Wisdom

Here’s why the only disability in life is a bad attitude

07/05/2025 by

It has been said that the only disability in life is a bad attitude. For me, that rings true, at least to some degree.

Let’s explore the idea.

Have you faced numerous challenges in your life, dear reader?

Maybe you’re feeling a little bit sorry for yourself?

Life hasn’t been fair to you recently, possibly?

If life’s unfair, you might feel that you’re entitled to have a bad attitude. Everyone’s doing fine but you, so why shouldn’t you let the world know that you’re not happy, right? We all feel that way occasionally, don’t we? I do, that’s for sure.

However, if you’re trying to get people on your side with a negative attitude, then you should reconsider. No one will be joining you at the pity party. You won’t find anyone sympathetic to a bad attitude, I assure you.

If there’s one genuine disability in life, it’s a bad attitude.

It’s a fact that negativity never impresses anyone, ever. Other people have enough problems of their own.

It doesn’t win people over; it will simply alienate them. You’ll be pushing them away rather than gathering their support and winning hearts and minds.

Life isn’t fair. If it has never been, and it never will be. That’s a fact, unfortunately.

You’ll find that life doesn’t care about what you want. It doesn’t care about what anyone wants.

It doesn’t care about any sense of entitlement you may have.

Nor does life care that you feel that you should have a bigger piece of the pie.

In my experience, life is what you make it. Nothing happens by accident unless you’re very, very lucky. And no one is consistently that lucky.

Your attitude will define the life you enjoy or don’t enjoy.

It’s not about what happens to you. Stuff happens to everyone.

Yes, it’s true, some people bear a greater share of life’s challenges than others. However, ultimately, your life will be defined by how you respond to everything that happens to you.

the only disability in life is a bad attitude
Attitude is everything
Make Money

Positive beats negative:

No matter how tough life gets, a positive attitude will take you further than a negative one ever will.

A positive attitude is the most powerful response to life’s misfortunes.

It says you can knock me down as many times as you like, but you won’t keep me down. I will get up, and I will keep getting up until I reach my destination.

Now, that sort of attitude does impress people.

Life responds positively to those with a positive attitude. I can tell you that from personal experience.

You’ll find that a positive attitude will always win people over. Show them that you can rise above everything life throws at you, and you’ll have their respect.

In the embedded video below, Matthew Jeffers, a senior acting major at Towson University in Maryland, shares an inspiring message with the letter he wrote to the Baltimore Ravens, his favourite NFL team.

The letter was entitled “A Reason to Win,” and it’s all the more impressive when considered against Matthew’s struggles with Skeletal Dysplasia.

The ultimate lesson is that life won’t cut you any slack just because you’re feeling sorry for yourself.

Attitude is everything:

Yes, it’s true. Attitude is everything. If you believe you can, you will; if you believe you can’t, you won’t. It’s that simple.

Many people experience tough lives, and however hard your life is, there’ll be plenty of people out there whose lives are far tougher than yours. Many people experience disabilities of varying degrees of severity, but, as Matthew Jeffers observes, the only real disability in life is a bad attitude.

So if you’re feeling a bit dispirited right now, take a good, hard look at yourself and think about the positives you have in your life, rather than constantly focusing on the negatives.

This video will inspire you, so take a look at it now. It’s well worth a few minutes of your time.

The only disability in life is a bad attitude:

Please share this post with your friends:

So, do you agree that the only disability in life is a bad attitude?

Either way, was this article interesting and valuable, dear reader?

If so, then please share it on social media with your friends. When you share, everyone wins.

So please share it now. If you do, I’ll be forever grateful, and you’ll be helping a keen blogger reach a wider audience.

I appreciate your support. Thank you.

Make Money

Other articles you might also find interesting:

© Mann Island Media Limited 2025. All rights reserved.

the only disability in life is a bad attitude, the only disability in life is a bad attitude

Filed Under: Wisdom Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

1 question to ask: Why is my life so bad right now?

06/29/2025 by

Why is my life so bad right now? Have you ever asked yourself that question?

Perhaps you feel you deserve something better from life? Perhaps your life isn’t all you’d like it to be. Do you want more, possibly?

Does today’s question resonate with you, dear reader?

You look around and see people enjoying the sort of life you’d like, and you can’t help but wonder how it’s all working out for them but not for you.

Why is my life so bad right now?

Self-help
Make Money

Who’s at fault?

If you feel this way, then you’re not alone; that much is certain.

However, if you do feel this way, do you ever wonder who’s at fault for your life failing to meet your expectations?

Perhaps you feel the fault lies with your parents or the teachers you had at school?

Maybe you feel the fault lies with your boss or your employer.

They didn’t provide you with the proper training, or you didn’t get the breaks when there was an opportunity for promotion? Someone else got the promotion simply because they were well in with the boss, right? Perhaps you feel that you were a better candidate than them, and yet they got the job? Life can be so unfair, right?

Well, my friend, I have to tell you that if your life sucks, there’s only one person you can blame. Just look in any mirror, and you will see that person staring right back at you.

We’re responsible for our own lives, and our lives will always be what we choose to make of them.

Yes, you may have had a few bad breaks in life. Yes, perhaps your parents and/or teachers could have been better. So what? Life’s still what you choose to make it.

I’m not suggesting that anything is easy, and, of course, there will always be challenges. Nevertheless, there will always be opportunities for the enterprising and fleet-footed, too. And you can choose to take some of them or not.

You have to decide what it is you want. You have to work out how to get what you want. Then, it requires determination and a lot of hard work on your part to achieve your ultimate goal.

An endless stream of opportunities:

Life is truly an endless stream of opportunities that you can choose to take or not. Look for ways to add value to the lives of others, and you’ll soon see that there are opportunities there for the taking every single day.

By providing a service and adding value to others’ lives, there’s always money to be made.

Continue to educate yourself and acquire new skills, and you’ll be able to add more value to others.

Add more value, and you’ll get paid more.

Manage the money you make wisely, and you can build your wealth over time. It can be done, and people do. So, why not you?

However, there are no shortcuts. Nothing ever happens by chance.

