Take Action
The habit of taking action is one of the most important habits one can develop in life.
Much of what passes as knowledge is actually ancient wisdom that has been repackaged or put into modern terms or language. I am simply quoting the words I have learned even though they may have come from an earlier source. The most important thing to remember is to take action. You can think about something all day but it doesn’t count until you actually do it. The sooner you get to something - the sooner you get through it!
“Much is not dared because it seems hard; much seems hard only because it is not dared.” - Patrice Wenzel Anton von Kaunitz. The first thing to remember is not to be afraid to act. The worst thing that can happen is you can fail but you cannot succeed if you don’t try.
“Do no harm, take no shit.” - Elizabeth Lesser. Part of not having fear is not caring what people say or do if you fail.
“The fishermen know the sea is dangerous and the storm dangerous, but have never found these dangers sufficient for remaining ashore.” - Vincent Van Gogh. Jesus Christ once said he was going to make his apostles “fishers of men” so you must become a fisher of your life experiences. There’s no reason not to act (then again there’s also no reason to go out in a hurricane).
“Concentrate every minute on doing what is in front of you.” - Marcus Aurelius. You always have a task that can improve you. The key is only doing those tasks and saying no to the rest.
“The purpose of knowledge is action, not knowledge.” - Aristotle. Never forget this (but also never stop learning).
“One day you’ll wake up and there won’t be any more time to do the thing you always wanted to. Do it now.” - Paulo Coehlo. Thinking you will do it later is a slippery slope to failure.
“If there is something you want to do later, do it now. There is no ‘later.’” - Naval Ravikant
“Do one thing today that makes progress on the most important thing. Constant progress compounds.” - Shane Parrish. Always be improving. The day you stop trying to improve - you stat getting worse.
“Be brave. Take risks. Nothing can substitute experience.” - Paulo Coelho. Nobody ever regretted trying to do something on their death bed. Then again - if you are about to try something by first saying, “Hold my beer” - you may want to think twice before acting.
“Take it easy. But take it.” - Woody Guthrie. Take action!