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When I Was 19 Years Old, Both Of My Parents Died In The Same Year; My Mom Of Cancer And My Dad In A Car Accident. Through The Next Two Or Three Years And A Series Of Bad Decisions - All My Own, I Might Add - I Ended Up Literally Homeless, Before That Was Even A Word. I Even Slept Occasionally Under A Pier On The Gulf Coast.

-Andy Andrews

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When I Was 19

Andy Andrews

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When I Was 19 Years Old, Both Of My Parents Died In The Same Year; My Mom Of Cancer And My Dad In A Car Accident. Through The Next Two Or Three Years And A Series Of Bad Decisions - All My Own, I Might Add - I Ended Up Literally Homeless, Before That Was Even A Word. I Even Slept Occasionally Under A Pier On The Gulf Coast.

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See, The ‘small Stuff’ Is What Makes Up The Larger Picture Of Our Lives. Many People Are Like You, Young Man. But Their Perspective Is Distorted. They Ignore ‘small Stuff,’ Claiming To Have An Eye On The Bigger Picture, Never Understanding That The Bigger Picture Is Composed Of Nothing More Than-are You Ready?- ‘small Stuff’.

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The Biggest Mistakes Most Parents Make (and Believe Me, I'm Guilty Of These Too) Seem Very Inconsequential. They're Little, Day-to-day Things That, At The Moment, Don't Seem Like A Big Deal.

By Your Hand, Millions - Billions - Of Lives Will Be Altered, Caught Up In A Chain Of Events Begun By You This Day.

People Who Are Labeled As Disrespectful Do Not Get The Same Opportunities Afforded To Those Who Are Labeled As Respectful.

Poor Is The Man Whose Future Depends On The Opinions And Permission Of Others. Remember This, If You Are Afraid Of Criticism, You Will Die Doing Nothing!

When I Was 19 Years Old, Both Of My Parents Died In The Same Year; My Mom Of Cancer And My Dad In A Car Accident. Through The Next Two Or Three Years And A Series Of Bad Decisions - All My Own, I Might Add - I Ended Up Literally Homeless, Before That Was Even A Word. I Even Slept Occasionally Under A Pier On The Gulf Coast.

When Faced With A Decision, Many People Say They Are Waiting For God. But I Understand, In Most Cases, God Is Waiting For Me.

The Situations That Have Been The Biggest Wins For Me Have Been Because I Was Forced To Think Differently.

I Had Always Been Able To Make People Laugh In School, So I Really Developed That And Worked On It And I Got Pretty Good At It And It Turned Into A Career.

Until A Person Takes Responsibility For Where He Is, There Is No Basis For Moving On. The Bad News Is That The Past Was In Your Hands, But The Good News Is That The Future, My Friend, Is Also In Your Hands.

By Your Hand, Millions - Billions - Of Lives Will Be Altered, Caught Up In A Chain Of Events Begun By You This Day.

After All, The Seeds Of Depression Cannot Take Root In A Grateful Heart.

I Believe That Any Type Of Education Can Be Great, But An Education About Ourselves Can Create Something Wonderful. I Am A Comedian, But People Have Called Me A Motivational Speaker. I Don't Really Consider Myself That At All.

Curiously, A Principle Affects Your Life Whether You Are Aware Of It Or Not. For Instance, The Principle Of Gravity Was Working Long Before The Apple Ever Fell On Newton's Head. But Once It Did, And He Understood It, Then We As A Society Were Free To Harness This Principle To Create, Among Other Things, Airline Flight.

In Desperate Times, Much More Than Anything Else, Folks Need Perspective. For Perspective Brings Calm. Calm Leads To Clear Thinking. Clear Thinking Yields New Ideas. And Ideas Produce The Bloom...of An Answer. Keep Your Head And Heart Clear. Perspective Can Just As Easily Be Lost As It Can Be Found.

While It Is True That Most People Never See Or Understand The Difference They Make, Or Sometimes Only Imagine Their Actions Having A Tiny Effect, Every Single Action A Person Takes Has Far-reaching Consequences.

