Scott went to the county jail once a week to talk to men there about his experience with alcoholism and his recovery through the program of Alcoholics Anonymous. Every time he left that dingy, sad place he felt almost overwhelmed with happiness. It wasn’t just because he was relieved not to be one of the prisoners. It was because by simply telling his story he could offer hope to people who had lost it. It wasn’t much. It never caused him pain, and it was hardly an inconvenience. He took one hour a week to lift someone up, and in turn his own soul soared.
Try lifting someone up today and observe how it makes you feel. Every time you teach, every time you offer compassion and understanding, every time you reach out your hand to lift someone up, you are doing the same for yourself.
DAY
226
“First comes thought; then organization of that thought, into ideas and plans; then transformation of those plans into reality. The beginning, as you will observe, is in your imagination.”
— Napoleon Hill
For the next few days we will be talking about the transition from innovation to organization. It’s important to cultivate creativity, but that creative thought is meaningless if it never moves from your head into the real world. Many of us are geniuses in our minds, but that doesn’t count for much if the thoughts in your head never see the light of day. So what’s the process? The quote above explains it very well. There are a number of steps:
1. Have an innovative thought.
2. Organize that thought.
3. Make plans.
4. Transform the plans into reality.
First your imagination gives you a unique thought. Then, you have to organize that crazy idea into something that makes sense. The best way to do that is to spit that idea out of your head by drawing pictures, writing about it, or recording your thoughts. Once you have it on paper, your next move is to create plans around making it happen. Build your blueprints. Finally, when you are satisfied that you’ve completed the preparation, turn your plans into reality. Success is taking steps to craft your crazy innovative thoughts into real, tangible items.
DAY
227
“The five essential entrepreneurial skills for success are concentration, discrimination, organization, innovation and communication.”
— Michael Faraday
There are thousands of gurus out there who will tell you about the essential skills you need to achieve success. You get to choose which of their ideas will help you the most as you organize your innovations into actionable items. Take a look at the quote above and the quote from Day 226 as two examples of suggestions to help you turn your ideas into realities.
Now you get to practice being the guru. How can you organize your life so that you are better at turning your ideas into real actions that will help you achieve success? Come up with your own unique game plan using these quotes as templates. Write your own steps for success.
Your assignment does not end there. You have to try out your new plan to see if it works. Take one of your crazy ideas, and walk through the steps you have created to turn it into reality. Give yourself at least a month to make this happen, but make sure your deadline, whatever it is, is clear. What milestones can you set along the way that will help you gauge whether or not you are on track?
You are now getting into the nitty gritty of achieving success. You may not get this process right the first time, but don’t be discouraged. This is extremely rewarding work if you are up for the challenge. Be willing to tweak your process when you find parts that do not quite work, and you will be rewarded for your continual improvements. Good luck!
DAY
228
“Don’t agonize, organize.”
— Jim Hightower
If you want to achieve, you must do. Don’t spend too much time in the dreaming stages. Taking action is a high priority. In the quote above, Jim Hightower says it perfectly. Don’t agonize, organize. Don’t worry if you’re doing everything perfectly. You’ll never know how things are going to work out until you get organized and do something.
Agonizing over your plans leaves you with nothing. If you spend all of your time fretting over your decisions, what product do you have to show for your worries at the end of the day? Maybe the beginning of an ulcer, but that’s about it. Drop the worrying. It is useless.
Instead, spend your time on something you can hold on to. Organize your thoughts. Plan out how you are going to achieve your goals. You will be surprised at how exhilarating it is to see the process laid out. It will prove to you that you can achieve success. You can attain your dreams. You just need to organize a set of steps to get there.
Organize and get into action. If something doesn’t work, then re-organize and take action again. Concrete steps will give you concrete achievement. Ideas without organization are like dreams. They eventually fade, and you have nothing to prove they ever existed. Don’t be afraid to take this next and very important step in achieving success. You are done dreaming. It’s time to organize and attack.
DAY
229
“We give our lives to that which we give our time. I have learned that it is very difficult, if not impossible, to unclutter one’s life by starting at the top of the pile with the idea that the solution is to just get things sorted and better organized. It is nice to get better organized, but that is not enough. Much has to be discarded. We must actually get rid of it. To do this we need to develop a list of basics . . . . [This list] must be the product of inspiration and prayerful judgment between the things we really need and things we just want. It should separate need from greed. It must be our best understanding of those things that are important as opposed to those things that are just interesting.”
— William R. Bradford
Is your life cluttered? It is much harder to reach success if you allow yourself too many distractions. In order to remove the clutter from your life, you need to do more than organize. You must streamline your life.
Your assignment today is to sit down with a large piece of paper and map out what you did last week. Go through your calendar if that helps you remember, but divide the page into seven days and try, as accurately as possible, to account for all of your time.
How much time did you spend watching TV? How many hours (or minutes) did you dedicate to family? What percentage of your time was spent at work? Did you spend a lot of time surfing the Internet? You can record the events in your seven-day calendar any way you want, but find a clear way to identify the amount of time you spend on various activities throughout the day.