Thought For the Day - Transformational Relationship

"The trick here is to "go deep" with friendships - not wide. That means spending more time building transformational, not transactional relationships."

--Beth Douglas Silcox

Sunday's Eclectic Music Videos # 2 - Foreigner

Sunday's Eclectic Music Videos # ! - Simply Red

Saturday's Motivational Video - Tony Robbins

Tony Robbins

Thought For the Day - Give Before Get

"I believe you become more valuable to the world if you can help link and connect people. But where so many people miss out is in their willingness to do favors for people upfront."

--Tony Jeary

Thought For the Day - Experience

‎"Experience is what you get while looking for something else."

--Federico Fellini

Thought For the Day - Relationships Are the Road Map to Success

"The new road map to success is built on relationships. If you pay it forward and give more than you're, you're destined for great things."

--Eddie Armstrong

Thought For the Day - I am the Voice

Now, I am the Voice.
I will Lead, Not follow
I will Believe, Not Doubt.
I will Create, Not destroy.
I am a Force for Good.
I am a Leader.

Defy the Odds

Set a New Standard.

Step Up!

Step Up!!

Step Up!!!

-- Tony Robbins

Happy Birthday JD

Today I celebrate my birthday. it's funny how when I was younger I would get depressed on my birthday and eventually I turned it into my one and only Designated Depression Day and finally I decided I didn't need to be depressed for even one day and let that go. Now I see it my birthday more as a Designated Gratitude Day. A day when I can focus on all I am grateful for.

So today I celebrate all I am grateful for and it is a very very long list. Thank you to my family, especially my new Irish family, friends and all those who have touched my life over the years and gave me the gift of your friendship, love, humor, company and contributed to who I am today. It's been a long and interesting journey. You're in my memory and my heart. Thank you.

I planned on celebrating by creating a special magic moment that included a helicopter flight to Catalina Island, doing a zipline above the island, spending the day with my family and returning by boat. Life instead put me in Texas working on a film so I celebrate here with my film family and postpone my Catalina experience until next year when I get back to LA.

It doesn't get better than this......

I believe my best years are still ahead of me and I look forward to achieving more, contributing more and living an even more fulfilling life.....

So a toast..... Slainte



I share this day with all my family and friends and say Thank you

John Duffy

Sunday's Eclectic Music Videos # 2 - Move on Up

Another blast from my youth....

Sunday's Eclectic Music Videos # 1 - Across 110th St

Music from my youth in the Bronx....

Saturday's Motivational Video - Leadership

Thought For the Day - Never Look Down on Anyone

"Never look down on someone unless your helping them up."

-- Unknown

Veteran's Day - Thank You

‎"The soldier above all others prays for peace, for it
is the soldier who must suffer and bear the deepest wounds and scars of
war."
- Douglas MacArthur

Thank you to all our Veterans

Thought For the Day -You Become What You Think

‎"You become what you think about."

--Earl Nightingale

Or what you focus on.....

Thought For the Day - Make a Way

‎"We will either find the way, or make one"

--Hannibal

Thought For the Day - What Are You Grateful For?

"What are you grateful for today?"

Thought For the Day - Who Are Your Here For?

"You're not here for everyone.You're here for someone!"

-- Unknown

Sunday's Eclectic Music Videos # 2 - The Times They Are Changing

Sunday's Eclectic Music Videos # 1 - Bob Dylan - Things Have Changed

Saturday's Motivational Video - TED and Social Media

Thought for the Day - JD's Quotes # 6 - It's All About Choices

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

-- John Duffy

Thought for the Day - JD's Quotes # 5 - Be a Leader

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

-- John Duffy

Thought for the Day - JD's Quotes # 4 Never Quit

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

-- John Duffy

Thought for the Day - JD's Quotes # 3 - Get in the Game

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

-- John Duffy

Thought for the Day - JD's Quotes # 2 -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

American Dreamers

American Dreamers tells the story of how everyday heroes transformed their lives and are making a tangible difference in the world. It's a classic tale of ordinary people doing extra-ordinary things…

In these economically challenging times we need to celebrate the American Dream and declare that America’s best days are still ahead of us……

American Dreamers is a documentary / series project.

PLEASE SUPPORT & KEEP THE AMERICAN DREAM ALIVE!!!

JOIN FACEBOOK GROUP: AMERICAN DREAMERS

VISIT AMERICAN DREAMERS WEBSITE: http://planetkor.com/AD/

There are those, I know, who will say that the liberation of humanity, the freedom of man and mind, is nothing but a dream. They are right. It is the American dream.
-~Archibald MacLeish

Sunday's Eclectic Music Video # 2 - Black Water

Sunday's Eclectic Music Videos # 1 - Every Breath You Take

Saturday's Motivational Video - The Value of Time

Thought for the Day - JD's Quotes # 1 - Solutions, Solutions. Solutions

Okay time to share my personal quotes and philosophy....

