Welcome to the inspirational living podcast.

Today's reading was edited and adapted from A Book of Friendly Thoughts by Nixon Waterman,

published in 1913.

Halfway, Halfhearted doings never amount to much.

Battles are not won with flags at half-mast.

They are run up to the very tops of their standards, and are waved as far toward the heavens as is possible.

If we lack enthusiasm, we are almost as certain to fail of achieving an end, as a locomotive engine that lacks steam is of climbing a grade.

A listless lackadaisical spirit may get on all right,

so long as the path of life is all on a level lower down grade.

But when it comes to hill climbing,

and the real experiences of life that serve to develop character,

we are likely to give up the contest and surrender the prize we might win to other and more earnest competitors.

Aim above morality.

Be not simply good.

Be good for something.

If you would get the best results,

do your work with enthusiasm as well as fidelity.

The world makes way only for the determined person who laughs at barriers

which limit others, at stumbling blocks over which others fall. Everyone knows that the friends

whom they love best are the ones who are alive to the world about them,

and who feel an enthusiasm in the tasks and privileges that confront them.

Enthusiasm is the breeze that fills the sails, and sends the ships gliding over the happy waves.

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