If access to information is all anyone needed to be successful in business, wouldn't we all be successful?
I mean, we can access nearly all of the created content and bodies of work throughout the history of mankind while sitting on a park bench...but we don't.
Even if we do access this information rather than watch cat videos, how valuable is simply having knowledge?
"Knowledge without wisdom is like water in sand." ~Ancient proverb
"Knowledge has no value except that which can be gained from its application towards some worthy end." ~Napolean Hill
As kids we created, we pretended, we laughed, we played, we learned, we grew quickly.
Then our "caring" parents told us to "focus, stop goofing off, get serious, buckle down, put your nose to the grind stone" so we can "get good grades so we can get a good job" and have a "secure, stable future."
How's that working out for you?
The world has changed but our educational system and processes have not.
We have been taught how to sit when we hear one bell, stand when we hear two bells, form a single line when we hear three bells, wait to be heard, only speak when called upon by a person in authority, work at the same rate and pace as the slowest person in the room, and do not question anything.
Your "stable future" will be the future you create for yourself.
According to Raj Raghunathan, Ph.D., Professor of Marketing affiliated with the McCombs School of Business at The University of Texas at Austin, "Even though people claim to hold themselves in high regard, the thoughts that spontaneously occur to them—their “mental chatter,” so to speak—is mostly (up to 70%) negative, a phenomenon that could be referred to as negativity dominance.
You're held down by stinkin' thinkin' and don't even realize it.
Or do you?
But Wes, you started with imagination and knowledge, now you're talking about thinking, but you stressed taking action. Do you even know what you're talking about?!"
Great question. Thank you for reading this post instead of watching cat videos or replays of the Oscars.
Here's where all of this comes together:
Plant a thought and reap a word;
plant a word and reap an action;
plant an action and reap a habit;
plant a habit and reap a character;
plant a character and reap a destiny.
(~Emerson, Lao Tzu, Frank Outlaw, Buddha, and the father of Margaret Thatcher)
Your output is determined to a large degree by your input.
I say "to a large degree" because you can change your feelings by simply taking massive action. (Read "Motion Beats Meditation.")
So control what you feed your mind.
Control who you allow to feed and influence your mind.
Opportunity abounds if you know it abounds and believe it abounds and act like it abounds.
If you watch the news you may not realize it.
If you're watching sitcoms and the normal junk on TV you won't realize it.
If you are hiding from facing the facts with food or booze or drugs or social media debates your situation will never improve.
It's time to imagine bigger, surround yourself with bigger people and push yourself harder than you have before to get to a higher level of production, profits and fun.
I know you can do it. Now you just need to imagine it.