On rare occasions, you might get lucky, and something will fall into your lap. However, mostly you’ll have to work very hard to get what you want. You have to go out and make things happen, I’m afraid. That’s life, unfortunately.

Life and relationships:

It’s the same with relationships, too.

Find someone whom you’d be happy to have as a friend, even without intimacy, and you’ll have the basis for a healthy relationship.

Friendship and trust are essential to a good relationship. As does commitment and a willingness to put in as much as you take out.

It all starts with really knowing what you want.

Know your ‘Why?’

If you know your ‘Why?’ then that will give you the motivation you need to keep going until you get to where you want to be.

If you want it badly enough, you’ll find a way to make it happen.

That said, you have to be positive. You have to be prepared to make a few mistakes. You must also be ready to learn from those mistakes.

Never fear mistakes:

On the road to success, a few mistakes are inevitable.

However, as learning opportunities, mistakes are truly invaluable. You’ll learn much more from any mistakes you make than you will from any successes you enjoy.

That said, never allow yourself to be driven too far off course. Keep your eye on the prize you want. And never accept an answer unless it’s the one that you want.

Don’t be discouraged:

Above all, never, ever let people discourage you from pursuing your dreams and ambitions.

It doesn’t matter what other people think; the only thing that matters is what you think. It doesn’t matter whether they believe you can do it, as long as you feel you can do it.

You can be whatever you want to be, as long as you want whatever it is you think you want.

Everything is possible for those who never give up until they reach their desired destination. Life is what you make it. I can tell you that from my own experience.

You must also remember this, though: life’s not a rehearsal.

You only get to go around just once. Well, as far as we know.

So, make your life the best it can be and make the most of being you. Remember this: you’re as good as anyone and better than most.

There’s a price to be paid:

You can have the life you want, but not without hard work and commitment. There’s a price to be paid, and that price will be paid in blood, sweat, and tears. You don’t get anything for nothing, and the price must always be paid first.

If you don’t want to pay the price, then the life you lead will always fall short of your expectations. Sorry if that bothers you, but it’s a fact.

Where to start?

Don’t ask yourself, why is my life so bad right now?

A better question is, what actions do I need to take to start improving my life?

Start by making a list, setting some goals, and then you must get going.

It’s never too late to improve your situation. It’s never too late to improve your life. And it’s never too late to be all that you could be.

Make Money

Please share this post with your friends:

If you were asking, why is my life so bad right now? Was this article helpful? If it was, please share it on social media with your friends.

When you share, everyone wins.

So please share this post now.

If you do, I’ll be ever so grateful, and you’ll be helping a keen blogger reach a wider audience.

I appreciate your support, dear reader. Thank you.

Articles you might find interesting:

© Mann Island Media Limited 2025. All rights reserved.

Why is my life so bad right now? Why is my life so bad right now?

Filed Under: Wisdom Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

11 top tips for improving quality of life now

06/08/2025 by

Searching for some tips for improving your quality of life, dear reader?

Life’s never been easy, but it seems to get tougher with each passing year, doesn’t it?

We’re all constantly juggling the conflicting demands of work and family, trying to squeeze in a little ‘me time’ whenever possible.

It’s that elusive thing known as work-life balance. Most of us aspire to it, but few manage to achieve it.

How would you describe the quality of your life right now?

This is a question we all ask ourselves from time to time.

A reader recently asked me if I could offer some tips for improving the quality of life. It’s a subject close to my heart, so I am only too happy to oblige.

So here are 11 memorable tips which I hope will help you improve the quality of your life:

Make Money

Top tips for improving quality of life:

1. Keep it simple

There really is a lot to be said for simplicity. Complexity can be stressful. So keep everything in life as simple as possible. Ditch the clutter, buy only what you really need and can actually use, and learn to appreciate what you have rather than fretting about things you think you’d like to have but don’t right now.

Nothing matters much, and actually, very few things really matter at all.

If you’re lucky enough to have family and a handful of genuine friends, plus food on your table and a roof over your head, then what more do you need?

Keeping life simple will reduce your stress levels, and that’s important.

2. Treat people with respect

I believe that only people matter.

Yes, having a nice house and a decent car is excellent, but as human beings, we’re social animals.

People are not solitary animals like cats. We live in groups, and we need other people in our lives. And the key to having friends is being a friend and treating other people with respect.

Treat everyone as you’d prefer them to treat you.

Not everyone will appreciate that approach, of course, but the ones that matter most will, and surely that’s what counts.

Treat people with respect, and generally, other people will treat you with respect. And if we could all treat each other with respect, then the world would be a better place, I’m sure.

3. Actions speak louder than words

We’re judged by what we do, not by what we say.

Anyone can talk a good game, but not everyone can deliver real results and do so effectively.

If you want to impress people, then it is only your actions that will count. If you excel at what you do, then you will be well on your way to achieving success.

4. Ask questions

Intelligent people ask questions.

Never be afraid to ask a question or to request clarification about something.

If something doesn’t sound quite right, then don’t be afraid to challenge it.

Ask questions and you’ll learn; fail to ask questions, and a life of ignorance lies ahead of you. And only a fool would proceed in ignorance.

5. Look forward; never back

The past has gone, and it is important only insofar as the lessons it has taught us and the memories it has given us.

The future’s where we’ll spend the rest of our lives. Therefore, we should always be living in the present and looking to the future. And above all our focus should be on forging the future we really want.

Live your life by looking through the windshield, not the rearview mirror.

Remember, the future has yet to be written, but you’ve got the pen.

6. Create your own future:

We can’t change the past, but we can influence our future.

We can have a vision of what we want to achieve and how we’d like our lives to be. We don’t have to accept what is given to us. We can go out and get the things we really want.

It takes hard work, of course, as well as determination and discipline, but it can be done, and lots of people do. So why not you?

Create the future you really want, and don’t just settle for anything that comes along.

7. Don’t be afraid to change direction if necessary

There will be times in your life when you head off in a particular direction only to find that it doesn’t turn out to be quite what you imagined it would be.

There’s nothing wrong with that, as no one gets it right every time.

From time to time, you’ll make mistakes, or perhaps you’ll misjudge a situation. However, once you realize something is not quite right for you, then don’t be afraid to change direction, if necessary.

Just take it on the chin, change direction, and move on.

