Thought for the Day - Tell Better Stories

"Our stories may or may not conform to the real world. They may or may not inspire us to take hope-filled  action to better our lives. They may or may nor take us where we ultimately want to go. But since our destiny follows our stories, it's imperative that we do everything in our power to get our stories right." -- Jim Loeher

Thought for the Day - You Got To Believe

"What if we've had it backwards all this time and it was really supposed to say, "You've got to believe it ... to see it."

-- Most Powerful Life

It starts with a a vision or a belief. Disneyland was just an idea that Disney saw in his mind vividly way before it became a reality. Many years ago I created a vision poster of the life I wanted and at the time I had no clue how I was going to achieve any of it. I was working in the Post Office in New York on the graveyard shift. I had been there 5 too many years. So I believed in a different future in California in the film industry and most of what I put on that poster came in to being. So first dream it, believe it, have faith, take massive action and you will be surprised at what shows up in your life.

-- John Duffy

Thought for the Day - Let Go of the Past

"The biggest threat to your future, is the past you won't let go of."

-- Stephen Pierce

It's like the story of a dog that was sitting on a front porch, howling in misery. A stranger approached and asked the owner why the dog was howling. The owner replied that the dog was sitting on a nail.

“Why doesn’t he get off the nail?” asked the stranger.

The owner replied, “I guess it doesn’t hurt enough.”

-- Unknown

Let go of your past, don't deny it learn the lessons from it and move on and create a bright future.

-- John Duffy

Sunday's Eclectic Music Videos # 1 - Fire to the Rain

Saturday's Motivational Video - Mark Brown's Message to Youth

Thought for the Day - Life Stories Are Powerful Therapeutic Tools

Oliver Sachs (in “The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat”) said that he felt that the ‘telling of life stories is perhaps one of the most powerful therapeutic tools available to man.’ (That’s not a direct quote, that’s a remembered quote.

-- Mark Travis

The stories we tell ourselves and the stories we tell others can either empower or disempower you. How you view your life and the stories you make up to make sense of that life can be therapeutic and can help you change your life for the better. Tell better stories to yourself and others. Tell stories where you are the protagonist/hero and are on a hero's journey through life.

-- John Duffy

Thought for the Day - Give Yourself Reasons Why You Can

"Instead of giving myself reasons why I can't, I give myself reasons why I can."

-- Unknown

Finding enough powerful reasons to accomplish and achieve something is the path to success. Always find reasons why you can do something not why you can't and the quality of your live will change.

-- John Duffy

Thought for the Day - Create Special Moments

“We do not remember days; we remember moments.”

— Cesare Pavese

"Create a special moment today."

-- Success Magazine

I'm a big believer in creating special moments or magic moments for family, friends and for myself. Life is a collection of these moments we remember. So make it a happen to create special / magic moments in your life.

-- John Duffy

Thought for the Day - Leader Leads by Example

"A leader leads by example, whether he intends to or not."

-- Author Unknown

Our actions always speak louder than our words. We should embrace being a leader and lead from the front and through our example.

-- John Duffy

Thought for the Day - Character + Commitment + Discipline = Results

"It was character that got us out of bed, commitment that moved us into action, and discipline that enabled us to follow through."

-- Zig Ziglar

CCD. Yes Character, Commitment and Discipline. Nuff said.

-- John Duffy

Sunday's Eclectic Music Videos # 1 - This is My Now

Saturday's Motivational Video - Speech From Movie Any Sunday

Thought for the Day - Be Coachable

“A coach is someone who tells you what you don't want to hear, who has you see what you don't want to see, so you can be who you have always known you could be.”

-- Unknown

In so many field of life it is obvious the role and value of a coach so why not in your life. We all need someone to raise the bar, demand more of us and challenge us to be the best we can be. I have had a few coaches in my life and expect to have more. I've come a long way and I have a long way to go.

-- John Duffy

Thought for the Day - Life is a Miracle

"There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.”

--Albert Einstein

Starting with the miracle of life there are so many aspects of life we can appreciate and take as miracles. Whether they are or not is up to you to decide but I prefer to look at life with awe and gratitude. I prefer to not see life as mundane and ho-hum. So I'll stick with seeing the miracles in life.

-- John Duffy

Thought for the Day - You Gotta Work

"You can be successful in this business by working half the day. Any 12 hours you choose." -

-Kenneth Cole

You have to work smart but you have to work. Success comes to those that put in the work.

--John Duffy

Thought for the Day - Be a Master of Change

“Resolve to be a master of change rather than a victim of change.”

--Brian Tracy

Life is changing faster than ever in every field. Flexibility is key to surviving and thriving. Don't resist the changes but embrace them and strive to be on the cutting edge.

--John Duffy

Thought for the Day - When One Door Closes

“When one door closes another door opens; but we so often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door, that we do not see the ones which open for us.”

— Alexander Graham Bell

I couldn't agree more. My life has been one of going through new doors and discovering the opportunities that were in front of me. I am who I am today because I kept searching and exploring for a better way, a better life and I found a lot of what I was looking for but I keep looking for more. So when doors close in your life look for another open door and opportunity, be flexible and open and who knows where life will take you....

-- John Duffy

Sunday's Eclectic Music Videos # 1 - I Will Get There

Saturday's Motivational Video - What Will Matter

Thought for the Day - Make Course Corrections

“When defeat comes, accept it as a signal that your plans are not sound, rebuild those plans, and set sail once more toward your coveted goal.”

