Cam Taylor

Be inspired. Be focused. Be tenacious.

Stop Blaming Your Circumstances

Every once in a while, words hit extremely close to home. The following quote by George Bernard Shaw were such words. When I heard them, I was caught red handed and knew I needed to make a change. I want to tell you the quote and then take you through my thinking process — line […]

The Mountain Man Who Didn’t Quit

To have a dream and a plan to achieve it is not enough. You also need the effort to accomplish that dream. What idea, dream or pursuit are you trying to bring to fruition? Raising a child? Nurturing a business to viability? Developing a talent? Writing a book? Building a healthy relationship? Regaining strength after […]

Confidence – GIYC part 7

The greater danger for most of us lies not in setting our aim too high and falling short; but in setting our aim too low, and achieving our mark. ― Michelangelo Buonarroti Confidence is a necessary quality for digesting the challenges of life. This post is meant to inspire you to develop greater confidence in […]

Resilience – GIYC part 6

Resilience comes from an old Latin word meaning “to spring back” or “rebound.” Resilience is also the “ability to recover readily from illness, depression, adversity, or the like; buoyancy.” Birds need resilience in the form of grit in their craw if they hope to digest the food they eat. You need GIYC* (grit in your […]

Discipline – GIYC part 5

Discipline is discipline is discipline is discipline!!! If you have discipline in sports, you’re well on your way to winning games, and if you have discipline in your life, you’re well on your way to success. In sports and in life, discipline can’t be an occasional thing — it has to be an all-the-time thing. […]

Flexibility – GIYC part 4

Flexibility is a requirement for survival. ― Roger Von Oech Without flexibility, we can’t digest the tough assignments life sends our way. This quality is one of the eight gritty qualities needed to survive in life (as described by Robert Luckadoo*). The other seven are: diligence, tenacity, optimism, discipline, resilience, confidence, and purpose. The case […]

Optimism – GIYC part 3

The third quality you need to have GIYC (grit in your craw), is optimism. Without it, you give up more easily, are difficult to be around, and miss out on all that life has to offer. This is the third quality of the eight required to digest the tough stuff life throws at us. The […]

Tenacity – GIYC part 2

Without GIYC (grit in your craw), you are unable to digest life’s challenges. With GIYC, you rise every time you fall, keep going when tempted to quit, and maintain hope when circumstances overwhelm. In this post, we look at GIYC quality #2 — tenacity. The eight qualities (as described by Robert Luckadoo*) are diligence, tenacity, […]

Diligence – GIYC part 1

Since birds have no teeth, they need a way to digest their food which is why they have a “craw” or gizzard in their throat. They fill it with grit – small stones, grain and sand which serves to grind up food before it reaches the stomach. In life, we need grit in our craw […]

How to Maintain Optimism in a Dream Crushing World

An experiment conducted in 1967 resulted in a fascinating discovery. The experiment placed five monkeys in a cage with a bunch of bananas hanging high out of reach. Up against the wall, however, was a ladder could be used to climb up and reach the bananas. It didn’t take long for the monkeys to spot […]