Criticism

"I have learned that the only way to avoid criticism is to do nothing, but the consequence of doing nothing is much worse than any criticism."

Cameron C Taylor

How Do We Achieve Success?

I was asked to do an interview which was just released. The link is below. I was asked many questions I am not typically asked in a interview. These questions made it one of the most meaningful interviews I have done. I was asked about life balance, family, and what is really important. One of the questions was what do you want your children to learn from their dad? The answer to that question is at 31:10 of the interview.

http://patternsofsuccess.com/4

"I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." 

Philippians 4:13

Farmer Washington

The following is an excerpt from my new book 8 Attributes of Great Achievers, Volume 2

“I was but the humble agent of favoring Heaven. . . . My first wish is . . . to see the whole world in peace, and the inhabitants of it as one band of brothers, striving who should contribute most to the happiness of mankind.”

-George Washington

“Time after time [Washington] gave up the comfortable security of his personal life in order to serve his country. On three separate occasions he retired from public life, fully expecting to live out his days in the quiet of his plantation. And on three separate occasions he answered the call to return the service of his country sacrificing his own desires for the peace and safety of America.”1

After his eight years of service as the first president of the United States, he returned to his life as a farmer. His granddaughter Nelly Custis wrote of his return to the farm, “Grandpa is very well and much pleased with being once more Farmer Washington.”2 When a person came to the farm looking for General Washington, his grandson Parke Custis gave these directions, “You will meet, sir, with an old gentleman, riding alone, in plain drab clothes, a broad-brimmed white hat, a hickory switch in his hand, and carrying an umbrella with a long staff, which is attached to his saddlebow: that person, sir, is General Washington.”3

Abigail Adams, wife of John Adams, wrote of Washington, “No man ever lived, more deservedly beloved and respected. . . . [He] maintained a modest diffidence of his own talents. . . . Possesst of power, possesst of an extensive influence, he never used it but for the benefit of his Country.”4

Long live the memory of George Washington, the great servant leader!

Learn more at www.CameronCTaylor.com

References

1. Jay A. Parry and Andrew M. Allison, The Real George Washington (National Center for Constitutional Studies, 1991), 605.

2. Stanislaus Vincent Henkels, An Extraordinary Collection of Washington's Letters, Washington Relics, Revolutionary Documents and the Rarest Works on American History (Times Printing House, 1891), 5.

3. Horatio Hastings Weld, Pictorial Life of George Washington (Philadelphia: Lindsay and Blakiston, 1846), 182.

4. Michael and Jana Novak, Washington’s God (New York: Basic Books, 2006), 4-5.

Doing Your Personal Best

The following is an excerpt from my new book 8 Attributes of Great Achievers, Volume 2.

Humble leaders focus on doing their personal best and are not worried about how they are doing in relation to others. The legendary UCLA Coach John Wooden provides a powerful example of this principle. He wrote, “I never talked about winning or beating an opponent. In fact, I rarely mentioned the opponent’s name. One player joked that just before games our manager would go to the lobby and buy a program in order to know who the team was playing that day. ‘Let them worry about us,’ was my philosophy. My job, and the team’s job, was to get us as close to being as good as we could get.”

“In 1962, UCLA reached the Final Four for the first time ever. We did it with a group of young men Sports Illustrated described as having ‘no height, no center, no muscle, no poise, no experience, no substitutes, and no chance.’” UCLA lost seven of their first eleven games that year, but everyone “kept working hard and improving. . . . Their effort produced dramatic results as the season progressed, and UCLA won 14 of the final 18 games, became Pac-8 champions, and went to the NCAA tournament. In the regionals at Provo, Utah, the Bruins outscored Utah State and then Oregon State to advance to the Final Four. . . . This was quite a surprise to most basketball fans around the country. Our 72-70 loss in the last seconds of the Final Four semifinals to the defending and eventual champion, Cincinnati, provided great evidence of how one can ‘lose’ and still win. . . . Cincinnati’s best was slightly better than ours. . . . The final score can never make you a loser when you’ve done your best. . . . What is success? For many it’s trophies or blue ribbons. . . . But I don’t measure it like that. The highest success is in your effort—giving it your personal best.”

One of John Wooden’s most influential teachers was his dad. His dad taught him early and often, “Johnny, don’t try to be better than somebody else, but never cease trying to be the best you can be.”

References

(John Wooden with Steve Jamison, My Personal Best (New York: McGraw-Hill, 2004), 4, 114-115, 119, 120-123, 195)

Learn more at www.CameronCTaylor.com