Over the years I have collected words of advice that I found useful to me in my life and career. As I accumulated more and more of these words of wisdom, I would make copies of them and hand them out to students I worked with in various youth programs I was involved with, like the Latino Youth Leadership Conference that I co-founded in 1994. Students let me know that the words made them think more about how to approach their problems and projects.
RULES TO LIVE BY
- Never compromise your integrity for anyone or anything. d
- Never wait for something to happen. Make it happen.
- Don’t waste time telling people what you are going to do. Results have a way of informing everyone.
- Do not be overwhelmed by the tasks before you. Don’t try to do everything – just do something.
- Focus your efforts on the crux of the problem. Don’t expend energy on peripheral issues that are not crucial to producing results.
- Don’t be tempted to take the easy way out. Have the self-discipline to do the right thing rather than the easiest thing.
- To accomplish your objective, first begin, then concentrate exclusively on the project, and lastly, don’t stop until you reach your objective.
- Don’t make promises you know you can’t keep; but once you make a promise, keep it.
- For maximum effectiveness, do what you do best and let others do the rest.
10. Avoid premature celebrations. You’re not through until you have dotted all of the I’s and crossed all of the t’’s.
Tom Rodriguez... Remembrances and Reflections of My Life 