Winning Words 9/12/12
“The secret of getting ahead is getting started.”  (Agatha Christie)  Writer’s block was occasionally a problem for Agatha.  ..and also for Charles Schulz ..and Eminem ..and for people who don’t want to go to work.  Even preachers lack inspiration on occasion.  I’ve found that it helps to approach the day’s task with positive thoughts.  Out with the negative!  The brain, like a car, can shift gears and let you move ahead.    ;-)  Jack

 FROM EEC IN MICHIGAN:  I like that car analogy! Did u think that one up?////FROM JACK:  I keep my thinking cap next to the computer and sometimes put it on.

 FROM THE CREATOR OF OUR CHURCH'S STAINED GLASS WINDOWS:  So true!  Many's the time I struggled with 'getting started' on a design project. I finally stopped fretting over it when I realized that the 'pre-getting-started' phase was (for me) really an incubation period; the evolution of a big-picture approach to a complex challenge. I had been associating 'getting started' with the physical 'doing', rather than with harnessing and focusing my intellect and intent.  Someone (Woody Allen?) once said that "80% of success is showing up." ////FROM JACK:  I remember hearing you say that the "idea" for how to design our windows came to you while you were in a plane over the Pacific on your way to Japan.  How ideas happen is fascinating to me.  I "see" it as a spiritual thing.  A hymnwriter put it this way: "God moves in a mysterious way, his wonders to perform."////CREATOR:  That's how it happened -- at the culmination of the 'incubation period'. The thing is, we're not always open to God's inspiration - and even when we are, we're not always ready to do the right thing with it. That's where discipline (spiritual and otherwise) comes in!////JACK:  A great story and an affirmation of the work of the Holy Spirit.

FROM PLAIN FOLKS CHESTER:  Procrastination takes more effort one would think. And it generates a helluva lot more guilt.////FROM JACK:  I seem to procrastinate less when I have fewer things in the to do box.

 FROM BLAZING OAKS:  Wise old Confucius once said, " Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life."  Probably true, but not every one has the luxury of choosing what they love to do, and still there are "dry spells" for all of us. Still, Will Rogers said something like, "If you just sit on the tracks, you're going to get run over", which is the other side of it!  God says, "You got into this canoe, keep paddling!" :-)////FROM JACK:  Is it possible to grow into loving the job that you do?  Does the same thing work with a relationship?

 FROM ILLINOIS LIZ:  As an advertising copywriter (when the economy is good enuf to support such frivolity as advertising - ha!), I find that I just have to sit down and get something on paper. Anything. I can always change it later. That gets the creative juices flowing, and, before long, I have completed the task. Magic!////FROM JACK:  I agree.  Start scribbling notes and ideas.  The creative person can begin to make sense out of non sense.  It does seem like magic, doesn't it?

 FROM WATERFORD JAN:  This is also a good quote for procrastinators to follow!.  I'm going to type it in large print and take it above my computer, but I'll wait and do it later.////FROM JACK:  I've posted this one by my computer.  GET TOUGH...GET OFF YOUR DUFF!

 FROM TAMPA SHIRL:  It is good to have something to do each day-something fun or something good and helpful. That is a lesson everyone has to learn in retirement after years of working so hard. It is amazing to me how hard the young people these days work.  I guess we did, too, and you  still are.////FROM JACK:  I just talked with my high school senior grandson.  He's got tons of homework tonight.  Sometimes I don't want to relive the high school days.


 FROM GOOD DEBT JON:  Amen.////FROM JACK:  Yes, this is a good one for idea people (and song writers) like you.

 FROM AMK TO HER DAD:  Thanks for sharing Winning Words! I have always been a fan of inspirational quotes. They sometimes are what helps to keep me motivated! I can relate to today's winning words.. Sometimes it is hard for me to start an assignment or a project because of the expectations I have of myself and so I keep putting it off until the very last minute instead of just diving in.  It is cool that you are still in touch with Pastor Freed. How is he doing? I remember that he was who baptized me. Don't have any memory of the day I was baptized but I do remember attending some of his children's sermons. I have a strong urge to go to church again and I think I might give it a try this fall at the Lutheran church, just up the hill from our house.  Anyways, have a good day!////FROM JACK:  Something like this makes the day worthwhile for me

 FROM OUTHOUSE JUDY:  She was a very smart woman.  Writer's block hits me sometimes and I'm not even a writer.////FROM JACK:  Do you ever have talker's block?