Circumstances Do Not Push Or Pull. They Are Daily Lessons To Be Studied And Gleaned For New Knowledge And Wisdom. Knowledge And Wisdom That Is Applied Will Bring About A Brighter Tomorrow. A Person Who Is Depressed Is Spending Too Much Time Thinking About The Way Things Are Now And Not Enough Time Thinking About How He Wants Things To Be.

And That Destination For Which We Should Strive Is One Of A Successful Life Not Necessarily A Life Of Success.

Passion Is A Product Of The Heart. Passion Is What Helps You When You Have A Great Dream. Passion Breeds Conviction And Turns Mediocrity Into Excellence! Your Passion Will Motivate Others To Join You In Pursuit Of Your Dream. With Passion, You Will Overcome Insurmountable Obstacles. You Will Become Unstoppable!

When I Was 19 Years Old, Both Of My Parents Died In The Same Year; My Mom Of Cancer And My Dad In A Car Accident. Through The Next Two Or Three Years And A Series Of Bad Decisions - All My Own, I Might Add - I Ended Up Literally Homeless, Before That Was Even A Word. I Even Slept Occasionally Under A Pier On The Gulf Coast.

We Begin To Forgive By Choosing To Forgive . . . By Deciding, Not By Feeling. Our Feelings Don't Lead Us To Forgive. Most Times, Our Feelings Lead Us The Other Way. That's Why A Person Has To Decide To Forgive First. Our Feelings Always Follow Along Behind Our Decisions.

Everyone Has A Worst Time In Their Life. There's Always A Worse Time. We Are All Either In A Crisis, Coming To One Or Coming Out Of One.

Everybody Wants To Make A Difference, But Nobody Wants To Be Different. And You Simply Cannot Have One Without The Other.

Making A Difference

Passion Is A Product Of The Heart. Passion Is What Helps You When You Have A Great Dream. Passion Breeds Conviction And Turns Mediocrity Into Excellence! Your Passion Will Motivate Others To Join You In Pursuit Of Your Dream. With Passion, You Will Overcome Insurmountable Obstacles. You Will Become Unstoppable!

It's A Lot More Interesting To Learn And Discover Real-life Principles When They Are Revealed In The Form Of A Story.

After All, The Seeds Of Depression Cannot Take Root In A Grateful Heart.

The Words It's Not My Fault! Should Never Again Come From Your Mouth. The Words It's Not My Fault! Have Been Symbolically Written On The Gravestones Of Unsuccessful People Ever Since Eve Took Her First Bite Of The Apple.

In Jones's Experience, The Decision To Turn One's Life Around In A Different Direction Rarely Arrived With Fireworks And Marching Bands. Often, The Decision Came With Tears And Regret. Then, Almost Impossibly, The Power Of Forgiveness Would Fill An Unseen Void, Allowing A New Day's Optimism And Sense Of Purpose To Take Hold And Point That Life In A New Direction.

In Desperate Times, Much More Than Anything Else, Folks Need Perspective. For Perspective Brings Calm. Calm Leads To Clear Thinking. Clear Thinking Yields New Ideas. And Ideas Produce The Bloom...of An Answer. Keep Your Head And Heart Clear. Perspective Can Just As Easily Be Lost As It Can Be Found.

I Always Want To Teach Things That Help People With Their Personal Lives, Their Financial Lives And Their Legacies, So This Was A Huge Thing For Me.

Your Big Picture Will Never Be A Masterpiece If You Ignore The Tiny Brushstrokes. You're Trying So Hard To Be Successful That True Success Is Eluding You.

Whatever You Focus Upon, Increases.

I Always Encourage Authors (especially New Authors) To Be As Generous As We Are Blessed. For One Thing, It Is A Way To Help People. For Another, It Is A Seed One Is Planting For The Life Of The Book. Someone Gave It To Someone Who Gave It To Someone Else.

I Will Not Waste Time On Second Thoughts. My Life Will Not Be An Apology. It Will Be A Statement.

I Believe Persistence Is A Major Key To Success In Any Great Endeavor. I Want To Remind Folks To Persist In Whatever They Are Tackling At The Moment!

