Tom TollModerator & Life Member  Senior Member Posts:1865  
| 09/11/2008 8:03 AM |
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In order to do what really matters to you, you have to, first of all, know what really matters to you. Laughing, apparently matters to you. Thats great.
Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.
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Tom TollModerator & Life Member Senior Member Posts:1865
| 09/15/2008 8:22 AM |
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You are today where your thoughts and actions have brought you;
you will be tomorrow where your thoughts and actions take you.
Actions speak much louder than words.
Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.
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Tom TollModerator & Life Member Senior Member Posts:1865
| 09/16/2008 10:34 AM |
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There are two primary choices in life:
to accept conditions as they exist,
or accept the responsibility for changing them.
Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.
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Tom TollModerator & Life Member Senior Member Posts:1865
| 09/17/2008 2:56 PM |
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You cannot change anything in your life with intention alone, which can become a watered-down mess, with occasional hope that you'll get to it tomorrow. Intention without action is useless. Persistence and motivation is the key to success.
Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.
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Tom TollModerator & Life Member Senior Member Posts:1865
| 09/19/2008 9:57 AM |
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Grandpa's Rootbeer Logic
By Larisee Lynn Stevens
Our family was large and spread across the nation, but summers were the highlight of the year for the grandkids. Each of the two dozen grandkids spent any where from a week to a month during the summer with our grandparents living the idyllic life. We cousins loved playing together, even though Grandpa made us get up by 8 a.m. and go to bed by 10 p.m.
Grandma and Grandpa lived in a small town. We could ride bikes and go to the park at will. We made forts, went to the movies, and went swimming every day. There were usually enough of us visiting at any one time that we could play group games such as hide and seek. It was a great time of fun and drawing closer to our kin and every one of we cousins loved summers at our grandparent's house.
While lighthearted and appreciating a good joke, Grandpa lived by a strict code of rules. He believed in honesty, logic, respect, hard work, living life on a schedule and healthy living. Fresh air, plenty of exercise and a nutritious diet limited in sweets was his idea of the proper way to live. Two of his rules for a proper diet, which, for most of the year he vigorously lived up to, were no snacking between meals and no soda pop.
Most kids can find an adult's vulnerability to exploit and we learned Grandpa had a crack in his strict facade of rules when we discovered his weakness for ice cream and root beer! Now he would never admit to this weakness and he worked hard to justify it, bending his ever-present logic to cover his lapse in conviction. We knew not to kill opportunity when it knocked, so we didn't point out the broken rule.
The highlight of our days occurred on the front porch with Grandpa giving in to his weakness. Every afternoon when we arrived home from swimming, he would gather us on the porch and serve up root beer floats! If our parents happened to comment or complain (because they never got root beer floats as children) on his loosening his rule about snacking, he called it "a late dessert from lunch." (Never mind that Sundays were the only time Grandma made dessert.)
We also learned he considered root beer "different" from soda pop, although he never explained how. We never argued with Grandpa's logic, which usually got us refills.
A grandmother myself now, I can still see the satisfied grin on Grandpa's face as he exclaimed over the great satisfaction one got from a "really good root beer float on a hot day." Every time I go for an afternoon piece of chocolate cake, I remember Grandpa and his "late dessert from lunch" concept for bending a self-discipline rule. Thanks Grandpa! I salute your insight!
Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.
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Tom TollModerator & Life Member Senior Member Posts:1865
| 09/21/2008 10:27 AM |
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What does it take to be a successful adjuster. Your working all over this fine country of ours because Mother Nature has provided you an opportunity to become successful. Success in not always how much money you make, but how you fit into society and how you feel about yourself and how others feel about you.
Being a Success! We want to be successful in school, in our jobs, in our relationships. In fact, we dream about being successful in everything. But what a challenge this is!
Most of the people believe that they just can't achieve great success because they don't have what it takes, or because they're not educated enough! They complain that luck is never on their side or that they weren't born to be successful, or even that they are too poor to ever even think about being something else!
You know what? You don't need luck or any diploma to accomplish the success you deserve.
You just need faith. Faith that you will indeed be successful, faith that you have all that it takes to make it to the top! You have to BELIEVE that YOU ARE the most successful person you ever met.
If you don't believe in yourself, who on earth do you think will?