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

--John Duffy

Thought for the Day - Share Vision

"The best leaders don't give orders-they share visions."

--Robin Sharma

Thought For the Day - Now

There is no better time than now. The time to live is now. The time to dream is now. The time to imagine and forget the past is now. The time to shine is now. The time to bleed, sweat, and determine for yourself the things you want most is now.

~ Anonymous

Thought For the Day - Beliefs of a Leader # 10

"Our greatest glory is not in never falling but in rising every time we fall."

~ Confucious

Thought For the Day - Beliefs of a Leader # 9

"The past is not your future"

-- Tony Robbins

Sunday's Eclectic Music Videos # 2 - Heaven Was Needing a Hero

Remember 9/11

Sunday's Eclectic Music Videos # 1 - When You Believe

Saturday's Motivational Video - Attitude is Everything

Keith Harrell recently passed away. He left a legacy. Rest in Peace Keith......

Thought For the Day - Beliefs of a Leader # 8

"Change your habitual questions and change your destiny."

-- Tony Robbins

Thought For the Day - Beliefs of a Leader # 7

"There are not unreasonable people, only unresourceful states."

-- Tony Robbins

In general this is true of most people and most situations but I would differ and say there are indeed unreasonable people in the world as well but most of the time we don't have to deal with them as individuals.....

John Duffy

Thought For the Day - Beliefs of a Leader # 6

"We always have a choice."

-- Tony Robbins

Thought For the Day - Beliefs of a Leader # 5

"If I can't, I must; and if I must, I will."

-- Tony Robbins

Thought For the Day - Beliefs of a Leader # 4

"It's not what happens, it's what I do that makes the difference."

-- Tony Robbins

Sunday's Eclectic Music Video # 2 -Ode to Billy Joe

Thanks Henry Fayson Jr.

Sunday's Eclectic Music Video # 1 - Bonnie Raitt

Saturday's Motivational Video - Five Emotional Cancers

Thought For the Day - Beliefs of a Leader # 3

" We will do more to avoid pain than to gain pleasure."

-- Tony Robbins

Thought For the Day - Beliefs of a Leader # 2

"What we link to pain and what we link to pleasure determines our destiny."

-- Tony Robbins

Thought For the Day - Beliefs of a Leader # 1

"People are bigger than anything that can happen to them."

-- Tony Robbins

Thought For the Day - Dreams

Dreams

Hold fast to dreams
For if dreams die
Life is a broken-winged bird
That cannot fly.
Hold fast to dreams
For when dreams go
Life is a barren field
Frozen with snow.

Langston Hughes

Thought For the Day - What Are You Made Of?

"Whatever is inside you is what comes out when pressure is applied. When you squeeze an orange, orange juice comes out, not apple juice. A lot of people are under pressure right now and we are seeing what is really inside them. It's not always a pretty sight yet shows us who they genuinely are."

-- Larry Winget

Sunday's Eclectic Music Video - # 2 - Puff Daddy/Faith Evans/112 - I'll Be Missing You

Sunday's Eclectic Music Videos # 1 - Do You Remember

Saturday's Motivational Video - Most Inspirational Fisherman

Thought for the Day - Never Too Old

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

-- C.S. Lewis

Thought For the Day - Work Half a Day

"I jokingly tell people you can be successful in this business by working half the day. Any 12 hours you choose. But the truth is you have to work long hours, and you have to make personal choices and compromises."

-- Kenneth Cole

Same as the film business....

Thought for the Day -Smile Because it Happened

"Don't cry because it's over. Smile because it happened."

-- Dr Seuss

Thought for the Day - Experiencing Poverty or Achieving Wealth?

"Walking by the WSU bookstore, I saw a kid reading a textbook: "Experiencing Poverty." Shouldn't he be reading "Achieving Wealth"?"

-- Chris Widener

John Duffy's Personal Ramblings - "Waiting For Superman"

Just saw a depressing yet hopeful, poignant, powerful and emotionally moving Documentary "Waiting For Superman". It hits the nail on the head and exposes the reason for the failure of the public education system.

The film resonated with me personally as I dropped out of Catholic high school at the age of 15 in the South Bronx. I attempted to attend public school but the public high school in my area was Morris High School which was a drop out mill and was overrun with heroin dealers. I chose to work instead of waste my time failing in that environment. I never regret making that decision.

Geoffrey Canada the leader of the Harlem Children Zone also spoke about how he was lucky to not attend Morris High School or he would never have achieved what he did in his life. He went on the graduate from Harvard and create one of the most effective charter school in the country.