We Are All In Situations Of Our Own Choosing. Our Thinking Creates A Pathway To Success Or Failure. By Disclaiming Responsibility For Our Present, We Crush The Prospect Of An Incredible Future That Might Have Been Ours.

Every Man Of Character Will Have That Character Questioned. Every Man Of Honor And Courage Will Be Faced With Unjust Criticism, But Never Forget That Unjust Criticism Has No Impact Whatsoever Upon The Truth. And The Only Sure Way To Avoid Criticism Is To Do Nothing And Be Nothing.

I Had Always Been Able To Make People Laugh In School, So I Really Developed That And Worked On It And I Got Pretty Good At It And It Turned Into A Career.

Challenges Are Gifts, Opportunities To Learn.

Opportunities To Learn

We Think In Our Society Today That The Way People Change Is That They Have To Have A Deep Desire To Change Or That The Way They Change Is They Have To Hit Rock Bottom. But Neither Of Those Things Is True.

Even A Small Amount Of Perspective Can Change Our Lives. Because Even The Smallest Amount Of Perspective Can Change How We Are Able To Navigate Hard Times.

I Possess The Greatest Power Ever Bestowed Upon Mankind, The Power Of Choice. Today, I Choose To Persist Without Exception. No Longer Will I Live In A Dimension Of Distraction, My Focus Blown Hither And Yon Like A Leaf On A Blustery Day. I Know The Outcome I Desire. I Hold Fast To My Dreams. I Stay The Course. I Do Not Quit.

If One Makes A Mistake, Then An Apology Is Usually Sufficient To Get Things Back On An Even Keel. However-and This Is A Big ‘however’- Most People Do Not Ever Know Why Their Apology Did Not Seem To Have Any Effect. It Is Simply That They Did Not Make A Mistake; They Made A Choice…and Never Understood The Difference Between The Two.

Listen Carefully To Me. Despite Popular Belief To The Contrary, There Is Absolutely No Power In Intention...there Is No Difference In The Person Who Intends To Do Things Differently And The One Who Never Thinks About It In The First Place. Have You Ever Considered How Often We Judge Ourselves By Out Intentions While We Judge Others By Their Actions? Yet Intention Without Action Is An Insult To Those Who Expect The Best From You.

I Always Encourage Authors (especially New Authors) To Be As Generous As We Are Blessed. For One Thing, It Is A Way To Help People. For Another, It Is A Seed One Is Planting For The Life Of The Book. Someone Gave It To Someone Who Gave It To Someone Else.

I Understand That What I Am To Do Is To Be A Bridge Between The People Who Would Never Set Foot In A Church In Their Entire Lives And People Who Would Like To Get Them There. So I Write Books That Christians Can Give To Their Non-christian Friends That They Will Actually Read.

Perserverence W/o Exception

Remember, Whatever You Focus Upon, Increases...when You Focus On The Things You Need, You'll Find Those Needs Increasing. If You Concentrate Your Thoughts On What You Don't Have, You Will Soon Be Concentrating On Other Things That You Had Forgotten You Don't Have-and Feel Worse! If You Set Your Mind On Loss, You Are More Likely To Lose...but A Grateful Perspective Brings Happiness And Abundance Into A Person's Life.

We Think In Our Society Today That The Way People Change Is That They Have To Have A Deep Desire To Change Or That The Way They Change Is They Have To Hit Rock Bottom. But Neither Of Those Things Is True.

Are You Smiling When You Talk? Try It Today, And I Guarantee You Will Notice A Difference In Your Life.

Every Man Of Character Will Have That Character Questioned. Every Man Of Honor And Courage Will Be Faced With Unjust Criticism, But Never Forget That Unjust Criticism Has No Impact Whatsoever Upon The Truth. And The Only Sure Way To Avoid Criticism Is To Do Nothing And Be Nothing.

Well, That's Why Smart People Get Tripped Up With Worry And Fear. Worry...fear...is Just A Misuse Of The Creative Imagination That Has Been Placed In Each Of Us. Because We Are Smart And Creative, We Imagine All The Things That Could Happen, That Might Happen, That Will Happen If This Or That Happens. See What I Mean?

