Dreams mean nothing if they are not followed by action. Here is your new assignment: start another list of Action Items in your notebook. This is a list of tasks you never seem to get around to doing. It may include items such as: clean out the garage; wash the windows; send a letter to your great aunt who is bed-ridden; learn a craft; take a load of old clothes to a charity. There should be nothing earth-shattering on this list. “Take over the world,” for example, would not be a good choice. This is just a list of simple things. You don’t have to do any of them today. Just create the list. What does this have to do with dreams? You’ll see.
DAY
7
“There are two cardinal sins from which all others spring: Impatience and Laziness.”
— Franz Kafka
I want it now! (But I don’t want to have to do anything to get it.) Sound at all familiar? One of the biggest obstacles to achieving your dreams is laziness. It’s hard to reverse sloth. You think about cleaning out your closets, but you are glued to Seinfeld reruns you’ve watched a million times. How can you catapult yourself off the couch and into action?
You must move, no matter what. You don’t have to find the cure to cancer today. Just find something simple that needs to be done and do it. The best antidote for laziness is putting one foot in front of the other. Don’t listen to the little voices in your head that whisper, I’ll start tomorrow. Ignore the equally damaging voices that whisper, “I should have done this three months ago.” Just go. Don’t think. Do.
Impatience is another looming roadblock. Maybe you’ve done the first few exercises in this book, but you’re not seeing results. Therefore, you’re thinking about regifting this book to your brother-in-law for Christmas. He’s a big, fat loser. He probably needs it worse than you, right? Wrong. Don’t let impatience halt your progress. Hang on. Don’t leave before the miracle occurs.
Your assignment today is to turn off the TV. Pick one action item and do it. Do not even consider the results or the rewards. Just launch yourself into action. When you’re done, congratulate yourself. You’ve conquered laziness and impatience today.
DAY
8
“Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.”
— Helen Keller
You do not get any extra points for accomplishing things alone. In fact, one of the great keys to success is teamwork. Everyone has different talents and abilities, and when you pool your resources, you tend to witness amazing results. It just might be the big cosmic joke of humanity. Alone it is impossible, but together all things are possible.
A very important lesson in success is to acknowledge that some people are just better at certain tasks than you are. So if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em! Band together with people you admire and see how powerful you are when united.
Helen Keller was deaf and blind and therefore had very little opportunity to connect with the outside world. Her potential for greatness was almost wasted. Then Annie Sullivan broke through her isolation. Together, they formed a bond and a way to communicate. Annie Sullivan took Helen Keller by the hand and brought her out of her isolation and into the world. She helped her achieve her dreams. Alone, Helen Keller would have accomplished very little. Together they did so much.
Through hard work and cooperation with her teacher and others, Helen Keller broke through her barriers and became a model of achievement. She was a prolific American author and lecturer, and she was an activist in many causes, including women’s suffrage and worker’s rights.
Today, your assignment is to think about your partnerships. Do you have any? Did you recently lend a hand to someone? Have you accepted help? Why or why not?
DAY
9
“What lies behind us, and what lies before us are small matters compared to what lies within us.”
— Ralph Waldo Emerson
A very important point to consider while you are working through this year is that your past and your future are totally irrelevant to achieving your dreams. They are insignificant details. What you want to concentrate on this year is what you’ve got going on inside.
You want to touch that flame in your soul that will allow you to do great things. It doesn’t matter if you’re not proud of your past accomplishments. It doesn’t matter if the uncertainty of the future terrifies you. What matters is doing that internal inventory to find out who you are and what you want out of life.
There is a powerhouse of potential locked inside you. How are you going to choose to use it? Would you rather keep it hidden and controlled, so that you don’t stick out in a crowd? Or would you secretly like to see what would happen if you unleashed your true potential on the world? Are you willing to take responsibility for yourself and your actions?
Your assignment today is to write a definition of yourself. Define yourself in three sentences or less. Then write down five things you really like about yourself and five things you wish you could change. Finally, if you could look deep inside, what color do you imagine your soul to be and why? Do this exercise quickly, and don’t spend too much time pondering your answers. Write down the first things that come to mind, and then leave it. Keep this definition in your notebook, and you will refer to it again a few months from now.
DAY
10
“It’s kind of fun to do the impossible.”
— Walt Disney
Do you get overwhelmed easily? Is it hard for you to finish things you’ve started? If something seems impossible, would you rather forget it and move on to something easier? Most people don’t like to attempt the impossible, but Walt Disney has a wonderful twist of logic when it comes to this word.
It really is fun to do the impossible. It’s like throwing a surprise party. You catch people off guard. You show them that their limitations don’t apply to you. It’s also a little like playing make-believe. What if you pretend a task isn’t impossible? You might just find a way to accomplish it if you don’t know the goal is supposed to be unattainable.
Why not? No one actually expects you to succeed, so go for it! There is a freedom in attempting the impossible. Failure is expected, so you have nowhere to go but up. And who defined it as impossible, anyway? How do you really know it can’t be done until you try?
Cultivate your devilish side today. You don’t have to accomplish the impossible, but it might be fun to practice the improbable. Think about something positive you could do that would completely shock people who know you. Let’s say you absolutely hate getting up in the morning. What would happen if you got up very early one morning, participated in some sort of physical exercise, and then brought breakfast to your family or co-workers? That might just send some of them into cardiac arrest. “You did what? But you hate the morning! It could be fun.”
DAY
11