John Duffy's Personal Ramblings - Man Up

I just read a depressing story about how over 3/4 of children in parts of England will be born to unmarried mothers. No matter how you look at this it is not a good situation. Families with single mothers tend to be poorer and be condemned to poverty for generations. Kids without dads have a harder time in life and tend to have more problems adjusting. Now I know this is a very complicated problem with no easy solution and I don't plan on trying to address it here but there is one facet that I would like to touch on and that is the role of men.

I speak from experience having my father die when I was 4 years old and being raised in poverty by a widowed mom. Life is harder in a one parent family. The issue I want to address and is one factor in the situation is that men are not acting like real men and stepping up to their responsibility as a fathers. I think there is a need for society, peers, schools, churches and the culture to demand that men "Man Up".

What does it mean to be a man. It's not just a biological reality but it's about acting like a man should with courage,values, role modeling, and sacrifice. When a man becomes a father he needs to step up his game. It's no longer all about him, it's about the family and especially his responsibility to his kids. If he can't handle it or isn't ready then he shouldn't have kids cause he's not a man but just a big kid. Or as a friend of mine put it he just might be the king of the midgets but he's not a real man.

I know in my life after having a child I was called upon to step up and be a dad and a leader in my family. I had to let go of behaviors that got in my way of being a great father. Of all my accomplishments and successes in life I consider being a good parent my greatest accomplishment. To me being a man is to be a leader, to hold your self to higher standards, to have character, to take responsibility, to role model the best you can be so your children learn from your actions, to have courage, to sacrifice if necessary for your family and to protect them. That's a man.

A while back I came across this website that addresses the question "What Does it Really Mean To Be a Man". I recommend you check it out: http://www.abettermanbook.com/

I just heard a story about a man who's marriage broke up because of his cheating and he doesn't want to make child support payments even though he can afford it. What message does that give his kid. What kind of man is this? I think you know the answer.

I think it's time for many men, to put it in my old street vernacular "To Man the F' Up".

Thought for the Day - Who You Become

"What you get by reaching your destination is not nearly as important as what you became during the journey."

Thought for the Day - Successful People

"Successful people are always looking for opportunities to help others. Unsuccessful people are always asking, What's in it for me?'."

Thanks Sharon Burton

Thought for the Day - Treat Life as a Game

"Treat life as a game where you are constantly being challenged. Then nothing fazes you"

-- Pauline Estrem

Sunday's Eclectic Music Videos 2010 # 2 - I Can Fly

Sunday's Eclectic Music Videos 2010 # 1 - Fly Like an Eagle

Saturday's Motivational Video - One Red Paper Clip

Thought for the Day - Winner Not Whiner

"Tough times separate winners and whiners."

-- John Maxwell

Personal Ramblings - Favorite Magazine

What's your favorite magazine? I still like to read hard copies of magazines even though I only read newspapers online.
I regularly read everything from: "Inc" , "Fast Company", Wired", "Markee" , "P3" "Movie Maker" "DV", "Filmmaker" and "Success".
I read a few others as well. I would have to recommend "Success" as my favorite magazine.

http://www.successmagazine.com/

Thought for the Day - Attitude

"Attitude isn't everything but it is the main thing that can make a difference in your life?

-- John Maxwell

Thought for the Day - The Journey

" It's about the journey--mine and yours--and the lives we can touch, the legacy we can leave, and the world we can change for the better."

- Tony Dungy, former NFL coach and SuperBowl winner

Thanks Michael Josephson

John Duffy's Personal Ramblings - Big Five For Life

Revised April 15th.... Re revised April 17th I knew I had to add more...

I came across the idea of a Big Five for Life after reading about John P. Strelecky's Book. He describes the Big Five for Life as
something you get to choose. They are the five things you most want to do, see, or experience in your lifetime. The five things so powerful to you, that if you do, see, or experience them before you die, then you will feel that your life has been a success by your own personal definition of success.

So I created my Big Five for Life well My Big Seven for Life....

1. Write and Publish My Memoir "Black Irish"

2. Produce A Documentary Series I"ve created called "American Dreamers"

3. Write, Direct and Produce Feature Film entitled "Goodbye My Friend"

4 Become a Professional Motivational Speaker

5. Buy my daughter a horse

6. Attend my Daughter's Wedding

7. Produce/Work on a Feature Film in Ireland

8. Write and Publish Motivational Book based on my life's experiences

9. Big Hairy Audacious Goal. (To Be discovered or created...._)

Of course I had to add a few more and may add more. I'm sure Five isn't enough for me. I encourage you to create your own Big Five for Life or Big Nine or......

For more info check out :
http://www.bigfiveforlife.com/public/department35.cfm

Thought for the Day - Wrestling With a Gorilla

"Some of life's problems are like wrestling with a gorilla. You don't quit when you're tired, you quit when the gorilla is tired. Heres a clue: when the gorilla come to believe you won't quit, he will."