Don’t worry about what others might think. They’ll think whatever it is they think, but who cares? It’s your life, not theirs.

It’s only what you think that really matters.

If you’re not happy with a situation, then it’s better to take action than to live a life that’s a miserable existence because you’re worried about what other people might think.

8. Face your fear and just do it

From time to time, we all face challenges in our lives.

They can often seem daunting and more than a little scary.

However, if our lives were easy, we’d never grow as people.

By facing up to a challenge, we learn and grow. That’s how we build our character. That’s how we toughen up.

Yes, we’ll make mistakes, but it’s always better to have a go and fail than not have a go at all.

Face a challenge and achieve a result, and you’ve done something of which you can be truly very proud.

Face a challenge and get an outcome you didn’t want, and at least you’ve learned a valuable lesson. That’s how you build experience. And if nothing else, you can be proud that at least you had a go.

Fear is the body’s natural way of warning us to proceed with caution. It’s natural to feel fear, but courage is our ability to act despite feeling that fear.

Have courage and face every challenge as it comes. However hard it might appear at first, you’ll be glad you did.

9. Look after your own well being

You can’t enjoy life to the full if you have health problems, can you?

So take care of yourself and look after your health. Eat sensibly, drink in moderation, get plenty of exercise and avoid things like tobacco and other recreational stimulants.

You might think it doesn’t matter, but it does.

One puff on a cigarette won’t kill you, but the effect of regular smoking will have a cumulative, detrimental effect on your health.

You might think ‘you can handle drugs,’ but that’s the wisdom of a fool.

Regular use of recreational drugs will affect you over time. And it is only a matter of time, trust me.

If you don’t look after yourself, then no one else will.

10. Learn to manage your time effectively

Time is our most precious resource.

And we all have exactly the same amount of time, 168 hours each week. It’s how we choose to use that time that matters most.

Just because someone wants a piece of your time, it doesn’t follow that you should just give it to them. Allocate your time very, very carefully.

If something doesn’t need to be done, don’t do it. If someone else can do it, let them do it. If it can wait, let it wait. And if it absolutely must be done now, then get on with it.

It is all about your priorities and those actions where you and only you can add the most value. Identify those things that will allow you to be most effective, and they will form the basis of your priorities.

11. Have fun; life’s too short

We all need to ensure that we take time out for ourselves occasionally.

We all need a little ‘me’ time; time to recharge our batteries and relax.

Work is important, of course, as it gives you a sense of purpose in your life. However, it’s essential that you relax and have a little fun too.

Life’s far too short to be constantly working.

So, having a hobby or pleasurable pursuit is a very good idea, as is spending some quality time with the people who matter most to you. Have some fun and make sure that you have it regularly. Your health depends on it.

Make Money

Please share this post with your friends:

If you found this article useful, then please share it on social media with your friends. When you share, everyone wins.

Please share it now, and I’ll be ever so grateful. You’ll be helping a keen blogger reach a wider audience.

Thank you for your support.

Articles you might also find interesting:

© Mann Island Media Limited 2025. All rights reserved.

Filed Under: Wisdom Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

10 powerful tips to be successful in life

06/01/2025 by
10 TIPS TO BE SUCCESSFUL IN LIFE

Looking for some useful tips to be successful in life, dear reader? What habits should you develop? Today, I present to you my top 10 list.

What’s the key to success?

Well, I can tell you right now that there’s no one, single thing that on its own will ensure that you enjoy some personal success. There’s no silver bullet, I’m afraid.

However, there are things you can do and habits you can develop that will help you to become the successful person you really could be.

Dear reader, you can be successful, and it’s never too late. Other people succeed, so why not you?

Know what you want and know why:

Essentially, success comes from knowing what you want and knowing why.

If you establish some goals and take a disciplined approach towards achieving those goals, then you’re on your way.

However, you’ll also need to adopt some good habits that will help you achieve those goals and help you to keep going until you get to where you want to be.

Adopting good habits will also mark you out as a role model for others, which means you’ll be a leader.

TIPS TO BE SUCCESSFUL IN LIFE
Make Money

Tips to be successful in life:

Here is my list of the top 10 tips to be successful in life.

These are good habits you really ought to consider developing from now on:-

1. Believe in yourself:

You must believe in yourself, dear reader. That’s a given if success is your aim. If you don’t believe in yourself then why would anyone else believe in you?

If you lack self-belief, then you must start reinforcing a belief in yourself straightaway with a daily mantra.

Every morning and every evening, go to your bathroom mirror and repeat the following to yourself 10 times each time:-

“I’m as good as anyone, and I’m better than most. I will be a success.”

You must remind yourself of this constantly.

Self-belief is an essential ingredient if you’re going to succeed. Reminding yourself that you’re as good as anyone will help reinforce self-belief in both your conscious and subconscious minds.

Believing in yourself and your ability to succeed is more important than anything else. It is if success is your aim, I can tell you that from experience.

2. Don’t compare yourself to anyone else:

You are who you are, and you can only be the person you are. Anything else would be a fake.

You have your own special qualities and no one else on earth is quite like you. You have your own strengths and of course, you have a few weaknesses too. Everyone does.

Other people have their own unique qualities too, of course. However, that doesn’t mean they’re better than you.

They’re just different. You can’t be them, so don’t try. And they can’t be you either. So concentrate on being yourself. Everyone else is taken.

If you want to be a star, then you must shine for being you and for the special magic that only you can bring to this world. You’re unique, so take pride in that and put your best foot forward.

Never compare yourself to anyone else, and never fret if you feel that you can’t match someone else in some particular way. Remember, there will be ways in which they cannot match you either. 

3. Always keep the main thing the main thing:

Whether you like it or not, you’ll be judged by what you deliver and the value you add.

If your job is to paint my house, then I will judge you on how well you’ve painted my house.

I don’t care how much help you might have given to my neighbour. If you’ve painted my house badly or the job hasn’t been done properly, then you’ve failed as far as I’m concerned. Do the job badly and I will not be happy.

Often in the workplace, our inability to say “No” leads us to be completely distracted by a request to help someone else.

And that distraction can result in us failing to do something that would have moved us closer to the successful conclusion of one of the goals we’ve set for ourselves.

