The world doesn’t pay you for what you know; it pays you for what you do. The action you take to change your life.
There’s an enduring axiom of success that says, “The universe rewards action.” Yet as simple and as true as this principle is, it’s surprising how many people get bogged down in analyzing, planning, and organizing when what they really need to do is take action.
When you take action to change your life, you trigger all kinds of things that will inevitably carry you to success. You let those around you know that you are serious in your intention.
People wake up and start paying attention. People with similar goals become aligned with you.
You begin to learn things from your experience that cannot be learned from listening to others or from reading books. You begin to get feedback about how to do it better, more efficiently, and more quickly.
Things that once seemed confusing begin to become clear. Things that once appeared difficult begin to be easier. You begin to attract others who will support and encourage you.
All manner of good things begin to flow in your direction once you begin to take action.
But how do you take action to change your life? That's what you'll learn in today's blog post. Keep reading if you're really serious about changing your life.
#1. Don't Speak Take Action To Change Your Life.
Over the years, I have found that the one thing that seems to separate winners from losers more than anything else is that winners take action.
They simply get up and do what has to be done. Once they have developed a plan, they start. They get into motion.
Even if they don’t start perfectly, they learn from their mistakes, make the necessary corrections, and keep taking action, all the time building momentum, until they finally produce the result they set out to produce…or something even better than they conceived of when they started.
To be successful, you have to do what successful people do, and successful people are highly action-oriented.
I have already covered here how to create a vision, set goals, break them down into small steps, anticipate obstacles and plan how to deal with them, visualize and affirm your success, and believe in yourself and your dreams. Now it’s time to take action to change your life.
#2. Nothing Happens Until You Take Action.
To demonstrate the power of taking action I want to tell you a story, I was once watching a motivation video in which the author on the stage holds up a $100 bill and asks, “Who wants this $100 bill?”
Invariably, most of the people in the audience raised their hands. Some waved their hands vigorously back and forth; some even shouted out “I want it” or “I’ll take it” or “Give it to me.”
But the author just stand there calmly holding out the bill until they get it.
Eventually, someone jumped out of her seat, rushed to the front of the room, and took the bill from my hand.
After the person sits down—now $100 richer for her efforts—He asked the audience, “What did this person do that no one else in the room did? She got off her butt and took action. She did what was necessary to get the money.
And that is exactly what you must do if you want to succeed in life. You must take action to change your life, and, in most cases, the sooner the better.” He then asked, “How many of you thought about getting up and just coming and taking the money but stopped yourselves?”
He then asked them to remember what they told themselves that stopped them from getting up.
The usual answers are
- “I didn’t want to look like I wanted or needed it that badly.”
- “I wasn’t sure if you would really give it to me.”
- “I was too far back in the room.”
- “Other people need it more than I do.”
- “I didn’t want to look greedy.”
- “I was afraid I might be doing something wrong and then people would judge me or laugh at me.”
- “I was waiting for further instructions.”
He then pointed out that whatever things they said to stop themselves are the same things that they say to stop themselves in the rest of their lives.
One of the universal truths in life is “How you do anything is how you do everything.”
If you are cautious here, you are probably cautious everywhere. If you hold yourself back for fear of looking foolish here, you probably hold yourself back for fear of looking foolish elsewhere.
You have to identify those patterns and break through them. It’s time to stop holding yourself back and just go for the gold.
#3. Inspiring Story of Ruben Gonzalez How He Took Action And Went For Olympic Gold.
Ever since third grade, Ruben Gonzalez had wanted to be an Olympic athlete. He respected the Olympians because they were an example of what he believed in—they are willing to commit to a goal, risk adversity in the pursuit of it, and fail and keep trying until they succeed.
But it was not until he was in college and saw Scott Hamilton compete in the 1984 Sarajevo Games that he actually made the decision to train for the Olympics.
Ruben said to himself, If that little guy can do it, I can do it too! I’m going to be in the next Olympics! It’s a done deal. I just have to find a sport.
After doing a little research on Olympic sports, Ruben decided he needed to pick a sport that would build on his strengths.
He knew that he was a good athlete but not a great athlete. His strength was perseverance. He never quit anything.
In fact, he had earned the nickname Bulldog in high school. He figured he had to find a sport so tough, a sport with so many broken bones, that there would be lots of quitters. That way maybe he could rise to the top on the attrition rate! He finally settled on the luge.
Next he wrote Sports Illustrated (this was before the Internet) and asked, “Where do you go to learn how to luge?” They wrote back, “Lake Placid, New York. That’s where they had the Olympics in 1936 and 1980. That’s where the track is.” Ruben picked up the phone and called Lake Placid.
“I’m an athlete in Houston and I want to learn how to luge so I can be in the Olympics in four years. Will you help me?”
The guy who answered the phone asked, “How old are you?”
“Twenty-one years old.”
“Twenty-one? You’re way too old. You’re ten years too late. We start them when they’re ten years old. Forget it.”
But Ruben couldn’t forget it, and he started to tell the man his life story to buy some time until he thought of something. Along the way he happened to say that he was born in Argentina.
All of a sudden, the man on the other end of the phone got excited. “Argentina? Why didn’t you say so? If you’ll go for Argentina, we’ll help you.” It turns out the sport of luge was in danger of being dropped from the Olympics because there weren’t enough countries competing on the international level.
“If you’ll go for Argentina and somehow we can get you into the top fifty ranked lugers in the world in four years, which is what you’ll need to make it into the Olympics, it would add one more country to the sport of luge, and that would make it a stronger sport. If you make it, you’d be helping the U.S. team.”
