JOURNEY OF MATT STUTZMAN

Imagine what we could do if your greatest weakness became your greatest strength.

My Motivators: Tatyana McFadden

If less than two percent of all Americans will run a marathon in their lifetime, how many would do it if they had no legs.

Tatyana McFadden – Para athlete

How committed are you, to what you love?

 

The Home Team

The Home Team

Most of us are born to our allegiances. Especially for the home team. Our fathers taking us to our first baseball game, the perfectly manicured green grass and white on white of the baselines so precisely laid out before us as giants warmed up under the brilliant summer sun. From then to eternity that team was mine. It binds us to a town a city, an era, it becomes who we are, it defines us in ways beyond rational explanation. We wear our loyalty in game jerseys with our hero’s name emblazoned on the back, we paint our faces our team’s colors, we name our children after our favorite players. We’re crazy, crazy for our team.

Win or lose, celebrate or mourn we love our team. Monday ain’t blue if your team won on Sunday. But we soon get over it if they don’t, because there is always next week, next year or if you are a Cub fan, the next millennia. The best part of sport is that there always is next year, a do over of sorts. One that life doesn’t provide us with, but does for our team. That’s what keeps us coming back for more. One more chance at redemption . One more chance to be the best. To be champions. Everyone loves a winner, but the true fan, one born of the loyalty of personal connection, loves his team no matter what. There is no band wagon to jump on or off of. They are your team through thick and thin, win or lose.

I come from a time and place were loyalty was everything. At work and at play. The team was everything. Whether it was your sandlot buddies or the guys on the line at the assembly plant or steel mill, it was your world, it was who you were, it was your identity. I have lived, worked and played all over the world and there is one constant that bonds males and it is sport. I have played sandlot football in the shadow of hulking rusted steel mills belching smoke and ash that coated the snow black. Stood shoulder to shoulder with players from the other team as we walked the length of the field picking and chucking rocks that clanged off the empty aluminum bleachers. Then stood toe to toe and knocked the crap outta each other for hours or until it got too dark to play or we ran out of players. I have played baseball on fields glistening with broken glass and basketball on courts littered with hypodermic needles in the slums of Philadelphia and New York and San Juan. I’ve kicked around soccer balls in the hot sands of the Middle East with guys that played in the World Cup from Holland. I sat, in a freezing car, with four friends in Minneapolis listening to the U.S.A. beat Russia in the ’80 Olympics, on the radio because we forgot to pay the electric bill. I’ve stood in race control at the 2000 Daytona 500 flashing hand signals to the broadcast crews who couldn’t understand why the race director had yellow flagged the race toward the end of the race as 200,000 fans screamed in anger or joy as their favorite got robbed or caught a break. I’ve watched Superbowls, World Series games and World Cup matches in bars from Bangkok to Bangor. I have partied with the great and not so great, the famous and the infamous. I have been fortunate to have traveled the world and it is the passion of sport that has broken down language and cultural barriers along the way.

If there is one thing men are more passionate about than religion or politics or women for that matter, it is sport, especially the home team. Life long friendships born of the love of sport are formed out of those passions. The internet and forums like The Sports Outlaw have given us a place to show our loyalty and passion to the whole world and to form more life long friendships.

Give me some peanuts and Cracker Jack, because I’m going to root root root for the home team.

Author Bio
Read more information at www.sportsoutlaw.com

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The Triangle for Success

This is a great article that was brought to our attention, a recipe for success when the odds seem stacked against you.

 

The Triangle for Success

Success is a direct result of applying the right principles to your professional life and your personal life. The question is what are the right principles to apply in order to achieve success? Over the years of studying, four primary principles of success continue to surface from the ancient writers. I call these four principles the triangle of success.

The “triangle” of success because one principle is placed at each corner of the triangle and the crucial principle is positioned in the heart of the triangle. The heart of the triangle is what promises success to the other three principles.

