Jim Stovall's Winner's Wisdom Blog

My friend and mentor, the late, great legendary Coach John Wooden, often said, “Things turn out best for those who make the best of the way things turn out.”  This was Coach Wooden’s attempt to get us all to understand that we need to find peace and happiness in the midst of things that we can’t change. 

On the other hand, Coach Wooden was a huge proponent and teacher of hard work and diligence as a tool to change yourself and the world around you.  He would have agreed with George Bernard Shaw who said, “Take steps to get what you like, or you’ll be forced to like what you get.”  Shaw was commenting on people who find more motivation to complain about things than they find motivation to change things. 

As difficult as it may seem to understand, it’s often hard to know what we like and dislike.  We may not like to study, but we may very much like getting good grades.  We may not like to make cold calls and sales presentations, but we may really like high commissions and bonuses.  We may not like boring, mind-numbing practice, but we may really like a stellar performance. 

I remember working at an event with my friend and colleague Zig Ziglar.  We’d had difficulty that day with the weather, the transportation, the sound system, the staff at the convention center where we were speaking, and it seemed like every other aspect of the day’s activities.  Zig was in his normal great mood when one of the venue employees said rather sarcastically, “Well, you’re in an awfully good mood today.”  Zig burst out in that infectious Ziglar laugh and responded, “Many years ago, I decided to be in a good mood today.”

This always puts me in mind of that amazing prayer that asks for the strength to change what can be changed, the patience to accept what cannot be changed, and the understanding to know the difference. 

Before you expend effort and energy to change something, make sure it is something you can actually impact and it is worth doing.  On the other hand, don’t suffer or even be annoyed by something that you can readily alter.  Never complain about your circumstances until you accept the reality that we all live in a world predominantly of our own making.

As you go through your day today, accept the inevitable, change the variable, and enjoy it all.

The opportunity to read and the ready access to books is a tremendous gift.  There was a time in my life when you would have been hard pressed to convince me of this, but the fact remains that books are a vital source of knowledge, information, and inspiration. 

As you read these words on the page of a newspaper, magazine, or the screen of your computer, I am embarrassed to say that there was a time in my life when I couldn’t have stated emphatically that I had ever read an entire book, cover to cover.  Ironically, I did not discover the gift of reading until after losing my sight.  Now, as a blind person—thanks to high speed digitally-recorded books—I am able to read an entire book virtually every day.  Exposure to these literally thousands of books has given me knowledge, wisdom, perspective, and virtually everything I have ever wanted in my life. 

Recent news reports might lead you to believe that people are not reading as much as they once were.  In reality, even in the midst of movies, TV, and the online bombardment of information, statistics show that since 2008, net unit sales of print books are up 3.5 percent.  The amazing statistic indicates that during the same period of time, digital book sales are up over 1,000 percent. 

The ability to download books and read them from your computer or portable device screen has made the process faster, simpler, and easier.  But the process of reading a book and the treasures that it offers hasn’t changed in hundreds of years.

I remember studying an insightful report done after interviewing the top executives from the Fortune 500 companies.  The study was conducted to see what these successful business leaders had in common.  The thought was if you could discover what the most successful people did to get to the top of their field, you could follow in their footsteps.  A long and exhaustive study of these top executives revealed that they have a variety of lifestyles, hobbies, interests, political and religious beliefs, and ideas on how they became successful.  The one thing they seem to have in common was that these top performing professionals read or listened to motivational, inspirational, or educational material on a daily basis.

If you want to judge a person’s potential for success, one of the most accurate indicators would be the number of books they read on an annual, monthly, or weekly basis.  It is not as important what you read as it is important that you do read. 

I have learned a great deal from people I disagree with or books that contain ideas and philosophies that I totally reject.  Many times, studying what you don’t believe helps you to clarify and confirm what you do believe.  The most wise and successful people who have ever populated our world are ready, willing, and able to share their greatest secrets with you between the covers of a book.

As you go through your day today, do what the most successful people do, and read a book.

