He was such as versatile quarterback, who could step out of the pocket and run for 20 yards, like it was nothing.  More importantly, he could throw the ball, too.  For many years, Randall Cunningham was my favorite professional football player.  He was always exciting to watch and he had some amazing accomplishments.  A few highlights of his career include:

• He attended the University of Nevada Las Vegas
• He played 16 seasons in the NFL for the Eagles, Cowboys, Vikings and Ravens
• He passed for more than 29,000 yards and 207 touchdowns
• He rushed for more than 4,900 yards and 35 touchdowns
• He was a three time NFL MVP
• He never won a Super Bowl® or even made it to the Super Bowl®

His career stats are quite impressive.  And he was one of the first black quarterbacks in the league.   Best of all, he was a class act, who stayed out of the media and out of trouble.  I believe he was a great role model for children, fans and other athletes.  I wish the NFL had more players like Randall Cunningham.

For some strange reason, Randall Cunningham IS NOT in the NFL® Hall of Fame®.  I’m not sure why this is the case, but I hope he gets selected one day. He is definitely deserving.  While I still enjoy the NFL® I don’t enjoy it anywhere near as much as I did back in the day when Randall Cunningham played.

I’ve attached a few YouTube® videos of Randall Cunningham so you can see some of his highlights.  Enjoy.  And don’t forget to share your comments, too.

During my first summer there, in 1987, I was 10 years old and had never been away from home before.  As my mother dropped me off, I immediately felt homesick and wanted to go home.  Fortunately, my camp counselors knew how to make me feel welcome.  Within a few minutes I was introduced to my cabin mates and now had 10 new friends!  By the end of that first summer (two week session) I didn’t want to go home.

Each year, starting in the spring, I got wicked excited about summer vacation and going back to Camp Susan Curtis.  I enjoyed the boating, swimming, hiking, arts and crafts, field sports and other activities. I enjoyed the camaraderie and camp life.   Most importantly, I built solid friendships with several other campers and looked forward to seeing them each year.

As I got older, I progressed from camper to staff.  I enjoyed working as a staff member and liked working with the kids.  In fact, my time at Camp Susan Curtis was some of my best childhood memories.  I’m very thankful for the experience and realize how lucky I was to attend Camp Susan Curtis.  It’s helped make me who I am today.

I’ve attached a couple YouTube videos about Camp Susan Curtis so you can see what it’s like.  It’s changed a lot through the years, but it still serves the same mission: “to build the individual character, self-confidence, and self-esteem of economically disadvantaged Maine children through the provision of tuition-free, high-quality camping, educational, and social experiences.”  The camp started in 1974 and is quickly approaching its 40^th anniversary.  Where does the time go?

In summary, Camp Susan Curtis is a wonderful place for children to learn new skills, build friendships, and have wonderful childhood experiences.  I truly hope that other Maine youth get the same experience that I did.  I’m proud to be part of this time honored tradition and will always cherish my fond memories at Camp Susan Curtis.

To learn more about Camp Susan Curtis, check out their website at: http://www.susancurtisfoundation.org

1. Joining the Military: The military had a huge impact in my life.  I joined the Army on my 18^th birthday.  If nothing else, I credit the Army for giving me purpose and direction.  In addition, it also taught me leadership and discipline.  Although I left the Army after 15 years, I will always be a soldier at heart.   And the skills I learned will guide me toward success in other endeavors.
2. Becoming a Parent: The next major event that shaped my life was becoming a parent.  When my son Devant was born, my life was no longer just about me.  I now had someone else to think about and take care of.  It is fun watching my son grow, change and mature, and become a unique individual.  Children are a true blessing.
3. War: I’ve been to two combat zones.  One of them was a peace keeping mission and the other was true combat.  Traveling to these other countries and seeing people die gave me a unique perspective at life.  It really taught me to appreciate life and to be thankful for all the blessings I have.  I learned that most of us have no idea as to how good we have it.  If you have running water, food, a car, and a place to live, you are doing better than 90% of the rest of the world.  Never forget that.
4. Getting Married:  Getting married is not for everyone.  I’m happy to be married to my best friend, Rachel.  Since meeting Rachel, I now have someone to share my life with.  And I wouldn’t trade the experience for anything.  We were not born to be alone.  It’s great when you marry the right person and have someone to share the joys and pains that life brings.
5. Starting a Business: Switching from employee to entrepreneur was a huge event for me.  I’ve always been taught to hustle and work hard, but having my own business taught me the difference between being paid to produce and getting paid to show up.  With nearly 10 years of entrepreneurial experience, I would never revert back to being an employee.  I am simply unemployable.

