Why is asking questions such an important part of life? We simply cannot make clear distinctions without the use of questions! No distinctions equals no decisions and no actions. No wonder questions are such a powerful force. Without questions we could not take action!
Bobb Biehl has been asking questions for more than 30 years. In 1976, after a successful career with a leading nonprofit organization, he founded Masterplanning Group International. An executive mentor, he has consulted with more than 2,500 executives on businesses, churches, nonprofit groups and government agencies. Biehl is a firm believer in the power of questions as an important component of success. “No problem in the world,” he states, “has ever been solved without a question or series of questions being asked first. Learning to ask is a prerequisite to learning to think clearly. If you are not able to ask questions, you will ultimately make cloudy distinctions, reach uncertain decisions and take wrong actions.” In The Question Book, published in 1993, Biehl called on ninety experts to each submit a series of twenty questions covering virtually every aspect of life, including business, education, health, marriage and family, politics, religion and finances. His firm also published Asking to Win, containing more than one hundred profound questions to assist readers in making wise decisions for a lifetime. One man told his story: “My senior level position had been unexpectedly eliminated, and I did not know what to do next. I knew Bobb slightly, and visited with him one afternoon. He began asking me a few insightful questions about things I’d never considered. As a result of one particular question, I set off on an entirely new career path which, nearly three decades later, continues to bring me satisfaction and success.” The question Bobb Biehl asked, which started our friend along the road to success, echoed a statement once made by Hamilton Wright Mabie, a well known American essayist and lecturer of a century ago: “The question for each person to settle in not what they would do if they had the means, time, influence and educational advantages, but what they could do with the items they have.”
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We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new activities, because we are curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths.
Richard P. Feynman, who died in 1970, at age 69, was an American physicist and one of the best known scientist in the world, credited with many breakthrough discoveries in his chosen field. Early in his career, he was part of the team which developed the atom bomb and, years later, he served on the panel appointed to investigate the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster. In 1965, he was one of three recipients of the Nobel Prize in Physics, and he served for many years as a professor at the prestigious California Institute of Technology. Feynamn also had a less serious side, often seen as a free spirit and something of an eccentric. He enjoyed writing and painting, playing bongo drums, juggling, picking locks and practical jokes. While at Los Alamos, where the atom bomb was developed, he spent his spare time picking the locks of cabinets containing highly classified secrets, and leaving mysterious notes for his colleagues, implying foreign agents had gained access. What drove Feynman, both in his serious and frivolous pursuits, was an insatiably curious mind, as illustrated by the titles of two of his books. The first, Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman, was subtitled Adventures of a Curious Character. It was followed by: What Do You Care What Other People Think?, subtitled Further Adventures of a Curious Character. Feynman credited his father for encouraging him, from childhood, to challenge accepted thinking. “I was born not knowing,” he once said, “and have had only a little time to change.” He may have had, in his words, “only a little time to change,” but he used his time well. It was Richard Feynman’s curiosity that led him down new paths and brought him great success. A strong will, a settled purpose, an invincible determination, will accomplish anything; and in this lies the distinction between the great person and the little person.
The year was 1983. In Australia, the long-distance foot race from Sydney to Melbourne was about to begin, covering 875 kilometers – more than 500 miles. About 150 world-class athletes had entered, for what was planned as a six-day event. So race officials were startled when a 61 year-old man approached and handed them his entry form. His name was Cliff Young, and his racing attire included overalls and galoshes over his work boots. At first, they refused to let him enter. So he explained he had grown up on a 2,000 acre farm, with thousands of sheep. His family could afford neither horses nor tractors so, when the storms came, his job was to round up the sheep. Sometimes, he stated, it would take two to three days of running. Finally, they let Cliff enter, and the race began. The others quickly left him way behind, shuffling in his galoshes. However, he did not know the plan included stopping each night to rest, so he kept going. By the fifth day, he had caught them all, won the race, and became a national hero. He continued to compete in long-distance races until well up in his seventies. He was inspiration to millions and a great encourager of younger runners. In his honor and memory, in 2004, the year after his death at age 81, the organizers of the race where he first gained fame permanently changed the name to the Cliff Young Australian Six Day Race. What was the key to Cliff Young’s success? It goes by various names: determination, perseverance, persistence, tenacity. It means keeping one’s eye fixed steadfastly on a goal, and not stopping, no matter the difficulties or the obstacles until the goal is achieved. You will never stub your toe standing still. The faster you go, the more chance there is of stubbing your toe, and the more chance you have of getting somewhere.
