You can win | Page 9

sad.

17 of 17 Stop procrastinating: Isn't it time that we put off putting things off?

Step 3: Develop an Attitude of Gratitude

Count your blessings, not your troubles. Take time to smell the roses. It is not uncommon
to hear that someone, because of an accident or illness, became blind or paralyzed but
won a million dollars in settlement. How many of us would like to trade places with that
person? Not many. We are so focused on complaining about things we don't have that
we lose sight of the things we have. There is a lot to be thankful for.
When I say count your blessings, not your troubles, the message is not to become
complacent. If complacence was the message you got, then I would be guilty of faulty
communication and you of selective listening.
To give you an example of selective listening, let me share with you a story I heard about
a medical doctor who was invited as a guest speaker to address a group of alcoholics.
He wanted to make a demonstration that would be powerful enough to make people
realize that alcohol was injurious to their health. He had two containers, one with pure
distilled water and one with pure alcohol. He put an earthworm into the distilled water and
it swam beautifully and came up to the top. He put another earthworm into the alcohol
and it disintegrated in front of everyone's eyes. He wanted to prove that this was what
alcohol did to the insides of our body. He asked the group what the moral of the story
was and one person from behind said, "If you drink alcohol you won't have worms in your
stomach." Was that the message? Of course not. That was selective listening--we hear
what we want to hear and not what is being said.
Many of our blessings are hidden treasures--count your blessings and not your troubles.

Step 4: Get into a Continuous Education Program

Let's get some myths out of the way. It is a general belief that we get educated in schools
and colleges. I run seminars in many different countries and ask my audiences all the
time, "Do we really get educated in schools and colleges?" Generally, there is a
consensus that some do but most don't. We receive a lot of information in schools and
colleges. Don't get me wrong. We do need information to be educated. But we need to
know the true meaning of education.
Intellectual education influences the head and values based education influences the
heart. In fact, education that does not train the heart can be dangerous. If we want to
build character in our offices, homes and society, we must achieve a minimum level of
moral and ethical literacy. Education that builds fundamental traits of character--such as
honesty, compassion, courage, persistence and responsibility--is absolutely essential.
We don't need more academic education; we need more values education. I would stress
that a person who is morally educated will be a lot better equipped to move up in life or
succeed than a morally bankrupt person with excellent academic qualifications.
Character building and teaching values and ethics come in the formative years because
a child is not born with this knowledge.

Education Without Values

True education is training of both the head and the heart. An uneducated thief may steal
from the freight car but an educated one may steal the entire railroad.

18 of 18 Universities are turning out highly skilled barbarians because we don't provide a
framework of values to young people, who more and more are searching for it.

--Steven Muller, President, Johns Hopkins University

We need to compete for knowledge and wisdom, not for grades. Knowledge is piling up
facts, wisdom is simplifying it. One could have good grades and a degree without
learning much. The most important thing one can learn is to "learn to learn." People
confuse education with the ability to memorize facts. Education of the mind without
morals creates a menace to society.
EDUCATION DOES NOT MEAN GOOD JUDGEMENT

There is a story about a man who sold hot dogs by the roadside. He was illiterate, so he
never read newspapers . He was hard of hearing, so he never listened to the radio. His
eyes were weak, so he never watched television. But enthusiastically, he sold lots of hot
dogs. His sales and profit went up. He ordered more meat and got himself a bigger and a
better stove. As his business was growing, the son, who had recently graduated from
college, joined his father.
Then something strange happened. The son asked, "Dad, aren't you aware of the great
recession that is coming our way?" The