Out in the mission field the other day I heard a mission president say that when any missionaries over forty years of age came on a mission he never asked them to memorize, because people over forty are too old to memorize. I am about twice that age and I can memorize three times as fast as I could when I was nineteen--not that my brain is more retentive, but that my interest is greater. And I would like to let you in on a secret, because I know a little bit about this: if you have an inch of brain and a foot of interest, you can memorize a lot more quickly than if you have a foot of brain and only an inch of interest. I only have an inch of brain, but it is tremendously exciting to me that I can get just as interested as I want to be in even those greatest ideas that God himself is interested in--and then I can learn very rapidly.

I once heard of a woman who, when asked what her age was, did not want to be too specific, so she said that she was around forty. Then her friend said, "It must have gone around a second time." My age has nearly completed that circle twice; and I would like to have you know, if it is of any value to you, that it is an easy thing, if we practice just a bit, to get these great ideas into our mind. What do you think you could accomplish if you had in your mind this idea that someone wrote and entitled "The Champion"?

The average runner sprints until the breath in him is gone
But the champion has the iron will that makes him carry on.
For rest the average runner begs when limp his muscles grow,
But the champion runs on leaden legs; his spirit makes them go.
The average man's complacent when he's done his best to score,
But the champion does his best and then he does a little more.
[author unknown]

We live in a great age of wonders and enlightenment, and if we can have a mind that goes along with it and responds to the abundance of opportunity around us and the very fortunate situation in which we find ourselves, we are well on our way toward making our lives as successful in the sight of the Lord as they ought to be.

Motive factor number two: We are highly motivated by people. We are motivated by great ideas, but we can motivate ourselves and others by concern for other people. We work harder for the approval of others than we do for money or for almost any other consideration. Edgar A. Guest put this idea down in writing under the title, "The Purpose."

"Why do you pedal the fruit?" said I
To a huckster of melons passing by.
"Why do you shout from the dawn till gloam?"
Said he, "For the wife and the kids at home."

"Why do you dig in the ditch?" I asked
Of a grimy laborer sorely tasked.
And this is the reason such work he did:
"I gotta da wife, I gotta da kid."

On they go down that busy street,
Eager toilers with hurrying feet,
Butcher, baker, and banker grave.
Why do they work? Why do they slave?

What is it that moves them to work and plan?
What is the motive of every man?
Stop him and ask him what holds him fast,
Dreaming and striving to serve at last.

With polished speech and accent queer,
This is the purpose that you will hear:
Each will say as the digger did,
"I gotta da wife, I gotta da kid."

And that is the purpose that moves us all:
A home and a wife and children small.

You have come to this great Church University where you are taught that all of the most important parts of life have to do with ourselves, our families, and our friends here and across the seas and around the world. It is our job and our privilege to help them to qualify for ultimate success in their eternal life--try to think of something more exciting than that, if you can.

Some years ago I heard a story about a young high school football quarterback. Just before the final game of the year his father died, and the coach said to him, "Now, Bill, we don't expect you to be at the game Friday. You be with your family and we will get along all right. You don't need to come to the rehearsals."

But the boy said, "No, I want to play; and I will be able to play."

The coach did not understand it, but he thought the boy seemed to know what he was doing, so he said, "Okay, if that's the way you feel, we'll let you start and see how you get along."

The boy went into the game and threw the passes, ran the ends, kicked the punts, blocked the tackles, and generaled his team like Superman. The coach could not understand it; he had never played so well before. They won an overwhelming victory; and after the game was over, as they walked off the field, the coach put his arm around this boy and said, "Bill, would you like to tell me about it? How is it that you could do these things under these circumstances?"

This boy replied, "Coach, what you may not know about this situation is that my father was blind, and this is the first game that he has ever seen me play."