— Napoleon Hill


Sometimes failure can be your best friend. I have made many course corrections in my life and anticipate making many more. Even when you fall on your face you have made some forward progress. So get up, fess up and make adjustments and step forward again and repeat this process as many times as necessary until you arrive at your destination...

-- John Duffy

Thought for the Day - Go the Extra Mile

My father taught me to always do more than you get paid for as an investment in your future.”

-—Jim Rohn

If you want to live an extraordinary life you have to give your all to everything you do. You have to be exceptional. You have to go the extra mile. You have to be the person who under promises and over performs. When you do more that you are paid for you become more and that is the reward to you. So don't try to get over in life and do the least because all you will accomplish is live a smaller life and get over on yourself. Be the person that goes the extra mile...

--John Duffy

Thought for the Day - Life Isn't Fair

"Life is not fair, but it's not fair for everyone. That makes life fair. You have a better chance to achieve happiness and success if you stop thinking of how life has treated you, or what has happened to you and concentrate your energy creating the life you want."

-- Michael Josephson

If you have a kid you have heard that "That's not fair" moan over and over. And they are right it's not. It's normal for a kid to want everything to be fair they don't know better but it's sad when adults still have the same old whine. No life it's fair. It never was and it never will be. I know because I started out in poverty with the odds against me. It wasn't fair I thought back then but now I've let go and understand that's life, deal with it and I have. I've learned you just have to do everything to overcome the odds so you can create the life you want. Life isn't fair and there are earthquakes in California and hurricanes in South Carolina. That's life. Make the best of it.

--John Duffy

Thought for the Day - Quitting Lasts Forever

‎"Pain is Temporary, Quitting lasts forever." "Adversity causes some to break and others to Succeed. Everything in life is a Choice."

-- Unknown(or Multiple Authors) - Thanks Don A Cook

Some rapid fire quotes. And I say yes, yes, Yes!

--John Duffy

Thought for the Day - Don't Deny Defy

"Don't DENY where you've been - DEFY where you've been! It shaped you but it didn't break you."

-- Unknown - Thanks Chiao Kee Lim


I don't deny where I have been. I have lived a very colorful life. I came from the bottom and went down a few wrong roads on my journey but it didm't break me it shaped me. I am today who I am because of the struggles, challenges and decisions I made in my life bad and good. I am stronger, more determined, a little wiser and still learning, growing and moving forward. I defied the odds and I have lived some great stories and I will share those with others so they can learn from my experiences.

--John Duffy

Sunday's Eclectic Music Videos # 1 - I Believe I Can Fly

Saturday's Motivational Video - The Window

Thought for the Day - Bring Your Best to the World

"Each of us has been put on earth with the ability to do something well. We cheat ourselves and the world if we don't use that ability as best we can."

-- Gracie Allen

First you have to discover what your gifts or ability is if you don't already know. Once you have discovered it you need to share it with the world and pursue your passion. If you are pursuing your passions it will feel like you you are never working. I'm still discovering, fine-tuning and exploring my passions. I tell people that I feel like I have been on a permanent vacation since I moved to California over twenty years ago. And that is a great feeling. I feel blessed to have found a way to enjoy what I do and not feel like I ever am working. I wish the same for you...

--John Duffy

Thought for the Day - Do What Can't Be Done

:I am looking for a lot of men who have an infinite capacity to not know what can't be done."

-~Henry Ford

I have worked as a line producer on feature films for over fifteen years and making an independent film with too little money is always a miracle. Every time the challenge is the same to make the impossible possible and somehow, someway make the film and come in on budget and on time and we do. I am a big believer that the main thing is your mindset. You need to have an unstoppable mindset that welcomes challenges and like Henry Ford said "an infinite capacity to not know what can't be done."

--John Duffy

Thought for the Day - Change Your Direction

"You cannot change your destination overnight, but you can change your direction overnight."

-- Jim Rohn

All it takes is for you to make a new decision and take action to back of that decision and you will alter the direction you are headed and over time you will change your destination and destiny. I did it years ago when I left New York with practically nothing to my name and changed my life's direction and my destiny. It was the best course correction I ever made. So if you don't like the destination your life is headed in change your direction now.....

-- John Duffy

Thought for the Day - Live a Great Story

"People love to have lived a great story. but few people like the work it takes to actually live that story."

-- Donald Miller

Donald Miller in his book "A Million Miles in a Thousand Years" shares how to experience better stories and how to live them. He looks at your life as a story that you get to write, experience and edit. The book challenges you to live better stories and a better life. Donald sums it up great by saying " If you watched a movie about a guy ho wanted a Volvo and worked for years to get it, you wouldn't cry when he drove it off the lot.. Nobody cries at the end of a movie about a guy who wants a Volvo. But we spend years living those stories , and expect our lives to feel meaningful." Now the big But comes in, you don't and won't get to live better stories unless you are willing to put in the work. And here comes another But, but it's worth it. So time to get busy living better stories...

--John Duffy

Thought for the Day - We Must Do

"Knowing is not enough; we must apply.
Willing is not enough; we must do."


--Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Just Do It. It's all about taking action. We know what's right but we don't do it. We have long lists of shoulds but we don't do them. We have lots of wants but we do get them. We MUST DO!

-- John Duffy