In summary, we all have events that shape our lives.  These are my top five events that made me the person I am today.  I’d love to hear from you telling me about some of the events that shaped your life.  To share your story, just leave a comment to this post.  Thanks.

In addition, Skowhegan has a proud history.  Here are some cool facts about Skowhegan, Maine.

• The population is about 9,000 people
• It is the county seat of Somerset County
• The Skowhegan State Fair is the oldest annual fair in the United States
• Skowhegan means “a place to watch”
• The town traces its roots back to 1724 and was officially named Skowhegan in 1863
• The town is a mill town and also features a new Balance Shoe factory
• Skowhegan is 60.6 square miles in size
• Famous people from Skowhegan include Margaret Chase Smith (first female Senator) and Abner Coburn (30^th Governor of Maine)
• It’s located between Bangor and Augusta (almost in the middle)

I’ve also embedded a few YouTube videos that show what Skowhegan looks like.

Each summer, my family and I make the trip from Maryland, back to Skowhegan to visit friends and family.  Although I don’t have the desire to live their anymore, it sure is nice to go back and visit. Everytime I go back, I remember my fond memories as a kid and young adult.  If you’re ever in Maine, do yourself a favor and stop by Skowhegan.  It ain’t the end of the world, but you can see it from there!

What I like most about the Baltimore Ravens is the pride their defense takes in being the best they can be.  Every year, they are consistently in the top five defenses in the league.  And they definitely rank up there with the all time greats, such as Pittsburgh’s Steel Curtain.  If I could play just one game with one team in the NFL, I would want to play with the Ravens’ defense.

And if I could spend one day with ANY player in the NFL, it would definitely be Ray Lewis.  This guy is a class act, a leader, a superstar, and one of the best players to ever play the game. What I admire most about Ray Lewis is his leadership.  He is the “glue” to the Ravens defense.  Although he is surrounded with many other talented players, there’s something about Ray Lewis that brings everything together.

So, I’ve decided to share a few of my favorite Ray Lewis YouTube videos with you, to show you what I like most about this guy.  Here they are:

There is no doubt in my mind that Ray Lewis will be inducted into the NFL Hall of Fame shortly after he retires.  He’s had an amazing career, and I hope he has 2-3 good seasons left in him.  20 years from now, people will still be talking about his legacy, the Ravens’ defense, and how lucky we were to be a fan while he played.  All I can say is, “thanks, Ray!”

I’m a hypocrite.  And I’m not ashamed to admit it either.  I’d be willing to bet that you are a hypocrite too, even though you might not want others to know that.  Most of us spend a lot of time blaming others, condemning certain behaviors, getting mad a certain things, and labeling others as idiots or hypocrites.  I’ve been guilty of this myself.

Here are a few examples of how ALL of us are hypocrites:

• The vehicle in front of you cuts you off, so you call him an idiot.  But five minutes earlier you cut someone off in order to get to your destination faster.  (Does that make you an idiot, too?)
• You are a Christian and you condemn people for having sex out of wedlock (or having children out of wedlock) yet you weren’t a virgin when you got married.  Or, you blame others for violating “commandments and virtues in the Bible, yet you do it yourself.
• You blame the politicians for the horrible financial situation in America, yet your personal finances are in a similar situation.
• You see teenagers acting crazing and rebellious and dressed in a non-traditional way, and you talk about how crazy and ‘whack’ America’s youth is today, yet you forget that you were once like that too.
• You talk about all the lazy people at work, yet you can justify why you “deserve” time off (HINT: so can they).
• Johnnie gets a promotion and you call him a brownnoser.  You get promoted and credit it to your self-motivation and performance.

I could go on and on, but the moral of this short blog post is that we are ALL hypocrites to some degree or another.  If people would just admit it, the world would be a much simpler and happier place to live!

From this day forward, just try to realize that we are all imperfect human beings.  We are all hypocrites!  What are your thoughts about this?

As a kid, I hated reading.  All through elementary school, junior high, high school, and even college, you couldn’t pay me to read.  I just thought it was boring and a complete waste of time.  Sometime around April 2002, I started my personal development journey.  I fell in love with reading.  Since then, I’ve read almost 600 books (I keep a log of every book I read).

I can honestly tell you that reading has transformed my life for the better.  I’ve learned new skills, improved my vocabulary and become a well rounded person.  I couldn’t imagine where  I would be today if I didn’t start my personal growth journey ten years ago.

Of all the books I’ve read, there is one book that really impacted my life.  That book is Think & Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill.  Many people credit this book to transforming their life.  I feel the same way.  I’ve read this book about 10 times now and plan to re-read it once a year for the rest of my life.

