A Fable about a Horse and a Pig and How it Relates to Work

There was a farmer who had a horse and a pig.
One day, the horse became ill and he called the veterinarian, who said:

Well, your horse has a virus.
He must take this medicine for three days. I'll come back on the 3rd day and if he's not better, we're going to have to put him down.

Nearby, the pig listened closely to their conversation.
The next day, they gave him the medicine and left.
The pig approached the horse and said:
Be strong, my friend. Get up or else they're going to put you to sleep!

On the second day, they gave him the medicine and left.
The pig came back and said:
Come on buddy, get up or else you're going to die! Come on, I'll help you get up. Let's go! One, two, three ...

On the third day, they came to give him the medicine and the vet said:
Unfortunately, we're going to have to put him down tomorrow. Otherwise, the virus might spread and infect the other horses.

After they left, the pig approached the horse and said:
Listen pal, it's now or never! Get up, come on! Have courage! Come on! Get up! Get up! That's it, slowly! Great! Come on, one, two, three ... Good, good. Now faster, come on ... Fantastic! Run, run more! Yes! Yay! Yes! You did it, you're a champion!

All of a sudden, the owner came back, saw the horse running in the field and began shouting:
It's a miracle! My horse is cured!

We must have a grand party. Let's kill the pig !

The Lesson:
This often happens in the workplace.
Nobody truly knows which employee actually deserves the merit of success, or who's actually contributing the necessary support to make things happen.

Remember:
LEARNING TO LIVE WITHOUT RECOGNITION IS A SKILL!

If anyone ever tells you that your work is unprofessional, remember:
Amateurs built the Ark [which saved all the species] and professionals built the Titanic [all died tragically]

DON'T LOOK TO BECOME A PERSON OF SUCCESS, LOOK INSTEAD TO BECOME A PERSON WITH VALUES!

Zig Ziglar Once Said...

People often say that motivation doesn’t last. Well, neither does bathing. That’s why we recommend it daily.

Other people and things can stop you temporarily. You’re the only one who can do it permanently.
You already have every characteristic necessary for success if you recognize, claim, develop and use them.

We all need a daily check up from the neck up to avoid ‘stinkin thinkin’ which ultimately leads to hardening of the attitudes.

It’s not what happens to you that determines how far you will go in life; it is how you handle what happens to you.

When you choose to be pleasant and positive in the way you treat others, you have also chosen, in most cases, how you are going to be treated others.

The basic goal-reaching principle is to understand that you go as far as you can see, and when you get there you will be able to see farther.

Discipline yourself to do the things you need to do the things you need to do when you need to them, and the day will come when you will be able to do the things you want to do them!

You enhance your chances for success when you understand that your yearning power is more important than your earning power.

The quality of a person’s life is in direct proportion to his or her commitment to excellence, regardless of his or chosen field of endeavor.

The Practice of Discipline

By Brian Tracy

Discipline yourself to do what you know you need to do to be the very best in your field. Perhaps the best definition of self-discipline is this: "Self-discipline is the ability to make yourself do what you should do when you should do it, whether you feel like it or not."

It is easy to do something when you feel like it. It's when you don't feel like it and you force yourself to do it anyway that you move your life and career onto the fast track.

What decisions do you need to make today in order to start moving toward the top of your field? Whatever it is, either to get in or get out, make a decision today and then get started. This single act alone can change the whole direction of your life.

Seven Steps to Success
There is a powerful seven step formula that you can use to set and achieve your goals for the rest of your life. Every single successful person uses this formula or some variation of this formula to achieve vastly more than the average person. And so can you. Here it is:

Decide What You Want
Step number one, decide exactly what it is you want in each part of your life. Become a "meaningful specific" rather than a "wandering generality."

Write it Down
Second, write it down, clearly and in detail. Always think on paper. A goal that is not in writing is not a goal at all. It is merely a wish and it has no energy behind it.

Set A Deadline
Third, set a deadline for your goal. A deadline acts as a "forcing system" in your subconscious mind. It motivates you to do the things necessary to make your goal come true. If it is a big enough goal, set sub-deadlines as well. Don't leave this to chance.

Make A List
Fourth, make a list of everything that you can think of that you are going to have to do to achieve your goal. When you think of new tasks and activities, write them on your list until your list is complete.

Organize Your List
Fifth, organize your list into a plan. Decide what you will have to do first and what you will have to do second. Decide what is more important and what is less important. And then write out your plan on paper, the same way you would develop a blueprint to build your dream house.

Take Action
The sixth step is for you to take action on your plan. Do something. Do anything. But get busy. Get going.

Do Something Every Day
Do something every single day that moves you in the direction of your most important goal at the moment. Develop the discipline of doing something 365 days each year that is moving you forward. You will be absolutely astonished at how much you accomplish when you utilize this formula in your life every single day.

Action Exercises
Here are two things you can do to put these ideas into action immediately.

First, decide exactly what you want, write it down with a deadline, make a plan and take action -- on at least one goal -- today!

Second, determine the price you will have to pay to achieve this goal and then get busy paying that price
-- whatever it is.

Want to know how to accomplish more in a month than most people accomplish in a year?
Brian Tracy's audio program, The Miracle of Self-Discipline, will show you how! Training yourself to complete important tasks -- even when you don't want to -- is a vital skill that every Top Achiever should master. To get your copy today, click here.

How's This for Going A Little Further When You're Down?

The next time when you're feeling down and out, tired and you feel like giving up. Remember, if you just take one more step, and another, and another; you'll be amazed at how far you can go!

