Daily Ramblings – Wisdom Wednesday – Small Deeds

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Action, Artists, Authors, habits, Intention, John Burroughs, Poets, rituals, Small Deeds, Words

The smallest deed is better than the greatest intention.

John Burroughs

I’m a huge advocate for building out daily rituals that align with one’s goals. If you want to write a book, you’ve got to read daily, write daily, and learn about writing daily. If you want to be in good shape, exercise daily, eat right daily, meditate daily, drink water daily, and sleep daily.

It’s the little teeny steps you take toward your goals that get you to where you want to go. Writing a book is easy, if you write a little of your book every day. Learning a new language is easy, if you learn a new word or phrase every day. Getting stronger is easy if you build your strength a little each day. Get it?

The small deeds John Burroughs recommends are the little steps you take toward your goals. Taking one small step is so much more effective than planning how you’ll take that step or that you intend to take a step. Just take the step and you’ll be one step closer to your goals and what you want in life.

Don’t rush it. Artists build their paintings in stages. Authors write their stories in layers. You start with an outline; you flesh it out, then you go back and refine, as the picture in your mind becomes more clear.  You can’t or won’t complete all of this in a day or a week. Take your time. Be patient. Be consistent.

Stop talking about what you will do and start doing it. Take small steps. You will get there.

Thanks for visiting.

Until next time…

Dave

 

Daily Ramblings – Motivation Monday – Taking Action

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Action, Execution, habits, moving forward, Planning, rituals, Steps, Taking the next step

“Infuse your life with action. Don’t wait for it to happen. Make it happen. Make your own future. Make your own hope. Make your own love. And whatever your beliefs, honor your creator, not by passively waiting for grace to come down from upon high, but by doing what you can to make grace happen… yourself, right now, right down here on Earth.” – Bradley Whitford

Read more at: Brainy Quote

One of the simplest things I have discovered is the need to take action. You can plan, dream, and use every trick in the book to motivate yourself, but action is what gets things done. Action eliminates procrastination. Action achieves. Action is what turns dreams into reality.

When I read this quote, it explains the crux of what each of us must do if we want to get where we want to go. Take that next step. Make the move. Decide. Your action will get you moving toward what you want.

Taking action does not eliminate the need to plan or strategize. These steps are also necessary. If you act without deciding where you want to go, you’ll waste time. You have to take the time to list out the actions you want to take before you execute the plan.

If you are taking action on a new goal or trying to learn something new as part of your action plan, there will be mistakes. You will fail. Failure is not a problem, as long as your failures do not cause you to quit trying. Your failures are your guide posts. They are nudges that suggest a different way to your end result. Failing quickly is a great strategy because it causes you to notice what is not working and learn from it. Every plan will have its weak points. Reality will identify those weak points much more quickly than trying to outwit a mistake before you make it. Make the mistakes. This is where the learning is. Winners fail more than losers do. Winners take those failures and turn them into victories. Losers give up. Losers keep making the same mistakes because they don’t take the time to learn from them and adjust their sails.

Think about this for a moment. If you do not quit, you cannot fail. Keep moving forward. It is that simple.

This week will focus on my rituals, which are daily reading, learning, writing, programming, exercising, and meditating. It is surprising how efficient it is to pursue key areas and just work on each of them a piece at a time. Each day I am building new skills, crafting new ideas, and taking action in little chunks that slowly build on the previous day’s work.

I hope each of you has a great week! Attack! Get at it! You can do it. If you’re stuck, take some time to read, take a course, do some research, and you’ll find the solution to your problem. Then you can adjust your plan, get it scheduled out, and then it’s back to execution again.

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Motivation Monday – Taking Action

Tags

Achievement, Action, Goals, Rabindranath Tagore, Recharging, Relaxing, rituals

“You can’t cross the sea merely by standing and staring at the water.” – Rabindranath Tagore

Brainyquote

Action is the only way to achieve what you want in life. You can think about, pray about, or talk about the things you’d like to do, but action is the only way to change what you want to do into a result. I used to be a “think about” guy. I’d think, I’d think, and I’d think, but never achieved. You would think this was common sense, but it isn’t. There are all kinds of ways to avoid achieving something. Fear is big. The fear of failure has probably thwarted more people throughout history than any other reason I can think of.