The most successful persons in the world (businessmen (women), signers, physicians, adjusters, claims managers, etc.) all have that point in common: They all believed firmly that they were going to be exactly what they expected to be. They never doubted themselves, they had faith in their potentials and they were absolutely convinced that they would make it to the top! They never accepted a No for an answer. Nothing as ever stopped them, slowed down maybe, but never stopped!
Well that is very neat on paper, but I can hear you tell me: "It's easier said than done! How can I have faith in myself, when all that I have done so far hasn't brought me the success I am dreaming of? Everything that I'm trying ends up in a mess! Oh, I have attained some results of course, but I want more than that!" And that mindset could go on and on.
There is a lot of things that ANYBODY can do to become a success in any field they choose: relationships, business, career, anything you can think of!
First, you have to understand that you will need to make an effort, not necessarily a huge one, but let's put it that way: you will definitely need consistence in your doings.
With anything that you're trying to attain if you don't give consistent efforts, you'll just simply NEVER get what you expect. The main point is to believe that YOU CAN be successful, and YOU WILL indeed.
One good method I am using for years now is Affirmation. And that doesn't really take a great deal of an effort to do. Simply keep repeating to your self, while looking at yourself in a mirror, some sentences like these ones:
- I am a successful person!
- I can attain any success level I desire!
- I will be rich because I deserve it!
- I will be successful in anything that I do!
- And any other statement to make your attitude higher and your love of knowledge higher.
There are some rules that have to be followed when using the Affirmation Method.
Never use any negative form in you sentences (i.e.: I will not fail in anything anymore. It's better to use: I will succeed in everything I'm undertaking from now on.) And trust me, affirmations really works! So if you affirm anything negative, this is what you'll get! So be aware of it, and very careful in your affirmations.
You also have to be repetitive. Repeat at least 10 to 20 times each affirmation every day, for several days. What I like to do when I have a goal to attain is to pick up 2 or 3 sentences that make sense to me. Then I write them down 10 times each, and I repeat the process for at least 7 days in a row.
Remember, consistency!!! You can even go further and do it for 2 to 3 weeks in a row. The longer you do it, the better results you'll get. In fact, just make it a morning habit while your in the bathroom while your getting ready for the coming successful day.
You will be surprised on how effective that simple and easy method is. Many years ago I started with affirmations to help me care about my self. Yeah! I was like that! A person that didn't like himself/herself enough to believe that he/she could do anything good. Well that simple method had simply change my life for the better! I am happy with myself, my life with my family and friends is wonderful. I feel that I have been and still am, a successful adjuster. You can have those same feelings and you can accomplish anything that you decide you want to do.
So, let me tell you that this method can really change your life too if you only give it a try! Many years ago I went from living in a stressful mood all the time, never expecting anything good could ever happen to me, to being loaded with confidence in my possibilities and chances of being successful in all the aspects of my life! And still sometimes when something doesn't go the way I want it, I grab my pen and start writing positive affirmations. And back on the good track I am!
I met a lady 19 years ago that changed my view of love, compassion and marriage. Her name is Janice and she is my true love, my soul mate, my kindred spirit partner, my lover, and my daughter's mother they really never had. She affirms herself daily and has become on of the best female insurance adjusters of our community. She now works with FEMA through Cunningham Lindsey and is highly successful at being a project writer for FEMA. From the word I get, she is outshining some of the old veterans that have been with FEMA for many years. How does she do this when 17 years ago she did not know that much about insurance. She went with me on her first Cat in 1991 for hurricane Bob in Massachusetts, near Cape Cod. She was going with me to assist on looking at losses, living with five other adjusters, several of which were General Adjusters and the others were high quality adjusters. We all shared a large home to cut down on expenses. We all shared the cleaning, cooking, making coffee and had meetings at night to help each other with questions or problems. When we got back home, (this is before we got married), she said, "lets do this all the time, I had a wonderful time, enjoyed the comradery, and I would like to become an adjuster too". That's all it took for me, I started training her and other GA friends of mine helped also. She had a desire to succeed and a compassion for the ability to help others during their time of stress and need.
Why would she want to do this. Her desire to be successful, not only income, but respect for herself and respect others give her for doing an exemplary job. My hat is off to Janice for becoming what she is now in this little community of ours. She has set an example to all newbies as to what they can become, if they affirm themselves, and create the proper attitude.
Good luck to all of you while working the aftermath of IKE.
Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.
