Be a Person of Action

Well, it’s that time again. It’s been a few weeks since I shared THE SECOND DECISION FOR SUCCESS from Andy Andrew’s book, “The Traveler’s Gift”. Have you been reading the second decision? Did you keep reading the first decision too? I like to read them both. They compound on each other and continue to drive the message home. Now, it’s time to learn the third decision for success. 

THE THIRD DECISION FOR SUCCESS 

I am a person of action. 

Beginning today, I will create a new future by creating a new me. No longer will I dwell in a pit of despair, moaning over squandered time and lost opportunity. I can do nothing about the past. My future is immediate. I will grasp it in both hands and carry it with running feet. When I am faced with the choice of doing nothing or doing something, I will always choose to act! I seize this moment. I choose now. 

I am a person of action. I am energetic. I move quickly. 

Knowing that laziness is a sin, I will create a habit of lively behavior. I will walk with a spring in my step and a smile on my face. The lifeblood rushing through my veins is urging me upward and forward into activity and accomplishment. Wealth and prosperity hide from the sluggard, but rich rewards come to the person who moves quickly. 

I am a person of action. I inspire others with my activity. I am a leader. 

Leading is doing. To lead, I must move forward. Many people move out of the way for a person on the run; others are caught up in his wake. My activity will create a wave of success for the people who follow. My activity will be consistent. This will instill confidence in my leadership. As a leader, I have the ability to encourage and inspire others to greatness. It is true: an army of sheep led by a lion would defeat an army of lions led by a sheep!

I am a person of action. I can make a decision. I can make it now. 

A person who moves neither left nor right is destined for mediocrity. When faced with a decision, many people say they are waiting for God. But I understand, in most cases, God is waiting for me! He has given me a healthy mind to gather and sort information and the courage to come to a conclusion. I am not a quivering dog, indecisive and fearful. My constitution is strong and my pathway clear. Successful people make their decisions quickly and change their minds slowly. Failures make their decisions slowly and change their minds quickly. My decisions come quickly, and they lead to victory. 

I am a person of action. I am daring. I am courageous. 

Fear no longer has a place in my life. For too long, fear has outweighed my desire to make things better for my family. Never again! I have exposed fear as a vapor, an impostor that never had any power over me in the first place! I do not fear opinion, gossip, or the idle chatter of monkeys, for all are the same to me. I do not fear failure, for in my life, failure is a myth. Failure exists only for the person who quits. I do not quit. 

I am courageous. I am a leader. I seize this moment. I choose now. 

I am a person of action.

Andrews, Andy. The Traveler's Gift 

Did he say, “Pit of Despair”? 

Just like Wesley…ahem, or should I say the Dread Pirate Roberts in The Princess Bride, you must think the walk, talk the walk, and walk the walk. 

I’m a dreamer. And proud of it. We need dreamers in the world. Over the years, there have been many dreamers that have positively impacted our world. People like Albert Einstein, Frida Kahlo, Leonard Da Vinci, Oprah, Bruce Lee, Martin Luther King, Jr., Mahatma Gandhi, and Mother Theresa. Dreamers help us on our path to achieving wondrous things. Things that have changed our world and the way we see it. Things that helped us to learn, grow and evolve as a society. There is one catch to dreams though which is best explained with Jason Momoa’s brief yet wise line from Denis Villeneuve’s Dune, “Dreams make good stories. But everything important happens when we're awake. Because that's when we make things happen.” You see, we cannot only be a dreamer. We must also be a doer. This was a lesson I learned the hard way in my life. I mentioned being proud of being a dreamer. Sometimes I was a little too proud of it. I loved having a vivid imagination and the adventures it would take me on. The key to realizing our potential is by bringing our dreams into reality and then doing the work that will bring them to fruition. Daydreaming is a wonderful practice for channeling the muse but when she visits you and the ideas come, we must take them and begin to iterate upon them. It’s time to do the great (and hard) work that manifests it into reality for others to engage with and enjoy, including yourself. 

Seize the moment. Move quickly (and experiment a lot!)