The reason successful people win is that they fail more than anyone else. Each time they fail, they learn something. They gain wisdom. This is the advantage that comes to those that try. The more they try, the more they fail, the more they learn.

This week I’ll be focusing on my JavaScript course, my LPIP course from Centerpointe Research Institute, and my NLP course offered by Udemy. I’ll also continue revising and editing my book (3^rd draft). Meditation and exercise will also be on my agenda for the week. Finally, my reading schedule. I’m reading two books on writing. Story Engineering, is one book I’m reading; the other is on outlining for non-fiction writing. What I am learning as I begin my writing career is the importance of pre-writing or sketching out a story, characters, world building, and the research that feeds these areas of a work. I learned the importance of outlining for any writing. It helps form more organized works and allows the author to flesh out their thoughts in an organized way.

I had a great weekend. I’m a huge advocate for video games. I continue to do my daily rituals, but my entertainment is video games and watching shows on Netflix, Amazon Prime, and Hulu. On the weekends I recharge my batteries for the upcoming week. It’s great! This weekend we met with friends in Flint, Michigan at one of our favorite Thai Restaurants. The food is great, and the company was awesome. We do this monthly so we can stay in touch and enjoy some good food.

I enjoy having a balance of work and play. When I’m playing video games or watching a great show, it takes my mind off things I must do and gives the mind time to consolidate and reorganize itself. Some of my best ideas for writing or anything I am pursuing comes while I play a game or enjoy a good movie.

What do you do to relax? What do you do to recharge? What are your goals this week? What are you looking to achieve by week’s end?

I hope all of you have a great week!

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Wisdom Wednesday

Tags

Action, Intention, John Burroughs, mini-habits, Stephen Guise, wisdom

“The smallest deed is better than the greatest intention.” – John Burroughs

Read more at https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/john_burroughs_120946?src=t_wisdom

First off, I totally screwed up timing this week and posted my Thinking Thursday yesterday (oops 😊). So, here’s Wisdom Wednesday on Thursday to make up for my date mix-up.

We all have intentions. We intend to do good. We intend to do right. We intend to think about others before we think of ourselves. But…

Intentions like dreams mean nothing if they lack action. Actions are much more meaningful, even if they are small. Serving someone, even slightly, will have an impact. Taking one step on that walk will have an impact. Reading one page in your book will get you closer to the end.

This is one of the greatest challenges that face us as individuals. This is why I really enjoyed the book Mini Habits by Stephen Guise. This book truly changed my life. It showed me how to get started—how to execute. The price for the Kindle version is $5.99. I highly recommend this book to you if you are having difficulty sticking to anything.

Stephen emphasizes starting small. He began his exercise program doing 1 push-up a day. He began his writing career writing 1 sentence a day. All of this is backed by some studies on willpower, habit formation, and how the brain works. I hope some of you pick this book up and read it. It is easy to read and not too long. When I read it for the first time, I finished it in a day.

After finishing the book, I started putting his suggestions into action. I started my routine with 1 push-up a day. I started writing 1 sentence a day. I read 1 chapter a day. I meditated 5 minutes a day. One thing I would like to be clear about is that I did not start all of these at the same time. Stephen suggests starting out by creating one habit. You can do more if you wish but if you’ve been living a life of intending to do something and never getting around to it, starting with one habit will be a huge leap for you.

Get this book. I am not affiliated with Stephen Guise or Amazon. The book is just that good and will help you if you give it a chance. I hope this helps some of you get “unstuck” and gets you moving towards your goals. I wish you a great Thursday. The weekend is only two days away!

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Motivation Monday

Tags

Achievement, Act, Action, Mark Twain, motivation

“The secret of getting ahead is getting started.” – Mark Twain

Read more at https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/mark_twain_118964?src=t_motivational 

Well, readers it is another Monday! What do you have planned this week? Are you pushing forward with your goals? Are you tackling the challenges of the day?

None of us will achieve anything if we do not act. Even the smallest action toward one of your goals will yield results. With each action you get that much closer. What is stopping you?

This week for me is another week of learning, reading, writing, exercising, and of course, having some fun. We had a power outage early this morning but we are back up and running. Luckily, we have a generator that kicks in automatically to keep the critical stuff on.

