"My mother taught me very early to believe I could achieve any accomplishment I wanted to; the first was to walk without braces." Wilma Rudolph, three-time Olympic Gold Medalist, 1960 Summer Olympics
Jean Henri Fabre conducted an experiment with processionary caterpillars, so named because of their peculiar habit of blindly following each other no matter how they are lined up or where they are going. This researcher took a group of these tiny creatures and did something interesting with them. He placed them in a circle, and for 24 hours the caterpillars dutifully followed one another around and around. He then placed the caterpillars on a round saucer full of pine needles (their favorite food). For six days the mindless creatures moved around and around the saucer, literally dying of starvation and exhaustion even though an abundance of choice food was located less than two inches away.
The moral of this story: Don't confuse activity with accomplishment!
Here are six C's for effective daily living:
1. Competence - learn something new every day.
2. Communication - ask the right questions and you will get the right answers.
3. Compassion - make someone feel appreciated.
4. Character - always do right.
5. Connection - plant the seeds of relationships and nourish them with random acts of appreciation.
6. Commitment - be consistently committed to the above.