The book is a thorough study of successful people.  In the early 1900s, Andrew Carnegie, one of the richest people in the world, hired Napoleon Hill to study the world’s richest and most successful people.  Over a period of 20 years, Mr. Hill interviewed the world’s richest people and documented his findings.  As a result, the book Think & Grow Rich was born.

In 1937, Think & Grow Rich was published.  Since then, it’s sold close to 100 million copies.  Even better, just about every “success” book you will ever read is based upon the information in Think & Grow Rich.  It is truly a masterpiece, which has positively impacted millions of people.

Looking through my worn out copy of Think & Grow Rich I found tons of highlighted and underlined passages.  I’d like to share a few of those passages with you to share some of Mr. Hill’s wisdom.

1. Both poverty and riches are the offspring of thought (page 30).
2. Remember that all who succeed in life get off to a bad start, and pass through many heartbreaking struggles before they arrive (page 21).
3. Whatever the mind can conceive and believe it can achieve (page 14).
4. I will never stop because men say NO (page 4).
5. Man’s only limitation, within reason, lies in his development and use of his imagination (page 70).
6. No individual has sufficient experience, education, native ability and knowledge to insure the accumulation of great fortune, without the cooperation of other people (page 82).
7. There is but one dependable method of accumulating, and legally holding riches, and that is by rendering a useful service (page 115).
8. The majority of people who fail to accumulate money sufficiently for their needs are, generally, easily influenced by the opinions of others (page 120).
9. The time to nurse an idea is at the time of its birth.  Every minute it lives, gives it a better chance of surviving (page 140).
10. Examine the first 100 people you meet, ask them what they want most in life, and ninety-eight of them will not be able to tell you (page 141).
11. The years between 40 and 50 are, as a rule, most fruitful (page 170).
12. The subconscious mind will not remain idle (page 179).

Other than the Bible, this is the best “success” book ever written (in my opinion).  I truly believe that everyone should study this book and apply the principles in their own life.  It would make the world a better place and help eliminate the entitlement and failure mentality.

Idea # 1: Help a Child

The children are our future.  I think every living adult should do what they can to help children.  Obviously, you should start at home and help your children first.  But, I think it’s a great idea to help other children, too.  For instance, you could be a Big Brother, volunteer with orphans, mentor a child, work as a summer camp counselor, or something similar.  I can look back and think of a few people who shaped my life, when I was a child (other than my parents).  I’m sure you can, too.

Idea # 2: Work as a Teacher

This goes hand in hand with number one.  Other than parents, teachers have the most important job in society.  I believe that working as a teacher is a very noble way to serve your local community, state, and country.  Teachers have a huge responsibility to help develop functional working adults.  They are often overworked, underpaid, and have limited resources to work with.  If you have the calling to work as a teacher, I applaud you.

Idea # 3: Volunteer

There are thousands of organizations you can volunteer with.  I think it’s best to pick a cause you are passionate about.  Volunteer your time.  Get active and help an organization that you believe in. Even if you can only volunteer one hour each week, that’s okay.  If every living American volunteered just one hour each week, you would be amazed at what we could accomplish.

Idea # 4: Tithe

This is typically a Biblical principle, but I think it’s very important.  I believe that everyone should tithe.  This means you donate a certain percentage of your income to a cause you are passionate about.  It doesn’t have to be a religious institution either.  You could anonymously help a family in need.  You could give money to your church, the local animal shelter, or a charitable organization.  Even if you don’t have much to give, you should give what you can.

Idea # 5: Earn a Large Income

Some people tell you that rich people are greedy, or that money is the root of all evil.  Anyone telling you this is either an idiot, or is full of jealously.  Rich people pay most of the taxes in America and tithe the most amount of money.  In addition, most wealthy people are great people.  That’s why they become wealthy in the first place (sure there are some rich swindlers, but there are plenty of poor swindlers, too).  One of the best ways to serve your country is to make a good income, so you can pay taxes and tithe.  After all, every cause, every organization and even our government need money to operate.

Idea # 6: Start a Business

Although we never learn about starting a business from any formal education, I truly believe that starting a business is a very patriotic thing to do.  When you start a business, you create jobs.  You pay taxes and you help your community.  Although America is becoming anti-business, I truly believe that entrepreneurs provide a valuable service to their countrymen.

Idea # 7: Put Your Family First

The family unit is the most important element in society.  When the family unit breaks, society breaks.  One of the reasons there are so many issues in America is because there are so many dysfunctional families.  If you have a family (spouse, kids, significant other) you should make it a top priority to create a loving and caring environment.  This means you spend quality and quantity time with your family.  You teach them morals and values.  You get involved with their life and show them you love them and care for them.