I agree with the analysis of what is the main cause of the problem and that is the teacher's unions who are stuck in the past with a 1930's paradigm that places the interest of the union and teachers even incompetent ones above those of the children.

I remember an experience I had many years later when I received a substitute teaches certificate and taught for a few days at a school in the Bronx. The regular teacher greeted me by telling me "Not to waste my time trying to teach anything but just keep order". Well I didn't listen to them and for three days I brought my passion and excitement for writing to these elementary children and i fired them up and they were competing to read their class compositions. Now that's just one personal anecdotal experiences but it confirmed what I saw happening in the public schools in the Bronx.

From the movie and from what I've read about some of the successful charter schools across the country the forces for reforming the school system are growing and there are some real heroes portrayed in the film including the charter school movement represented by Kipp, Green Dot, Harlem Children Zone and individuals like Geoffrey Canada, Bill Strickland, Michelle Rhee and many more

I can't recommend this movie enough. You must see it.......

John Duffy

http://www.waitingforsuperman.com/?gclid=CM7L8_f5taQCFQEBiQodK37rzQ

Thought For the Day - Where Are You Going?

"Others can't get excited about where you're going if you have zero clue of where you're going."

-- Robin Sharma

Sunday's Eclectic Music Videos # 2 - Jon Secada- Just another day

Sunday's Eclectic Music Video's # 1 - Jon Secada - I'm Free

Saturday's Motivational Video - Why immigrants become Millionaires

Thought for the Day - Sajeonogi

“Knocked down four times, rising up five.” in Korean “Sajeonogi,”

A Korean peasant woman Ms. Cha seems to have given new meaning to this favorite Korean saying. She tried 960 times to pass the driver's test in Korea before she passed. (Tenacity at it's best).

On her wall where she hung black-and-white photographs of her and her late husband as a young couple and a watch that had stopped ticking, she also had posted a handwritten — and misspelled — sign that read, “Never give up!”.....

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/04/world/asia/04driver.html?_r=1&ref=homepage&src=me&pagewanted=all

Thought For the Day - Personal Responsibility

"One of the annoying things about believing in free will and individual responsibility is the difficulty of finding somebody to blame your problems on. And when you do find somebody, it's remarkable how often his picture turns up on your driver's license."

-P.J. O'Rourke

Thought for the Day - Time Flies

"The bad news is time flies. The good news is you’re the pilot"

-.—Michael Althsuler

Thought for the Day - Happy or Miserable. Your Choice

"We either make ourselves happy or miserable. The amount of work is the same."

- - Carlos Castaneda

Thought For The Day - Time to Fly

"Successful people leap and grow their wings on the way down!"

--Les Brown

Sunday's Eclectic Music Videos # 2 - Remember When

Sunday's Eclectic Music Videos # 1 - Unwritten

Saturday's Motivational Video - Eric Thomas

Thought for the Day - Don't Try Do!

"Try not. DO. Or Do Not. There is no try."

--Yoda

Thought for the Day - It's How You Make People Feel

“I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what
you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”

--Maya Angelou

Thought For the Day - It's About the Journey

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

Thought for the Day - Make Someone Feel Important

"Pretend that every single person you meet has a sign around his or her neck that says, Make Me Feel Important. Not only will you succeed in sales, you will succeed in life.”

--Mary Kay Ash

Thought for the Day - Decide!!!!!

‎"The indispensible first step to getting the things you want out of life is this: decide what you want"

-- Ben Stein

Sunday's Eclectic Music Videos # 2 - My Way

Sunday's Eclectic Music Videos # 1 - That's Life

Saturday's Motivational Video - 5 Extraordinaries

Thought For the Day - Be a Conversationalist

"A gossip talks to you about others. A bore talks to you about himself. A brilliant conversationalist talks to you about yourself. "

--W King

Thought for the Day - Deliver More Than You Promise

"Leaders who win respect... deliver more than they promise, not promise more than they can deliver."

- -Mark A Clement

Thought For The Day - Leaders Do

"Critics talk. Leaders do."

-- Robin Sharma

Thought For The Day - Life Is About Becoming

" Leadership (and life) is not an exercise in getting but in becoming."

-- Robin Sharma

Thought For The Day - There's Greatness in You

"Be not afraid of greatness: some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them."

... Les Brown

Sunday's Eclectic Music Videos # 2 - Where Were You When the World Stopped Turning

Sunday's Eclectic Music Videos # 1 - Remember Who We Are

9/11 - Never Forget - 9 Years Ago

Sept 11, 2001, My city New York and my country America was attacked. I took it personal as I believe many of us did. It changed me profoundly forever. I came back to New York City from Los Angeles where I live today and visited Ground Zero that December and I felt the incredible loss and pain but also saw the strength and resilience of Americans and especially my fellow New Yorkers. Hard to believe it has been nine years ago......