The other three principles at the corner of the triangles embody the essence of men and women. You will see what I am talking about as I unfold these three.

Mind
The first corner of the triangle is your thinking process; or in other ! words exercising your mind. Learning is a necessary step towards growing. Growth is imperative to achieve success. Aristotle puts it succinctly, he writes, “It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.”

Success follows the ability to analyze a subject, make sound judgments while moving toward your objectives. “You are to be a student, not a follower”, says Jim Rohn. That is exactly what professionals are, they are students. Success is the goal; therefore, continuous training, instruction, and being mentored is the process.

Those who are successful pay the price. They apply the disciplines of learning. They have placed value on education and training. I, personally, think that if you are a student, always applying the disciplines of learning, that your philosophies of life will be improving, better ideas come to your thinking, which all leads to success.

Education is something that no one can ever take away from you. It helps to develop and define who you are.

“The best of all things is to learn. Money can be lost or stolen, health and strength may fail, but what you have committed to your mind is yours forever.”
–Louis L’Amour (1908-1988)

Emotions
Your emotion is the second corner of the triangle. Passionately pursuing after your objectives leads to success. This is not to say that your objectives come before people in your life, but the principle is to be well taken-success is dependent on your inner drive to achieve it.

The truth is, you will do what you want to do. If you want something bad enough you will dwell on it all of the time doing whatever is necessary to reach your goal. That is passion. Kahlil Gibran said, “All that spirits desire, spirits attain.”

Perhaps G. W. F. Hegel says is best, “Nothing great in the world has ever been accomplished without passion.” You see what I mean when I said above that these principles surface every where I studied? These are the principles that made men and women great.

The reasons that they do surface is that these principles are at the core of who and what we are made of inside. You were designed with a purpose and the driving force within you motivates you to accomplish your purpose in life.

“Dwell not upon thy weariness, thy strength shall be according to the measure of thy desire.”
Arab Proverb

Will
The third corner of the triangle is your will. Eventually, you have to step out and do what you desire. If you never decide to reach for your dream, you will remain in the stands with the majority of people in life.

Perhaps you have fear, hurt, or insecurity, holding you back; if you permit these or any others to control your actions success stands aloof. A mentor at this point may be more helpful, than, reading a book or two. At times we need someone to hold us accountable so that we will do the necessary follow through.

Depending on your temperament exercising your will towards your objectives may take a lot of courage, but courage is what guarantees that these others will work. If you don’t have the courage to start you never will know, now will you?

I can not stress it strong enough that taking action is one of the most important principles to achieving your dreams. Jim Rohn, says, “Some are always picking the fruit, while others are always, examining the roots.” Consistent action will produce results. It is the law of sowing and reaping. You reap what you sow, in other words, you get what you deserve, not what you need. Plant enough seeds and you will find growth. It is the law of ratio. Ask enough people and someone will join or buy.

“The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather in a lack of will.”
- Vincent T. Lombardi

Perseverance
Now, what is in the heart or center of the triangle that will enable you to succeed? Every successful person has this. Do you know? I will give you a clue it begins with a P, now you fill in the blank, P__________. It is perseverance! Perseverance is the inner strength to get back into the battle after you have been wounded. As I observe those who succeed and those who don’t, it appears to me that the difference is in perseverance.

Those with perseverance don’t stop until they reach their goal. They are relentless! Just when you thought they were down and out this time, sure as the world, they manage, some how, to get back up again.

I love to visit Chocolate World. It is located in Hershey, PA. They make, obviously, Hershey’s chocolate. You get to take a tour to see how they make all of that chocolate and at the end of the ride you get a piece of free chocolate and/or the opportunity to buy all the chocolate you want. But, the significant part of the tour is reading “bits and pieces” of Milton Hershey’s life (the founder). He, like so many others, failed three times in the business world, before he was successful. He had a dream and would not let go of it.

