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

DAY

343

“Trust only movement. Life happens at the level of events, not of words. Trust movement.”

— Alfred Adler

Yesterday you considered things you don’t trust. Today you can latch on to something you can trust: movement. Taking action is the surest way to success.

Think of the people you know who really live life to the fullest. Describe their characteristics. Why do you consider them people who get the most out of life? What is it about them that feels vibrant and exciting? Which of their characteristics do you want to emulate in your life?

Life is a series of events. Words and thoughts are reflections on those events, but life happens in the actions that you and others take every day. You cannot live out a fruitful life in your mind or on paper. Life requires action.

The twins were almost two years old, and they were a whirlwind of activity. Grandma sat on the floor watching Kate play the drums and Sam “read” a book. Then Sam took over the drums, and Kate decided to make breakfast in their playhouse. Within minutes, Sam took over the breakfast duties, and Kate fired up the miniature vacuum to clean house. Suddenly, Sam became a DJ blaring music on a CD player while Kate danced. Grandma smiled at the pandemonium created by those two blonde cuties. It was a banner day filled with an endless series of events strung together to form a bond between brother and sister and between grandparent and grandchild. Are you enjoying the events in your life? Trust movement.

DAY

344

“You cannot change anything in your life with intention alone, which can become a watered down, occasional hope that you’ll get to tomorrow. Intention without action is useless.”

— Caroline Myss

Randy saw his co-worker coming down the hall, and he ducked into the restroom. Her mother had recently died, and he had intended to send a sympathy card but never got around to it. Best just to avoid her until she recovered from her loss, he thought. During lunch, Randy checked his bank balance online. Rats! He was overdrawn again. He had intended to transfer funds from his savings the day before, but he forgot about it. Randy arrived home at six o’clock at night and found a note on the kitchen table from his wife. She wanted a divorce. He stared at her handwriting on the page, and a deep feeling of emptiness started to creep into his heart. He had intended to tell her how much he loved her . . . but he just never got around to it.

Intention without action is useless. You can be filled with good intentions, but nobody knows it until you do something. Randy had no proof to show his wife that he really did love her, because his actions didn’t reflect his feelings.

Your assignment today is to openly display your intentions. That does not mean simply talking about the things you want to do. It means getting out there and doing them. Don’t get caught in the trap of good intentions. They are useless and will do nothing to help you achieve your dreams. Intentions are not real until you take action.

DAY

345

“Nobody made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could only do a little.”

— Edmund Burke

A little bit makes a difference. If you ever feel overwhelmed by the tasks in front of you, know that taking any action, no matter how small, will make a difference. Pick up a piece of trash if you see it on the sidewalk. Put your loose change in the can for muscular dystrophy at the grocery store check-out line. Plant some flowers in your front yard. Help your kids with their homework. When lots of people do little things, great things will be achieved. It is much worse to stand by and do nothing. Every little thing you do has a ripple effect on the rest of the world. You are more powerful than you think.

Give what you can give today; do what you are capable of doing today; help the people you can help today. Don’t give up because you can’t save the world. No one can accomplish great things alone. It takes time and action—continual action—to exact real change.

It is a mistake to do nothing, but it is never a mistake to do even a little bit. Do what you can today, and when you go to sleep tonight, congratulate yourself on taking action. When you wake up tomorrow morning, do it again. You can reach your dreams through a series of small steps, but you can’t get there by doing nothing.

DAY

346

“Humility does not mean thinking less of yourself than of other people, nor does it mean having a low opinion of your own gifts. It means freedom from thinking about yourself at all.”

— William Temple

You will have an opportunity for the next few days to consider humility as it relates to your success. Humility sounds like a bad word to many people. It’s a little too close to humiliation. In actuality, humility is not the same thing as humiliation. Humiliation happens when you are in a state of public disgrace or shame. Humility is a personality trait of being humble or modest.

We talked about humility in relation to pride back on Day 334 and discussed its positive and negative connotations. Now you will have a chance to look at how humility can be a useful tool for success.

Humility doesn’t put you at a lower station than those around you. It also doesn’t mean that you do not consider yourself worthy of success. William Temple described it beautifully in the quote above. Humility is freedom from thinking about yourself at all.

As you move toward success, you will travel the road faster if you turn your attention outward to those around you rather than becoming self-absorbed. You have worked through lots of exercises in this book to allow your talents to emerge and to reveal your personal gifts. You know you have the ability to achieve your dreams. Now is the time to look around and find ways to make a difference in this world. It may sound kind of funny, but you are not the centerpiece of this endeavor. Stop thinking about yourself and start thinking about what you can do for those around you. Then success will be yours.

DAY

347

“We are all worms, but I do believe I am a glowworm.”

— Winston Churchill

Jim looked up at his drill sergeant with a gleam in his eye. He had been beaten up both physically and mentally in Officer Candidate School—told he was worthless and didn’t measure up over and over again. He was lower than dirt. Jim smiled from the dusty ground as he completed his last twenty pushups. The sparkle in his eyes revealed the sheer will rising in his stomach. He wouldn’t be broken. Maybe he was nothing but dirt, but he would turn that dust into a tornado of success that would tear through the camp before his time was up.

Sometimes it’s beneficial to be knocked off your pedestal, to find out your shortcomings and look them straight in the eye. Humility will work for you as long as you never, ever give up. The quote from Winston Churchill above takes a mischievous view of how to deal with your humanness. Maybe you look at the talents you have to offer, and you think you’re not that special. That is when you need to let your drive to succeed take over. Take what you’ve been given and make it special. Give everything you’ve got, and that will be enough. You will have what you need to achieve your dreams if you’re willing to give one more big push.

Write in your journal today about how you can go further than you have gone up to this point. What can you do to push harder toward success? How can you go one step further than everyone else? You don’t have to be smarter, funnier, or better looking. All you have to be is willing to go the distance.