Action

To be successful you don't have to do extraordinary things--just do ordinary things extraordinarily well. Put the pedal to the metal--gas it and guide it. To prove you are a man of action Glenn Bland says there are several things you can do: 1. Be a front seater; 2. Develop eye contact with everyone you meet and talk to; 3. Walk 25% faster; 4. Speak up; 5. Smile big; 6. Dress well.

The winner is a person who does what others won't or can't do in order to have what others will never have. So some people will walk--and that is all they can do--but if you can, run, charge, attack, win, as you seek your objective. The time is now, the place is here, the people are you. Go for it--attack.

In the movie, The Empire Strikes Back, Luke Skywalker tells Yoda, "I'll try." Yoda counters with, "Try, Try! There is no try. Only do! do!"
Taking a training course in success or reading a book on success will not make you any more successful than going into a drugstore will make you a pill; or going into a garage will make you a car; or going into a hat store will make you a hat. Take the things you learn and put them into action.

Zig Ziglar tells the story of going to the neighbors to have some biscuits. They came out of the oven flat and hard. The cook laughed and said, "They squatted to cook and were cooked in the squat." Zig used this as a metaphor of life. He says too many people are "cooked in the squat" by saying, "I'll get started when I ..." You can fill in the blanks.
Theodore Roosevelt said, "It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows in the end the triumph of high achievement; and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly."

Take your learning out of your notebook and practice it. Break down what you want to be good at into small pieces, then practice them. Never compare yourself to others..only compare your present performance with past performance. Compare in tiny increments rather than huge chunks. You create belief in yourself by paying the price--by action. That means hard work, persistency and consistency. Nothing takes the place of action.
Jim Janz tells the story of three girls going to swim. At the swimming pool one dipped a toe in the water and then went over to sunbathe. One sat at a table with a cold drink and a book. One dived in and swam. Yet, if they were asked, all three would have said they had been swimming. Isn't that much like success? Some sit looking on, some dip a toe in, and some dive in and make it work.

A man's greatest enemies are his own apathy and stubbornness. Action is the last resource of those who do not know how to dream. Fame and rest are utter opposites. Oliver Goldsmith said, "Fortune is ever seen accompanying industry." Horace Mann added, "It is good to think well, it is divine to act well."

We become what we do. We do today what others won't so we can do tomorrow what others can't. Begin to do those things you can do, or even dream you can do. Be bold in beginning. Goethe said that boldness has genius, power and magic in it.
What kind of person are you? The "yo-yo" person who is up and down and needs to be constantly pumped up? Does someone need to keep a portable air-compressor handy for you? Or, are you the "blow-blow" person who is all talk and no walk? I hope you are the "go-go" person who walks the walk. If you are this kind of person you may lose the battle but you will never lose the war. You might even lose some loyal lieutenants you love, but you will go on to win.

Imperfect action is better than perfect paralysis. It is better to light one small candle than to stand around cursing the darkness. It is the greatest of all mistakes to do nothing because you can only do a little. Do what you can. In the film, Shenandoah, Mr. Anderson, when his youngest son was lost, said, "If we don't try, we won't do. And if we don't do, then why are we placed here upon the earth?"

The joke is told of a preacher doing his best to not be upset by a heckler. Finally the heckler stood on a stump and said, "Have your God knock me off my stump." The preacher stepped up to him, hauled off and hit him. The heckler did three flips as he fell backward. The preacher rubbed his hands together. "I don't ask my God to do anything I can do myself."
Emerson said to do the thing and you will have the power. In the Bible, as King David was dying, he said to his son, Solomon, "Be strong, and be of good courage, and do it." (Emphasis mine.)
Be prejudiced against laziness. Henry Ford said, “Bite off more than you can chew, and chew it. Do More than you can do, and do it. Hitch your wagon to a star, dare to dream, and there you are.”

Edward Everett Hale, in his Patriot's Oath, stated, "I am only one, but I am one; I cannot do everything But I can do something. And what I can do That I ought to do; And what I ought to do By the grace of God I will do."
A modern president, John F. Kennedy, said, "Things don't just happen. They are made to happen, and they are made to happen by each one of us."

To rest is to rust. The place for peace and harmony is at a funeral. That is not what people want. People want success and success only comes through action. A dead branch cannot give new life. An unlit match cannot light a stick of dynamite. Convince a man of what he wants and he will move heaven and earth to get it.

Don't be a procrastinator--be an activator. Don't let the energy crisis be your own. Some people have gludus plumus disease--lead in the britches. To make ends meet--get off yours.
Things don't just happen--someone makes them happen.
Take action--NOW!