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Articles from William Cottringer | Selfgrowth.com
- Ten Things to Stop Beating Yourself Up Over - by Submitted on Aug 19, 2009 from William Cottringer“He who doesn't accept the conditions of life sells his soul.” ~Charles Baudelaire. There are ten no-cause things I have found some people needlessly beat themselves up over. It just makes more sense to accept reality as it is with these particular things and move on to greener pastures worth ...
Views: 4964(3 votes) - TERRIBLE CHOICES - by Submitted on Oct 27, 2009 from William CottringerTERRIBLE CHOICES By Bill Cottringer “We choose our joys and sorrows long before we experience them.” ~Kahlil Gibran. There are some terrible choices we seem to have to make through all ages. Consider the following very uncomfortable choices confronting us all at different ...
Views: 1651(4 votes) - The Most Difficult Thing About Managing Others Is… - by Submitted on Sep 05, 2013 from William CottringerThe Most Difficult Thing About Managing Others Is… By Bill Cottringer “Mis-management of others is usually a symptom of mismanaging yourself.” ~An older, wiser, unnamed manager of sorts. Managing others in today’s work environment is no simple or easy task for the weak-minded. It ...
Views: 1538(2 votes) - The Only Relationship Article You Will Ever Have To Read (Really) - by Submitted on Jan 31, 2010 from William CottringerThe Only Relationship Article You Will Ever Have To Read (Really) By Bill Cottringer “Good relationships are when your head, heart and hands agree most of the time and besides it doesn’t matter quite that much.” ~The author. Centuries of research would agree that relationships fail ...
Views: 3722(3 votes) - We are all Prisoners In The Vicious Circle Tit For Tat Bullying Tag Game - by Submitted on Mar 24, 2012 from William CottringerWe are all Prisoners In The Vicious Circle Tit For Tat Bullying Tag Game By Dr. Bill Cottringer, in association with Storm Door Productions. “Courage is fire, and bullying is smoke.” ~Benjamin Disraeli. Bullies Bullies come in all shapes and sizes— Countries, religions, girls ...
Views: 2002(2 votes) - Welcome Back Kotter (Likeability)! - by Submitted on May 28, 2010 from William CottringerWelcome Back Kotter (Likeability)! By Bill Cottringer “Welcome back, Your dreams were your ticket out. Welcome back, To that same old place that you laughed about…”~John Sebastian, Lov’n Spoonful. One of the most popular TV programs of my generation was “Welcome Back Kotter.” I can ...
Views: 2225(1 vote) - Why Do Bullies Bully? - by Submitted on Oct 11, 2008 from William CottringerWhy Do Bullies Bully? by Bill Cottringer “Courage is fire, and bullying is smoke.” ~Benjamin Disraeli. I am beginning to think that a very widespread problem today, especially with youth, is the problem of perceiving you are being bullied (by life, parents, teachers, peers, employers, ...
Views: 10651(1 vote) - “The Dark Depression Cloud of Later Life” - by Submitted on Dec 21, 2009 from William Cottringer“The Dark Depression Cloud of Later Life” By Bill Cottringer “The aging process has you firmly in its grasp if you never get the urge to throw a snowball.” ~Doug Larson Later life often brings a dark cloud of depression that can be very worrisome and quite difficult to deal with, ...
Views: 1728(2 votes) - Every Choice Has Its Price - by Submitted on Aug 05, 2009 from William Cottringer“There are always two choices, two paths to take. One is easy and its only reward is that it’s easy.” ~Anonymous chooser. It seems like a lifetime ago that I wrote the book “You Can Have Your Cheese & Eat It Too, with all the clever ways to crack the ancient paradox of you can’t have ...
Views: 4787(3 votes) - A Work Conflict Deserving a Thoughtful Resolution By Bill Cottringer - by Submitted on Oct 11, 2015 from William Cottringer“Peace is not absence of conflict, it is the ability to handle conflict by peaceful means” ~Ronald Reagan. The transition from the Manufacturing Age to the Information Age brought is a value revolution. The current values revolution has turned the traditional workplace upside down and ...