There were a total of 2,977 deaths. The victims were distributed as follows: 246 on the four planes (from which there were no survivors), 2,606 in New York City in the towers and on the ground, and 125 at the Pentagon.

More than 90 countries lost citizens in the attacks on the World Trade Center

I personally will never forget and hope we always remember....

I have made it a habit to attend a commemoration event on Sept 11 every year since 2002.

And to be clear on this 9/11 I must say it. I have no animosity towards any race or religion and how I lived and live my life is a reflection of that but like most New Yorkers and Americans I am opposed to the Ground Zero Islamic Center/Mosque.

And the time is way overdue to Build the 9/11 Memorial and Rebuild the WTC.....

Tribute to all the victims of 9/11

Thought For the Day - Inspire People with Your Actions

"Whether you pursue your GREATNESS today, next week, or in 10 years is totally up to YOU. Do NOT attribute your lack of action to something or someone outside of yourself. YOU make it happen. So GET BUSY!"

-- Les Brown

John Duffy's Personal Ramblings - "Life's Biggest Debt"

The question posed isn't "Should you repay the debt but how do you repay the debt?'. That was the opening of a speech last nigh at my local Toastmaster's group.

The speaker was a visitor, a young man from Toastmaster's in Saudi Arabia. He went on to tell a story and touch everyone's hearts speaking about the debt we owe our parents. He talked about how our parents and parents give us life and then give us their life. He spoke about wrestling with understanding the debt we owe our parents and how do we repay it.

He shared a personal tale of discovering his young son had Asperger's Syndrome and doing everything in his power to allow his son to communicate and finally making a breakthrough. He told us how he discovered the answer to his opening question when his son was able to communicate and told him one night, "Daddy I love you." He discovered in that moment that parents need to know that their children are safe and that you appreciate what they have given you.

He ended with a call of action to reach out that night and tell your parents you are safe and you love them.

He brought a deeper message of how we are all the same all over the world and we want the same things. A powerful message of appreciation of our parents and love from a young Toastmaster from Saudi Arabia.

John Duffy

Thought For The Day - Life is a Gift

‎"Life is a gift, and it offers us the privilege, opportunity, and responsibility to give something back by becoming more."

-~ Anthony Robbins

Thought For The Day - Making the Impossible Happen

"Leadership is the art of making the impossible the inevitable."

-- robin Sharma

Thought For the Day - Flexibility Is Necessary

"Flexibility in a time of great change is a vital quality of leadership."

-- Brian Tracy

Thought for the Day - Playing the Hand Dealt You

"t's worth reminding you that just because Fate doesn't deal you the right cards, it doesn't mean you should give up. It just means you have to PLAY the cards you get to their MAXIMUM potential.{"

-- Les Brown

Sunday's Eclectic Music Videos # 2 - Stillness of Heart

Thanks Sharon

Sunday's Eclectic Music Videos # 1 - Calling All Angels

John Duffy's Personal Ramblings - "You Got to Work"

"Life is a daring adventure or it is nothing".

-- Helen Keller

Looking back on my life I have been very creative in finding a way to survive. I was always looking for a better way and a way to improve myself. I was clearly working hard for the money.

I got my first job as a grocery clerk/delivery boy when I was fourteen years old. I quit high school a year later . It seemed like the best option at the time.

I would go on to hold many, many jobs in my life as I tried to craft a life. Here are many of the jobs I've held in a somewhat chronological order:

Grocery Store Clerk
Paint Factory Worker
Truck Driver
Cab Driver
Shipping Clerk
Telemarketer
Oral History Interviewer
Postal Worker - Mail Handler
Substitute Teacher
Research Interviewer
Youth Organizer
Community Organizer
Aerobics Instructor
Health Club Salesman
Arson Prevention Organizer
Actor
Commercial Acting Instructor
Mortgage Loan Agent
Counselor - Runaways
Mental Health Counselor
Production Mager- Rap Video Co.
Director's Rep
Motivational l Sales Rep
Line Producer
Producer


I'm still moving forward, still exploring new possibilities and opportunities and I believe my best days are still ahead of me......

Saturday's Motivational Video - Overcoming Obstacles

Thought for the Day - Time is Precious

"Time is free, but it’s priceless. You can’t own it, but you can use it. You can’t keep it, but you can spend it. Once you’ve lost it, you can never get it back."

-Harvey Mackay

Thought for the Day - You Have to Be

"You have to be before you can do, and you have to do before you can have."

--Zig Ziglar

Thought For the Day - Don't Be Someone's Option

‎"Never allow someone to be your priority while allowing yourself to be their option”

--Alexia Melocchi