In 1840, American educator Thomas H. Palmer, published a book entitled Teacher’s Manual, which included a short poem. While few of us today would recognize Palmer’s name, we are all familiar with the poem: “Tis the lesson you should heed, Try, try again. If at first you don’t succeed, Try, try again. This could have been the theme song of Charles F. Kettering. In fact, Kettering once stated: “It doesn’t matter if you try and try and try again, and fail. It does matter if you try and fail, and fail to try again. Born in 1876, he earned an engineering degree and joined National Cash Register Company, where he developed the first electrically operated cash register. He then turned his attention to the fledgling automotive industry, co-founding Dayton Engineering Laboratories Corporation, which later became Delco, and was acquired by General Motors. It was Kettering who invented the electric self-starter for automobiles. In 1910, he joined GM, remaining there until 1947. His genius, however, was by no means limited to automobiles. He invented such breakthrough technologies in health care such as a treatment for venereal disease, an incubator for premature infants and artificial fever therapy. Other inventions included: the electrically operated gate and a lightweight diesel engine for railroads; the first synthetic aviation fuel; shock absorbers, safety glass and automatic transmissions for automobiles; and Freon for refrigerators and air conditioners. In his lifetime, he held more than 300 patents. Kettering was a man of action, who never allowed fear of failure to slow him down. He called failures “finger posts on the road to achievement,” adding “a person fails toward success.” His philosophy was, "to keep on going and not worry about failure because every failure is one more brick in building the cathedral of success.” Success doesn’t just happen. In every area of your life, the more you prepare, the better the results.
Joel Weldon has been one of America’s most successful and respected professional speakers for more than three decades. In 1989, he was honored as the recipient of the Golden Gavel, the most prestigious award conferred by Toastmasters International. Other winners have included such illustrious names as Walter Cronkite, Earl Nightingale, Art Linkletter, Ken Blanchard and Stephen Covey. Weldon has also been inducted into the National Speakers Hall of Fame and, in 2006, was named a “Legend of the Speaking Profession.” He is known worldwide for his unique trademark, a heavy 8-ounce can which sits on the desks of thousands of his clients and customers, with a label reading: “Success Comes in CANS, Not In Cannots!” Asked the secret of his success, he cites several factors, including preparation. Although he has given more than 2,800 presentations, he states: “As a professional speaker for more than 35 years, I still invest 50 hours to prepare for each of my custom keynote speeches and seminars. Why? Because to be excellent, I know each idea presented must relate specifically to the audience.” Weldon adds: “Excellence is the result of effort and preparation. How much time are you willing to invest in order to be amazing at what you do – so people can only describe your results as excellent? It is one of the keys to your success.” Every person has a train of thought on which they travel. The dignity and nobility of life, as well as happiness, depend upon the direction in which the train is going, the baggage it carries and the scenery through which it travels.
In our discussion of successful trait number nine, I introduced famed speaker Charlie “Tremendous” Jones, and the emphasis he placed upon reading as a tool for all who embark on the journey to success. There was another tool he saw just as important to take along the journey. In his presentations, he invariably instructed his audiences to not take any notes on what he was about to say. “Don’t take notes on what a speaker says,” he would advise. “Take notes on the thoughts you get from what you hear. You must learn to listen less and think more. The more you think, the more you realize life is not all about smartness. It is better to be plain and simple and real.” To illustrate his point, Charlie, with tongue firmly in cheek and a broad smile on his face, would tell of greeting his pastor after church on a Sunday morning and saying: “That was a great message this morning, pastor. You interrupted my train of thought five or six times.” Each of us is the engineer and the conductor on our own train of thought, fully responsible for keeping it pointed and moving in the right direction on the journey toward success. Spend a great deal of time in books, looking for answers, and you will find the golden vein of ore that every book contains.
As a professional speaker and humorist, Charlie “Tremendous” Jones traveled the world for more than forty years, delighting and challenging his audiences with his message “Life Is Tremendous,” and receiving just about every honor conferred in the speaking profession. A member of the Speaker’s Hall of Fame, he was named one of the top fifty speakers of the twentieth century. One of his great passions was instilling in his audiences the importance of reading, and he was famous for this statement: “You are the same today as you will be in five years except for two areas – the people you meet and the books you read.” Many years ago, his company, Executive Books, published a four-volume series titles The Books You Read, containing hundreds of one-page summaries of books recommended by many of the famous and not-so-famous people whose lives have been impacted by a book. Over the years, Charlie has given away hundreds of thousands of books. “I learned a long time ago,” he said, “I was wasting money by giving out business cards, which most people just throw away. So I started giving out books, with my name and phone number written inside. I cannot tell you how many people have said to me that I am the first person who has ever given them a book.” In a letter to his grandson, Charlie once offered these wise words: “Many people you will come to love will be met in books. Read biographies, autobiographies and history. Biographies will help you see there is nothing that can happen to you that was not been experienced by many who used their failures, disappointments and tragedies as stepping stones for a more tremendous life.” Reading, indeed, is an important stepping-stone on the road to a more tremendous and successful life. Change is the watchword of progression. When we tire of well-worn ways, we seek for new. This restless craving in our souls spurs us to climb and seek the mountain view.