Losing sight of our own high-value tasks can make us less productive and less valuable in the eyes of our employers. Workplace distractions can lead to us helping other people achieve their objectives at the expense of our own if we’re not careful.

Being a team player is important, of course, and there will be occasions when assisting a colleague is the right thing to do for the greater good of the team. However, it should never, ever be at the expense of you delivering what you will be expected to deliver, regardless.

You’re judged by what you deliver, so never lose focus on what you’re expected to do.

Never be afraid to be assertive. You don’t have to be chippy, unpleasant or impolite. You just have to say something like, “Look I’m really sorry, I would love to help you but I have this to complete by 5 pm” or whatever.

Remember, appearing to be reasonable is much better for you than trying to be too reasonable.

Always, always keep the main thing the main thing.

Being too helpful may help others, but it probably won’t help you.

It will, however, increase your stress levels if you’re not careful.

Focus on your own goals ruthlessly. 

4. Accept that you will make mistakes occasionally:

No professional likes to make mistakes.

Nevertheless, they are inevitable occasionally. That’s a fact of life.

No one is so perfect that they can avoid mistakes completely. And no one ever achieved anything without making a few mistakes along the way.

So it’s fine to make mistakes occasionally, provided you don’t make too many and provided you don’t make the same mistakes repeatedly.

When you’ve made a mistake, it’s important to be honest, accept it, and above all, learn from it.

Making mistakes is all part of us gaining that valuable commodity known as experience.

So just do your best and accept that, like everyone else, you’re not perfect, nor will you ever be.

However, remember this: just because you’re not perfect, it doesn’t mean you cannot be exceptional at what you do. As professionals, we always strive to get better at what we do.

Mastery of your craft is a worthy aim and one that requires constant study and practice, and occasionally making mistakes. 

5. Don’t be afraid to take a few risks:

Risk and reward go hand in hand. You can’t have one without the other.

You’ll never achieve anything exceptional if you always play it safe. Well, not unless you’re very, very lucky anyway.

Sometimes you just have to follow your instincts and go for it.

That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t weigh up the pros and cons before you take action. It’s fine to consider the potential consequences before you take a risk. Equally, it’s fine to consider the odds of achieving a positive outcome and whether the potential reward merits the degree of risk involved.

Consider risk carefully, but don’t dwell on it too long. Analysis shouldn’t replace action. You cannot get to second base unless you take your foot off first base and go for it.

And anytime you take a risk, don’t panic if initially, things don’t go quite as you’d imagined.

If you’ve used your judgement with care, then there’s every possibility that you’ll get the outcome you want.

So hold your nerve and just believe in yourself.

You may not get it right every time, but you’ll get it right more than you get it wrong. And even when you’re wrong, you’ll learn a lesson.

Get it right and you’ll be that much closer to achieving a goal.

So be willing to take a calculated risk when necessary. 

6. Learn from experience:

As suggested earlier, experience is a valuable commodity.

It’s the by-product of making mistakes and taking risks. It’s the invaluable benefit we derive when things don’t quite work out as we’d intended.

The most important thing about experience is that we learn from it.

And of course, we can learn from seeing others make mistakes, too, as well as from anything we’ve done ourselves.

The lessons we get from real experience are far more valuable to us than anything anyone can tell us, or anything we can read in a book for that matter.

It’s the education we get at the University of Life and the School of Hard Knocks.

However, remember this: you don’t owe anyone an explanation for your mistakes.

When you make a mistake, it makes sense to be honest with yourself and others, of course. Beyond that, you should not feel the need to explain yourself in detail.

Mistakes happen, and no one starts with the intention of getting something wrong. If you get an outcome you didn’t want, then just take it on the chin, learn the lesson, and move on.

Everyone makes mistakes occasionally, and you’re no different. To err is human. That’s life. 

7. Never take anything personally:

The French philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre once observed that “Hell is other people.”

I’m sure there are times when we all feel that he may have had a point.

We’re all struggling to get through life as best we can, and life’s never easy for anyone. Everyone wants what they believe to be their fair share of life’s ‘pie’. Some people want your share too.

Sometimes that can leave us feeling like everyone is giving us grief and deliberately making life more difficult than it needs to be.

However, mostly in our dealings with people, there’s nothing personal.

Life is just ‘dog-eat-dog’. People may be a little insensitive at times, as they pursue their own agenda, but generally, they’re not out to hurt us specifically.

So if it’s not personal, then never take it personally.

And on those rare occasions when it does prove to be personal, don’t give them the satisfaction of a reaction or showing that they’ve got to you.

Look them in the eye and show them that it doesn’t bother you. Your message has to be:

“I’m made of steel. You’ll have to try harder than that if you’re going to penetrate my shield.” 

8. If you’re digging a hole for yourself, stop digging:

When you realise you’re digging a hole for yourself, you have two choices:-

  1. You can keep digging, and the hole in which you find yourself will simply get bigger and more problematic; or
  2. You can recognize the situation for what it is and stop digging immediately.

It is always best to stop digging immediately, in my experience.

When you stop digging, you might have a few fences to mend, of course.

Certainly, you’ll have to accept responsibility.

And you’ll probably have to apologize to some people, depending on the circumstances.

Regardless of what it all means, it’s always better to recognize a bad situation for what it is and take it on the chin, rather than making everything even worse.

On the positive side, having the ability to recognize when you’re digging a hole for yourself and having the maturity to deal with the consequences is a sign of self-confidence. That’s something for which you’ll gain other people’s respect.

In my experience, people will respect you if you’re prepared to say, “Hey, you know what, I’ve made a bit of a mess of this one, so I’ll stop right here and let’s try again. Sorry but like everyone else, I’m not perfect and I make mistakes occasionally.”

Just because you didn’t quite get it right doesn’t mean you cannot show confidence in how you respond.

Respond in the right way, and your confidence will be well placed. 

9. Let go of any anger:

We all get angry occasionally, but anger never gets you anywhere worth going.

React in anger, and almost certainly you’ll regret it.

That’s not to suggest that you should not react at all. However, before you react, let the anger subside. Just let it go.

