A Star Is Reborn
Here’s hoping you COLLAPSE and CRUMBLE. In a good way, of course!
BE F-G AWESOME TODAY!
Original graphic: Stephanie DelTorchio
Be 100 Percent
If you agree with quotes from famous people like former newsman Sam Donaldson, the great basketball player Larry Bird and actor Will Smith, to name a few, winners give 110 percent.
Which makes the rest of us who only give 100 percent what? Losers? Slackers?
Let’s call us “realistic achievers”– hard workers who give everything they’ve got, 100%, to their professional work, family, sport, passion, recreation, etc.
“But my observation has been, certainly in the news business, you’ve got to give 110 percent.”
SAM DONALDSON, newsman
Is it fair to chastise an Olympic sprint runner who finishes in second place and point to his giving only 100 percent effort as the cause? No. It’s stupid.
To win a Silver Medal or (gasp) Bronze and call the effort less than best, only diminishes the blood, sweat and tears of a highly motivated achiever. After years of body conditioning, elite level training plus personal sacrifices, I’d say anyone who’s made it to the Olympics gave every ounce of their human potential to their performance.
“You never make any of the shots you never take. 87% of the ones you do take, you’ll miss too. I make 110% of my shots.”
LARRY BIRD, Hall of Fame Basketball Player
For argument’s sake let’s call “Give 110%” just a figure of speech. You gave everything, and a little bit more, something extra. But that extra 1 percent, or 10 percent if you insist, is not measurable. It’s a fluff term.
“If you’re not willing to work hard, let someone else do it. I’d rather be with someone who does a horrible job, but gives 110% than with someone who does a good job and gives 60%.”
WILL SMITH, actor
Consider the the story of Langston Coleman who gave 100 percent to his dream of becoming a college football player. A tough, African-American kid from the slums of Washington, D.C., in 1963 Coleman hitchhiked to the University of Nebraska. He “walked-on” at football practice hoping to make the Husker football team. His efforts were rewarded with a scholarship and a position on the squad. Coleman went on to become one of the most legendary recruits for the Nebraska Huskers.
“Luck is what you have left over after you give 100 percent.”
LANGSTON COLEMAN
Saying you give 110 percent is a joke. It’s 100 percent impossible to give more than you have….
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Can we let this silly quote go once and for all? Anyone who demands of their team or employees to give 110 percent most likely flunked math class.
“All I ever wanted really, and continue to want out of this life, is to give 100 percent to whatever I’m doing and to be committed to whatever I’m doing and then let the results speak for themselves.”
JACKIE JOYNER-KERSEE, Olympic Gold, Silver and Bronze Medalist
It’s not a case of winners versus losers, World Champ versus Runner Up. Effort is what matters. Your absolute best is your 100 percent. A totally achievable, noble goal. Go and do that.
BE F-G AWESOME TODAY!
Sources: Langston Coleman
Original graphic: Stephanie DelTorchio
Dare To Be Different
We label people as “different” or “weird” or “strange” or “an odd duck” when we describe an individual who is far away from our belief of “normal”.
What is normal?
A conformist?
A rule player?
Someone who looks and behaves exactly like us?
Can’t we be good citizens, productive workers and still be different?
I’ve always liked the term “free spirit” (in the positive context) to define individuals who dance to their own drum. This person lives in harmony with themselves, Mother Nature and without treading on other people’s weirdness. Sign me up.
As a teenager I went braless because I was a teenager, and honestly there wasn’t much that needed support. A pink t-shirt I wore printed in gold lettering was a public testament to my personal freedom. (I’ll never forget) it said: The Itty Bitty Titty Committy. Funny then. Cringe-worthy today.
The 70s hippie crowd, my generation, plastered the country with demonstrations of free love, drugs, and to this day, the best rock music ever made by a slew of musicians and artists who dared to be different.
We were anti-this and pro-that in the face of “the man”. 
We thought we were cool.
Hairstyles were long and stringy. Fashion styles ranged from jazzy prints, denim, go-go boots to the beginnings of preppy, non-hippie (men wearing matching pastel sweaters and socks) and the two didn’t meet in the middle. I chose the former; bell-bottoms with thick embroidered bands sewn on the bottom, peasant shirts and halter tops that drove my parents’ generation crazy. We were different. And I didn’t care.
Truthfully I was a fringe partner of my generation. More a middle of the road, closet non-conformist who loved the style than a true card carrying hippie. I did well in school, played by the rules and despite the veil of hippie, honored my parents’ values. I did my own thing for sure, but once the 70s moved into the 80s my perspective on being different shifted. The 80s matured me.
I wore a bra every day. My judgment of others became a live and let live attitude of peace and love. As a homeowner and parent, I had mediocre tolerance and success with heavy metal and big hair, but also silently cheered those who lived by their light. Different is still different and that’s okay with me.
Imaginative and creative people are different than logic driven types. Perceived as aloof or introspective, detached or (yikes) insane, those are the very people “normal” society looks to for innovative advances and artistic expression.
Putting aside the true psychotic personalities out there, the certifiably different, the free spirit types spread their vibe just by being present. The hip and trendy cycle repeats itself with each generation. New styles, music, opinions, fights to fight, causes to defend. Most people evolve and change, perhaps substituting one oddness for another quirk, while others get stuck. There’s plenty of leftover hippies tripping in the 70s man.
Before we label each other, we need to understand it’s our differences that make us unique. I’m cool with that.
BE F-G AWESOME TODAY!
Original graphic: Stephanie DelTorchio
Images: Bird in flight/Breano Machado/Unsplash; Hippy Town/Pixaby
You might also like: 7 Struggles of Being a Free-Spirited Woman
A New Day
By it’s very definition, Zen is a total state of focus
Zen incorporates the togetherness of body and mind. Maybe a little “out there” for some people, but I challenge you to look at a beautiful sunrise or sunset and not feel your body and mind come together.
The moment this photo was snapped I felt that whatever (bad stuff) had happened the day or week or month or year(s) before wash away.
With the new tide, the beach is reborn and gets another chance to be a beach.
A new possibility.
New feet will sink in it’s sand, new birds will scurry at the shoreline, new children will collect the shells that gather. Can you tell the beach is my happy place?
“It’s a new dawn. It’s a new day. It’s a new life, for me…and I’m feeling good.”
This is my anthem for today.
Anthony Newley and Leslie Briscusse wrote the song lyrics to the song It’s A New Dawn for the musical The Roar of the Greasepaint – The Smell of the Crowd.
Nina Simone recorded the song for her 1965 album I Put a Spell on You and it became a standard. It’s been recorded by many artists. Listen to her version. My apologies to Michael Bublé @MichaelBublé, my favorite contemporary version.
Please forward this graphic to your friends who need a prayer, a note of encouragement, a nudge or a KICK IN THE PANTS today.
It’s a new dawn, my friends. And I’m feeling good.
BE F-G AWESOME TODAY!
Photo and Original Graphic: Stephanie DelTorchio
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