Shortly after taking office in 1977 as President of the United States, Jimmy Carter appointed his friend and fellow Georgian, Bert Lance, as director of the Office Management and the Budget (OMB). Before long, investigations began into certain irregularities at a Georgia bank, and of Lance’s role as its chairman. With the Watergate scandal still fresh in the minds of many Americans, the media had a field day with Lance, and he soon resigned from his OMB post. Forced to stand trial for his alleged improprieties at his bank, where he had stepped down as chairman, he was later acquitted of all charges and resumed his leadership role. Lance would have long been forgotten by now, except for one brief comment during a May 1977 interview with Nation’s Business magazine. Today, that statement, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” remains the clarion call of the status quo crowd – the NIMBYs (Not In My Back Yard, the NOPEs (Not On Planet Earth) and the BANANAs (Build Absolutely Nothing Anywhere Near Anything). It has taken its place alongside such old bromides as “Don’t make waves,” and “Leave well enough alone.” Educator and author C. Neil Strait might have had the “if it ain’t broke” crowd in mind when he wrote: “Change is always hard for the man who is in a rut; for he has scaled down his living to that which he can handle comfortably and welcomes no change – or challenge – that would lift him.” Rather than following the Lance approach, those who seek some measure of success in life might consider these words by the late American philosopher and educator John Dewey: “Since changes are going on anyway, the great objective is to learn enough about them so we will be able to lay hold of them and turn them in the direction of our desires.” The man who grasps an opportunity as it is paraded before him may be successful; but, the man who makes his own opportunities will be successful.
Russell Conwell was born in Massachusetts in 1843. During the American Civil War, he was a Captain in the Union Army, and then became an attorney and a writer. In 1879, he began studying for the ministry and, in 1882, became the pastor of a new Baptist church in Philadelphia which, under his leadership, would become the city’s world-renowned Baptist Temple. In 1887, he founded Temple University, and was named president, a post he would hold until his death in 1925. Conwell’s distinguished service as pastor and educator brought him many honors, but his greatest success came as a result of a legend he had heard in 1870, while on a round-the-world journey, representing a Boston-based travel publication. One day, his guide informed him the ancient tale of a Persian farmer named Ali Hafed who, dreaming of great riches, had sold his land to go in search of diamonds. However, after searching in vain for many years, his health and money gone, he cast himself into the sea and drowned. Meanwhile, the man whom Ali Hafed had sold his property found a small stone in the shallow brook on his newly purchased land. It was a diamond, the first of thousands in what would prove to be, in the words of Conwell’s guide, “the most magnificent diamond mine in all the history of mankind.” This Persian legend became the theme of a speech Conwell would deliver more than 6,000 times. Titled Acres of Diamonds, it was also published in book form, becoming one of the most famous books ever published. Conwell’s message is as valid a formula for success today as it was a century ago: “Your diamonds are not in far distant mountains or in yonder seas; they are in your own backyard, if you but dig for them.” Each golden sunrise ushers in new opportunities for those who retain faith in themselves. No one has ever seen a roster crow with his head down. Meet the sunrise with confidence.
Mary Kathlyn Wagner was born in the little Texas town of Hot Wells in 1918. Married at age 17, she soon had three children. When her husband was called to war, she supported her family by selling books door to door. After his return, they were divorced and she went to work for a local company, becoming a sales director. After 25 years, she quit because she no longer wanted to travel. In her mid-forties she was too young to retire and had no intention of wanting to retire. As a child she had been told again and again by her parents: “You can do it! You can do it!” The faith and belief she had in herself, this level of confidence her parents had instilled in her would serve her well. Using her life savings of $5,000 and enlisting the help of her 20 year-old son, she opened a small store in Dallas catering to women’s beauty needs. This is the modest beginning of what would become a huge international company, with more than 1.8 million independent beauty consultants selling the products of Mary Kay, Inc. all around the world. Mary Kay Ash never forgot the lesson her parents taught her. One of her favorite sayings is: “Aerodynamically, the bumble bee should not be able to fly, but the bumble bee does not know this, so it goes on flying anyway.” So Mary Kay kept right on flying, and helping countless numbers of women to achieve a level of success they might have otherwise only dreamed about. To those who sought to climb the ladder of success, she offered this advice: “Don’t limit yourself. Many people limit themselves to what they think they can do. You can go as far as your mind lets you. What you believe, remember, you can achieve.” |
AuthorMusings from Gammon Irons. To desire and strive to be of some service to the world, to aim at doing something which shall really increase the happiness and welfare and virtue of mankind - this is a choice which is possible for us all; and surely a good haven to sail. Archives
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