“When I am faced with the choice of doing nothing or doing something, I will always choose to act.” Andy Andrews is the author of this phrase. In his book, “The Travelers Gift,” his third decision for success is to be a person of action. Wealth and abundance hide form the people who are sluggish but follow those who take action and move quickly. There is no such thing as standing still in success. The failure to make a decision is failure act, and thus, failure. There is no gray area in the world of riches and abundance. It is either black or white. Poor or rich. Either you are moving forward or you are not moving at all, which means you are getting further and further behind.

“Successful people make their decisions quickly and change their minds slowly. Failures make their decisions slowly and change their minds quickly.” The key to this quote is to trust in your own intuition. Do you feel confident in your decision making abilities? Most lack confidence and thus will never see their dreams in reality because of that very reason. Success all comes down to one thing, and that is your ability to decide. Decide today to act towards your future. You have the power within you to be great through your decisions. Be confident and be accountable. Fear should not have a place in your mind, as that is all it is, a frame of mind. There is no room for fear in the life of someone who is successful. Fear of choice, fear of criticism, fear of failure is all rubbish. Fear is such a minor thing. Leave it behind.

Become the Leader that others will follow. “Leading is doing. To lead, I must move forward. Many people move out of the way for a person on the run…” Within the true leader, you have the ability to inspire and lead others to greatness. Be the person others will follow, and you will have success. Never settle for mediocraty. Seize the moment. Choose to decide.

I am a person of action!

Does your life have meaning? When you wake up each day are you full of excitement for what the waiting hours might bring your way? Do you go throughout your day savoring every minute of it as if there were not enough of them or do you count them down as if sleep is your only moment of joy? Are you slowly awaiting your death or are you living in purpose?

As you answer these questions to yourself, remember the feelings you get when you do. That feeling will give you a pretty good idea of whether or not you are living. My family and I travel quite a bit which leaves a lot of time for reflection. The conversation came up regarding what our life used to be before finding this opportunity and the industry of Personal Development. I used to wake up every day, go to the same place to work every day, do the same thing there every day, and come home to spend time with my family every night for an hour or two before it was time to sleep. Now don’t get me wrong, there are those who have no time with their family after work! So I had it better than some, but what was I thinking? I was slowly dying! As I woke every morning, I was not excited for my day. I didn’t expect my day tomorrow to be much different from today.

What did I have to look forward to? I could see then, how someone could get excited over a new job or promotion, but now, it seems like such a hard and uneventful life. Besides the part that involves family and friends, most of your life is wasted in building someones elses dream. Everyday spent at a job is a day wasted in your dream. All that work for two weeks of vacation a year! I in stupidity at myself, because I used to think that was fair!

It is my goals to create as many entrepreneurs as I possibly can in my lifetime. Since I transitioned from the work force to entrepreneuralism, I have experienced a life of opportunity and excitement. I can hardly wait to see what the future brings our way. I love living and love those I am surrounded with and those I am able to assist in living the life of their dreams. What are you here on Earth for? You are only here once, make the best of it and live the life you imagine you would, because you know what, you are the creator of it!

Have you ever driven by an empty commercial lot and thought, “That would be an awesome place for a business right there,” but then couldn’t think of the perfect business to go there? I know I have and it drives me crazy until I can come up with something that would be perfect for that location. It may take me a few days but I will come up with something that would be a fit. How many people just don’t, or better yet, just can’t figure out what would be a success for that area?

I believe the reason some people will never see success is not because of their lack of ambition, but more so because of their lack of creativity or vision. It is easy to spot a good location for a business but the real challenge comes in building a creating the perfect business for the spot. Those that fail to use the creative side of their brains tend to stay closer to the security of what they know versus what could happen. To most, having a job is comfortable for them, even though it may be far less secure.

Vise-versa, some fail to reach their goals due to lack of ambition yet have many great ideas. I should also add the lack of action in association with ambition. In order to truly live the lifestyle of your dreams, you must have vision and be willing to take the action towards what drives you. When it all comes down to it, if you truly have a vision, there is nothing that will keep you from it. An idea is just an idea, but vision has passion behind it. If you fail to follow your passions, you fail to live!