I Think A Lot Of What Is Involved In Finding A Noticer Is To Watch People And See What Fruit People Have On The Tree. You Examine That Life And See If It Has The Kind Of Fruit You Want To Produce In Your Life.

You Have Chosen The Pathway To Your Present Destination. The Responsibility For Your Situation Is Yours.

We're Not Trying To Raise Good Kids. We're Trying To Raise Kids Who Become Great Adults. That's A Very Different Thing. We All Know Parents Who Had Kids That When They Turned 18 Left The House And Went Nuts.

Of Course It Does, Jomes Answered Earnestly. Many Of Life's Treasures Remain Hidden From Us Simply Because We Never Search For Them. Often We Do Not Ask The Proper Questions That Might Lead Us To The Answer To All Our Challenges. We Are So Caught Up In Fear And Regret, That Hope Seems A Foolish Endeavor. Proof Of Hope, However, Is Not Only Possible, It Is An Overlooked Law Of The Universe.

When I Choose To Smile I Become The Master Of My Emotions.

I Tell People That I'm Not Necessarily Any Good, It's Just That There Is Nobody Like Me. I Just Promise You Will Not Be Bored.

Worry Is Just Imagination Used In An Unproductive Way.

In Jones's Experience, The Decision To Turn One's Life Around In A Different Direction Rarely Arrived With Fireworks And Marching Bands. Often, The Decision Came With Tears And Regret. Then, Almost Impossibly, The Power Of Forgiveness Would Fill An Unseen Void, Allowing A New Day's Optimism And Sense Of Purpose To Take Hold And Point That Life In A New Direction.

Do Battle With The Challenges Of Your Present, And You Will Unlock The Prizes Of Your Future.

Successful People Make Their Decisions Quickly And Change Their Minds Slowly. Failures Make Their Decisions Slowly And Change Their Minds Quickly.

Every Single Thing You Do Matters. You Have Been Created As One Of A Kind. You Have Been Created In Order To Make A Difference. You Have Within You The Power To Change The World.

Making A Difference

When You Know That Everything Matters—that Every Move Counts As Much As Any Other—you Will Begin Living A Life Of Permanent Purpose.

There Are So Many Common Occurrences In Raising Children That People Just Can't Seem To Figure Out.

If, In Fact, It Is What's Inside Us That Makes All The Difference, Then The Difference Is Made When We Choose What Goes Inside.

Your Big Picture Will Never Be A Masterpiece If You Ignore The Tiny Brushstrokes. You're Trying So Hard To Be Successful That True Success Is Eluding You.

Times Of Calamity And Distress Have Always Been Producers Of The Greatest Men. The Hardest Steel Is Produced From The Hottest Fire; The Brightest Star Shreds The Darkest Night.

It's Time To Stop Letting Your History Control Your Destiny.

The Longer You've Known Someone- The More History There Is Between You- The Longer It Will Take To Establish In Their Mind That You Have Truly Changed. Remember, Forgiveness Is An Altogether Different Thing From Trust Or Respect. Forgiveness Is About The Past. Trust And Respect Are About The Future. Forgiveness Will Be In The Hands Of Others And Cna Be Given To You, But Trust And Respect Are In Your Own Hands And Must Be Earned.

Self-discipline Is The Ability To Make Yourself Do Something You Don't Necessarily Want To Do, To Get A Result You Would Really Like To Have.

To Be Great At Whatever It Is That You Do, It's Going To Take Some Discipline To Separate Yourself From The Average.

Knowledge Is One Thing. We're Awash In Knowledge. Wisdom Is Rare. There's A Big Difference.

Knowledge Wisdom

I'm Not Saying Don't Do The Work You Got, But Instead Of This Two Hours Of Watching Tv At The Hotel Lobby Or This Three Hours Of Sitting Under The Pier And Reading Comic Books Or Worrying About What You're Doing ... What Value Do You Have? Can You Read? There Are People Out There Who Can't Read - Go Read To Them.

