Contents
Get Off Your Butt & Start Doing Something
Well, that’s a loaded way to start an article. But let’s get right to it and decide to make today the first day in your new life.
You’ve decided to get off your butt and do something. Maybe your boss showed confidence in you by deciding to advance your knowledge by sending you to a live training event. Or maybe you’re running (or starting) your own business and you know you need the knowledge and advantages that only a live training can give you.
What it boils down to is, you want to learn how to best use a situation to your advantage, and you’re going to do something about it. That’s actually the first secret to just about everything in life and business.
You’ve got to get up off your butt and take action. Don’t wait until you’ve dotted the i’s and crossed all the t’s because you’ll never get them all done. If you wait for that, you’ll never start anything!
Striving for perfection in any endeavor is admirable but it’s not the way to get things done.
We’d still be back in the horse and buggy days if we’d waited for the automobile to be perfected before we rolled it out.
Do you really think that today’s most modern computer is perfected?
Geez, mine locks up regularly. Look around and tell me, what out there is perfect? I don’t think you’ll find anything that is truly perfect.
The secret to making the most out of anything starts is to actually do something with it. As simple as it sounds, only about 1% of the people who think about changing their life ever take the needed action to do so.
Oh, they might make a feeble attempt or two, but as soon as an obstacle comes across their path or they need to lay out some money, or really work to figure something out, they give up.
They say that seeking to improve your lot in life is a fool’s game. After all, they know it because they’ve tried it. They’ll complain how everything costs money and that’s why the rich get richer. You’ve heard them—you may have said some of these things yourself. How many people do you know like that?
Let me tell you a fact. In many cases, the opposite is true. A large number of the rich were once poor, but they took action to change their life. They were willing to stick their neck out and do something. They were willing to risk their time, security and yes, their money in order to improve themselves.
Now, how about the rich who just sit back and do nothing…do they keep getting richer? A very few may, but that’s because of all the actions they (or their family) took in the past. In most cases, if the rich sit back and stop moving forward and stop taking risks, their bundle will shrink. Oh sure, they may have enough to last them a lifetime even if they lose money every year. But the amount they leave their family after they’re gone will be small. And, if their remaining family members don’t start taking action, they’ll end up losing it all.
When you come from a small town like I do, you can see things in condensed version.
Very early on, most small towns had one or two families that were considered the “rich” families. They owned the bank, the biggest store, etc. In our hometown, we had four or five families like that.
Back in the 1950’s, they were the undisputed financial leaders. A few even held this position into the 60’s and 70’s. They were as scarce as hen’s teeth in the 80’s and 90’s and into the 2000’s.
They (or their ancestors) had taken risks early on and built up a fortune. Then they never changed with the times. Out of fear of losing what they had, they stopped taking risks.
The next generation in their family didn’t even know how to take risk.
Their once landmark buildings are either torn down or are being preserved as historic relics by the Historical Association.
You can argue that times have been harsh on these small towns and progress and the automobile (or the internet) have erased many of them off the map. Unfortunately, in many cases, this is true. But these are not the ones I’m talking about. I’m talking about instances in towns and cities across the nation that still are thriving.
Drive through these thriving towns. You’ll see faded names still gracing the huge, dilapidated buildings that now serve as tombstones to their memory. And a little way down the road, you’ll see a new, modern, thriving business that’s owned or run by a member of one of the families who used to sweep floors for the owner of that long-lost fortune.
And, in some cases, the few remaining relatives of that once prestigious dynasty, will be working for hourly wages in that new business. They may still be bitter about the way life cheated them out of their fortune, but they’re not willing to take the action and risk needed to get back on top. Here’s a quote I keep on my desk:
“Behold the turtle, he makes progress only when he sticks his neck out.”
JAMES BR YANT CONANT
Frequently Asked Questions
How Do Get Off My Butt & Start Doing Something?
The secret to making the most out of anything starts is to actually do something with it. As simple as it sounds, only about 1% of the people who think about changing their life ever take the needed action to do so.
