Leadership Thought: If You Are a 'Working Walker' Beware of Parked and Oncoming Cars!

Dear Friends, 

Walking while you work can be hazardous to your health if you are not careful. I say this from experience as there have been several times of late while walking when I have walked into the front or back end of a parked car while fumbling through some note cards with quotations or verses I was trying to memorize.

If you are a ‘working walker’ like me, I might add you must be careful to watch for oncoming cars, and if you are walking your dog while you are reading and or memorizing, it can be doubly dangerous.

I know some of you are thinking, "Tom, you don’t do this do you?" The answer is, "yes I do," and I have been doing it for many years.

Just the other day on one of those 'working walks,' I was going through a pack of note cards containing quotes on my favorite subject, encouragement, and so I thought I would share a few of these quotes with the hope that one or two of them might be worth sticking on your bathroom mirror.

Unfortunately, I am not able to give attribution to the author of most of the quotes, but where possible I have done so.

“A pat on the back is only a few vertebrae from a kick in the pants, but it is miles ahead in its results.” Ella Wheeler Wilcox”

“Flatter me, and I may not believe you, criticize me and I may not like you, ignore me and I may never forgive you, but encourage me and I will never forget you.”

“Kind words are short and easy to speak, but their echoes are endless.” Mother Theresa

“Touch a person’s heart before you ask them for their hand.” John Maxwell

“You can’t make another person feel important if inwardly and secretly you think the person is a nobody.”

“Shout praise, whisper criticism.”

“Catch people doing something good and reward them with a compliment.”

“Pass credit while the sweat is still on the brow.”

“Don’t push people down (it makes you smaller as you do it ) but raise people up and as you do so, you will raise yourself up.” John Maxwell

“Put a ten on the face of everyone you meet,” or better yet, “Put the face of your mother on everyone you greet."

“Envision that everyone you meet has a sign hanging around their neck that says, ‘please help me feel important.’”

“Don’t be a tombstone encourager. Encourage them now while they are still above ground.”

“Believing in people before they prove themselves is the key to motivating people to reach their full potential.”

“Praise publicly, criticize privately.”

“Nothing improves a man’s hearing like a little praise.”

"Be the wind beneath another’s wings and not the anchor in their boat.”

“Treat people as if they were the most important people in the world and you will communicate that they are a somebody to you.”

“Don’t let any unwholesome words come out of your mouth but only that which is helpful and will build others up according to their needs” (Eph. 4:23).

“Kind words are like a honeycomb; sweet to the soul and healing to the bones.” (Pro. 16:24)

“Anxiety weighs down the heart, but a kind word cheers it up” (Proverbs 12:25).

I suggest that if you memorize a few of the above quotes and verses, and you  let them find their way into the depths of your heart, you will not only be a better person, but you will make others better as well.

And oh yes, let me offer a word of warning. If you are an inexperienced ‘working walker,’ you might want to first take a friend along to  lookout for stationery or oncoming cars!

Yours in faith and friendship,

Tom