Leave it for 24 hours if necessary, until you’re better able to reflect with a calm head. There’s a lot to be said for ‘sleeping on it’ in my experience.

That way, you’re better placed to use your judgement carefully and make rational decisions.

In making decisions, revenge should not form any part of how you plan to react.

Revenge won’t get you to any place worth going, either, and you’ll almost certainly regret that too.

10. Learn to switch off:

We all need a little ‘me time’ regularly, otherwise, we’ll burn out.

We all need time to relax and recharge our batteries.

That means switching off completely.

By doing that, one of the great benefits is that we gain a fresh perspective on whatever’s happening in our lives.

Surprisingly, perhaps we’ll also get plenty of new ideas in the process.

In fact, you’ll find you get some of your best ideas when you’re not trying to come up with new ideas. That’s ironic, I know, but it’s true, in my experience. 

Bonus tip:

Don’t take yourself too seriously. No one else does.

If you can’t laugh at yourself occasionally, you might just be missing out on the funniest thing happening at that moment. Why miss out on a good laugh?

When you’re working, take your job seriously, but never yourself.

Make Money

Concluding remarks:

So there you have it. If you want to be successful, start by developing good habits.

This list of tips would be a good start, but you will find that there are plenty of others too.

Above all else, make sure you’re adding value to everything you do. Our purpose in life should be to add value to the lives of others.

If you’re adding genuine value, then you can’t go too far wrong.

So, dear reader, where do you add the most value, and what are your goals?

You should know the answers to these questions, and you should write them down.

If you don’t know, it’s time to find some answers.

Nothing ever happens by accident. You have to make it happen.

You can be successful, everyone can, but it requires you to know where you’re going; to know why you’re going there, and to be prepared to work very hard until you get there.

You can do it, dear reader. So, good luck!

Please share this post with your friends:

If you found this article useful, then please share it on social media with your friends.

When you share, everyone wins.

Please share it now, and I’ll be ever so grateful. You’ll be helping a keen blogger reach a wider audience.

Thank you for your support.

Articles you might also find interesting:

© Mann Island Media Limited 2025. All rights reserved.

Filed Under: Wisdom Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,

1 tip for parents: Why you should let your child fail and make mistakes

05/25/2025 by

Why you should let your child fail and make mistakes is an interesting statement, don’t you think? It sounds counterintuitive, but it does make sense if you think about it.

Frequently, children are taught that failing is inherently a bad thing and something about which they should almost feel a sense of shame.

The adults around them presumably believe that this will in some way motivate them to work so hard that they don’t fail.

However, failure is inevitable for everyone, at least occasionally. And failure is an essential part of the learning process.

Why you should let your child fail and make mistakes:

Why you should let your child fail and make mistakes
Make Money

The importance of mistakes:

However well-intentioned adults might be in their approach, the logic of stigmatizing mistakes is at best misguided.

The problem is that it encourages children to adopt a strategy of not trying, so they don’t fail. If they don’t try, they can’t fail, right?

Teach them this approach, and kids will have an easy way to neutralize any problem in the future. That is, just don’t bother in the first place. How can that be a good thing?

If they don’t try, how can they ever master any skill, or indeed anything?

Mistakes are an important source of experience. From our mistakes, we learn lessons that we will never forget.

We also learn about what we’re good at and what we enjoy doing. And that’s important because those factors will point us in the direction of where we might find a successful niche for ourselves in life. Our raison d’etre.

Character is important too:

Being challenged is essential for children and young people. It gives them an opportunity to prove themselves and, in doing so, build character, confidence, and growth in self-esteem.

However, if they don’t try and they don’t rise to the challenges they’re given, how will they ever grow in character?

No one ever started as a master of anything. It doesn’t matter what line of work you consider or what subject you study; every expert started out as a complete beginner.

And it doesn’t matter how talented you are; you’ll still make mistakes and experience failures along the road to mastering your craft.

A lesson learned is experience gained:

The lessons young people will learn from failure are far more valuable to them than anything anyone can tell them.

They can read textbooks as many times as they like, but there’s no substitute for real, hands-on experience.

When you get your fingers burned, you never forget how it happened and why. In other words, a lesson is learned.

There’s no success without failure:

Success is never achieved without some failures along the way.

Every successful man or woman will tell you that. It is inevitable, and it’s all part of life and learning. It’s how we gain that valuable commodity known as experience.

There’s no such thing as failure.

There are only outcomes we didn’t want.

And every time we try, we refine our skills and know-how until eventually, we get it right.

What we refer to as failure is nothing more than a form of feedback.

And of course, trying something and failing does not make you a failure. Failure is an outcome; it’s never a person.

Remember this:

It’s better to try and fail than to spend your life wondering what might have been.

Put simply, you cannot fail:

Either you’ll succeed or you’ll learn a lesson, but either way, you’ll win.

You only become a ‘failure’ when you give up and stop trying.

Encourage children to do their best:

If you have children, encourage them to do their best and accept that they will fail occasionally.

Tell them that it doesn’t matter, provided they make sure they learn any lessons that follow from any given undesirable outcome.

Make sure they understand that failing is a positive thing because they’ll learn valuable lessons, and they’ll get better and grow the more they try. Children should never fear failure.

Just encourage them not to give up and make sure they never stop believing in themselves.

All young people need encouragement more than they need criticism.

They are as good as anyone:

The most important message to your child is that they’re as good as anyone, and if they try and keep trying, they will succeed.

And if, after trying hard, it doesn’t work out for them, for whatever reason, then at least they’ll know that they gave it their best shot, and they won’t spend their lives wondering what might have been.

Teach your children that failure is an inevitable part of life and learning, and it should never be feared.

If you want your children to succeed in life, then encourage them to fail.

Encourage them to have a go and to keep trying until they get to where they want to be.

And remember this, too:

Kids should not fear failure, but neither should their parents.

Wherever you are on life’s journey, never be afraid to have a go.

Never forget, you’re as good as anyone, and people who try hard are better than most.

“You’re as good as anyone” is a mantra you should encourage your kids to repeat to themselves daily, and you should repeat it too.

Please share this post with your friends:

Did you find this article interesting and useful, dear reader?

If so, then please share it on social media with your friends. When you share, everyone wins.