But Did You Know That During The Past Quarter Century, No Presidential Election Has Been Won By More Than Ten Million Ballots Cast? Yet Every Federal Election During The Same Time Period Had At Least One Hundred Million People Of Voting Age Who Did Not Bother To Vote!

We Have To Prepare Our Teenagers And Our Children For A World Away From Us. That Requires Explanations. That Requires Understanding.

I Just Think It’s Amazing That A Person Could Lose Everything, Chasing Nothing.

What A Person Thinks Is Determined By How A Person Thinks.

Much Of Your Success In Life Is Determined By How You Choose To Act In Spite Of How You Feel.

I Understand That What I Am To Do Is To Be A Bridge Between The People Who Would Never Set Foot In A Church In Their Entire Lives And People Who Would Like To Get Them There. So I Write Books That Christians Can Give To Their Non-christian Friends That They Will Actually Read.

If You Worry About What Other People Think Of You, Then You Will Have More Confidence In Their Opinion Than You Have In Your Own.

Adversity Is Preparation For Greatness.

In The Game Of Life, Nothing Is Less Important Than The Score At Halftime.

Those Who Are Critical Of My Goals And Dreams Simply Do Not Understand The Higher Purpose To Which I Have Been Called.

We Are All In Situations Of Our Own Choosing. Our Thinking Creates A Pathway To Success Or Failure. By Disclaiming Responsibility For Our Present, We Crush The Prospect Of An Incredible Future That Might Have Been Ours.

I Guarantee You There Is Someone In Your Life That Deserves More Appreciation. Who Is It? Find That Person And Let Them Know!

It’s Obvious You Kids Are Smart-school And Good Teachers Will Do That For You-but Wisdom Is Something Altogether Different. Wisdom Can Be Gathered In Your Downtime. Wisdom That Can Change The Very Course Of Your Life Will Come From The People You Are Around, The Books You Read, And The Things You Listen To Or Watch On Radio Or Television.

I Am A Teacher And The Reason I'm A Teacher Is Because I'm Learning As Hard As I Can. I'm Not Any Different From Anybody Else. I Am Searching And Having Some Success Finding Answers.

One Way To Define Wisdom Is The Ability To See, Into The Future, The Consequences Of Your Choices In The Present. That Ability Can Give You A Completely Different Perspective On What The Future Might Look Like.

Intention Without Action Is An Insult To Those Who Expect The Best From You.

It Is Never The Duty Of A Leader To Struggle For Someone Else; A Leader Must Encourage Others To Struggle And Assure Them That The Struggles Are Worthwhile. Do Battle With The Challenges Of Your Present, And You Will Unlock The Prizes Of Your Future.

I Always Want To Teach Things That Help People With Their Personal Lives, Their Financial Lives And Their Legacies, So This Was A Huge Thing For Me.

Everybody Wants To Be On The Mountaintop, But If You'll Remember, Mountaintops Are Rocky And Cold. There Is No Growth On The Top Of A Mountain. Sure, The View Is Great, But What's A View For? A View Just Gives Us A Glimpse Of Our Next Destination-our Next Target. But To Hit That Target, We Must Come Off The Mountain, Go Through The Valley, And Begin To Climb The Next Slope. It Is In The Valley That We Slog Through The Lush Grass And Rich Soil, Learning And Becoming What Enables Us To Summit Life's Next Peak.

I Was Not Called To Be A Preacher. I Am A Speaker Who Is A Christian. I'm Not A Christian Speaker.

Intention Without Action Is An Insult To Those Who Expect The Best From You.

Anytime God Wanted To Reach People He Always Used People To Do It. So, Anytime The Holy Spirit Wants To Reach Other People, It Is Always Through People.

Beginning Today, I Will Create A New Future By Creating A New Me. No Longer Will I Dwell In A Pit Of Despair, Moaning Over Squandered Time And Lost Opportunity. I Can Do Nothing About The Past. My Future Is Immediate. I Will Grasp It In Both Hands And Carry It With Running Feet. When I Am Faced With The Choice Of Doing Nothing Or Doing Something, I Will Always Choose To Act! I Seize This Moment. I Choose Now.

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