Views: 1589(2 votes) - Making Relationships Less Difficult - by Submitted on Sep 22, 2013 from William CottringerMaking Relationships Less Difficult By Bill Cottringer “Consider how hard it is to change yourself and you'll understand what little chance you have in trying to change others.” ~Anonymous. It is not easy to be successful at anything today because of the many obstacles that ...
Views: 1826(2 votes) - Relationship Reality Repair - by Submitted on Mar 30, 2011 from William CottringerRelationship Reality Repair by Bill Cottringer “Man is a knot into which relationships are tied.” ~Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. Successful relationships are all about keeping things in proper perspective. This is especially true about the different perceptions of the realities of the ...
Views: 1537(3 votes) - PUTTING THE POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGY MOVEMENT IN PROPER PERSPECTIVE - by Submitted on Oct 13, 2009 from William CottringerPUTTING THE POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGY MOVEMENT IN PROPER PERSPECTIVE “Happiness is not a goal, but rather it’s a byproduct.” ~Eleanor Roosevelt. This quote by Eleanor Roosevelt puts a lot of things in proper perspective, especially the popular movements for change driven by the mass media ...
Views: 2476(4 votes) - Are You A Worry Wart? - by Submitted on Oct 30, 2010 from William CottringerAre You A Worry Wort? By William Cottringer, Ph.D. “You know you are in big trouble when you start worrying about how much you are worrying.” ~ The Author. With all the stresses from the overload that now plagues us today, we all probably worry too much about the past, present and ...
Views: 2081(6 votes) - FROM KNOWING TO DOING - by Submitted on Nov 22, 2012 from William CottringerFROM KNOWING TO DOING By Bill Cottringer “What the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve.” ~Napoleon Hill. But will I actually do it—go from knowing to doing—is the dangling question after Napoleon Hill’s quote above. Great self-development and self-help sources of ...
Views: 2739(1 vote) - Resolving The Clash Between Younger and Older Workers - by Submitted on Feb 22, 2013 from William CottringerResolving The Clash Between Younger and Older Workers By Bill Cottringer “Conflict is inevitable, but combat is optional.” ~Max Lucade. Because of today’s economic uncertainty, earlier entry into occupations and delayed retirements, there is a growing gap and conflict emerging in ...
Views: 1721(1 vote) - Some Things Can’t Be Understood - by Submitted on Aug 10, 2009 from William Cottringer“I know that you believe you understand what you think I said, but I'm not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant.” ~Robert McCloskey. You can’t understand some things, You may think you can, But you really can’t, Especially the why questions, Other people’s ...
Views: 4740(1 vote) - The Ten Most Common Causes of Unhappiness and Their Common Sense Cures - by Submitted on Jul 22, 2009 from William Cottringer“O Lord! Unhappy is the man whom man can make unhappy.” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson. I have dealt with a lot of unhappy people during my 45-year career and I have been unhappy enough myself during my own roller-coaster ride in life to have experienced the top ten reasons causing unhappiness and ...
Views: 3984(1 vote) - Thinking Away The Crap - by Submitted on Jul 27, 2008 from William CottringerThinking Away the Crap By Bill Cottringer “Keep writing. Try to do a little bit every day, even if the result looks like crap. Getting from page four to page five is more important than spending three weeks getting page four perfect.” ~Alan Dean Foster. I am not going to apologize for ...
Views: 1209(1 vote) - What You Don't Know Can Hurt You Most. - by Submitted on Jun 10, 2010 from William CottringerWhat You Don't Know Can Hurt You Most. by Bill Cottringer “There is no shame in not knowing; the shame lies in not finding out.” ~ Russian Proverb. What you don't know about a situation is what usually results in not feeling good about things, especially about the gap between where ...