So please share it now. If you do, I’ll be ever so grateful, and you’ll be helping a keen blogger reach a wider audience.

Thank you.

About the author:

Articles you might also find interesting:

© Mann Island Media Limited 2025. All rights reserved.

Why you should let your child fail and make mistakes. Why you should let your child fail and make mistakes. Why you should let your child fail and make mistakes. Why you should let your child fail and make mistakes. Why you should let your child fail and make mistakes.

Filed Under: Wisdom Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

How will your life be measured? Here’s what matters most

05/11/2025 by

How will your life be measured? A philosophical question, perhaps, but an interesting one nevertheless.

Some time ago, I attended the funeral of someone whom I’d known quite well professionally but not at all socially. Someone I liked and respected, but I wouldn’t claim to have known them well overall. Nevertheless, funerals are a time to reflect on someone’s life. A time to consider the impact they’ve had on other people throughout their lives.

The funeral service was held at a large, traditional church in London, and it was crowded.

Listening to the eulogy and associated readings, I began to appreciate how much my late colleague had meant to so many people. It’s fair to say that she meant a lot to many people. The lives of so many people had clearly been blessed by her presence in them.

This experience made me think.

How-will-your-life-be-measured
Make Money

So in life, what matters most?

As human beings, we’re all driven to achieve and leave our mark on life before we pass on.

However, we do tend to measure our impact on life in terms of careers and money. With those things, it’s fairly easy to keep score, wouldn’t you agree, dear reader?

Careers provide tangible evidence of achievement, or so it seems.

So, climbing the greasy pole and increasing our wealth tend to be the measures we use when we consider the idea of success. Nevertheless, as I sat there listening that day, I had to ask myself, are these things the most appropriate measure of the lives we lead?

Anything we do that only has a long-term payoff, we tend not to measure because there’s no immediate evidence of achievement. We can’t see the immediate impact of the small things we do, so we don’t believe they matter much.

However, I realized that day that they do matter. They matter a great deal.

It’s all in the little things we do:

A random act of kindness might not mean much to us, but to the recipient of our action, it could mean the world. It could have had a profound effect on that individual. And it might prove to be a life-changing experience for that person.

So, how will any of us be remembered?

When our lives have passed, how will they talk about us at our funerals?

People won’t talk about the size of our house or our car, but they will talk about how we made them feel. They won’t talk about the importance of our jobs, but they will mention how we helped them at a difficult time in their lives.

Perhaps they’ll talk about how we mentored them and how they’re a better person because of the impact we had on their lives. Maybe they’ll say they enjoyed our company, and they’ll talk about how they looked forward to seeing us whenever we were around. Perhaps they’ll just mention how we made them smile.

When you think about it, why would we want to be remembered in any other way?

Material possessions are meaningless:

Let’s face it, material possessions are meaningless. Equally successful careers are as much a reflection of good fortune as they are of anything we did to justify them.

That’s not the case when it comes to the impact we have on the lives of others.

The help we give and the kindness we show are all down to us and our actions day-to-day.

So, how many people we’ve helped seems to me like a much better measure of success than the size of the car we drive or the size of the house in which we live.

Real success in life comes down to the difference we make. How we’ve touched the lives of other people.

Certainly, that’s how I think we’ll be remembered by those who knew us, however much we’re focused on careers, money, and material possessions.

How great would it be to be remembered fondly and with respect by all who crossed our paths during our lives?

How will your life be measured?

I remembered my thoughts that day at the funeral when I stumbled upon this video of a presentation given by Clay Christensen at TEDxBoston.

It offers a great perspective on how your life will be measured.

I recommend you watch this video, as it’s well worth a little bit of your time.

And after you’ve watched it, I would suggest you reflect on this question:

Should the measure of our lives be just about money and achievement, or should it be more about the lives we’ve touched and the people whose lives are better for us having been in them?

How do you want to be remembered, dear reader?

For me, life’s measure should be in terms of how I’ve touched the lives of other people and not money, career, and the size of my house.

Please share this post with your friends:

Did you find this article and the video interesting and useful, dear reader?

If so, then please share it on social media with your friends. When you share, everyone wins.

So please share it now. If you do, I’ll be ever so grateful, and you’ll be helping a keen blogger reach a wider audience.

Thank you.

Make Money

Articles you might also find interesting:

© Mann Island Media Limited 2025. All rights reserved.

Filed Under: Wisdom Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

The Unparalleled Importance of Friends in Our Lives

04/27/2025 by

Friends are the family you choose. ~Jess C. Scott

Were you a fan of that wonderful American television sitcom Friends? Wouldn’t it have been great to share their company and all the fun they had in Central Perk?

For me, that show highlighted the important role that our friends play in our lives.

It is a fact that we don’t get to choose our family, but the good news is that we do get to choose our friends.

Friendship is a relationship of equals. A good friendship has a power dynamic that’s always in equilibrium.

Friends are the people whose company we enjoy, people with whom we feel a real sense of connection and with whom we share common interests.

They are also people we’d be willing to go out of our way to help if we thought they were in trouble.

Family and loyalty go together, of course. You can’t have one without the other. And a relative can be a friend too, of course. As Ross and Monica were in Friends, for instance.

However, just because you’re related to someone doesn’t mean you’ll like them or that they’ll like you. Being related is no guarantee you’ll enjoy their company.

So, if you have a few close friends, you’re lucky indeed.

Friendship adds a sparkle to a life that could otherwise be quite dull.

Poem about friendship:

If today’s theme has caught your imagination, you might like to read this poem I wrote, Friendship.

Friendship Poem

Some quotes that might appeal:

Here are 10 thought-provoking quotes about friendship:

If you have one true friend, you have more than your share. ~Thomas Fuller 

A friend is a gift you give yourself. ~Robert Louis Stevenson 

True friends are always together in spirit. ~L.M. Montgomery 

A friend may be waiting behind a stranger’s face. ~Maya Angelou 

The greatest gift in life is friendship, and I have it. ~Hubert Humphrey 

A single rose can be my garden, a single friend, my world. ~Author Unknown

A true friend is the greatest of all blessings. ~François de La Rochefoucauld 

A friend is someone who knows all about you and still likes you. ~Elbert Hubbard 

A true friend is someone who is there for you when they would rather be anywhere else. ~Len Wein 

There are no strangers here; only friends you haven’t yet met. ~William Butler Yeats 

Please share this post on social media:

If you found this article interesting, please share it on social media. When you share, everyone wins.