I spend a considerable amount of my time giving speeches, writing books, screenplays, or these weekly columns, and working on movies and TV shows.  Each of these activities requires a certain amount of preparation followed by a performance or production of the final product.  Preparation is like many things in our world.  It is valuable in the proper dose but detrimental if you overdose. 

I have colleagues who got into the speaking industry when I did almost 20 years ago.  Back then, we spent a lot of time preparing our speech and practicing our craft.  Some of the people I started out with have gone on to have fabulous careers on the platform while others are still practicing that first speech in front of a mirror. 

When I began writing these weekly columns over a decade ago, these words were only read in one local business journal.  At that time, the editor of the business journal who encouraged me to write a weekly column gave me a valuable lesson when he told me, “We don’t need your column perfect.  We do need it Thursday.”

This is not an excuse to do less than your best or produce sloppy work; however, there’s a point in time when you’ve just got to let the project go and move forward. 

Every coach knows the feeling of having a team that needs to play a game instead of continuing to just practice.  As I write these words, we are within a few days of the beloved opening of baseball season.  At this point, major league pitchers and catchers have been working together for over a month while the rest of the players have been practicing their batting and fielding for several weeks.  At this point, most managers would agree, that in order to enjoy any more improvement, it’s time to start the season. 

If you’ve ever had your car engine die and tried to push the car off the road, you quickly discover that once you get the vehicle moving, it’s easy to steer and keep it moving toward where you want to go.  But until you get the car in motion, it’s virtually impossible to change its direction. 

I get calls and emails from aspiring authors who describe a condition known as “writer’s block.”  They are not able to creatively express their ideas to the standards they expect, so they become paralyzed and don’t write anything at all.  The best cure for writer’s block or any other such paralysis is to simply get the vehicle moving.  Then you can steer and edit it into the final product you envision.

As you go through your day today, always try to make that which is good better and that which is better best.  But don’t settle for nothing because you can’t achieve the best now.

We have all heard and read a lot recently about the financial crisis or monetary emergency that we are facing.  These reports, most often, define the looming disaster in terms of billions or even trillions of dollars.  While we are certainly facing some difficult economic times around the world, the most critical financial emergency we are facing, individually and collectively, is represented by $1,000. 

A recent survey showed the staggering reality that 64% of Americans don’t have $1,000 set aside as an emergency fund.  This is an alarming statistic because, with the cost of all the complex devices that make our world possible, a non-functioning refrigerator, broken transmission, or even a leaky roof can use up a $1,000 emergency fund and more.

It’s not a matter of if you’re going to have a $1,000 emergency.  It’s a matter of when. 

These 64% of respondents to the survey were asked what they would do if they had an emergency since they don’t even have $1,000 set aside. 

• 9% of them said they would take out a loan; 
• 17% declared they would borrow from friends or family;
• 9% replied they would get a cash advance on a credit card;
• 17% replied they would simply disregard other monthly expenses to cover the cost of the emergency; and
• 12% actually said they would have to sell or pawn some of their personal possessions.

In my latest book, The Ultimate Financial Plan, my co-author Tim Maurer and I explore every aspect of the financial decisions that are faced by you and your family; but it all starts with an emergency fund.  www.UltimateFinancialPlan.com. 

There is a tremendous benefit to having an emergency fund that goes far beyond covering the cost of an emergency.  It could commonly be defined as a good night’s sleep.  If you are one of the majority of Americans that don’t have even a minimal $1,000 emergency fund, you need to declare your own emergency now, and begin compiling reserve funds for that next inevitable bump in the road.  You can turn a broken air conditioner, a visit to the minor emergency medical center, or an unanticipated tax bill into an annoyance instead of living with these realities as a looming emergency. 

The number one cause of divorce, depression, and dissatisfaction in our society is reported to be worry over money matters.  I’ve got to believe that the majority of the worry is not about retirement, college education, or paying off the house.  Most worries are about those routine, daily matters that come to us unexpectedly and can only be resolved with money.  Money is far from the most important thing in life; however, with respect to the problems that money solves, there is simply no substitute.

As you go through your day today, realize that relaxation and peace of mind may be only $1,000 away.