Vitamins for the Mind

by Jim Rohn

Basics/Fundamentals
Success is neither magical nor mysterious. Success is the natural consequence of consistently applying basic fundamentals.

There are no new fundamentals. You've got to be a little suspicious of someone who says, "I've got a new fundamental." That's like someone inviting you to tour a factory where they are manufacturing antiques.

Some things you have to do every day. Eating seven apples on Saturday night instead of one a day just isn't going to get the job done.

Success is nothing more than a few simple disciplines, practiced every day; while failure is simply a few errors in judgment, repeated every day. It is the accumulative weight of our disciplines and our judgments that leads us to either fortune or failure.

Microsoft CEO discusses keys to success

Steve Ballmer visited Fargo on Thursday
Teri Finneman
Forum Communications

One of the world's richest men says there are four main reasons for his success in life.

Passion. Hard work. Seeing the big picture.

And the fourth?

"It doesn't hurt to go to college with Bill Gates," Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said, roaring with laughter. "In my case, that was helpful."

A vibrant man with an impish sense of humor, Ballmer spent Thursday in Fargo meeting with local employees and listening to updates on work being done at the Fargo campus.

Since 2000, Ballmer has served as Microsoft's CEO and assumed full management responsibility for the Redmond, Wash.,-based company. He joined Microsoft in 1980 and headed several of the company's divisions before being promoted to president in 1998.

He is now the 24th richest person in the world with a net worth of $13.6 billion, according to Forbes.

Ballmer, 50, grew up near Detroit before attending Harvard University to study math and economics. It was there he met Gates.

Ballmer later attended Stanford University Graduate School of Business in California, where he met Doug Burgum, who grew up in Arthur, N.D.

Burgum is now senior vice president of the Microsoft Business Solutions group based in Fargo.

Ballmer sat down with The Forum for an exclusive interview last week in Burgum's office.

(This story has been edited for length.)

Talk about why you're in Fargo.

I decided shortly after we acquired Great Plains (Software) that with as many people, as much important work as we're doing here in Fargo, it was important for me to try to get in regularly.

Basically, the time is kind of Doug's. He decides what we get into and talk about. If I have a particular topic of interest, we raise it.

This morning, I saw some fantastic demonstrations of work that's going on here that will show up in our Dynamics product line.

It's a pretty full day.

It's been five years since Microsoft acquired Great Plains. Do you still think that was the right choice?

I certainly am very convinced that the move to get into business applications was, for us, a necessary and right and important move.

I think that we certainly got ... not only a great product, but more importantly, we got a great set of talent in the Great Plains team.

Twenty-twenty hindsight, things haven't gone exactly the way we'd sketched out. We thought that some things that we'd be able to do in the marketplace we could do faster than we have.

But I'm still very, very pleased with the progress and incredibly happy that we did the acquisition.

What do you see for the future of the Fargo campus? How likely is an expansion within the next few years?

We've been growing the Fargo campus in a sense, I think, fairly steadily over the last several years.

We're always going to be smart about what's best done here, what's best done in other parts of the U.S., what's best done in other parts of the world. We have to be intelligent about that.

We also have to ask ourselves, in different disciplines, how much could we grow if we wanted to here?

But we've been growing steadily. We just added 30 new jobs that we're recruiting for here in Fargo.

I was teasing the guys here, that on a percentage of all people working basis, we employ a higher percentage of all people working in the state of North Dakota than we do any other geography. North Dakota is already No. 1.

Bill Gates announced this summer he's going to step back from the company's day-to-day operations over the next two years. What are your thoughts on that and what impact do you think that will have on the company?

Bill will be stepping out of the company and being part time.

He'll be chairman of the board. He'll be an adviser, and I know he'll be generous with me and the rest of the senior team with his time.

Two things I would say, which seem contradictory.

No. 1, you don't replace somebody like Bill Gates. Both because he's so famous and has so much history in the company and in the industry and has such a range of knowledge and is such a bright and talented person.

But with that said, I think our company is in better shape for the future than ever before in terms of the people and the talent that we have.

I don't think the company will in any way do anything but continue to accelerate in momentum.

How closely do you work with Gates?

I see Bill basically 80 percent, 90 percent of the days when we're both in town.

I've worked more closely with Bill Gates than any other person I've ever worked with, and he's worked with me much more closely than any other person he's ever worked with.

What is a typical work week like for you?

I sort of have two kinds of work weeks: one when I'm in Seattle, and one when I'm on the road.

I'm away from family about 68 nights a year - I keep a little spreadsheet budget on that.

When I'm in town, I drop my kids at the school bus or at school. I'm usually at work by about 8 a.m. Most of the time would be meetings, unfortunately, although I try to keep about one-third of my time in Seattle for myself - to think, to read, to work on projects.

My wife would tell you I'm home at 7 p.m. I would tell you I'm home at 6:30 p.m. The truth is probably someplace in between.

I do an occasional bit more work after the kids go to bed. I certainly always work Sunday night. After about 5 p.m., my wife and kids know they lose me because I'm going to go back into work mode.

I'm working 80, 90, 100 hours a week when I'm on the road. I'm mostly with customers, business partners and the like.

What do you like to do in your free time?

I do exercise fairly regularly, four or five days a week. I'm pretty good about that, whether on the road or in Seattle.

I enjoy playing golf ... that would be my only other hobby. I don't have a long list to give you, I'm afraid. (laughs)

What do you think is Microsoft's greatest achievement?

In a historical sense, I think you'd have to say somehow between us and Intel, we are the father and mother of modern computing and I think that's a great accomplishment