So go on, please share this blog post now. If you can do that for me, I will be forever grateful, and you’ll be helping a keen blogger reach a wider audience.

Thank you for your support.

Articles you might also find interesting:

© Mann Island Media Limited 2025. All rights reserved.

Filed Under: Wisdom Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , ,

The importance of making mistakes to achieving success

04/20/2025 by

Today, I want to explore the importance of making mistakes, particularly concerning achieving success

As children, we’re often taught that making mistakes is a bad thing.

For instance, many parents will actively discourage their children from doing anything that might lead to them making what, from the parents’ standpoint, appears to be a serious mistake.

Would this be an experience with which you’re familiar, dear reader? Well, I am, let me tell you.

Making mistakes:

The importance of making mistakes to achieving success

The human experience:

However, I’ve learned that making mistakes is an essential element of the human experience as we progress down life’s highway.

There’s no road map for this journey; you learn as you go along and use what you’ve learned to improve your life as best you can.

As you journey down life’s highway, of course, you face an endless stream of choices at various times in your life.

A decision must be made each time you come to a fork in the road.

Daunting as this may be at times, you must always remember that every decision you make will be a valid one. It may not prove to be the right one, but that doesn’t make it any less valid based on what you knew at the time.

Allow me to explain.

Almost every decision you have to make will have been based on imperfect information. That’s the nature of life in the modern world.

So, all you can do is to use your judgement, weigh up the pros and cons, and act in good faith.

Inevitably, outcomes won’t always be favourable to you, but that doesn’t mean you’ve made a bad choice. It just means life has a lesson you must learn.

That’s the thing about mistakes: they’re just lessons that, over time, provide you with that valuable commodity known as experience.

And never, ever underestimate the importance of experience when it comes to achieving success.

Lessons learned won’t be forgotten:

What you learn from your mistakes is far more important to you than anything anyone can tell you in a classroom. You’ll never forget those things you’ve had to learn the hard way.

Life is not called the ‘School of Hard Knocks’ for nothing.

If you believe in yourself and your ability to use your judgement, and you accept that you’ll make mistakes occasionally, then you can cope with just about everything life throws at you.

Just make decisions to the best of your ability and knowledge, and then, if they don’t work out, just look for the lesson and learn it well.

Never let anyone tell you that making mistakes is a bad thing because it’s not.

Despite anything people will tell you to the contrary, there’s nothing wrong with making mistakes because that’s how you gain experience and that’s how you’ll grow in character.

Once is fine; twice is not:

That said, while making a mistake is perfectly reasonable, making the same mistake frequently is not.

Make a mistake once, and that’s fine; make it twice, and you’re starting to look a little bit careless. Make the same mistake three times, and people will start to have serious doubts about you.

An essential element of success:

No one ever mastered anything without making mistakes.

Whatever you choose to do in life, you start as a complete beginner like everyone else.

If you aim to be a success in your chosen profession, then you must get out there, have a go, make mistakes, learn from them, and keep refining your craft until you’re the best, or at least as good as the very best.

It can be done, and people do. You can too.

However, you must accept that you’ll make mistakes, and as long as you don’t make the same mistakes too often, you’ll be fine.

REMEMBER: There’s no such thing as failure, only outcomes you didn’t want and lessons to be learned. Learn the lessons, and you’ll be better prepared when you have another go.

Please share this post on social media

So, dear reader, was this post worth a few minutes of your time?

If the idea of the importance of making mistakes resonated with you in some way, please share this post with your friends on social media.

When you share, everyone wins.

So go on, please share this post now, and I’ll be forever grateful. You’ll be helping a keen blogger reach a wider audience.

Thank you.

Make Money

Articles you might also find interesting:

© Mann Island Media Limited 2025. All rights reserved.

Filed Under: Wisdom Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

3 Essential life lessons learned you should know

04/14/2025 by

Many regular readers will be familiar with the essential life lessons learned that I’ve included here today. However, that won’t be true for everyone, I’m sure. It all comes down to experience, wouldn’t you agree?

Well, dear reader, please don’t feel that you must make every mistake yourself to learn. It’s acceptable to learn from others, too.

These essential life lessons learned can shape our perspectives and guide our decisions.

Learning directly from the mistakes of others is a perfectly valid strategy. You can also listen to and learn from lessons others have learned the hard way.

There’s no finer education than the University of Life, School of Hard Knocks.

So, allow me to offer you three essential life lessons learned that you’d do well to bear in mind.

Life's Lessons Learned
Make Money

3 Essential life lessons learned:

1. Money can’t make you happy:

If you’re not happy without money, then having money won’t change how you feel about yourself.

We experience happiness not through the things we purchase but through our philosophy as well as our relationships with other people. Human beings are social animals, and we all need other people.

If you want to be happy, you must never lose sight of the most important people in your life, i.e. family and friends.

Spend time with them and enjoy their company, especially your children. Make the most of every minute you have with your loved ones.

Yes, of course, go out there and make some money. I’m not suggesting money doesn’t matter because it does. It’s up there with oxygen for sustaining a life worth living.

So you must manage your money carefully and invest some of it too.

Enjoy some of your money, of course, and buy nice things occasionally too. Life’s too short not to enjoy at least some of your hard-earned cash from time to time.

However, never focus on money and work to the exclusion of your family and friends. Without them, you have nothing. Money is important, but the people in your life are far more important.

You could have all the money in the world, but without your friends and loved ones, you’d have nothing at all.

2. Life is too short to do a job you hate:

You should never do anything for money alone.

Yes, you need an income, and yes, it’s nice to have plenty of money in your pocket. Let’s face it; we’d all like to have plenty of money, wouldn’t we? That’s human nature.

However, no amount of money will compensate you for the drudgery of doing a job you hate.

If you don’t enjoy what you’re doing, you won’t do it well. And if you don’t do it well, eventually you’ll come unstuck. It will all end in tears. Now, is that really what you want, dear reader?

