The ABC's of Becoming Great

I've just read The ABC's of Becoming Great book, written by Corbin B. Billings and his mother Dawn L. Billings. Corbin wrote this book at the age of nine. People call him "The Tree Kid" because when he was 9, he decided to spend his life savings to print bumper stickers with his picture that read, "Corbin says, "DO YOUR SHARE TO GET CLEAN AIR."
Here is the ABC's ...

Add to the world, not subtract
..... if you want to become great, start with learning addition

Be thankful
.....be thankful for what you've got instead of worrying about what you don't have

Care enough to take action
.....we can't control the world or what other people do, but we can make a choice about what we are going to do and be

Don't waste time
.....use your time wisely

Encourage the dreams of others
.....dreams are the candy of the soul. each time we dream we get a little taste of the greatness that lives inside of each one of us

Feed your mind
.....feed your mind good food. READ. Books make you think; they make your brain exercise. "Read" rhymes with "FEED"

Give back to your world
.....It is our job to learn to give our gifts and talents back to the world to make it a better place

Hang on to hope
.....when things go wrong and make your life feel bad, hang on to hope. Hope tells your heart that tomorrow will be better. "Hope is the bread of the poor in spirit"

Imagine!
.....imagination is like taking your mind on vacation

Join together, take turns, be a team
.....people are like stands of a rope: the more you twist together, the stronger it is

Keep going .. even when you feel like giving up
.....when you believe in something, never, never, never quit. remember the words of Thomas Edison:"When the going gets tough, the tough get going"

Love each other
.....be big enough to love others even when others treat you badly

March to the beat of your own drum
.....each one of us is unique

Never hit; it hurts
.....great people never hit. They remember how much it hurts

Open your heart, help others
.....helping others makes this world a nicer place

Pray
.....whenever I pray, I feel better inside

Quit whining
.....there are whiners and there are winners; the only difference is the letter "h"

Reach for the stars
.....reach for the stars (dreams) inside, grab yourself the biggest, brightest dream you can find, and hold on. "God  doesn't put a dream in your heart that is too big for you to accomplish" -Jim Stovall-

Say it with kindness
.....if we can't say nothing nice, don't say nothing at all

Tell the truth
.....honesty makes others believe in you

Use your fingers for painting, not pointing out mistakes

Value your strengths and talents
..... strengths and talents are like hammer:  It is at its best when you are using it to build something

Work hard
.....working hard teaches our hearts about our worth. Without working hard, we never learn what we are capable of

X-pect great things
.....you get what you expect out of life

Yearn to be your best
.....doing everything that you can, to be the best you can be

Zero in on what's important
.....if you focus on what it takes to become great, and then take the actions necessary to take you in that direction, you can't help but get where you want to go