Was he ever discouraged? You know he was. Did he ever want to quit? Who doesn’t? Did others talk bad about him? I think some still do. However, those are not the right questions to ask. Better questions are: “Did he quit?” And “What kept him from quitting?” Or, “How did he persevere?”

No, he did not give up. He persevered through the hard times and some unbearable problems. How did he do that? What kept him going? The same way thousand’s of others did it. The big “P” was in the center of the triangle. Perseverance was the heart of their passion, attitude, and will.

Napolean Hill captures the three corners of the triangle when he writes, “Create a definite plan for carrying out your desire and begin at once, whether you ready or not, to put this plan into action.” As you add perseverance to this success formula it is one sure way to, at least, do your part to succeed. There are never any promises how life will turn out, but one thing for sure, neglect the right principles and you are removing the possibilities of success.

I will conclude with the words of Abraham Lincoln, “Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any one thing.”

Author Bio
Dr. John E. Neyman, Jr. is a Pastor, author, speaker, and relationship coach. You may contact Dr John at drjohnneyman@gmail.com or visit his site at LeadersExcel.com

Article Source: http://www.ArticleGeek.com

Economic recovery and Service

Stand By Me | Playing For Change | Song Around the World

This is a great reminder that no matter how challenging the troubles of the world may appear, there is power when we remain united.

America is Beautiful

The Purple Mountain Majesties
By Charles Carrico

There are just a few songs about America that truly do a good job of capturing the sense of awe and reverence the citizens of this country have or should have about their beloved country. But of them all, America the Beautiful does the job beautifully. When one travels across this great land, it is impossible not to be reminded of those beautiful words…

O beautiful for spacious skies,
for amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
above the fruited plain!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee.
And crown thy good with brotherhood
from sea to shining sea!

The geography of the homeland of America would have to be listed as the most beautiful country land on earth. Yes, there are some countries in this world that do have wonderful places to see and enjoy. From the amazing mountains of the Swiss Alps to the exotic wonder of the Amazon River to the stunning wonder of the Sahara Desert to the beautiful cities of Europe, each country has its claim to fame.

But America stands head and shoulders above all of these because it doesn’t have just one magnificent natural wonder to give inspiration and joy to visitors and citizens, it has them all. Across the North American continent, you can find a natural beauty and a wonder of nature that will surprise, delight and inspire the visitor just as much as any similar location around the world.

We don’t just have one magnificent mountain range, we have many. From the mighty Rocky Mountains to the Olympia Mountains in Washington State to the rustic Appalachian Mountains in the southwest to the Adirondacks in upstate New York, America has a variety of mountain geography that is the most beautiful in the entire world.

But America is not just a wonderful mountain wonderland. America boasts a diversity of landscape that gives her citizens such a diversity of choices when they wish to enjoy nature that it seems they will never run out. America’s beaches from the perfectly white sands of Florida to the challenging surfing beaches of California leave nothing to be desired for those who must get back to the ocean.

Virtually every landscape and natural setting that could be imagined is evidenced within the boundaries of America. There are even exotic locations that you might expect to only find in the far places of deep, dark Africa or by safari into upper Tibet. America can boast volcanoes that take a back seat to no one in terms of amazing power and might. Our homeland has far reaching deserts. We boast rain forests that would make you swear you are in the deepest jungles of Asia and paradise locations of Hawaii and Alaska as well.

 

They say that the land of America is what inspires the greatness of its people and you would have to say that is true when you look at the vast reaches of this continent. It literally calls out to it’s people to conquer this huge land, make it their own and be as great of a people as it is a geography.

And the people of America have responded to the challenge the continent has made to become a people of vision and unstoppable ambition and for whom nothing is impossible. So when we sing proudly of the beauty of America in the Star Spangled Banner, The Stars and Stripes Forever or America the Beautiful, we sing of a great land that is well suited for the phenomenal nation that has grown up within its shores. But we also sing of a people who are just as awe inspiring as that land and whose majesty is just as breath taking as those purple mountains the poets dreamed of when we composed those great anthems.