Strength Is Your Responsibility

100 Years Old
100 Years Old

“Strength is something you forge from within.”Eugenia ‘Jean’ Finnegan Biden

Watching (not really, more like listening) ABC Evening News a few weeks ago, Vice President Joe Biden spoke of fond memories and important lessons he learned from his mother.

She had died the day before.

Of all the things Vice President Joe Biden said, it’s his mother’s advice at the top here, that resonated the most.

Why?

Personal responsibility is really the key to success.  I’ve known this all my life and you have too.

Having a ten year plan has really helped me see what’s still possible, but not guaranteed.

Not six months.  Ten years.

PS. This is the first dupe post.  By accident. Seems it posted January 9 at Lane 8, but for some reason it also sat in jeffnoel.com   It is a major rule to not recycle content here.  I’m gonna let this one ride though.

Why?  Because one dupe post ain’t gonna end the world.  Besides, the endings are different, unbeknownst to me.

Eight Posts Yesterday

CAUTION!
CAUTION!

Blah, blah, blah, right?

The Internet’s only Five-a-Day Blogger”…..

It started as a 100-day challenge to become a better writer, after a Father told his young son, “If you want to be a better reader, you should read a lot.”

So what happens yesterday?  Not five daily blogs, but eight.

Recently, had a discussion and we talked about the future of books:

  • Books will be relics on display in Museums
  • eBooks will dominate
  • Kindle will destroy the publishing industry
  • The publishing industry will watch it happen
  • Librarians will lose their jobs
  • Unless they become Cybrarians
  • There were 177,000 books published last year
  • People think it’s hard to write a book
  • Authors think their book will sell many copies
  • Barnes & Noble will go out of business eventually
  • People get ready (Bob Marley reference)

“Books” will be written one day at a time. In public, for the public.

Books will be free.  Writers will be poor. And writers will come to realize that there are far too many choices.

A whole new paradigm is being created.

One page per day, almost like reality TV.  People will read blogs, and over time, they will have “read a book” and not even know it.

Eventually, this new paradigm will give way to the next.

Guaranteed

Ain’t much in life guaranteed, is there?  Death and taxes, to be sure.

Death.

That’s the one.

What a beautiful gift death should be.

Just like what a beautiful gift birth should be.

And the beautiful gift of the part called “life” – in between the two.

And here’s one more thing that’s guaranteed – life will be difficult.

Guaranteed.

And this simple fact presents us with the most glorious opportunity known to humankind.

Carpe diem.

Today’s Shocking News

Today’s shocking news.

“You ain’t gonna live forever!”

Shocking?  Not in the usual sense of the word.

Shocking because of how rampant and perverse is the notion that we don’t plan for our death.

I mean, if you randomly asked 100 people, “When’s your funeral?”, how many would have an answer?

Of course, most people have no idea when, which is exactly my point.

Exactly.

But we’re all going to die.  It’s one of life’s great truths. And yet most people I know have no notion of how long they may theoretically have left.

So, my question then is this, “If your death happened sooner than you thought it would, what would you regret not having done?”

Got Book?

“Don’t die with a book still in you.” jeff noel

“Outside a dog, a book is man’s best friend.  Inside a dog, it’s too dark to read.”Groucho Marx

How many people want to write a book?

How many believe they can write a book?

How many actually do?

Two days ago, I said to my wife, “You know, depending on your definition of a book, I’ve already written five.”

And you know what Cheryl said?  And by the way, this is one of the million things that I love about Cheryl, because she’s so smart, she said, “I know.”

Tomorrow, I’ll share a free link to Roger Parker’s checklist for getting a book published.  That is, unless you have no story to tell. But I sincerely doubt that.

Everyone has a story to tell.

Don’t die with a book in you.