I’ve been “tagged!”  If you aren’t familiar with this, it’s a blog game where a theme or question circulates, and people tag other people to respond to the theme or question.

Scott Schwister of Higher Edison tagged me(which I have to say made me feel really honored because I think he’s a very interesting writer). Now I’m supposed to share five to ten “simply successful secrets”  and then tag a few more people to share theirs. 

Here’s the full description:

“List the top 5 to 10 things that you do almost every day that help you to be successful. They can be anything at all, but they have to be things that you do at least 4 or 5 times every week. Anything less than that may be a hobby that helps you out, but we are after the real day in and day out habits that help you to be successful.”  

I have been struggling with answering this because I don’t know how I feel about the word success, not to mention that I think it might come across as a little arrogant because I work with a lot of excellent and talented people.   So in pondering this, I researched a few quotations and found this one that I like:

Try not to be a man of success, but rather to be a man of value.
     – Albert Einstein

I assume Einstein would have applied this to women as well 😉  Einstein’s exhortation appeals to me because there is something in the word success to me that implies the idea of failure as its opposite, and I believe every person has much to offer and success is defined differently for each of us. 

In any case, here are a few things I do daily that hopefully might contribute to me being considered a person of value —

1.  Try to cultivate good relationships with people

2.  Experiment with new things

3.  Read widely online and off

4.  Have quiet time

5.  Encourage others

6.  Be open

7.  Share

8.  Be enthusiastic

Here’s a few things I should do more often:

1.  Go to yoga

2.  Sleep more

I’m usually too excited about things I want to do to sleep as much as a human being should!

Now I’m supposed to tag a few more folks.  I’d like to hear from Chris Lehmann(principal at the Science Leadership Academy),  Kelly Christopherson(an administrator who blogs–but I see he’s already been tagged),  Patrick Higgins (who I just “met” on Ning.com), and  Vaughn Branom (a librarian in Houston).

Also, if anyone here feels compelled to share how they try to be a “person of value,” please join in and post your ideas here!  Tag, you’re it!