Then he added, “Before you come all the way to Lake Placid, you have to know two things.
Number one: if you want to do it at your age and you want to do it in only four years, it will be brutal. Nine out of every ten guys quit.
Number two: expect to break some bones.” Ruben thought, Great! This works right into my plan. I’m not a quitter. The harder it is, the easier it is for me.
A few days later Ruben Gonzalez was walking down Main Street in Lake Placid looking for the U.S. Olympic Training Center.
A day later, he was in a beginner’s class with 14 other aspiring Olympians.
The first day was miserable, and he even thought of quitting, but with the help of a friend he recommitted to his Olympic dream and, though all 14 of the other aspirants eventually quit before the end of the first season, Ruben finished the summer training.
Four grueling years later, Ruben Gonzalez realized his dream when he walked into the opening ceremonies of the 1988 Calgary Winter Olympics.
He returned again in Albertville in 1992 and Salt Lake City for the 2000 Winter Games. Ruben Gonzalez, because he took immediate and persistent action on his dream, will always be a “three-time Olympian.
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#4. Successful People Have a Bias For Action.
Most successful people I know have a low tolerance for excessive planning and talking about it. They are antsy to get going. They want to get started. They want the games to begin.
On the other hand some people spend their whole lives waiting for the perfect time to do something. There’s rarely a “perfect” time to do anything. What is important is to just get started. Get into the game. Get on the playing field.
Once you do, you will start to get feedback that will help you make the corrections you need to make to be successful. Once you are in action, you will start learning at a much more rapid rate.
#5 Quit Waiting And Take Action To Change Your Life.
It’s time to quit waiting for:
- Perfection
- Inspiration
- Permission
- Reassurance
- Someone to change
- The right person to come along
- The kids to leave home
- A more favorable horoscope
- The new administration to take over
- An absence of risk
- Someone to discover you
- A clear set of instructions
- More self-confidence
- The pain to go away
- Get on with it already!
#6. Satisfaction Comes From Taking Enough Actions That Will Change Your Life in Long Run.
Have you ever noticed that the last six letters in the word satisfaction are a-c-t-i-o-n?
In Latin, the word satis means “enough.” What the ancient Romans understood clearly was that enough action ultimately produces satisfaction.
#7. Give Me a Break.
A story is told of a man who goes to church and prays, “God, I need a break. I need to win the state lottery. I’m counting on you, God.”
Having not won the lottery, the man returns to church a week later and once again prays, “God, about that state lottery…I’ve been kind to my wife. I’ve given up drinking. I’ve been really good. Give me a break. Let me win the lottery.”
A week later, still no richer, he returns to pray once again. “God, I don’t seem to be getting through to you on this state lottery thing. I’ve been using positive self-talk, saying affirmations, and visualizing the money.
Give me a break, God. Let me win the lottery.” Suddenly the heavens open up, white light and heavenly music flood into the church, and a deep voice says, “My son, give me a break! Buy a lottery ticket!”
#8. Many People Fail to Take Action.
Many people fail to take action because they’re afraid to fail. Successful people, on the other hand, realize that failure is an important part of the learning process. They know that failure is just a way we learn by trial and error.
Not only do we need to stop being so afraid of failure but we also need to be willing to fail—even eager to fail.
I call this kind of instructive failure “failing forward.” Simply get started, make mistakes, listen to the feedback, correct, and keep moving forward toward the goal.
Every experience will yield up more useful information that you can apply the next time. This principle is perhaps demonstrated most compellingly in the area of start-up businesses.
For instance, venture capitalists know that most businesses fail. But in the venture capital industry, a new statistic is emerging. If the founding entrepreneur is 55 years or older, the business has a 73% better chance of survival.
These older entrepreneurs have already learned from their mistakes.
They’re simply a better risk because through a lifetime of learning from their failures, they have developed a knowledge base, a skill set, and a self-confidence that better enables them to move through the obstacles to success.
#9. Motivation Story of a Research Scientist.
One of my favorite stories is about a famous research scientist who had made several very important medical breakthroughs.
He was being interviewed by a newspaper reporter, who asked him why he thought he was able to achieve so much more than the average person.
In other words, what set him so far apart from others?
He responded that it all came from a lesson his mother had taught him when he was 2 years old.
He’d been trying to take a bottle of milk out of the refrigerator, when he lost his grip and spilled the entire contents on the kitchen floor.
His mother, instead of scolding him, said, “What a wonderful mess you’ve made! I’ve rarely seen such a huge puddle of milk. Well, the damage is already done. Would you like to get down and play in the milk before we clean it up?” Indeed, he did.
And, after a few minutes, his mother continued, “You know, whenever you make a mess like this, eventually you have to clean it up.
So, how would you like to do that? We could use a towel, sponge, or mop. Which do you prefer?”
After they were finished cleaning up the milk, she said, “What we have here is a failed experiment in how to carry a big bottle of milk with two tiny hands.
Let’s go out in the backyard, fill the bottle with water, and see if you can discover a way to carry it without dropping it.” And they did. What a wonderful lesson!
The scientist then remarked that it was at that moment that he knew he didn’t have to be afraid to make mistakes.
Instead, he learned that mistakes are just opportunities for learning something new—which, after all, is what scientific experiments are all about.
That bottle of spilled milk led to a lifetime of learning experiences—experiences that were the building blocks of a lifetime of world-renowned successes and medical breakthroughs!