These are just seven simple things you can do to serve your country.  Of course, there are many professions you could choose to serve your country, such as the Peace Corps, military, firefighter, police, government work, etc.   However, you don’t have to work in one of those professions to be a patriot.  Serving your country can be done in many different ways.  I recommend you find 2-3 creative ways to serve your country for the rest of your life.  If everyone did that, the world would be much better off.

1. You Don’t Accomplish Anything Entirely By Yourself: There is no such thing as a self-made person.  Everyone relies on other people, either directly or indirectly, in order to accomplish their goals.   Anyone who claims they are “self made” are either lying to you, or they are completely clueless.  Everyone has people who teach them, people who help them and people who love and support them.
2. The Speed of the Leader is the Speed of The Team: Organizations are a direct reflection of their leader.  Great leaders create great organizations.  Poor organizations have poor leadership.  That’s why a poor performing sports team never fires the players.  Instead, they fire the coach.  A good coach can take average talent and make it exceptional.
3. 99% of America Has No Clue As to How Good They Have It: It’s a proven fact that nearly half the world lives on less than $2 a day.  If you are broke in America, you still have a roof over your head, a flat screen television, access to the internet, two cars in your driveway and food on your plate.  Yet, we complain.  We complain that the stock market is down, our weight is out of control and our boss is a jerk.  When compared to rest of the world, our bottom 10% of the population lives better than most countries’ top 10%.
4. We Should Never Have Mandatory Military Service: You might not expect to hear this one from me, but it’s true.  You can’t force anyone to be patriotic.  There is nothing worse than serving with someone who doesn’t want to serve.  If you’ve been in the military, you know what I am talking about.  I would NEVER want to be in a foxhole with someone who was forced into military service.  While I do believe that serving in the military is very beneficial, I don’t believe it should be mandatory.
5. Priorities Change: As a young 18 year old Soldier, I was ready to take on the world.  As I matured, started a family, and progressed through the ranks, the thought of deploying and being gone for long periods of time weren’t as exciting as it once was.  Initially, I thought I would only do a four year stint.  Before I knew it, I had 15 years of service.  And by the end of the 15^th year, I knew I was done with the military.
6. You Can Either Make Excuses or You Can Make Things Happen: There truly are three types of people in this world.  Most folks are people who make excuses about why they don’t have what they want.  Spend even two minutes on Facebook and you will see what I am talking about.  The other large group is the people who have no idea what’s happening.  They’re clueless.  And then there is a small group of people who are the ones who make things happens.  In most cases, this is the 5-10% of society; the movers and shakers.  The bottom line is that you can either make excuses or make things happen.  But you can’t do both.
7. The Importance of Freedom: Other than the word love, I truly believe that FREEDOM is the second most important word in the English language.  I would not want to live ONE DAY without my freedom.  In America, we have so many opportunities and freedoms that we completely take for granted.  For instance, you can live where you want, pick your profession, choose your spouse, and countless other things.  Most people in the world don’t have this luxury.  Freedom is the bedrock of our society.  Without it, we would not be a great nation.

I’ve learned a lot from the military, but I think these are the seven greatest lessons I learned during my 15 years of service.  If you have experience serving in the military, I would love to hear from you.  To share your thoughts, just leave a comment to this post.

It truly saddens me when I see someone with great potential who doesn’t believe in themselves and won’t pursue their passions and talents.  The world is filled with miserable people who would rather complain than change.  If you are unhappy with your life, the best thing you can do is CHANGE!

If I had to come up with my own definition of “meaning of life” it would be this.  The meaning of life is to love, to live and to learn.  It really is that simple.  Finding happiness and fulfillment isn’t all that difficult.     I truly think these three things are the key to finding happiness and fulfillment in your life.  Let’s elaborate on each area.

1. Love: Love is definitely the most important word in the English language.  The ultimate purpose of life is to love others, to connect with others and build meaningful relationships.  Without love, the world would be cold and boring.  I think everyone needs someone to love, and people who love them.
2. Live: Most folks never truly live.  Instead, they go day to day just doing the motions.  To live means to take risks.  It means to try new things; to taste different foods and travel to different places.  Most importantly, it means to live for a purpose.  It means believing in something bigger than yourself.  It means never settling for mediocrity when you could be great.
3. Learn: You should never stop learning.  When your formal education ends, your real education begins.  The happiest and most successful people I know of are committed to life-long learning.  That means that they read books, they have mentors, and they make it a point to learn something new each day.  Simply put, they seek knowledge.  They don’t take anything at face value and they try to educate themselves about a wide variety of topics.    In life, you are either moving forward with knowledge, or moving backward.

If you can continuously work on these three aspects of your life, you will find happiness and fulfillment.  It might not come overnight, but you will continue to improve each day.  What are your thoughts?