Remember this also: one day, you will die. You’re not going to live forever, nor would you want to.

What a shame it would be if on your deathbed you felt you’d completely wasted your life. Now, how bad would that be?

So find a job you enjoy.

That is important. You’ll spend one-third of your life at work, and that’s a long time to be doing something you hate.

Yes, there will be aspects of every job that you might find tedious or frustrating. However, it’s important to find something that you mostly enjoy.

And if you haven’t found that job you love yet? Then just keep looking until you find something you’d do for free if you couldn’t earn a living at it.

When it comes to a job, money shouldn’t be your primary focus. Find the right job; do it well; add real value, and the money will follow, all in good time.

3. Greed can lead to expensive mistakes:

There’s a classic telephone scam, which never fails to catch some people out.

The way it works is a salesman or woman working in a ‘boiler room’ somewhere offshore calls you with an offer for you to purchase an asset at a price which they’ll tell you will guarantee you an enormous profit.

It might be stocks and shares, or it might be plots of land in some faraway place, but the underlying message is always the same.

Essentially, they’ll tell you that next to no one knows about the availability of this asset just yet, but when they do, the price of the asset will go through the roof and just keep on heading in an upward direction.

They’ll tell you that whatever they have to offer is a steal and that you have the opportunity to get in on the ground floor and make an absolute killing, but you have to buy today or you’ll miss out.

The salespeople always sound friendly and very plausible, and they’ll make it all sound very professional. They’ll even take a little time to make you feel that, really, they’re trustworthy.

This scam plays on our greed and our gullibility.

We believe what we’re being told because we want to believe it. We just love the idea that we might get something for nothing, too.

However, if you part with your money when presented with such an offer, that‘s the last you’ll see of it.

The asset will be worthless or even non-existent. You’ll have been scammed.

Furthermore, if you’re foolish enough to buy, you’ll also be put on a ‘sucker list’ which means you’ll get inundated with similar calls from other high-pressure salespeople offering similar ‘deals‘.

In reality, any deal that sounds too good to be true will always prove to be too good to be true.

There’s no easy money to be had anywhere. Take that from someone who’s spent a lot of time looking.

And anyway, think about it: if it was that good a deal, why would they be telling you?

If there was a killing to be made, they’d simply invest their own money and bag the ‘profit’ for themselves, surely?

Never allow yourself to fall for it.

And never, ever allow yourself to be bounced into buying anything just because they tell you that this deal is only available today.

In sales language, that’s known as a ‘call to action‘. It’s the oldest sales trick in the sales handbook.

The idea is to bounce you into making a purchasing decision before you have time to think it all through properly.

Don’t be a mug, and don’t be foolish enough to line other people’s pockets at your own expense. As the old saying goes:

Invest in haste, repent at leisure.

Please share this post with your friends:

If you found this blog post interesting and useful, then please share it on social media with your friends.

When you share, everyone wins.

So go on, please share it now, and I’ll be ever so grateful. You’ll be helping a keen blogger reach a wider audience.

Thank you for your support.

Other articles you might also find interesting:

© Mann Island Media Limited 2025. All rights reserved.

essential life lessons learned, essential life lessons learned, essential life lessons learned

Filed Under: Wisdom Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Absolutely guaranteed secret to success

04/13/2025 by

Looking for the secret to success, dear reader? You’re not alone. So many people seek the secret, but very few find it.

Well, here’s Barbara Sher with some common-sense observations about life and success.

This is just part of a presentation she gave at the “Big, Cheap Weekend Workshop” in New York in July 2010. So it’s a decade ago now, but her observations are timeless, and they’re just as valid today as they were back then.

This video essentially is a ‘taster,’ but if you’re not familiar with Barbara’s work, then it might inspire you to check out her other videos on YouTube and indeed her public appearances, should she appear at a venue near you.

Secret to Success
Make Money

The secret to success:

The Power of Personal Responsibility

Now here are my thoughts on success.

I believe that personal responsibility is the key to success.

If you’re drifting and waiting in the hope that something will happen? Let me tell you, it won’t.

Well, not unless you’re lucky and just happen to be in the right place, at the right time, with the right thing someone needs.

For most of us, that’s never going to happen.

For almost everyone, we must make things happen ourselves.

Let me share a secret with you. The magic ingredient to achieving your dreams isn’t luck or some mystical force. It’s you.

It’s all about you grabbing the ball and running with it.

What do I mean?

I mean, you must embrace the power of personal responsibility.

You are the captain of your ship, sailing through the sea of life. You can steer your ship anywhere you want it to go.

Yes, there will be storms and occasionally calmer waters, but ultimately, you decide which way to steer your ship.

Personal responsibility is about acknowledging that your choices, big and small, are the compass guiding your journey to wherever you’re going.

You must decide what it is you want out of life. You must decide the lifestyle you’d prefer to live. And you must work out how to get it.

Once you know where you’re going, you must set yourself some goals.

And then you must pursue those goals with determination and a willingness to work hard to achieve them.

Nothing worth having ever comes easy.

We all make choices in life, all the time, and we must accept the consequences of those choices.

In short, we must take responsibility for those choices, and if we pursue good choices, they should lead to the best outcomes for us.

If you embrace personal responsibility and stop making excuses, you will start to make progress towards the life you want.

If you become proactive rather than reactive, you will be knowingly steering the good ship “You” in the direction of your desired destination.

Today’s choices shape tomorrow’s outcomes. It’s that simple.

So, are you ready to take the helm?

Are you ready to grasp the personal power you have and own your journey to success?

It won’t always be easy, but at least it will be yours.

Trust me, the feeling of achieving something because you made it happen is amazing, and you won’t regret it.

So, embrace personal responsibility and achieve your full potential.

You can do it! It won’t be easy, but it can be done, and people do. So can you!

Please share this post with your friends:

If you found this article useful then please share it on social media with your friends. When you share, everyone wins.

So please share it now. If you do I will be ever so grateful and you’ll be helping a keen blogger reach a wider audience. Thank you.

Other articles that might appeal to you:

© Mann Island Media Limited 2025. All rights reserved.

Filed Under: Wisdom Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Next Page »