I love this quote from Dan Millman’s book, The Four Purposes of Life, “While some of us act without thinking, too many of us think without acting.” I can’t tell you how many of my ideas and dreams remain hidden in my journals – things that have never been acted on. Like so many things in life, we talk about wanting to do them, then we never do…
A great life is one where we both dream large and act large. As the quote goes, “Don’t go into something to test the waters, go do something that makes waves.” Life is about action – about translating our ideas, wisdom and thinking into a way of living that allows us to be our best and to bring this best to our world.
So, what stops us from doing more than just thinking about things? What stops us from going out and doing?
I think that many of us lack these three things:
1. Self-confidence. When we don’t know ourselves well – we don’t know our talents, passions and unique abilities – the result is we don’t know how capable we are. And without this information, we lack the confidence to go out and try; we just play it safe and talk a good story, never thinking we have what it takes to actually make it happen. But, the more we become aware of our talents, strengths and unique abilities, the more confidence we develop in ourselves; we know our capabilities – we develop the confidence to try. And the more we try, the more we see how capable we are. We move from dreamer to confident doer.
2. Courage. Someplace in our pasts, others have told us not to live large, not to dream (instead, play it safe and small) – and we believed them. Maybe they meant well, but this discussion helped us become fearful of change, of opportunity, of doing things differently and of challenging our history. As we start to listen to our own voice – and trust it – we develop the courage to go out and live our lives - on our terms. We move from fearful to courageous doer.
3. Energy. There are many levels of energy but let’s just focus on physical energy. For us to go out and act on our dreams, we need a body fueled by powerful and healthy food, good living habits and a commitment to well-being. We can’t act on life if we live on caffeine, medications, junk food and too little sleep. Value yourself and your health. Take good care of yourself to be able to have the energy to act on your dreams, make things happen and live the way you want to live. We move from unhealthy to high-energy doer.
Thinking and dreaming is wonderful – they fill our opportunity list with meaningful and valuable opportunities that can make our lives amazing. But don’t just think about it – go do it. Develop the self-confidence, courage and energy to move your dreams off the opportunity list and into reality.