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Tom TollModerator & Life Member Senior Member Posts:1865
| 09/22/2008 7:08 AM |
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Success comes from taking the initiative and following up... persisting... eloquently expressing the depth of your love. What simple action could you take today to produce a new momentum toward success in your life?
Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.
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Tom TollModerator & Life Member Senior Member Posts:1865
| 09/23/2008 5:01 PM |
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Your self image is your pattern!
Every thought has an activity visualized.
Every activity belongs to a pattern.
You identify with your pattern or thought.
Your patterns leads your life.
Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.
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HuskerCat Veteran Member Posts:762 
| 09/23/2008 11:22 PM |
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The early worm gets the birds(oftentimes buzzards). Sometimes a little patience pays off. Don't stick your neck out until the right opportunity presents itself.
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Tom TollModerator & Life Member Senior Member Posts:1865
| 09/24/2008 12:05 PM |
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A man wrapped up in himself makes a very small bundle. Think about it.
Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.
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Tom TollModerator & Life Member Senior Member Posts:1865
| 09/29/2008 11:40 AM |
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A day will never be anymore than what you make of it. Practice being a "doer"!
I am in Peosta, Iowa with my beautiful and wonderful wife, and WOW, what beautiful country. Rolling hills swept with wind, eight foot tall corn, majestic old barns that have a lot of history, going back generation after generation, beautiful old home's, kept immaculately, yards groomed to perfection. People here are so nice and there are very few complaints about the great flood they had. They just hang in there, pushing themselves to get their area back in order. I think we could learn a lesson from the heartiness of Iowan's. Hang in there, stay tough, work together, and come out the winner, without whining.
Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.
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Tom TollModerator & Life Member Senior Member Posts:1865
| 09/30/2008 8:18 AM |
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You can't help someone get up a hill without getting closer to the top yourself.
Years ago, while working in Canada, Janice and I saw a gentleman standing in the hallway of the office we worked out of, asking someone to help him with his estimating program, which he was having trouble with. No one seemed to care that he needed help and after a few minutes of watching this, I walked over to him and asked if there was anything I could do to help. Fortunately for me, and him, I knew what the problem was and took his laptop to an available office and he, myself, and Janice sat down, fixed his problem, and showed him some features of the program he did not know about. He insisted he buy us supper that night and arrangements were made to meet at a restaurant across the street later in the evening. We had supper, with the understanding that he did not owe us the supper for just helping him. A new friendship had been born and to this day, we remain in contact via IM and phone. The friendship has blossomed over the years, beneficial to all of us and one more friend, a true friend, has been added to our life's friendship list.
Several years after meeting him, we received a call from him wanting to know if we could handle commercial and residential claims for him. It seems he had a new job as the claims manager for a large company and it was his option to hire whomever he wanted to work his claims. Of course we accepted the invitation and worked claims for him for a number of years before the company merged with another and he left that position. He emphasized that we were the only two people in Canada that was willing to take time out to help him on several different occassions and felt we were the best qualified in Arkansas.
Moral to the story: Helping someone along the way of your life may or may not reap rewards, but why not feel good about yourself, and if you have the knowledge to help someone in distress, do so. It will make you feel good about yourself and could possibly bring a reward to you. It did to us and it was not asked for. Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.
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Tom TollModerator & Life Member Senior Member Posts:1865
| 10/01/2008 11:04 AM |
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If human beings are perceived as potentials rather than problems,
as possessing strengths instead of weaknesses,
as unlimited rather that dull and unresponsive,
then they thrive and grow to their capabilities. Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.
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Tom TollModerator & Life Member Senior Member Posts:1865
| 10/02/2008 3:04 PM |
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Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does.
You might ask, how can just I make a difference. How about Jonas Saulk, George Washington, Albert Einstein and Warren Buffet, and many other individuals who have made a differnce in our lives. Have each one of these individuals, with others, made a difference. Yes, one person can make a difference and that includes YOU.
Become one of a few. Learn your trade, practice, teach, listen, and strive to become one of the single individuals who makes a difference. You are the only one in the world like you, because you are you and no one else. Let no one convince you other wise. I realize adjusting has changed, but being you has not changed, so do what you do best, be you and be proud of that fact. Do not allow circumstances or individuals stress you out, because you and only you can allow it or disallow it. Disallow it everyday. Control your own destiny and become YOU, the only YOU in the world.
Res ipsa loquitur
Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.
