“poverty in a family of twelve children.”
―
Jim Stovall
“You don't begin to live, until you've lost everything... I've lost everything three or four times. A perfect place to start.”
―
Jim Stovall
“Happiness is often elusive and fleeting. There are three elements that, when combined, always result in happiness. Like a three-legged stool, they work in tandem. Any two of the three”
―
Jim Stovall
“Every day is a gift because it can either be the first day of the rest of our life or be our last day here on earth.”
―
Jim Stovall
“missing, intangible, undefinable “something” that we only know exists because we don’t seem to have it. “Something to do” represents the investment of the most precious commodity that we all have—our time. We all have the same amount of hours and minutes each day. Success and happiness hang in the balance based upon how”
―
Jim Stovall
“that we would receive the overwhelming message that the vast majority of adults feel they have no talent in these areas. On the other hand, if we were to conduct the same poll among 4-year-olds, we would find that virtually all of them are convinced they can sing, and virtually all of them have confidence in their ability to dance. Most of the 4-year-olds have little or no real talent, but, instead, they are endowed with incredible confidence in their own potential. This confidence, or certainty of success, is something we were all born with but we later traded in for a strong dose of what we call realism. Shortly after we reach school age, we are taught lessons about the world that revolve around us, limiting our vision and becoming realistic.”
―
Jim Stovall
“Tournament. For months, every team in the country has a goal of making it to the tournament. Then, at the end of the season, 64 teams are selected from various parts of the country. As the tournament progresses, teams are eliminated one-by-one until, at the end of the season, the team remaining is named the national champion. Among all of the participants who began at the beginning of the season, and among all the top 64 who actually made the tournament, only one team comes out on top. If this is our only goal, the majority of us are doomed”
―
Jim Stovall
“In those times when we yearn to have more in our lives, we should dwell on the things we already have. In doing so, we will often find that our lives are already full to overflowing.”
―
Jim Stovall
“great legacy starts with a great life, and every great life starts with a great plan.”
―
Jim Stovall
“experience, and most of those experiences are painful and costly. If you can learn from someone else’s pain and expense, you are a wise person, indeed. I would encourage you to read this book, cover-to-cover, but also keep it as a reference text using the sections and individual columns as a resource you can revisit as your life journey calls for specific wisdom. It is my hope that this is not a one-time encounter that you and I are having. My hope is, in the coming months and years as you travel toward your own personal”
―
Jim Stovall
“wife and two children on the spot of barren dirt that hours before had been his home and everything he owned, he spoke the words I will keep with me always. He said, “We have lost absolutely everything. We have nothing left other than the clothes on our backs.” Then, after a brief pause, he continued, “But I guess we are lucky since our whole family is safe and sound. We have everything important.” To have lost everything and still have everything seems contradictory, but it’s not. As I reflect on the lessons presented by the young father, I realize that we all spend a lot of time accumulating things that in the final”
―
Jim Stovall
“Conventional wisdom would say that the less you give, the more you have. The converse is true. The more you give, the more you have.”
―
Jim Stovall
“Some people are born into wonderful families. Others have to find or create them. Being a member of a family is a priceless privilege which costs nothing but love.”
―
Jim Stovall
“I defy you to find a statue or a monument ever erected to anyone because they were realistic. All dreamers, all achievers, all great people kept their child-like faith in their own dream and their ability to carry it out, and these great people had an inordinate gift to disregard the word's cries for reality.”
―
Jim Stovall
