success | Mary Kay Moody

CASTLE in Scottish highlands - Paula 2 So how’s your year been? Are you ending it with satisfaction? Disappointment? Looking at my long to-do list for 2015, I think I haven’t checked off nearly enough. Big issues needed tackling. Big goals to accomplish. And despite thousands of tasks completed, big things remain. Honestly, I could be discouraged. You too?

Nick Vujicic was born with no arms and no legs. Fortunately, he says, he was born to a good family ~ his mother was a nurse and knew what he needed. By 8 years old, though, he had compiled a massive list of things he’d never have or do, and faced suicidal thoughts.

Yet by age 23 he had graduated college, dabbled in real estate investing, and was a powerful motivational speaker who inspires his audience with wisdom and humor. At 33 he’s also an author and actor who enjoys painting and swimming. And he’s married and has two sons.

What changed? He said three things ~ perspective, vision, and choices. Especially pertinent as I look at my list for 2015 are these words about his dreams and vision for the future: “It’s coming as long as I keep moving forward … in baby steps.”

This man, who has no legs, speaks these words as he inches across a table to reach a telephone (which he flicks off the cradle and catches on his shoulder). I read that Nick keeps a pair of shoes in his closet because he believes in miracles!

Well, if this young man with no arms, no legs, can strut around on stage, encourage thousands to persevere in their dreams and reach their fullest potential, and hope for his miracle ~~ then I can buck up and, with a smile and good cheer, create a new list of goals that help build a foundation under my castle-in-the-air (or Scotland) dreams.

The focus word that God gave me for 2015 is CHOICE. With gratitude I’m choosing to look beyond my tattered list, unmet goals, and creased dreams and keep moving forward. What’s hobbling you as you step into 2016?

Perhaps this quote will nudge us both to keep moving:

Success will never be a big step in the future, success is a small step taken just now. ~Jonatan Mårtensson

See more about Nick Vujicic at Life Without Limbs or hear him speak by video here.

So, barely back to the blog, I aim to catch up on some reviews.

AND THE GOOD NEWS IS by Dana Perino is like reading two good books in one.

First is an intriguing story of how a mite of a gal experienced life and became a powerhouse of a woman. It’s an engaging read, packed with poignant, piercing, or hysterical anecdotes from life on a Wyoming ranch to the halls of power in Washington, DC. (I challenge you to read the story about her podium without having an out-loud reaction.)

The shadow story behind is of life lessons learned along the way ~ the good, the bad, and the funny. Especially helpful was on “making butterflies fly in formation” and the importance of civility and networking in this tech-heavy world.

We all face challenges in our lives, roadblocks in our jobs, unfairness or losses in our personal lives, assaults to our economy and peace. In the Washington DC culture individuality, spunk, creative thinking, and joy are often ground out of those caught in the cogs of the political machine.

If Dana Perino, planted firmly in that DC culture can survive ~ and beyond that, even thrive ~ she has learned some life lessons and gained wisdom. And the good news is ~ we can too, because this intelligent and generous woman shares it with us in GOOD NEWS. It rightly could be called A Handbook for Success, but that’s not as much fun as the title she chose. But it is a good source to help young people avoid costly blunders as they set a course for their future …

and for the rest of us to avoid slamming into brick walls and find peace and perspective. I think it always nice when I learn a lesson with a sprinkling of humor and grace rather than with a sledgehammer. I highly recommend AND THE GOOD NEWS IS.

Mary Kay Moody

Writing at the Intersection of Our Plans and God's Purpose

Tag Archives: success

Walking Without Feet

AND THE GOOD NEWS IS Review