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Tom TollModerator & Life Member Senior Member Posts:1865
| 10/03/2008 6:38 AM |
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My Resignation
I am hereby officially tendering my resignation as an adult. I have decided I would like to accept the responsibilities of an eight-year-old again.
I want to go to McDonald's and think that it's a four-star restaurant.
I want to sail sticks across a fresh mud puddle and make a sidewalk with rocks.
I want to think M&Ms are better than money because you can eat them.
I want to run a lemonade stand with my friends on a hot summer's day.
I want to return to a time when life was simple, when all you knew were colors, multiplication tables and nursery rhymes, but that didn't bother you because you didn't know what you didn't know and you didn't care.
All you knew was to be happy, because you were blissfully unaware of all the things that should make you worried or upset.
I want to think the world is fair. That everyone is honest and good.
I want to believe that anything is possible. I want to be oblivious to the complexities of life and be overly excited by the little things again.
I want to live simply again. I don't want my day to consist of computer crashes, mountains of paperwork, depressing news, how to survive when there are more days in the month than there is money in the bank, doctor bills, gossip, illness and loss of loved ones.
I want to believe in the power of smiles, hugs, a kind word, truth, justice, peace, dreams, mankind and making angels in the snow.
I want to play with my pets and my days of imagination to last forever
So here are my checkbook and my car keys, my credit card bills and my 401(k) statements, my ladder, camera, and Disto. I am officially resigning from adulthood.
And if you want to discuss this further, you'll have to catch me first because, "Tag! You're it!" Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.
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Tom TollModerator & Life Member Senior Member Posts:1865
| 10/06/2008 6:07 AM |
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If you don't design your own life plan,
chances are you'll fall into someone else's plan.
And guess what they have planned for you?
Not much. Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.
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Tom TollModerator & Life Member Senior Member Posts:1865
| 10/08/2008 9:48 AM |
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The size of the future you actually experience will largely be determined by one factor: the people you choose to connect with. When you invite people who are truly committed to growth into every aspect of your life, your own potential for growth becomes truly unlimited. Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.
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Tom TollModerator & Life Member Senior Member Posts:1865
| 10/10/2008 10:02 AM |
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So I guess there's a point in life or perhaps a couple that make you stop and ponder things. It seems the older you get, and I definitely am older, the more you start to notice and fully comprehend that once you are born you also begin to die. Whether it is a morbid thought or not it is true. Whether we like it or not, it is still true, and unlike math two true's don't make a false, or is that backwards?
Doesn't matter. Math doesn't make sense. The point is its reflection time. Here's food for thought: Did you know how many days there are in the average lifespan? 70 years= 25,550 days. 75 years = 27,375 days. 80 = 29,200 days. 90 = 32,850 days. I read that in an article some time ago and it really jumped out at me. I thought to myself, damn that isn't very much. Especially considering I've lived 24,825 of those already. So that is about a three quarters + of an average life span.
So the question is what now? How will you use your time? Time is the only thing that doesn't offer you a second chance in life. Once it is gone, it is gone. Definitely puts things into perspective. It seems life is really short as they say. Although I've never agreed with that statement I can understand it.
Are you living life to the fullest? Are you taking advantage of all the opportunities that come your way? Are you aware that most opportunities usually disguise themselves as hard work? Have you realized that most things worth fighting for are always difficult? Have you done what you planned to do? Have you gotten what you wanted? Have you left something for the next generations? Have you left your mark? Have you met all the people and visited all the places? If you have chosen to stay in the world of adjusting, are you striving to be the very best advocate in your field.
There is the story of the boy who said "I've got places to go and people to meet". That is what he did. So my friends, without much subtlety I say "don't let time pass you by without getting the most out of it." Take care of your health; take care of your relationships, whether with family, friends, strangers, God, loved ones and kids.
Take care of your work and invest time in becoming better and better and if possible even better, develop your talents, whether they are in art, music, sports, or any other aspect of life. And most of all instill a sense of love and gratitude for everything in your life. For in due time, unfortunately most things whither and die, but there are few that do remain. Those are entirely up to you!
I have given much thought as to where my life will lead me now since I have been told I can no longer work as an adjuster. I have loved this work since 1961, the year I started. I have enjoyed the many new friends and associates that this work has brought to me. I was foolish enough to smoke most of my life and foolish enough to not take care of my lungs while around hazmat claims and other hazardous material while working as an adjuster. I would encourage all of you that are not taking care of your heart and lungs, to do so, you will not like the end result. My biggest regret is the inability to go do things with my soul mate. No more walks on the beaches with the one I love the most. Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.