Views: 3775(6 votes) - When 1/2 Plus 1/2 Doesn't Add Up to One - by Submitted on Aug 18, 2009 from William Cottringer“How many legs does a dog have if you call the tail a leg? Four; calling a tail a leg doesn't make it a leg.” ~Abraham Lincoln. When some new, intriguing, and well-packaged self-help book, system or idea comes out, it is very easy to run straight towards it with a smothering full body ...
Views: 1370(2 votes) - WHY PARENTING TODAY IS SO DIFFICULT - by Submitted on Apr 14, 2013 from William CottringerWHY PARENTING TODAY IS SO DIFFICULT By Bill Cottringer Why is parenting today so difficult (besides being so expensive and all of us being so busy doing other things)? The answer to this question involves the main parenting role—teaching our children the basic skills that are necessary to ...
Views: 2717(1 vote) - HOW TO BE DEMOTED GRACEFULLY WHEN YOU ARE A GOOD PERSON - by Submitted on Dec 28, 2008 from William CottringerHOW TO BE DEMOTED GRACEFULLY WHEN YOU ARE A GOOD PERSON By Bill Cottringer One of the realities of today’s economic downturn is a hard one to swallow, at least with any honorable degree of courage, humility and gracefulness. This is the reality that you can still be a good person, and an ...
Views: 8818(2 votes) - Check Your Beliefs at The Door - by Submitted on Mar 13, 2025 from William CottringerCheck Your Beliefs at The Door by Bill Cottringer “Beliefs are choices. First you choose your beliefs. Then your beliefs affect your choices.” ~Roy T. Bennett. Beliefs rule the world, but do we really understand the many problems that beliefs come with and also cause when they are ...
Views: 27 - "P" Point Management - by Submitted on Sep 12, 2007 from William Cottringer“P” Point Management: Simple Clues for Closing Gaps “When you want to fool the world, simply tell the truth clearly” (Otto Von Bismark). Here’s the simple and clear truth: The biggest problem we have today in managing our lives and our organizations is the prevalence of gaps. Success ...
Views: 1090 - #1 Success & Happiness Solution: Rubber Band Thinking - by Submitted on Aug 17, 2013 from William Cottringer#1 Success & Happiness Solution: Rubber Band Thinking By Bill Cottringer “I wouldn’t give a fig for the simplicity on this side of complexity, but for the simplicity just on the other side of complexity, I would give my life.” ~Oliver Wendell Holmes. There is no shortage of good ...
Views: 1763 - 20 Writing Tips for Better Results - by Submitted on Jun 25, 2014 from William Cottringer20 Writing Tips for Better Results By Bill Cottringer Excellent writing has never happened by chance. It takes open-mindedness and an insatiable drive to continually learn how to improve what you are trying to say and the hard work that goes along with that challenge. Excellent writing ...
Views: 1835 - 21 EASY WAYS TO HAVE MORE PEACE OF MIND, HEART & SOUL - by Submitted on Jan 05, 2009 from William Cottringer21 EASY WAYS TO HAVE MORE PEACE OF MIND, HEART & SOUL By Bill Cottringer A worthy growth goal and improvement strategy, which builds a valuable sense of general wellness that leads to more success, is to carry out an action plan to give your mind, heart and soul more peace. Hear are 21 ...
Views: 5535 - 25 Self-Development Truths You Can Take To The Bank Or I Don't Know Anything - by Submitted on Jul 28, 2008 from William Cottringer25 Self-Development Truths You Can Take To The Bank Or I Don’t Know Anything By Bill Cottringer "The highest reward for a person's toil is not what they get for it, but what they become by it." ~John Ruskin. Here are 25 self-development truths I am certain of through firsthand experience ...
