Harvey's Words of Wisdom

Friday, August 08, 2008

Harvey's Words of Wisdom

This site is designed to be a collaborative effort, filled with ideas relating to Advertising, Marketing, Media, Sales, and the creative process that works behind the scene.

One of my early mentors through his writings is Harvey Mackay. This weeks column from Harvey contains many one-liners that could turn around nearly everyone's life.
Harvey Mackay's Column This Week

Quick hits: my favorite morals

When I started writing my column 15 years ago, I decided to follow Aesop's lead and put a moral at the end of each lesson—and my readers often tell me that they remember those morals, as well as the 700-750 words that preceded them.

We live in a world of ten-second sound bites, so messages wrapped up in tight little packages really grab attention. Here's a refresher course—some of my favorite morals from the last three years:

A foot in the door is worth two on the desk.
Courage is not the absence of fear; it is the mastery of it.
Negativity makes a person look at the land of milk and honey and see only calories and cholesterol.
The greatest undeveloped territory in the world lies under your hat.
You're never old enough to stop learning.
You don't have to shout to get your point across if you use the right words.
A person without a sense of humor is like a car without shock absorbers—jolted by every pothole in the road.
The more you exercise your networking muscles, the stronger they get.
Live—and work—like your mother is watching.
The person who is everywhere is nowhere.
People like to do business with people they like.
Money can buy a lot of things except common sense, which is free.
Love your competitors. They are the only ones who make you as good as you can be.
In business, you should walk your talk ... and know when to talk before you walk.
If you want to be remembered for all the wrong reasons, say something stupid.
Don't just mark time; use time to make your mark.
Getting an idea should be like sitting down on a pin; it should make you jump up and do something.
The hotter things get, the more important it is to keep your cool.
Entrepreneurs are people who take the cold water thrown on their idea, heat it with enthusiasm, make steam and push ahead.
Technology should improve your life, not become your life.
Arrogance is believing that you are so high up you don't need an ear to the ground.
The difference between failure and success is doing a thing nearly right and doing it exactly right.
Control yourself: Remember, anger is just one letter short of danger.
Keep an open mind. Your first job may not be your dream job, but it doesn't have to be a nightmare.
If you want a place in the sun, you've got to expect a few blisters.
Amateurs practice until they get it right. Professionals practice until they can't get it wrong.
Remember the 10 most powerful two-letter words in the English language—If it is to be, it is up to me.
What we have done for ourselves alone dies with us. What we have done for others lasts forever.
Positive thinking turns obstacles into opportunities.
Smart people spell service, "serve us."
All the world's a stage, and most of us need more rehearsals.
It's easier to prepare and prevent than to repair and repent.
You can't count your days, but you can make your days count.
Rough water is no place to check to see if you packed your life preserver.
Stress often gives a little thing a big shadow.
If you want to get a leg up, learn how to use effective body language.
If you don't speak up, prepare to put up.
Creativity has no script; it is inspired ad-libbing.
The most powerful single thing you can do to influence others is to smile at them.
Helping someone up won't pull you down.
How people play the game shows something of their character. How they lose shows all of it.
The wise person isn't the one who makes the fewest mistakes. It's the one who learns the most from them.