-- Michael Josephson

Thought for the Day - Assumptions vs Reality

"We simply assume that the way we see things is the way they really are or the way they should be. And our attitudes and behaviors grow out of these assumptions."

– Stephen R. Covey, author, professor

John Duffy's Personal Ramblings - Best Days Are Ahead of You

When you're young you take it for granted that your best days are ahead of you. As you age there comes a time for most people that their best days are behind them. They look forward to retiring and in the words from Bruce Springsteen:

Yeah, just sitting back trying to recapture
a little of the glory of, well time slips away
and leaves you with nothing mister but
boring stories of glory days
Glory days well they'll pass you by
Glory days in the wink of a young girl's eye
Glory days, glory days

I guess I always was a little different but I can't wrap my mind around the concept of retiring. I've lived a very colorful and adventure full life yet I don't think my past is my glory days. I believe my glory days are still ahead of me.
I have so much I want to do and accomplish that I believe in life you keep challenging yourself until eventually you run out of time. I still believe my best days are still ahead of me. I have a huge bucket list and it keeps growing.

I met an elderly veteran last week who is 95 years old and he is talking about wanting to write a book. So I offer you the idea "May Your Best Days be Ahead of You"

John Duffy

Sunday's Eclectic Music Videos 2010 # 2- White Flag

Sunday's Eclectic Music Videos 2010 # 1- Pink Floyd 2001

Saturday's Motivational Video - Awaken Possibility in Other People

About nine minutes into the talk, Mr. Zander describes a transformational moment in his conducting career, when he realized, "I don't make a sound....I realized that my job was to awaken possibility in other people."

What a wonderful metaphor for speaking!

Thought for the Day - Free Cheese

"The only free cheese is in the mousetrap."

-- Unknown

Thought for the Day - Take Responsibility

" You are responsible for your life, so take responsibility."

-- John Duffy

John Duffy's Personal Ramblings - Magic Moments

Years ago I was exposed to the concept of Magic Moments and I adopted it into my life. Since then I have experienced or took note of so many magic moments in my life. I usually attempt to capture them in my Journal or the Journal I keep as a gift for my daughter. Some of the magic moments were small like spending a day just hanging with my daughter and talking or some were huge like reconnecting with my Irish family in Ireland in 2008.


Some magic moments happened to me and some I created for the loved ones in my life. I believe at the end of our lives it is these magic moments that we will look back on and it will be these moments that our loved ones and friends will remember. So I look forward to creating as many magic moments as I can in life.

This weekend was a one of those magic moments. I took the family to San Francisco to spend time with my cousins and their families. We had a great time, visited the Fisherman's Wharf, went to Easter Mass to in honor of my two recently deceased cousins Pat Gavin and Peter O'Donnell. All this was magic moments but on the final day my wife told me my daughter wanted to play ping-pong with me. She saw me playing with her 14 year old male cousin and she wanted to play me. I guess she didn't want to ask me and of course I invited her to play me. Well we played game after game and she was beaming the whole time and didn't want to stop. My back started to hurt but I kept playing until it was 11pm. I guess if anyone looked at me I was probably beaming as well.

Now it may seem small but I believe it was a very special magic moment that we both will remember. So I offer you the suggestion to be aware of, create and capture the magic moments in your life and of those of your loved ones and friends.
Maybe keep a journal of magic moments or capture them in a regular journal. And if you don't keep a journal you might consider starting one.

Here's to living a fulfilled life and a life of magic moments.....

John Duffy

Thought for the Day - Laugh at Life

" Laugh at life, laugh at yourself. Life ain’t all that serious until it is."

-- John Duffy

Thought for the Day - What You Can Become

"Change is the essence of life. Be willing to surrender what you are for what you could become."

-- Tony Robbins

Thought for the Day - Soul on Fire

"The most powerful weapon on earth is the human soul on fire."

- Ferdinand Foch

Happy Easter

Sunday's Eclectic Music Video 2010 # 2 - When You Believe

Sunday's Eclectic Music Videos # 1 - Rocky

Saturday's Motivational Video - Live Full & Die Empty

John Duffy's Personal Ramblings - Introduction

I created my blog The Glass is 3/4's Full to share my philosophy and experiences in life with a large audience than just the people I work with and meet in life. I wanted it to be a place to inspire and share thoughts that challenge people to stretch beyond their limitations and fulfill their potential in life.

The blog structure so far has been the "Thought of the Day", "Saturday's Motivational Video" (from Youtube), "Sunday's Eclectic Music" (from Youtube) and occasionally some additional content. I would like to step it up and add a more personal regular selection called "John Duffy's Personal Ramblings". I will start out posting one a week and if I can find the time I will aim to make it a daily column.