Views: 911 - 25 Sure Ways to Improve Communication - by Submitted on Mar 27, 2014 from William Cottringer25 Sure Ways to Improve Communication By Bill Cottringer “The greatest problem with communication is the illusion it has taken place.” ~George Bernard Shaw. Communication is the main currency in the today’s Information Age, but sadly, miscommunication is our number one failing ...
Views: 1894 - 30 Questions To Help You Find Your Best Self - by Submitted on Mar 16, 2012 from William Cottringer30 Questions To Help You Find Your Best Self By Bill Cottringer "You were not born a winner, and you were not born a loser. You are what you make yourself be." ~ Lou Holtz. The self-growth movement is all about people finding ways to help themselves and each other become their ...
Views: 2816 - 7 Locked Doors to Un-Doing Problem Behavior - by Submitted on Mar 31, 2012 from William Cottringer7 Locked Doors to Un-Doing Problem Behavior By Bill Cottringer “A man who carries a cat by the tail learns something he can learn in no other way.” ~Mark Twain. For most of us, we spend half our lives trying to carry a cat by the tail and the other half trying to change the results ...
Views: 1797 - 7 Pillars of Character Power - by Submitted on Apr 30, 2022 from William Cottringer7 Pillars of Character Power by Bill Cottringer “Be more concerned with your character than your reputation, because your character is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are.” ~ John Wooden. 1. Openness. I once commented on the importance ...
Views: 458 - 7 SURE BUILDING-BLOCKS OF SUCCESS - by Submitted on Sep 09, 2017 from William Cottringer7 SURE BUILDING-BLOCKS OF SUCCESS By Bill Cottringer “Success is a lousy teacher. It seduces smart people into thinking they can't lose.” ~ Bill Gates. Having both attempted and researched the phenomenon we call “success” now for nearly 7 decades, I have reached the conclusion that ...
Views: 1201 - A Baker’s Dozen Classic Ah-Ha Moments - by Submitted on Jan 19, 2023 from William CottringerA Baker’s Dozen Classic Ah-Ha Moments By Bill Cottringer “We often get the thinking-feeling-behavior sequence mixed up. It is important to understand that it is behaviors and actions, not thinking, that result in our feelings, which in turn often prompt problem behaviors.” ~The author. ...
Views: 480 - A Belief Worth Questioning - by Submitted on Dec 04, 2019 from William CottringerA Belief Worth Questioning By Bill Cottringer “Tolerance implies no lack of commitment to one's own beliefs. Rather it condemns the oppression or persecution of others.” ~John F. Kennedy. All the world’s dreadful problems and the unwanted miseries they bring, are caused by one ...
Views: 904 - A Disturbing Reality - by Submitted on Jun 28, 2018 from William CottringerA Disturbing Reality By Bill Cottringer “Logic will never change emotion or perception.” ~ Edward de Bono. After studying things like success, happiness, failure, frustration and anger for several decades now, I have come to the conclusion there may be a very disturbing reality too ...
Views: 1401 - A Few More Thoughts About Happiness - by Submitted on Dec 03, 2019 from William CottringerA Few More Thoughts About Happiness by Bill Cottringer “Breathe in common sense and breathe out nonsense.” ~The Author. Happiness has as many different definitions and ways to get it as there are people on the planet. Here are a few more thoughts about happiness I have had recently, ...
Views: 905 - A Mission Every Employer Has with Every Employee - by Submitted on Dec 17, 2014 from William CottringerA Mission Every Employer Has with Every Employee By Dr. Bill Cottringer “The obscure takes a while to see, but the obvious even longer.” ~Anonymous. The above quote relates to a lesson I seem to have to keep relearning and remembering from the first book I wrote several years ...
Views: 1651 - A Mother of a Problem For Reality Repair - by Submitted on Jul 02, 2008 from William CottringerA Mother of a Problem For Reality Repair By Bill Cottringer A central challenge in life is for us to learn how to become experts at reality repair. We frequently find ourselves as part of undesirable realities we need to fix or create new and better replacement ones we think we want. ...
