comments:

rhhardin said...: Your attitude, not your aptitude, will determine your altitude.

Your power setting will determine your altitude.

Attitude controls speed.; 11/30/12, 9:17 AM
bagoh20 said...: “If you can dream it, you can achieve it" is useless, but all the other nine are highly valuable, true and I think an definite recipe for success.; 11/30/12, 9:22 AM
Bart Hall (Kansas, USA) said...: Nonsense. I love playing baseball, and was a good-fielding second base man. However, even though you can see them coming, actually hitting a curve ball always eluded me.

That's why my baseball "career" stopped at the 10-dollar per game level, which is several steps below A-ball. All the attitude in the world was completely unable to keep those umpires' right hands from going up.; 11/30/12, 9:24 AM
Anonymous said...: My girlfriend is a high end catalouge designer. She designed and produced a number of his catalouges dating back to the 90's. As an aside, The WWII vets are leaving us now aren't they? As a school teacher I can attest that that generation of retired vets knew how to run public schools as Principals and teachers. Of course they used to drive me bat shit crazy in the 60's with all thier rules and non-sensical (at the time) outmoded ideas. Funny how many of those ideas make so much sense now 50 years down the road.; 11/30/12, 9:25 AM
madAsHell said...: ...until you are shot down by affirmative action!; 11/30/12, 9:32 AM
KCFleming said...: Don't dream it, be it; 11/30/12, 9:36 AM
Larry J said...: While the majority of limitations we face are self-imposed, it's important to understand the difference between dreams, fantasies and delusions.

Dreams can come true if you're willing to work hard enough, have the necessary talent and get the right training. You might dream of becoming a pilot, doctor or (gag) lawyer and do what is necessary to make it happen.

Fantasies can possibly come true but the odds are long against it. The Powerball craze of this week is an example. It seems there were two winning tickets sold out of several hundred million. For at least two people, their fantasy of winning a lot of money has come true.

Delusions won't come true no matter what you do. I can dream of winning the gold medal in the 100 meter dash in the next Olympics but no amount of training could ever make that happen short of shooting the other runners before the finish line.; 11/30/12, 9:37 AM
Anonymous said...: Cheesy-sounding (like much that reverberates in the Middle American heart), but sincerely said and felt, AFAIK. Ziglar, like Billy Mays, was a pitchman who truly believed in his products (which, one salesman told me, is the key to being a great salesman---honest belief in your product).

But Ziglar's advice was given without irony, without sarcasm,and stood for boot-strap pulling, take personal pride in your self, don't-blame-others, old fashioned Horatio Alger-meets-Dale Carnegie positive thought.

In other words, totally uncool today in the left-wing world of blame whitey, whine to whitey, demand handouts from whitey, and the world is stacked against you, and therefore don't bother trying, just blame whitey some more.

Thanks, lefties!; 11/30/12, 9:39 AM
Patrick said...: The only problem with motivational quotes and videos etc., is that you can spend your time reading them or watching them, and not actually doing stuff.; 11/30/12, 9:39 AM
Peter said...: "Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan, 'press on' has solved, and always will solve, the problems of the human race."

-- Calvin Coolidge; 11/30/12, 9:42 AM
Bob_R said...: People whose lives can be changed by motivational quotes REALLY need to have their lives changed.; 11/30/12, 9:42 AM
Anonymous said...: "Kids, you tried your best and you failed miserably. The lesson is, never try"
-Homer Simpson; 11/30/12, 9:43 AM
edutcher said...: Who Dares Wins

It is all in the heart and the mind. as their Commando instructors told Darby's Rangers.

PS I've always said dreams are for people who are asleep, but you need to set goals for yourself.; 11/30/12, 9:45 AM
Larry J said...: Bob_R said...

People whose lives can be changed by motivational quotes REALLY need to have their lives changed.

Put graphically by Despair.com.; 11/30/12, 9:46 AM
Larry J said...: rhhardin said...
Your attitude, not your aptitude, will determine your altitude.

Your power setting will determine your altitude.

Attitude controls speed.

The Langewiesche is strong in this one. And correct.; 11/30/12, 9:54 AM
SteveR said...: If you think you can, you might, if you think you can't, you're right.; 11/30/12, 9:55 AM
bagoh20 said...: Coolidge's advice about persistence is also very true. I know a lot of very bright people with great potential who never seem to get anywhere near their goals or dreams, because they simply don't complete the steps to get there. As I tell my people, finishing is all that counts. In fact, if you don't finish something, you are usually worse off than if you never started.; 11/30/12, 9:57 AM
sakredkow said...: Chug chug chug. Puff puff puff. Ding dong, ding dong. The little blue engine rumbled over the tracks.; 11/30/12, 9:59 AM
SayAahh said...: Susan Rice.; 11/30/12, 10:03 AM
KJE said...: Patrick for the win.

You can aspire all you want, you need time, material, and elbow grease to make it actually happen.; 11/30/12, 10:04 AM
Stephen A. Meigs said...: If you believe your tendencies are a certain way, your tendencies will be more that way. The world is too complicated to have a natural tendency for everything, so people tend to do what their understanding of themselves (or what others think them to be) suggests fits the pattern of their natural tendencies, unless or until some contrary tendency shows itself, whereupon one's understanding of one's natural tendencies can be reevaluated (or, if you are more conformist, unless or until someone suggests you are not fitting a natural pattern).

