Thought for the Day - Empowering Questions Week - Gratitude

What am I grateful for? What could I be grateful for today? How will being grateful make a difference in my life and those around me? Can you make a list of 100 things to be grateful for? How about 500 things to be grateful for? What if you started out every day being grateful and remembering all the things you are grateful for?


-- John Duffy

Thought for the Day - Empowering Questions Week - Learn

What can I learn from this experience? How can I improve my performance? What is great about this situation? What could be great? How can I grow from this?


-- John Duffy

Thought for the Day - Empowering Questions Week - Goals

What are your goals? How often do you check in on them? Do you have written goals? Are you goals measurable, specific and achievable? Do you have small and big goals? What are your big five goals for your life? What is the one main goal you have for your life?

-- John Duffy

Sunday's Eclectic Music Video - This is My Now

Saturday's Motivational Video - Power of Story Week - Walt Disney

Thought for the Day - Power of Story Week - Hans Christian Andersen

"Life itself is the most wonderful fairytale of all."


- —Hans Christian Andersen

Thought for the Day - Power of Story Week - Jean Houston

"If you keep telling the same sad small story, you will keep living the same sad small life."


- —Jean Houston

Thought for the Day - Power of Story Week - Jim Loehr

"Your story is your life."


-- Jim Loehr

Thought for the Day - Power of Story Week - Ronnie Clemmer

"Great leaders and movie heroes share in common a fierce determination to do what's needed, regardless of the odds. The best of Hollywood movies stand as riveting exemplars of real-life leadership, for everyone who yearns not merely to survive but to lead, to prevail, to make a difference."

-- Ronnie Clemmer-  Hollywood Producer " A League of Their Own"

I've line produced two movies for Ronnie Clemmer and consider him a best friend. He exemplifies real-life leadership. I love this quote as it sums up what it is to be a leader and a hero in movies or in life. A leader/hero yearns not to survive but to lead and to make a difference. It's how I attempt to lead my life.

-- John Duffy

Another Thought for the Day - Power of Story Week - I Got Stories

What is the story of your life in six words?

I've been experimenting trying to capture my life in six words and have published a few attempts on Smith Magazines Six Word Memoir site.

• I got stories, I really do.
• Family lost, family found, Irish reunion.
• Sometimes life has a Hollywood ending.
• Bronx to Hollywood. East Side Story.
• Ghetto to Greatness. A Dream Achieved.
• Irish parents. Bronx born. American made.
  By Duffy in Six-Word Memoirs

Check them out as I continue to update and discover my life story in six words and tell me your story in six words...

http://www.smithmag.net/community/people.php/Duffy

Thought for the Day - Power of Story Week - Peter Guber

"Think of yourself not in the information distribution business but in the emotional transportation business. Emotional context helps bind into our memory. You may lose the details but will remember the feeling".


-- Peter Guber

Sunday's Eclectic Music Video - Hope You Dance

Educational Resources and Role Models

National School Choice Week
http://www.schoolchoiceweek.com/

Teach for America
http://www.teachforamerica.org/

http://www.usnews.com/articles/education/k-12/2008/03/05/what-is-teach-for-america-really-like.html

Students First
http://www.studentsfirst.org/

Ron Clark Academy

http://www.ronclarkacademy.com/

Kipp Charter Schools

http://www.kipp.org/?gclid=CIexv_CK85cCFREeDQodLQhJDQ

Harlem Childrens Zone

http://www.hcz.org/

http://www.hobartshakespeareans.org/

http://www.cristorey.net/

Success Foundation

http://www.successmagazine.com/Making-a-Difference/PARAMS/article/482/channel/24

The Leader in Me - Stephen R. Covey

http://www.TheLeaderInMe.org/

http://www.manchesterguild.org/About_mcg.htm

http://www.ichoosetostay.com/

Here are some interesting websites about examples of educational excellence. 

