Tuesday, May 8, 2012

A couple thoughts on yesterday's quote

The thought for yesterday -- did it stick with you?  If not, here it is:

If you want to succeed in the world must make your own opportunities as you go on. The man who waits for some seventh wave to toss him on dry land will find that the seventh wave is a long time a coming. You can commit no greater folly than to sit by the roadside until some one comes along and invites you to ride with him to wealth or influence. --John B. Gough

There were a few things that struck me about this idea:

1.  "If you want to succeed"  -- success is always a choice.  We hear a lot about people who were in the "right place" at the "right time" and something wonderful happened.  Let's say we're talking about a person who won the lottery -- they still bought the ticket.  They could have stayed home in their jammies watching the latest "reality" show -- but they didn't.  They took action.

2. "(you) must make your own opportunities as you go on" -- to me, that underscores the nature of moving forward.  We have to move forward (or the world moves forward around us), and we will continually be presented with options to act on.  It always amazes me how 5 or 7 intentional actions in a day add up over the course of a month or a year.

3. "you can commit no greater folly than to sit by the roadside until some one comes along and invites you to ride with him to wealth or influence" or greater health...  If there's no greater folly than waiting -- that means the mistakes, misteps, and wrong turns we all make are a BETTER CHOICE than sitting there waiting for someone else to do it for us.  Which is GREAT! because no one else is going to make our eating decisions for us and you're losing precious minutes of your life sitting by the roadside waiting.

Don't be afraid to take action!  Don't wait for someone else to blaze this trail -- you are the only one who can do that.

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