In Andy Andrews’ book “The Travelers Gift,” the second decision for success is to seek wisdom. Wisdom can be measured in many different ways. Are wisdom and knowledge the same thing? I think that they both go hand in hand and not one is greater than the other. Both wisdom and knowledge come with time, but wisdom seems to be the application part. It is the experience that helps you grow in wisdom as learning helps you grow in knowledge.

Always seek wisdom. If you desire success, then you must only let the most praiseworthy and worthwhile things enter into your mind. What you think about, you become. What you allow to enter your mind, you think about whether on a concious or subconcious level. Only let into your mind things that will help build you and your self confidence. Read from good books and literature. Have a library of books and read them often. Only seek information that will move you towards your goal and not away. Either you are moving forward or backward, there is no such thing as standing still. If something isn’t helping you, it is hurting you.

Seek out good friends. Who you hang around, you become. Seek to associate with those who lift you and inspire you. Seek wisdom from the wise and become a servant to others. As you assist others to get what they want, in turn you will get what you want. Choose to associate with those who have the lifestyle you desire and admire. The example Andy uses in his book is: “If I associate with chickens, I will learn to scratch at the ground and squabble over crumbs. If I associate with eagles, I will learn to soar great heights. I am an eagle. It is my destiny to fly.”

Be a servant to others. Seek praiseworthy knowledge. Listen to the counsel of wise men. Choose your friends with care. Seek wisdom!

 

I am so inspired but Andy Andrews’ book “The Travelers Gift.” If you haven’t read this book, get it and read it. It will change your life. This one book has had a huge effect on the way I perceive myself and the possibilities around me. I won’t give away the story line of the book but I will touch upon each of the decisions for success covered in his book. I will touch on the first in this article.

The Buck stops here! What exactly does that even mean? In doing some research I found that it means: Responsibility is not passed on beyond this point. U.S. president Harry S. Truman had a sign with this inscription on his desk. This was meant to indicate that he didn’t ‘pass the buck’ to anyone else but accepted personal responsibility for the way the country was governed. Although he didn’t create the saying, it may have never been as commonly know if he hadn’t used it so frequently.

The buck stops here. Take responsibility for your actions whether positive or negative. This is a phrase of integrity and true character. When facing difficulties or tough decisions take hold of what is placed before you and run with it. The only one that is going to create success for you is you! Where you are today physically, emotionally, spiritually and financially is because of your thoughts. Your actions are a direct reflection of what you think about and thus, your results are a manifestation of your thoughts and actions. You are where you are because of you.

Take hold of that concept, accept your wins and your losses as your own and start new. Today is the first day to the rest of your life. You own it. Whatever brand has marked you in the past is no longer. What you were yesterday will not matter tomorrow because you have the power to change that. It is within you to create anything. Take responsibility for your actions. The buck stops here!

You know, I think the title to this entry is a kind of a trick question, but what decisions or choices would you be making if there were no posibilities of failure? Whatever you decided to accomplish today would happen. What thoughts would be going through your head? Would you be doing the same thing you do everyday or would there be a significant shift in your daily method of operation? How would this one day effect the rest of your life and the decisions you make from this point on?

I can tell you this much….if there was something that you wanted to change about your life or current circumstance, you would start with that. I can pretty much guarantee that you would not be going into work today, especially if you have a job. At least I would hope that you would choose not to continue in a life of limitation because that, to a degree, is what having a job is. Whatever it is that you feel passionate about, I would hope that you would persue that, if the possibilty of success were 100% guaranteed. I am sure that you have dreams and goals that are still floating around in your head somewhere that you would like to see a reality.

The trick to this question is that your belief in your success, is the only thing that seperates you from success or failure. Now let me rephrase that so it sticks and is clear. Your success or failure is directly and immediately tied to your belief in yourself. If you knew, that today you could succeed at anything you wanted to, then you would. It is all in your head. Fear, sadness, pain, happiness, confindence, insecurity, and all emotions are in your head. They are direct reflections of how you act towards an outside influence. You control your thoughts. Your thoughts govern your actions and actions create results.

Cultivate a belief in yourself, eliminate all doubt, and go after the life of your dreams. We all have the same 24 hours today, what are you going to do with yours?