The first one I read about in the book "A Whole New Mind" by Daniel Pink

Charter High School for Architecture and Design - Philadelphia

http://www.chadphila.org/

The second I read about in the book "Make the Impossible Possible" by Bill Strickland

http://www.bill-strickland.org/

The third I read about in the book " I Choose to Stay" by Salome Thomas-EL

http://www.ichoosetostay.com/

And the final teacher Sam Calavitta I read about in the LA Times

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/orange/la-me-calculus8-2009mar08,0,3992127.story

All of these represent excellent institutions and teachers that make a difference and demonstrate what is possible. We can learn a lot from them....

Saturday's Motivational Video - Education Week - Waiting For Superman

Thought for the Day - Education Week - Michele Rhee

"We've become so obsessed with making kids feel good about themselves that we lost sight of building the skills they need to actually be good at things."

-- Michelle Rhee

Thought for the Day - Education Week - Bill Strickland

“The sand in the hourglass flows only one way. Don’t waste precious time chasing someone else’s definition of success. Live your life with purpose now. Look for the things that inspire you, trouble you, make you feel most alive, and trust in those things to shape your future. They will give you all your heart could ever wish for.” 
― Bill Strickland

Thought for the Day - Education Week - Dr. Ben Chavis

He (Dr Ben Chavis) took over the American Indian Public Charter School (AIPCS) in Oakand an inner-city charter school composed almost exclusively of low-income minority students. By the time he stepped down in 2007, he had turned it into the fifth-highest-rated middle school in the state — out of 1,300. (Of the four that rank higher, none has an underprivileged student body.)

Thought for the Day - Education Week - Dr Steve Perry

"Try everything you can think of then, think of some more. Parenting any age is a beast. Just hold on and keep expectations high."
-- Dr. Steve Perry


Dr. Steve Perry's website
http://www.dr-steveperry.com/

Thought for the Day - Education Week - Harlem Children Zone - Geoffrey Canada

"Over the past five years, I've met several presidents, several secretaries of education ... and there is no plan. If you want to save your children, you're going to have to do it yourself. It's just us."

-- Geoffrey Canada

Rest in Peace - Whitney Houston

Sunday's Eclectic Music Video - Tupelo Honey

Saturday's Motivational Video - Entrepreneur Week - Role of the Entrepreneur

Thought for the Day - Entrepreneur Week - Mark Burnett

“I heard my name associated with the Peter Pan syndrome more than once. But really, what's so wrong with Peter Pan? Peter Pan flies. He is a metaphor for dreams and faith.”-- -- Mark Burnett

Thought for the Day - Entrepreneur Week - Tyler Perry

“Are You Living or Just Existing?" 

-- Tyler Perry 

Thought for the Day - Entrepreneur Week - Apple - Steve Jobs

Personal Excellence Magazine - 11 Lessons we can learn from Steve Jobs

http://personalexcellence.co/blog/steve-jobs/

Thought for the Day - Entrepreneur Week - Virgin Air - Richard Branson

Thought for the Day - Entrepreneur Week - Ryan Air Michael O"Leary

This week I will post short videos from entrepreneurs instead of quotes.  Some interesting ideas on business, entrepreneurship, leadership and life...

Sunday's Eclectic Music Video - The Way it Goes

Saturday's Motivational Video - Les Brown Week - Why People Fail

Thought for the Day - Les Brown Week - Never Too Old to Set a New Goal

"You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream."


-- Les Brown


I live my life like this. Every year as I get older I have set more and new goals for my self. I have more goals and dreams than I have years ahead of me but I keep setting new goals and dreaming new dreams. I plan on doing this no matter how old I am...


-- John Duffy

Thought for the Day - Les Brown Week - No Limits

"Life has no limitations, except the ones you make."


-- Les Brown

What are the limits you have set in the areas of your life? What limits have you set in your physical, financial, business life? Attempt to break thru any limits you have set.

-- John Duffy

Thought for the Day - Les Brown Week - No Buts

"The only limits to the possibilities in your life tomorrow are the buts you use today."


-- Les Brown


I heard someone once say that the only thing you get for saying But is a Big Butt. I suggest you live your life without Buts and without excuses.

-- John Duffy