Skills are different, of course. Believing you have a certain skill doesn't make you more skilled there. But maybe some who believe that "if you can dream it, you can achieve it" are confusing tendencies with skills.; 11/30/12, 10:06 AM
bagoh20 said...: I have set very few goals in my life, but I think I have accomplished a lot anyway. I just looked at things I believed were steps forward and possible for me, and then did them - one after another.

It may seem counter-intuitive, but having the goal is not what gets you places - heading in the right direction and taking steps firmly and consistently will get you somewhere. Steering is the easy part and virtually self-evident along the way.; 11/30/12, 10:09 AM
Patrick said...: I don't think I've ever gotten a "for the win" before.

Think I'll take the rest of the day off!; 11/30/12, 10:24 AM
ricpic said...: If you didn't build that you didn't build that, period! Now shut up and pay up, to me!!

--The disinspiration of living under Hussein; 11/30/12, 10:28 AM
sakredkow said...: Get back to work Patrick. He's not the official scorer, and the thread is not closed yet.; 11/30/12, 10:31 AM
ricpic said...: Greatest proverb in the world: climb Mount Fujiyama, one step at a time.; 11/30/12, 10:34 AM
TMink said...: I agree with the large bag of mostly water. ZZ had some really good things to say, but his tendency toward hyperbole caught up with him on a couple.

Trey; 11/30/12, 10:41 AM
Patrick said...: Oh, alright. But only because I do actually have some work.

But I'm still knocking off early and going to the bar.; 11/30/12, 10:44 AM
SomeoneHasToSayIt said...: Zigs sayings for Obama's world.

10) “It's not your failure if you can successfully blame someone else.”

9) “You will get all you want in life, if you can figure out how to take some of what others have gotten.”

8 ) “People often say promises doesn’t last. That's why all of mine have expiration dates.”

7) “There has never been a statue erected to honor a person who passively acquiesced to theft.”

6) “People don’t lie for admirable reasons. They lie for selfish reasons.”

5) “Promise the best. Deliver the worst. Blame others (see also #10).”

4) “If you asking 'Who here is a fool?', you’re going to find they’re scarce. If you play to their selfish short term interests, you’ll find them voting for you everywhere.”

3) “A goal properly hidden is halfway reached.”

2) “Your sloth, not your effort, will determine your entitlement.”

1) “If you can earn it, I can confiscate it.”; 11/30/12, 10:47 AM
bagoh20 said...: "Your power setting will determine your altitude.

Attitude controls speed."

Flying a hang glider proves this perfectly. The only control you have is attitude, and you have to go searching for power like a dog sniffing out prey.; 11/30/12, 11:02 AM
Known Unknown said...: I don't see "You didn't build that" on the list.; 11/30/12, 11:08 AM
Anonymous said...: “People don’t buy for logical reasons. They buy for emotional reasons.”

2012

Big Plan vs Big Bird; religious freedom vs Sandra's condom.; 11/30/12, 11:17 AM
sakredkow said...: Big Plan vs Big Bird; religious freedom vs Sandra's condom.

Heh. Nothing emotional about putting the contrasting positions this way, is there?; 11/30/12, 11:19 AM
Michael said...: I spent a day with Zig at a small corporate meeting back in the 70s. I thought he was full of shit. Forty years on I know that most of what he wrote and thought was true and over these years I have adopted many of his ideas probably without realizing that they were ones I once scoffed at. Such is the way of maturity Persistence is imperative as is the positive outlook. The easiest, laziiest, approach to life is to become a critic, someone who can tell you what is wrong, usually something obvious but unimportant. The attitude is life draining.; 11/30/12, 11:25 AM
jungatheart said...: How does a man carrying a heavy load cross a narrow bridge?; 11/30/12, 11:38 AM
traditionalguy said...: The least credited attitude for all success is to show up with more Fire Power (a/k/a might).

Just in : The NO Saints left Atlanta with egg on their faces.; 11/30/12, 11:53 AM
David said...: "If you look like George Clooney, women will trot along in your wake.; 11/30/12, 12:12 PM
Fred Drinkwater said...: rhhardin, Larry J, bagoh20:
I'm truly inspired to see so many stick-and-rudder folk this morning. There's nothing like flying, to cast out illusion.
More or less on-topic:

What are the three most useless things?
- Runway behind you
- Altitude above you
- Fuel left in the truck

Always fly in the soft middle of the air. Try to avoid the edges, they are hard and sharp.; 11/30/12, 12:21 PM
ken in tx said...: It's a windy day here in the upcountry. This leads me to notice that crows seem to actually enjoy flying. Other birds fly from place, looking for food or mates, but crows seem to be having fun, especially on windy days. They adjust their attitude and power setting appropriately. It's a lot like sailing in three dimensions.; 11/30/12, 12:58 PM
Strelnikov said...: Until you spread your wings you'll never know how far you can walk.; 11/30/12, 1:36 PM
SteveR said...: "you need a check up from the neck up to avoid stinkin' thinkin' and hardening of the attitudes"; 11/30/12, 3:40 PM
Clyde said...: An ounce of competence is worth a pound of self-esteem.; 11/30/12, 5:16 PM
Anonymous said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 11/30/12, 10:39 PM