Over the past few years, I have taken on a significant overhaul of my personal and professional life. I dedicated my mornings and afternoons making the best of battling the everlasting accordion effect of Massachusetts traffic by listening to hours of audiobooks and motivational speeches in hopes that I would learn the what my missing link to success was. I listened to anything I could that I thought would help to build a strong foundation for me. I listened to the best Lecturers in the world teach skills through "The Great Courses" to learning how to "Un-F*ck" myself. I even tried listening to binaural beats while sleeping that hypnotized myself into financial independence or becoming an Alpha male, also to heal emotional pain and dissolve karma. Sounds silly to some, I know, but I was desperate, willing to try anything, and I slowly became obsessed with improving myself.
Through this life-changing campaign of mine, I feel as if I have tried everything to improve who I am as a person; to reach what I think "success" means. I have gained more than I could have anticipated by listening to the authors and narrators, motivational speakers, and brain tuning frequencies masked by the sounds of a tropical forest. I learned that change starts with you, the individual, and if your introspection is astute enough to look inward and understand your true self, you can change too. The only thing stopping you from achieving greatness is you. I learned that positive self-talks are a great weapon to use when battling anxiety and depression. I even learned that thanking yourself for little things, like showering or brushing your teeth, are small, maybe even silly, but they accumulate and snowball into much more. However, even after all that I've learned and applied there is still the elephant in the room, and it's called inaction.
This inaction isn't not catching someone's cup of water before it hit the floor when they dropped it, or procrastinating work on a project or assignment until the last day, or not taking your laundry out of the dryer, so your clothes get unbelievably wrinkly. This inaction is procrastination squared. This inaction is when you procrastinate so long that you never end up doing it. You delay so long that the opportunity to do it comes and passes and is never to return. This inaction is how people never end up at the gym, never join the military, never buy a house, or never start their own business. That state of mind is normal for some, but for me, I feel a certain level of regret. Almost as it still lurks in the shadows of my mind. Peering over the fence like Tim the Tool Man Taylor's neighbor, but doesn't say anything. He looks at you as if shaming you for not being responsible and acting when the action was needed.
Inaction has wronged me multiple times and in more ways than one. It has ruined friendships, wasted thousands of dollars, stiff-armed my career, and chipped away at my being. It has attacked my self-confidence bit by bit and injected self-doubt. My message to you is to take action; take massive action. If you are willing to do something, it's worth doing it right and to the best of your abilities. If you ever have the desire to do something beneficial for you, your life or career, don't talk yourself out of it, don't second guess yourself. Remember, everyone is a beginner at first. Be unafraid. Take action.
