When Going Gets Tough, Action and Attitude Carry the Day

Guest post by Marc Demetriou:

There are two words that literally have everything to do with the everything in your days, as you go forward to live your dream and fashion your success: Action and Attitude.

Action: The lazy and uninspired will never inherit the earth, nor even the slightest speck of it. In order to achieve anything, you must be up and doing, actively engaged, and ever in motion. Building a best life requires more than mere motion, and more than mere effort or baby steps. It truly requires enthusiasm, zeal, and zest, along with the unbridled passion discussed in the previous chapter. Action is for those who are willing to sprint and go all out. There are no half–measures or shortcuts.

Each action taken must be considered, measured, and weighed, as each must fit into the larger context of the overall plan. Success is ultimately the province of the one who is on fire, the one who is utterly determined, and the one who will keep shoveling and shoveling in the resolute belief that he or she will indeed move the mountain placed in his or her path, no matter its girth or its mass. When you are going all out, fear itself gets cast aside and all systems are go, because the committed, engaged, and utterly active have no time for fear.

Of course, it is you who must implement your plan, as there is no magic in the moonlight out there that will do it for you. Plans are always the wellsprings of action, and, as such, your plan is not made to gather dust. Action is passion in motion. As Pablo Picasso said, it is “the foundational key to all success.” As Bo Bennett, author of Year to Success, writes, “A dream becomes a goal when action is taken towards its achievement.” May you make what he says your daily mantra, for your road to success must follow just such a course—from the dream, to the goal, to the action, to the achievement, bit by bit and step by step, inexorably onward, until you can truly exhale, breathe deeply, and smile broadly after having fulfilled what you set out to accomplish. It can take a long, long time, but it’s not the time spent that matters. Rather, fulfillment is in the doing. That’s action.

Attitude: Attitude is a larger–than–life word. Your attitude is the embodiment of the very way in which you grapple with life. It is the living expression of your acceptance or rejection of what life dishes out to you. It is your signature, your logo, your mark. Ralph Marston went so far as to say, “Excellence is not a skill. It is an attitude.” John C. Maxwell said, “People may hear your words, but they feel your attitude.”

So, yes indeed, attitude is one very big word. To add to this potent litany of quotes about attitude is a popular saying that goes “We can complain because rose bushes have thorns or rejoice because thorn bushes have roses.” Are you positive, upbeat and smiling when you try to succeed at anything, or are you down on the world and predisposed to think in skeptical terms about what is possible? Do you look for the good in people or rather expect to find the worst in them? Do you expect to take without giving or are you rather a “reap what you sow—you only get what you give” type? Is the cup always half full, or half empty?

If you think that you can take without giving, if you expect the worst from people, if you are generally negative and slow to smile, or predisposed to give less rather than more, then you might want to save yourself the time and effort and put this book aside right now, because success and a best life just might not be your thing. That is, of course, unless you are willing to do the hard work, and change! The truth is that you can begin to change your attitude by simply biting your tongue and smiling when it hurts. You are capable of changing and improving the way you behave and act, if you only have the will. Even the worst of attitudes can be made right with a little spit polish, glue, and hand–holding therapy. Believe it or not, no matter how hard or angry, ditching the negative and accenting the positive just might feel good. Why on earth would you want to hold onto a negative world view and attitude

The great American composer Irving Berlin who wrote in his book, Gathering No Moss: Memoir of a Reluctant World Traveler, “Life is 10 percent what you make of it and 90 percent how you take it.” What I am telling you is that 90 percent of what we are after here is largely the province of the upbeat and daring, the positive and determined, and the smiling and lighthearted. Yes, 90 percent of it is for those who will go forward undaunted, taking the hits and the failings and climbing over the pitfalls and the potholes, and even the occasional quicksand that will be placed in their paths. It is the positive and the upbeat who can deal with the vagaries and surprises of life. As Grandpa Charlie taught me, “Never stop moving in the direction of your dream.”

About the Author: Marc Demetriou is nationally ranked mortgage broker based in New Jersey and author of the book, Lessons From My Grandfather: Wisdom for Success in Business and Life.