I had been swimming competitively for about five years and was ready to quit, not because I had satisfied my desire to swim, but because I felt I was horrible at it. I was often the only African American at a swim competition, and our team could not afford anything close to the great uniforms the other teams were wearing. Worst of all though, and my number-one reason for wanting to quit, was that I kept receiving "Honorable Mentions" at each competition, which simply means, "Thank you for coming. You did not even rank first, second or third, but we don't want you to go home with nothing, so here is something to hide later." Any athlete knows that you don't want to have a bookshelf or a photo album full of "Honorable Mentions." They call that the "show-up ribbon"; you get one just because you showed up. One hot summer day, the very day before a big swim meet, I decided to break the news to my grandma that I was quitting the swim team. On the one hand I thought it was a big deal because I was the only athlete in the family, but on the other hand, because no one ever came to see me compete, I didn't think it would be a major issue. You have to know my grandma - she stood on tiptoe to five-feet-two-inches and weighed a maximum ninety-five pounds, but could run the entire operation of her house without ever leaving her sofa or raising her voice. As I sat next to my grandma, I assumed my usual position of laying my big head on her tiny little lap so that she could rub it. When I told her of my desire to quit swimming, she abruptly pushed my head off of her lap, sat me straight up facing her and said, "Baby, remember these words: 'A quitter never wins and a winner never quits.' Your grandmother didn't raise no losers or quitters. You go to that swim meet tomorrow, and you swim like you are a grandchild of mine, you hear?" I was too afraid to say anything but, "Yes, ma'am." The next day we arrived at the swim meet late, missing my group of swimmers in the fifteen/sixteen age group. My coach insisted I be allowed to swim with the next group, the next age older. I could have just as easily crawled out of the gym. I knew she was including me in the race so our long drive would not be wasted, and she had no expectations whatsoever that I would come in anything but eighth - and only that because there were not nine lanes. As I mounted the board, I quickly noticed that these girls with their skintight caps, goggles and Speedo suits were here to do one thing - kick my chocolate butt! All of a sudden my grandma's words rang in my head, Quitters never win and winners never quit, quitters never win and winners never quit. SPLASH! Quitters never win and winners never quit, quitters never win and winners never quit. I was swimming harder than I'd ever swum before. As I drew my right arm back, I noticed I was tied with one person. I assumed we were battling for eighth place and I refused to finish dead last, so I added more kick on the last two hundred yards. Quitters never win and winners never quit, quitters never win and winners never quit. I hit the wall and looked to the left and to the right for the swimmers who had beat me, but no one was there. They must have gotten out of the water already. I raised my head to see my coach screaming hysterically. My eyes followed her pointing finger and I couldn't believe what I saw. The other swimmers had just reached the halfway point of the pool! That day, at age fifteen, I broke the national seventeen/eighteen-year-old 400-freestyle record. I hung up my honorable mentions and replaced them with a huge trophy. Back at Grandma's, I laid my head on her lap and told her about our great race. By Lisa Nichols Marilyn L. Ali

Marilyn, that was a very inspiring story. I dare anyone to say they didn't have a least one tear in their eye after reading that. It reminds me of the motto, "whatever the mind can conceive and believe, the mind can achieve." Leslie (The Money Man)

HI Leslie, First, let me say welcome to my forums, it is very nice to have you here! I am glad that you enjoyed the story, and found it very touching. God Bless, Marilyn

Who is Leslie Sprankling, how did he get such a dumb name and why should you care? Firstly, Leslie is one of the smartest, and most generous business advisers and consultants in Australia. How did he get such a dumb name? The King of England gave it to him! Well, that’s not exactly true, King Harold of England (you know, the one that got shot by an arrow in the eye), gave it to Leslie’s ancestor, a member of the King’s Household foot soldiers. He must have been a good soldier because the King gave him a coat of arms too (reserved for those who fought with the King). So what does the name Sprankling mean? It’s meaning, in English, is “the man with the creaky leg.” But, in the Dutch language, it means “sparkling” so you can buy sprankling wines in Holland, although your purchase won’t put any guilders in my pocket. For me, both meanings are true. I had a serious auto accident in 1987 which left me with a damaged right knee and little cartilage. This means the bones tend to rub together, clicking and grating, making me a man with a creaky leg. But, despite the pain and disability of the knee, my spirit and personality are sparkling. Why should you care a hoot? Because this sparkling man has produced some really bright business concepts and has created and executed some really good marketing programs. He’s been a marketer since he was 8 years old (if you stay with this I’ll tell you about his first four successful businesses, all created and successfully executed before he was ten years old). He has studied the methodologies and marketing concepts of many great marketers, including Jay Abraham (a brilliant marketer and conceptualist0, Gary Halbert (a vain and arrogant man, but truly exceptional at copy writing and direct marketing), as well as having “walked the walk, talked the talk and been there, done that” for over 35 years of his adult life. So what? What’s in it for you? Now you’re talkin’. Leslie has a web log (blog) at http://moneylogics.blogspot.com/. But it’s not a diary of a ramblin’ no hoper. It’s a daily log where Leslie posts useful articles and reports, “orl his own werk” which you’ll find informative and useful. Well mostly all his own work, currently Leslie is posting some of the best sales letters ever written, one a day, for 15 days. You can copy and paste any of the material you’ll find on Leslie’s blog, use the ideas yourself (you cannot copyright ideas), but if you use any report or article on your website, in your newsletter, ezine or publish it in any way, you must give Leslie credit for it. Just attach Leslie’s name as author, the blog address http://moneylogics.blogspot.com/ website address www.better-n-chocolate.com and Leslie’s primary email mityoaks@bigpond.com. Now, if you are so busy, like some of my blog’s visitors, that you don’t have time to scroll through the archives (where there are some really good articles), you can catch up with them by having them sent directly to your mailbox, one every three days. To take advantage of this free service, just click here. If you use any of the articles you receive this way, just leave them intact, with the resource box attached and you can publish them in any medium you choose. They are actually great as content for your website to get you listed with the search engines. So, if you want the articles, but don’t have the time to sift through them all, why click here and get one sent to you every 3 days. Then you can just check in at the blog every couple of days to see what’s new. Just send a blank email to lesliesblog@viralprofits and it will be on autopilot for you. Cheers for now Leslie P.S. If you have a question anytime, just email me at mityoaks@bigpond.com, and I’ll try to answer it for you within 2 days. And if I'm allowed, I will post again and tell you about the Strangest Secret

Hello Marilyn A very inspiring story. Good quote to remember when it all just gets a little too hard. Thanks Best wishes Jadranka