Imagine there is a bank account that credits your account each morning with $86,400. It carries over no balance from day to day.

Every evening the bank deletes whatever part of the balance you failed to use during the day. What would you do? Draw out every cent, of course?

Each of us has such a bank. It’s name is TIME.

Every morning, it credits you with 86,400 seconds.

Every night it writes off as lost, whatever of this you have failed to invest to a good purpose.

It carries over no balance. It allows no over draft. Each day it opens a new account for you. Each night it burns the remains of the day.

If you fail to use the day’s deposits, the loss is yours. There is no drawing against “tomorrow.”

You must live in the present on today’s deposits. Invest it so as to get from it the utmost in health,

happiness and success!

The clock is running!! Make the most of today.

To realize the value of ONE YEAR. ask a student who failed a grade.

To realize the value of ONE MONTH, ask a mother who has given birth to a premature baby.

To realize the value of ONE WEEK, ask the editor of a weekly newspaper.

To realize the value of ONE HOUR, ask the lovers who are waiting to meet.

To realize the value of ONE MINUTE, ask a person who just missed a train.

To realize the value of ONE SECOND. ask someone who just avoided an accident.

To realize the value of ONE MILLISECOND, ask the person who won a silver medal at the Olympics.

Treasure every moment that you have! And treasure it more because you shared it with someone special, special enough to spend your time with. And remember time waits for no one.

Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. Today is a gift. That’s why its called the present.

These are some of my favorite personal development success aphorisms.  I have given credit where I was able to.  If you have any to add, or know who I should attribute any of these to, feel free to comment below. I am far from perfect, but I work to have these thoughts guide my actions.

There are a lot of ways to become a failure, but never taking a chance is the most successful.

To be upset over what you don’t have is to waste what you do have.

Don’t wrestle with pigs.  You both get mud on you and the pig likes it.

The race is not always to the swift, but to those who keep on running.

A new idea is delicate. It can be killed by a sneer or a yawn; it can be stabbed to death by a joke or worried to death by a frown on the right person’s brow. Treat them with the greatest of care

There is do, or do not. There is no try. –Yoda

Take a chance and you may lose. Take not a chance and you have lost already.  Søren Kierkegaard,

Focus 90% of your time on solutions and only 10% of your time on problems.  Anthony J. D’Angelo,

Become addicted to constant and never-ending self-improvement.  Anthony J. D’Angelo

An error is not a mistake until you refuse to correct it.

There’s nothing so useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done at all.  Peter F. Drucker

Forget regret,  or life is yours to miss –Jonathan Larson

This is as true in everyday life as it is in battle: we are given one life and the decision is ours whether to wait for circumstances to make up our mind, or whether to act and, in acting, to live.   Omar Bradley

Opportunities multiply as they are seized.  Sun Tzu

Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day in and day out.

Life is short–enjoy it while you can.

Peace of mind is the ultimate objective of all of my actions.

I make and live in my own reality so that I do not fall victim to the whims of others.

My demeanor on the sideline (bench) during a game, 10% emotion, 90% analytical.

Whether you think that you can or that you can’t, you are usually right.  Henry Ford

I find that the harder I work, the more luck I seem to have. Thomas Jefferson.

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do.  Mark Twain

Good habits are hard to develop, but easy to live with.  Bad habits are easy to develop, but hard to live with.  Brian Tracy

You begin to become successful the minute you decide to be.

If you want to triple your success ratio, you have to triple your failure rate.

I talk to myself rather than listen to myself so that I control my thoughts.

I do not search for things to be offended by.

Anyone who is at the top of their field started at the bottom.

Success comes from managed thinking, so I will spend some time each day managing my thinking.

I will question my limiting beliefs and not question my ability to succeed.

The best way to have a good idea is to have lots of ideas. Linus Pauling

The discipline of writing something down is the first step toward making it happen.  Lee Iacocca

Leave your favorite below in the comments!

Edgar A. Guest

I’d rather see a sermon than to hear one any day;
I’d rather one should walk with me than merely show the way.
The eye’s a better pupil and more willing than the ear;
Fine counsel is confusing, but examples are always clear.

And, best of all the preachers are the men who live their creeds;
For to see good put in action is what everybody needs.
I soon can learn to do it, if you’ll let me see it done;
I can see your hands in action, but your tongue too fast may run.
And the lectures you deliver may be very fine and true,
But I’d rather get my lesson by observing what you do;
For I may misunder­stand you and the high advice you give;
But there’s no misunderstanding how you act and how you live!

Winning is giving your best self away
Winning is serving with grace every day
You’ll know that you’ve won when your friends say it’s true.
“I like who I am when I’m around you.
You look for the best in the others you see
And you help us become who we’re trying to be.”

Winning is helping someone who’s down
It’s sharing a smile instead of a frown.

It’s giving your children a hug by the fire
And sharing the values and dreams that inspire.

It’s giving your parents the message “I care.
Thanks, Mom and Dad, for being so fair.”

Winners are willing to give more than get
Their favors are free, you’re never in debt.

Winning is giving one hundred percent
It’s paying your dues, your taxes, your rent
It’s trying and doing, not crying and stewing.

Winners respect every color and creed,
They share and they care for everyone’s need.

The losers keep betting that winning is getting
But there’s one law that they keep forgetting
And this is the Law you can live and believe
The more that you give, the more you’ll receive!

Here are a couple of inspirational poems that you might consider using in your team notebooks. They are obviously written in the masculine gender, but in my opinion, apply to all athletes!

Ambition

You are the fellow who has to decide
Whether you’ll do it or toss it aside.
You are the fellow who makes up your mind
Whether you’ll lead or linger behind
­Whether you’ll try for the goal that’s afar
Or be contented to stay where you are.
Take it or leave it; here’s something to do,
Just think it over; it’s all up to you!
What do you wish? To be known as a shirk,
Known as a good man who’s willing to work,
Scorned for a loafer or praised by your chief,
Rich man or poor man or beggar or thief?
Eager or earnest or dull through the day,
Honest or crooked? It’s you who must say!
Whether you’ll shirk it or give it your best.

The Man Who Quits

The man who quits has a brain and a hand
As good as the next, but lacks the sand
That would make him stick, with a courage stout,
To whatever he tackles, and fight it out.

He starts with a rush, and a solemn vow
That he’ll soon be showing the others how;
Then something new strikes his roving eye,
And his task is left for the bye – and – bye.

It’s up to each man what becomes of him;
He must find himself the grit and vim
That brings success; he can get the skill,
If he brings to the task a steadfast will.

No man is beaten till he gives in;
Hard luck can’t stand for a cheerful grin;
The man who fails needs a better excuse,
Than the quitter’s whining, “What’s the use?”

For the man who quits lets his chance slip,
Just because he’s too lazy to keep his grip.
The man who sticks goes ahead with a shout,
While the man who quits joins the “Down and out.”