Harvey, Jason - Achieve Anything In Just One Year - Be Inspired Daily to Live Your Dreams and Accomplish Your Goals

— Henry J. Kaiser

You are now becoming a person of action. How does it feel? It can be quite a powerful experience. Even a little bit of work gives you a large return in the form of pride and accomplishment.

Jonathon became a man of action. He started with little tasks and stayed in motion, and soon he found he was accomplishing things he never thought possible. He even built a workroom onto his house where he could follow his dream of woodworking.

When Jonathon’s wife entered his newly-finished workshop, she gasped as she gazed around. She had always known he was quite an artist when it came to woodworking, but she had no idea he had the gumption to follow through with something like this. Jonathon started many projects in the past, but he finished very few. Just months prior, she had been badgering him to get his unfinished woodblocks off of her craft table in the basement.

“This is beautiful!” She smiled.

Jonathon hiked up his pants and looked around, busting with pride. “Yep, I thought I would start off by building you a birdhouse; then I’m going to re-do all of the cabinets in the kitchen; next, I think I’ll design and build an entertainment center for the living room . . .”

Your assignment today is to continue to be a person of action. Don’t interrupt your efforts with talk. Get back to work.

DAY

40

“A superior man is modest in his speech, but exceeds in his actions.”

— Confucius

Jonathon’s wife in yesterday’s story was at first impressed by his new workshop, but then she became immediately skeptical of his actions when he started to talk big about his future plans. At that point, she had only seen him carry out one project to completion. She didn’t have much evidence to suggest he would finish all of the other schemes he boasted about.

You must remember to be modest in speech even when you start to become a person of action. You will want to talk about what you’ve done, because you’re happy about your accomplishments. You are proud that you made a very important change in your life. That is a great triumph! But avoid the temptation to talk about what you’ve done. Pile up more actions instead to build your success.

Push forward in the action category, and you will be happily surprised with the results. You don’t have to tell anyone what you are doing. They will look at the evidence and realize you are someone who gets a job done. No further explanation is necessary at this point.

Your job today is to exceed in actions. Today you will avoid lethargy and stay in motion. Find out just how much you can accomplish in twenty-four hours. At the end of the day, make a list of everything you did in your notebook. How does it look? Could you have done more? This list is for your eyes only. Don’t show it to anyone else. The next day you will get back into action and keep the secret of your success to yourself.

DAY

41

“When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left, and could say, I used everything you gave me.”

— Erma Bombeck

What a wonderful demonstration of success it would be if you could say at the end of your life that you used up every single bit of talent you possess! It would be incredibly satisfying to know that you put all of the materials you were given to good use and built a happy and fulfilling existence. Now is your chance to make that happen.

There is really no need to conserve your talents. There is absolutely no reason to wait to use the skills you have been given. Don’t save your smarts for a rainy day. In fact, you are doing yourself a disservice by not using up your talents right now and sharing them with the rest of the world. You may find that you have a treasure within you that increases the more it is given away.

When you share your gifts in a way that betters the world around you, you will be blessed with riches beyond measure. You can consider yourself an immediate success, because you have been a positive force on earth.

What do you want to be able to say at the end of your life? Do you want to say I used everything you gave me, or do you want to say, I have a little bit left over? The talents you don’t use today are wasted. Do you want to live a wasteful life or a fulfilling life? The choice is yours.

Your assignment today is to use your talents. Don’t hide them or save them for just the right moment. You have a vast supply. Share your gifts with the rest of the world.

DAY

42

“You may never know what results come of your action, but if you do nothing there will be no result.”

— Mahatma Gandhi

This is the final day in a short series on action, and the message is simple: if you do nothing, that’s exactly what you’ll get—nothing.

You can’t predict the future, so it is impossible to know what results will come from your actions. They may be good or bad. It is understandable that you would have some trepidation about taking action when you are unsure of what might happen. You could fail. You also might be successful. There is no guarantee one way or the other.

Gandhi makes one very important point, though, and that is if you do nothing, there will be no result. You have no chance of winning. When that truth is brought to light, it makes the decision to take action quite a bit easier.

You picked up this book because you have a desire to be successful. You have a yearning to live up to what you know deep down you are capable of being. The only way you can do that is to take action.

Today, your task is to dig deep and consider actions that you can take right now that will lead to your success. Life is unpredictable, so you do not have the luxury of waiting any longer. Act now! If you do nothing today, you will receive nothing in return. How much better will you feel about yourself if you take action this very moment? There is a brand new world outside waiting for a contribution only you are uniquely qualified to give. Take action today.

DAY

43

“Far away there in the sunshine are my highest aspirations. I may not reach them, but I can look up and see their beauty, believe in them, and try to follow where they lead.”

— Louisa May Alcott

This quote from Louisa May Alcott gives a striking depiction of the beauty of aspirations. Aspirations are goals floating high in the sky and shining in the sunlight. When you feel discouraged, you can look to them, believe in them, and follow them.

Every successful person fills their own imaginary sky with aspirations. It helps them to reach further and try harder and achieve more than they would have if they kept their face to ground and never looked up to the heavens.

One very important secret that successful people have discovered is that they do not have to achieve those highest aspirations. They simply have to strive for them, to follow where they lead. The final result is much less important than the journey toward that shining goal.

What do your aspirations look like? Are they sparkling in the sunlight like those of Louisa May Alcott? Are your dreams displayed openly in your mind’s eye? Or are they hidden in the darkness under piles of blankets or deep in a cave? Do you hide your highest aspirations even from yourself?

Your assignment today is to draw a picture of your aspirations. What do they look like? Are they diamonds sparkling in a midnight sky? Are they a strong flowing river that runs through a verdant forest? Draw a picture of your dreams.