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Tom TollModerator & Life Member Senior Member Posts:1865
| 10/11/2008 2:33 PM |
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Steve Beaumont sent this to me and I felt it shoud be shared. Read the poem and listen to it. You all will get older, just like I have done.
CRABBY OLD MAN
When an old man died in the geriatric ward of a nursing home in North Platte, Nebraska , it was believed that he had nothing left of any value .
Later, when the nurses were going through his meager possessions, They found this poem . Its quality and content so impressed the staff that copies were made and distributed to every nurse in the hospital .
One nurse took her copy to Missouri . The old man's sole bequest to posterity has since appeared in the Christmas edition of the News Magazine of the St . Louis Association for Mental Health . A slide presentation has also been made based on his simple, but eloquent, poem .
And this little old man, with nothing left to give to the world, is now the author of this ' anonymous' poem winging across the Internet .
Crabby Old Man
What do you see nurses? . . What do you see?
What are you thinking . . . . . when you're looking at me?
A crabby old man, . . . not very wise,
Uncertain of habit . . . . . . . . with faraway eyes?
Who dribbles his food . . . . . . . and makes no reply ..
When you say in a loud voice . . . . . 'I do wish you'd try!'
Who seems not to notice . . . the things that you do .
And forever is losing . . . . . . . . . . A sock or shoe?
Who, resisting or not . . . . . . . . . . . lets you do as you will,
With bathing and feeding The long day to fill?
Is that what you're thinking? Is that what you see?
Then open your eyes, nurse . . . . . . you're not looking at me ..
I'll tell you who I am . As I sit here so still,
As I do at your bidding, . . . . . . as I eat at your will .
I'm a small child of Ten . . . . . . . with a father and mother,
Brothers and sisters . . . . . . . . . who love one another
A young boy of Sixteen . . with wings on his feet
Dreaming that soon now .. . . . . . . a lover he'll meet .
A groom soon at Twenty . my heart gives a leap .
Remembering, the vows . . . . . . that I promised to keep .
At Twenty-Five, now .. . . . . . . . . . I have young of my own .
Who need me to guide . . . . And a secure happy home ..
A man of Thirty . . . . . . . . . My young now grown fast,
Bound to each other . . . . . . .. With ties that should last .
At Forty, my young sons . . have grown and are gone,
But my woman's beside me . . . . .. . .. to see I don't mourn .
At Fifty, once more, . Babies play ' round my knee,
Again, we know children . . . . . . . My loved one and me ..
Dark days are upon me . . My wife is now dead .
I look at the future . . . . . . . . . . . . . . I shudder with dread ..
For my young are all rearing . . . . . . young of their own .
And I think of the years . . . . . . . And the love that I've known ..
I'm now an old man . . . . . . . . . and nature is cruel ..
Tis jest to make old age . look like a fool ..
The body, it crumbles . . . . . . . . . . grace and vigor, depart ..
There is now a stone . . . . . . . . where I once had a heart .
But inside this old carcass . . A young guy still dwells,
And now and again . . . . . . . my battered heart swells
I remember the joys . . . . . . . . . . . I remember the pain .
And I'm loving and living . . . . . . . . . . . . . life over again .
I think of the years . all too few . . . . . . gone too fast ..
And accept the stark fact . . . . . . . . that nothing can last ..
So open your eyes, people . . . . . . . . open and see..
Not a crabby old man . Look closer . . . . see .. . .. . . . . . ME!!
Remember this poem when you next meet an older person who you might brush aside without looking at the young soul within . . . . . we will all, one day, be there, too!
PLEASE SHARE THIS POEM
The best and most beautiful things of this world can't be seen or touched . They must be felt by the heart .
God Bless
Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.
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Tom TollModerator & Life Member Senior Member Posts:1865
| 10/13/2008 6:50 AM |
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We grow great by our dreams. All successful men and women are dreamers. They see things in the soft haze of a spring day or in the red fire of a long winter's evening. Some of us let these great dreams die, but others nourish and protect them; nurse them through bad days till they bring them to the sunshine and light, which comes always to those who sincerely hope that their dreams will come true. Never, ever, let a dream of success die.
Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.
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