Once you have an idea, it’s time to get it down on paper or in your preferred note-taking app. Tweak it. Refine it. Then it’s time to put it into action. It’s time to experiment! It’s funny how we can get scared to experiment as we get older. When we are young we experiment and test constantly. We test boundaries. We test different types of sports, music, clothing, books, and so on. We experiment with different types of foods and ways to write our names. As we begin to formulate who we think we are we begin to box ourselves into our own conformities — externally and internally, in our minds. We begin to trace other people’s lives instead of drawing our own. When I was in the art program studying photography and media arts at university, I came up with a quote, “Draw your life, don’t trace it.” I thought it was a clever quote that walking the walk. It wasn’t. It was talking the walk. I was only partially walking the walk. I didn’t lean into the meaning of the quote and kept going deeper to see what that meant for me. It’s taken me years to get to the place where I give myself the space and permission to draw my own life. I must remind myself and practice it each and every day. It’s so easy to compare ourselves to others and what they’ve done, what they are experts in, or what they’ve achieved. We can feel like we need to follow their lead because it will get us where we want to go faster and more easily. That’s why so many people are constantly marketing to you that they can, with their “get-rich-quick-schemes”. We can learn from the paths other people have cleared for us, but stepping into our own role in life, giving ourselves the space and permission to ideate, iterate, and create our own amazing things allows us to realize our potential and to make things happen that we could have only dreamed of — and we did. ;)

Inspire others with your example (and lead them by your actions)

As Mahatma Gandhi said, “You must be the change you want to see in your life”. You have the opportunity to inspire others with your creativity and the creations you bring to the world. We all have the opportunity to make a change in the world. That change starts from within. So many of us look to external sources for our happiness, satisfaction, or fulfillment. These are futile efforts. Our joy, fulfillment, and freedom come from within ourselves. We must listen to our intuition as it guides us on our path of self-discovery and realizing our full potential in life and business. I was speaking with a coaching client recently and I asked him why he loves art and certain artists. He began to lay out all the reasons why it moved him and conveyed their unique lens of the world and the human condition. I then asked him, “Why can’t others have the same feeling from your art? Why can’t they be moved and inspired through your unique lens of the world and the human condition?” He paused and reflected on the idea that his work is just as important and impactful as the artists he admires. You have the opportunity to be the change you want to see in the world. Your inspired work and your unique voice can be the difference in one person’s life that causes a never-ending ripple across space and time, like so many others before you. It’s all up to you and the choice to take action. You may find that you not only inspire others but yourself as well. 

Make decisions (then make them right)  

The words for “left” and “right” in Español are “izquierda” (feminine) or “izquierdo” (masculine) and “derecho”. I used a funny mnemonic device to remember the word “izquierda” when I wanted to say “left” instead of “right”. It was ‘Don’t be “a scared da” to take a left up ahead.” My wife and I would chuckle as I would practice saying it as we would be walking or driving somewhere. This sentiment is applicable in life too though. Don’t be afraid to go left or right. Just choose. Make the decision then make it right. So often we get caught up in “analysis paralysis” from the most minute things all the way to big decisions. Now, don’t get me wrong. Some big decisions deserve some research, development, and testing to see if it’s the “derecho” way to go. (See what I did there? A little Español practice for you. ;) That’s the thing though. You are in action. You are researching. You are developing ideas, testing, and iterating on them. The problem is when we keep the ideas swirling in our minds. We are keeping counsel with ourselves and only what we know at this moment. If we are not seeking wisdom from outside sources, we are only working with what we know (or don’t know). Once the decision is made. It’s time to make it right. You can always course correct it. You can learn the lesson. You can get smarter, faster, or better for the next time. 

Be courageous (even in the face of fear)

As the French artist, Henri Matisse said, “another word for creativity is courage.” Every time you grab your pen, your brush, or your mouse and begin to go to work you have the opportunity to stamp out fear and be a courageous creative being. You have the opportunity to change your life and the lives of others. Every day is a new day. At any single moment, you can choose the be courageous and write that first chapter, start that new piece, or push that first pixel. If you don’t have all you need to get going, use what you’ve got. Get creative. Get courageous. Document your work. Share it with others. Talk about the breakthroughs. Talk about the failures. Share your journey. Tell your story. People love stories. They want to root for you. They want to know the human behind the artist. They want to know the artist behind the artwork. Show your true self. Be weird. Fly your freak flag. Find your audience by letting them know you exist. They will support you, encourage you, and help to lift you up “when life is life-ing you”, as my therapist friend, Shannon Oberndorf says.

Did this resonate with you? If so, I’d love to know what came up for you. I invite you to share in the comments or send me an email.