I thank all those who read and follow the blog and hope to contribute even more to your personal success. I welcome any feedback and suggestions for improvement and comments about my ramblings.
Here's to your continued success and growth in life. The best days are still ahead of us.

"Make your Life a Masterpiece"

John Duffy

Thought for the Day - Our Gift to God

"What we are is God's gift to us. What we become is our gift to God. "

- Eleanor Powell

Thought for the Day - Live As If You"ll Die Today

"Dream as if you'll live forever, live as if you'll die today."

--James Dean

Thought for the Day - Character of a Man

" I judge character not by how men deal with their superiors, but mostly how they deal with their subordinates, and that, to me, is where you find out what the character of a man is".

- General. H Norman Schwarzkopf

Thought for the Day - How You React

"Life is 10% of what happens to you and 90% of how you react to it. "

- John Maxwell

Thought for the Day - Honesty

"Make a commitment to be honest, and you make a commitment to your own success."

- Chris Wildner

Commit to honesty in your business, professional and personal life and you will reap the rewards. We have too many examples today of dishonesty in business, politics and in relationships that should warn us of the price you'll pay for dishonesty.

john duffy

Sunday's Eclectic Music Videos # 2 - Ragland Road

Sunday's Eclectic Music Videos # 1 - Yo No Se Manana

Saturday's Motivational Video - Leadership

Thought for the Day - Invincible Summer

" In the depth of winter, I finally learned that there was in me an invincible summer."

-Albert Camus

Thought for the Day - Luck

“I have not been any more lucky or unlucky than anyone else. The difference is when luck came my way, I took advantage of it.”

—Richard Branson

Thought for the Day - Shortcomings

"To be aware of a single shortcoming in oneself is more useful than to be aware of a thousand in someone else."

~ the Dalai Lam

Thanks Gloria Morrison

Thought for the Day - Miracles

“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

Thanks Gloria Morrison

Thought for the Day - Don't Knock Success

"Celebrate Success. Don’t follow the culture and knock success and the successful. Create your own success."

- John Duffy

Sunday's Eclectic Music Videos # 2 - Living in America

Sunday's Eclectic Music Videos # 1 - Mr Jones

Saturday's Motivational Video - Pursue Your Passion

Thought for the Day - The Death of Fear

"Do what you fear and the Death of Fear is certain!"

- Tony rRobbins

Thought for the Day - The Race is with Yourself

"Don't waste your time on jealousy; sometimes you're ahead, sometimes you're behind. The race is long, and in the end, it's only with yourself. "

- Unknown

An Irish Toast

"May the best day of your past be the worst day of your future"


"May your troubles be less, And your blessings be more. And nothing but happiness come through your door."



Here's a toast to Friends Of Ireland on Linkedin and James Hayes the Founder

St. Patrick's Day Music

Happy St Patrick's Day

Happy Saint Patrick's Day 2010

I have very fond memories of going to the St Patrick's Parade in New York every year with my mother Ann when I was a kid living in the Bronx. Two years ago I spent St Patrick's Day in Foxford Ireland at a very special reunion of my family. It was my first time in Ireland and very magical. A few months before, my cousin Sharon in the UK found us through the Internet and reunited us with our family that we never thought we would ever find. A St Patrick Day miracle. So here's to my newly discovered and large family.
I now have family in Ireland, England, Germany, Australia, Canada, and here in the USA.
So on this St Patrick's Day....Up the "O'Donnell's, Duffy's, Gavin's, Burton's, Cassini's, Quinn's, Prescott's, Foran's and Up the Irish
and Slainte........

Thought for the Day - You Always Have a Choice

" It’s all about Choices. You always have choices, make the right ones."

- John Duffy

Thought for the Day - Be a Leader

" Be A Leader. Step Up. Life needs more leaders not followers."

- John Duffy

Sunday's Eclectic Music Videos # 1 - Anyway

Saturday's Motivational Video - Date with Destiny

Thought for the Day - Never Quit

"Never Quit. - Promise yourself you will never give up."

- John Duffy

Thought for the Day - Get in the Game

"Take Action and then takes some more. Get in the game."

- John Duffy

Thought for the Day - Daily Improvement

" Daily Improvement (DI) - Decide – Resolve – Act. Everyday do
just 1 more thing to improve. What if you improved 1 thing every day? "

- John Duffy

Thought for the Day - Solutions

"Solutions, Solutions, Solutions. Okay, I heard the problem
now what’s the solution? There’s always a way and an answer.
Your job is to find it."

- John Duffy

Thought for the Day - Service = Rewards

"We will receive not what we idly wish for but what we justly earn. Our rewards will always be in exact proportion to our service."

~ Earl Nightingale

Sunday's Eclectic Music Videos # 2 - A Moment Like This

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

Saturday's Motivational Video - Topher Morrison

Thought for the Day - True Greatness

"To become truly great, one has to stand with people, not above them."

