A Quick Gift List
Here’s a few timeless and cost-free ideas for Holiday gifts that are as good to give as they are to get:

• Patch up a quarrel
• Find a forgotten friend
• Keep a promise
• Release a grudge
• Write an overdue love note
• Apologize
• Point out the one thing you appreciate about someone you work with, live with or live near.
• Smile at a stranger

Source: Bits and Pieces

Click HERE to order our best-selling DVDs of Motivational Quotes.

“The fruit of love is service. The fruit of service is peace. And peace begins with a smile.”
- Mother Teresa

The future does not get better by hope; it gets better by plan.

A competitive world has two possibilities for you. You can lose. Or, if you want to win, you can change.

When there’s a scenic route, take it. When you see a kid selling lemonade, buy some. The little things in life are really the big things.

Making a “living” is not the same thing as making a life.

You shouldn’t go through life with a catcher’s mitt on both hands. You need to be able to throw something back.

Quick Thinking Brings Smile to GM
One winter morning, a prep cook explained why he had shown up 45 minutes late for work: “It was so slippery out that for every step I took ahead, I slipped back two.”

The Manager eyed him suspiciously. “Oh, yeah? Then how did you ever get here?”

“I finally gave up,” said the cook, “and started for home.”

Here's the Free December 2007 Edition of the Sullivision
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Rocks in a Jar
By Jim Sullivan Copyright 2007 Sullivision.com

Here’s a thoughtful story that you can either tell to, or better still, demonstrate with your team about what really matters most.

A business school professor set a one-gallon, wide-mouthed Mason jar on his desk in front of the class. From a box he removed a dozen fist-sized rocks and carefully placed them, one at a time, into the jar. When the jar was filled to the top and no more rocks would fit inside, he asked, "Is this jar full?" Everyone in the class said, "Yes." Then he said, "Really?" He reached under the desk and pulled out a bucket full of gravel. Then he dumped some gravel in the jar and shook the jar causing pieces of gravel to work themselves down into the space between the big rocks.

Then he asked the group again, "Is the jar full?" By this time the class was on to him. "Probably not," one of them answered. "Good!" he replied. He reached under the desk and brought out a bucket of sand. He started dumping the sand in the jar and it went into all of the spaces left between the rocks and the gravel. Once more he asked the question, "Is this jar full?"

"No!" the class shouted. Once again he said, "Good." Then he grabbed a pitcher of water and began to pour it in until the jar was filled to the brim. Then he looked at the class and asked, "What's the point of this demonstration?" One eager-beaver raised his hand and said, "The point is, no matter how full your schedule is, if you try really hard you can always fit some more things into it!"

"No," the teacher replied, "that's not the point. Here’s the truth we learned: if you don't put the big rocks in first, you'll never get them in at all."

So, what are the 'big rocks' in your life? Your children, your loved ones, your education, your dreams, getting your restaurant back on track, some worthy cause, teaching, mentoring others, doing things you love, taking time for yourself, your health, your significant other? Remember to put those “big rocks” in first or you'll never get them in at all.

Moral: If you sweat the little stuff (the gravel, the sand) then you'll fill your life daily with dozens and dozens little things to worry about that don't really matter, and you'll never allot the time you need to spend on the big, important stuff (the big rocks). So today, while you're thinking about this little story, ask yourself this question: what are the 'big rocks' in my life?

Now put them in your jar first.

Jim Sullivan is a popular seminar leader and best-selling author.

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