If you doubt yourself–start. If you are afraid–start. If you don’t think you’re good enough–start. Once you start, all of these things will fade away. You’ll be too busy doing rather than worrying.

I hope each of you has a great week! I know I will. Here’s to your success. Go get’em!

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Daily Quote

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Achievement, Action, ideas, reality, Scott Belsky

Today’s Quote:

“It’s not about ideas. It’s about making ideas happen.” – Scott Belsky

Another great quote emphasizing the importance of bringing an idea into the physical realm by taking action. You can have the best idea about a book, a business, or some goal you’ve been dreaming about. If you don’t take the actions necessary to write the book, build the business, or achieve your goal, it will NEVER happen.

Brainstorm, write down your ideas, make a plan to bring an idea to life, and BINGO! You did it!! Now go celebrate and get ready to tackle the next one.

All the best, readers!!

Happy Sunday!

Until next time…

Dave

 

Daily Ramblings – Daily Quote

Tags

Action, commit, inspiration, Stephen King, Work

Today’s Quote:

“Amateurs sit and wait for inspiration, the rest of us just get up and go to work.” – Stephen King

This quote is all about taking action. You can think, dream, and plan something, but without taking action, you just won’t get where you’re going. You don’t need the stars to align, you don’t need to wait another day, you just need to get moving.

Thanks for stopping by.

Have a terrific Thursday!

Until next time…

Daily Ramblings – Daily Quote

Tags

Achievement, Action, Goal Setting, Planning, Quotes

Today’s Quote:

“Good things come to people who wait, but better things come to those who go out and get them.” – Anonymous

This is a great quote and so apropos, considering the last few quotes I’ve posted. This is about truly committing to doing something and going for it. This applies to everything.

Sure, you can wait for the right person to come into your life, but why wait? If you are interested in finding a guy or gal, start going after it. You can use dating apps, visit places the people you would like to meet frequent, or even just reach out to your network and notify those closest to you to keep an eye out for someone who might be looking as well.

The same thing goes for anything else. You won’t achieve what you want or get what you want by waiting for it. Decide what you want, set a plan of action, and execute. You’ll be amazed at what you can accomplish if you put your mind to it and avoid over thinking it.

Happy Tuesday all!

See you tomorrow…

Daily Ramblings – Daily Quote

Tags

Action, Dreaming, Mentalizing, Robert Frost, Visualizing, Wishing

“A person will sometimes devote all his life to the development of one part of his body – the wishbone.” – Robert Frost

I have felt like this a few times in my life. It is during the times that are tough that we tend to fantasize about a different reality. Call it a coping mechanism.

The challenge with this kind of thinking is the habit of residing in this space all of the time. Instead of doing something to change our conditions, we dream about what life would be like if something were different. Without work, without doing something physically, no amount of thinking, dreaming, or mentalizing will produce results.

We need to visualize, mentalize, or dream about things initially, but to actually achieve something we need to take the necessary right actions to bring what we visualize into our reality. If any of you are “stuck” pursuing one of your dreams, take a look at what you are doing to make that dream a reality. I think you may discover that right action is the remedy.

Thanks for stopping by.

Until tomorrow…

Daily Ramblings – Daily Quotes

Tags

Action, Character, Denis Waitley, Garrison Keillor, Gratitude, Integrity, JFK, John F Kennedy

“Thank you, God, for this good life and forgive us if we do not love it enough.” –  Garrison Keillor

I really enjoy this quote because I try to live it every day. Each day we are granted is a blessing. This life is a privilege that should not be wasted.

“Happiness cannot be traveled to, owned, earned, worn or consumed. Happiness is the spiritual experience of living every minute with love, grace, and gratitude.” –  Denis Waitley

Yeah! Another great quote about being in a state of happiness, not chasing after it. The moment you or I chase something we begin a meaningless journey like a rodent in an exercise wheel—it runs and runs and never gets where it’s going. Just be happy. It’s that simple.

“As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.” –  John F. Kennedy

This quote is one of my favorites from JFK. It literally is all about showing up and doing, being, and acting, not talking, bragging, or pontificating. Actions demonstrate who you really are, not your words, even when you speak them to yourself. There is a center in all of us that will not live with a liar.

I hope everyone has a terrific weekend!

Until tomorrow….