Category: Motivation

Cartoon of a man climbing a steep mountain with a flag at the top

Read time: < 1 min

Per Aspera Ad Astra

“Per Aspera Ad Astra” is Latin for ‘through hardship to the stars’ and can be taken several related ways including it is

Building blocks going up like steps with arrows going up to a bullseye

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Extraordinary Comes From How You Do the Day-to-Day Ordinary

Most of us have heard the quote attributed to Aristotle: “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act,

The words "invest in yourself" with an upwards arrow

Read time: 2 mins

What ill Discipline Adds to Our Plate

Folks, life is challenging enough without you defecting to the opposition. Yet all too many of us decline to follow the 3

The words "goal", "plan", and "action" written on a chalkboard with checkboxes next to each

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“Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?”

The quote is by the poet Mary Oliver (1935-2019, Pulitzer Prize winner) and the elegant beauty of it always spoke volumes to

Two signs pointing in opposite directions. One says "hard way", the other says "easy way"

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Who Told You it Would Be Easy?

And if someone ever did, why would you believe them? If it were easy, everyone would do it, so what’s the point?

Steps of goal setting: set goal, make plan, get to work, stick to it, reach goal

Read time: 2 mins

Practice is a Skill

Or more fully stated: ‘effective practice is a learnable skillset’. It may sound like heresy, but not all practice is good practice

A dictionary page with the definition for "self-discipline" and the words "self-discipline" being highlighted with a green highlighter marker

Read time: 2 mins

Will is a Skill

For many of us and for much of our lives we have absorbed the concept that willpower, along with its close cousin,

Photo of a man reading a book with bookshelves full of books behind him

Read time: 2 mins

Baker’s Dozen

Recently, I was asked: “What is the most valuable piece of advice you would give to anyone new at TCC who is

Text: "Hard work beats talent when talent doesn't work hard."

Read time: 2 mins

Life is a Roll Call

Roll Call: The reading aloud of a list of names, and subsequent responses, to determine who is present or absent. Every day,

Picture of a heart covered in fire

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Only the Best Obsess

Obsession has gotten a bad name in some circles but directed and managed, it is the gift of the gods. I think

2 illustrated profiles of human head facing each other. 1 with a rainbow and one with a storm cloud

Read time: 2 mins

Fan the Spark, Guard the Flame

Within each of us lies both goodness and talent of some form, the ability to improve the world and to sculpt ourselves