Views: 782 - A New Year’s Resolution Worth Considering - by Submitted on Jan 05, 2015 from William CottringerA New Year’s Resolution Worth Considering By Bill Cottringer Normally, I am not one for making or suggesting good New Year’s resolutions, maybe because I have seen too many short-lived ones dissolving after just a few weeks. However, I am going to make an exception to my own rule this ...
Views: 1495 - A PERSONAL CHOICE: PRETEND OR PLAY? - by Submitted on Nov 28, 2008 from William CottringerA PERSONAL CHOICE: PRETEND OR PLAY? By Bill Cottringer “A truly good book teaches me better than to read it. I must soon lay it down, and commence living on its hint. What I began by reading, I must finish by acting.” ~Henry David Thoreau. For a long time now I have gradually realized ...
Views: 849 - A Prescription for Resolving Interpersonal Conflicts - by Submitted on Jan 31, 2020 from William CottringerA Prescription for Resolving Interpersonal Conflicts by Bill Cottringer “All conflict can be traced back to someone’s feelings getting hurt, don’t you think?” ~Liane Moriarty, Big Little Lies. We all get stuck in messy emotional interpersonal conflicts with others from ...
Views: 1119 - A Sensible Spiritual Viewpoint to Seriously Consider - by Submitted on May 26, 2024 from William CottringerA Sensible Spiritual Viewpoint to Seriously Consider By William Cottringer, Ph.D. A viewpoint is the convenient way the brain efficiently gathers all the various thoughts and feelings we get from our experiences in life and from interacting with other people, that cumulatively make up ...
Views: 233 - A Serious Limitation with Words - by Submitted on Apr 29, 2023 from William CottringerA Serious Limitation with Words by Bill Cottringer “Silence is the language of God, all else is poor translation.” ~Rumi. Ever since being a young acolyte in the Episcopal Church studying the Bible and doing a book report on it for English class in high school, I have always been ...
Views: 419 - A SIMPLE BUT PROFOUND LIFE-CHANGING CHOICE - by Submitted on Apr 06, 2008 from William CottringerA SIMPLE BUT PROFOUND LIFE-CHANGING CHOICE By Bill Cottringer “The difficulty in life is the choice.” ~ George Moore Several years ago one of my best friends had a small piece of granite on his desk with some words that impressed me so much I made mention of the object several times. He ...
Views: 1016 - A Simple Life Gap Map That Makes Sense Of The Ones You Have To Pay For - by Submitted on Jun 19, 2011 from William CottringerA Simple Life Gap Map That Makes Sense Of The Ones You Have To Pay For By Bill Cottringer “Life gets to be fun only when we begin to feel free to live it; but there is no real freedom apart from responsibility and ownership.” ~Dr. Henry Cloud. Here are two important things you know ...
Views: 1695 - A Very Annoying Habit - by Submitted on Jun 23, 2020 from William CottringerA VERY ANNOYING HABIT by Bill Cottringer “I personally believe we developed language because of our deep inner need to complain.” ~Jane Wagner. What could anyone complain about regarding this beautiful day? Oh, I imagine we can find something: The inconvenient travel and other ...
Views: 844 - ACCEPT ADVERSITY, BOUNCE BACK & GET GOING - by Submitted on Feb 08, 2014 from William CottringerACCEPT ADVERSITY, BOUNCE BACK & GET GOING By Bill Cottringer “All the adversity I've had in my life, all my troubles and obstacles, have strengthened me... You may not realize it when it happens, but a kick in the teeth may be the best thing in the world for you.” ~Walt Disney. ...
Views: 2098 - ACCESSING THE SUCCESS AND HAPPINESS CONNECTION - by Submitted on Apr 25, 2009 from William CottringerACCESSING THE SUCCESS AND HAPPINESS CONNECTION By Bill Cottringer “Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful.” ~Herman Cain Success and happiness definitely reign as King and Queen of the worlds’ mind, at ...
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