~ Charles de Montesquieu

Thought for the Day - Dream in the Daylight

"Those who dream by day are cognizant of many things which escape those who dream only by night."

- - Edgar Allen Poe

Thought for the Day - Make a Life

"Never get so busy making a living that you forget to make a life."

- Les Brown

Thought for the Day - Touch Someone's Life

"In the end, it doesn't matter what you Drive, How big your house is, or what you have for money, it only matters how you touched another person's Life."

- Thanks Lisa Tavana FB

Thought for the Day - One Step Past Giving Up

"The Best Results ALWAYS Occur One Step Past Where Most People Give Up."

- Chris Guerriero

This is true in exercising, dieting and in life. Push a little harder, go the extra step or the extra mile. You will be rewarded for the slight difference between being a winner or a loser in the game of life......

John Duffy

Sunday's Eclectic Music Videos # 2 -Do I Make You Proud

Sunday's Eclectic Music Video 2010 # 1- Can't Touch This

Saturday's Motivational Video - Steven Covey

Thought for the Day - Life is Uncharted Territory

“Life is uncharted territory. It reveals its story one moment at a time.”

- leo buscaglia

Thought for the Day - An Inadequate Life

"Don't be afraid of death so much as an inadequate life."

~ Bertolt Brecht

Thought for the Day - Don't Treat Every Thing as a Nail

"I suppose it is tempting, if the only tool you have is a hammer, to treat everything as if it were a nail. "

~ Abraham Maslow

Thought for the Day - The Human Spirit

"Difficulties are meant to rouse, not discourage. The human spirit is to grow strong by conflict."

-William Channing

Thought for the Day - Get Ready

"Whatever you're ready for is ready for you."

-Mark Victor Hansen

Sunday's Eclectic Music Video 2010 # 2 - Blame it on the Rain

Remember where you were when this aired? Milli Vanilli and Lip Singing..... A time of less than authentic music.......
Yet this was one of their better ones.....

Sunday's Eclectic Music Video 2010 # 1 - Ice Ice Baby

Remember where you were when this aired? A time of less than authentic music.......

Saturday's Motivational Video - 21 Laws Of Leadership

Thought for the Day - One Must Be Willing to Learn

"To be taught, one must be willing to learn. One must be willing to change, sometimes in fundamental ways, because to learn is to change.:

Bill Roorbach

Thought for the Day - Who We Become

" I Believe....That our background and circumstances may have influenced who we are, But, we are responsible for who we become. "

- Unknown

Thanks Sharon.....

Thought for the Day - Hang with the Best

"You will become the combined average of the five people you hang around the most."

- Jim Rohn

Thought for the Day - Results Require Action

"Resolutions' ONLY require WORDS... But RESULTS require ACTION! Commit & Win"

- Tony Robbins

Thought for the Day - Make Yourself Happy

"If you expect another person to make you happy, you'll be endlessly disappointed."

~ M. Scott Peck

Sunday's Eclectic Music Video 2010 # 3 - I Could Fall in Love

Sunday's Eclectic Music Video 2010 # 2 -Feel The Love

Sunday's Eclectic Music Video 2010 # 1 - I Will Always Love You

To the 2 Special Women (Wife and Daughter) in my life Happy Valentine's Day

Saturday's Motivational Video - Prime the Pump

Thought for the Day - Begin with the End in Mind

"Begin with the End in Mind"

- Steven Covey

Thought for the Day - Planning is indispensable

" No plan ever survives first contact with the enemy'

- Old Military Axiom

"The plans were useless, but the planning was indispensable'


- General Dwight D. Eisenhower

Thought for the Day - Stuff happens

"Sh!t happens.... so be ready to deal with it"

- Darren Hardy

Thought for the Day - Goal Achieving

" Goal achieving is a delicate balance between planning and improvisation"

- Darren Hardy

Thought for the Day - Life is an Experiment

"All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better."

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Sunday's Eclectic Music Videos # 2 - Empire State of Mind

Sunday's Eclectic Music Videos # 1 - Dead and Gone

Saturday's Motivational Video - Leadership

Thought for the Day - Help People Get What They Want

"You can have everything in life that you want if you will just help enough people get what they want."

Zig Ziglar

Thought for the Day - Hear What isn't Being Said

"The most important thing in communication is to hear what isn't being said"

Thought for the Day - Your Present and Future

"If you want to know your past - look into your present conditions. If you want to know your future - look into your present actions."

~ Chinese Proverb ~

Thanks Jason C Allen

Thought for the Day - Become Someone You Have Never Have Been

"To achieve something you have never achieved before you must become someone you have never beeen.'

- Les Brown

Thought for the Day - Become More

"If you want to have more, you must become more"