Why Success is About Action
The Key to All Success: Action
by Ciara Conlon
The artist Pablo Picasso once said,
“Action is the foundational key to all success.”
It’s one of those quotations that when you ponder it, you will have to agree with its blatant truth. But if so many of us are of the same mind as Picasso, why do we regularly forget to take his advice?
About 10 years ago I was very frustrated with my life. I had many ideas and goals, but I had not achieved a fraction of the things that I wanted to achieve.
I would look around and see success all around me. I saw people I went to school with, with big businesses and flashy cars. I couldn’t understand why I hadn’t been as successful as them. I had acted on a few business ideas — I was definitely an expert at business plans — but somehow, nobody else got to see those plans and my business ideas never moved forward. How could I get things done?
Missing ingredient
I cannot remember the exact occasion or at what stage I realized what was missing. But when I did, I stopped feeling sorry for myself and realized that sitting dreaming about life wasn’t going to get me where I wanted to go UPWARDS!
Still today I can be guilty of not acting on many different ideas, but now it is through choice; now I choose what I act on and what I put on the back-burner. This is what I now do.
Movement
I take action, I realize that the first step is the most important, Newton’s first law of Motion states:
“A body in motion remains in motion unless it is acted on by an external force. If the body is at rest it remains at rest”.
Once you get started it is easier to stay in motion, but the most difficult part is that first movement — the first action. Little by little your actions will gather momentum, and before you know it you will have achieved your goals. A wise friend once said,
“It’s only by starting to walk on the path that you can know for sure if you have taken the correct path.”
Make a start.
Choice
I remind myself that being successful is not necessity but choice. Most of the things that frustrate us and irritate us are completely self-inflicted. They are standards and goals we set for ourselves and if we don’t achieve them we are disappointed, upset and annoyed!
So, instead of saying things like “I have to finish this work” or “I need to write one chapter of my book before I can go have fun” change it to “I want.” When you empower yourself to make your own choices these jobs and tasks become easier. Here are some examples:
“I want to finish this work before I relax with the family because I know I can then devote my time and attention to them afterwards.”
“I want to write one chapter of my book because I enjoy writing and I will be happy if I achieve this.”
Remind yourself of the things that you want to achieve and the reasons why. The choice is yours.
Accountability
Statistics say that you are much more likely to achieve something if you tell other people about it. The New Year’s resolutions you promise yourself rarely work. Even if you promise your spouse or partner your likelihood increases slightly but not usually enough to make it happen. But, if you commit to a stranger, a coach or a counselor your chances shoot up.
Why is it we value other people’s opinion of us more than we value our own?
We let ourselves down regularly but are reluctant to let others down. If you want to take action tell somebody about it, tell someone you respect what you are going to do and ask them to check up on you. At the same time it can do no harm to try to respect yourself more and deliver on your personal commitments.
As Picasso says we cannot reach success without action; there needs to be movement towards the goal for things to start to happen.
What are your tips for getting started and taking action to become successful?
Success Is What You Make It
No Matter Where You Started From
by Jenny Marchal
Jim Carrey has been on our movie screens for decades and, love him or hate him, he has been hugely successful in creating a career based on his natural humor and creativity. But it hasn’t always been an easy path for the actor. When we look at successful people we often see them as being lucky or fortunate, however is this really the truth?
For Jim Carrey, life has been tough to get where he is today and we often don’t get to hear about the courage and determination that lies behind the stories of success. We sometimes judge people who seemingly ‘have it all’ or compare our own lives with those that have what we want, but comparisons only lead to unhappiness and we are unaware of the whole story behind their achievements. Here is why Jim Carrey should be such a source of inspiration and shows us some lessons that we can apply to our own lives.
Positive Things Can Come From Desperate Situations
Our childhoods are a time when our thoughts, beliefs and perspectives are being developed and shaped. So experiencing hard times can have a huge effect on us without realising. When our childhoods are spent in poverty, lack and sometimes desperation, it can affect our outlook on life, creating limiting beliefs for ourselves and what we can achieve.
Despite his huge success, Carrey didn’t have an idyllic childhood. He suffered from ADHD and undiagnosed dyslexia at school that caused him to struggle as well as finding it hard to make friends. His parents were poor and at one time they had to live in a van to make ends meet while Carrey worked a job alongside finishing his school work.
But instead of using his tough circumstances as a catalyst for struggle, he used his experience of desperate times to cultivate an empowered, positive mindset towards his dreams and ambitions. Whether you believe it or not, you have a choice about how you choose to look at life – you can let bad experiences knock you down and influence your beliefs that life is just never going to bring you what you want, or you can choose to use it as determination to make things better for yourself.
Determination Is The Key To Success
When Carrey decided to move to Hollywood to pursue his career in acting and comedy, he wasn’t an instant success. In fact, it took him 10 years before he got his first break. Despite being broke and feeling beaten down, he didn’t give up on pursuing his dreams.
Motivation and determination is something we all have inside of us but sometimes find hard to sustain when things don’t quite come as quickly as we thought they would. If we have a particular goal or dream we want to achieve we have to celebrate the small steps, the continuing of forward motion even if it doesn’t feel like it’s moving in the direction we want. Carrey believed in himself and believed that one day he will achieve what he moved to Hollywood to do.
We can’t predict life and everything it throws at us, but we can have faith that if we want something badly enough, and strive to work towards it, then success will happen. Determination is a powerful determent of achieving our goals in life.
Everyone Is Going Through A Battle You Don’t Know About
Many people would be surprised to know that the funny man of Hollywood has suffered from debilitating depression for a large portion of his life. With many great and inspirational people in the limelight secretly suffering from mental illness, it can seem slightly ironic that success and depression can live hand in hand. But Carrey hasn’t shied away from his sadness and shows that fame, success and being the ‘funny man’ doesn’t mean he’s automatically happy on the inside.
Carrey shows depression doesn’t discriminate but he continues to beat his depression by accepting that life isn’t always smooth, embracing negative feelings and accepting them for what they are, channelling his energy into what makes him happy, changing his perspective on the positive things he already has in his life and appreciating them, together with avoiding stimulants like alcohol and drugs.
Never assume that success equals happiness. Never look at someone else’s life and see them having what you don’t have – assuming they are feeling happy and abundant. No matter how successful or not someone is, a lot of people are going through battles we don’t know about. Stop comparing yourself to others and seeing lack in your own life but instead see the abundance already there no matter how small it is.
Do What You Can To Help Others
Jim Carrey’s hardship in his early life has helped him develop a mindset that cultivates a perspective of helping those in need. He set up a charity called The Better U Foundation in 2005 that promotes sustainable agriculture allowing farmers and workers to earn a better living in third world countries. While it’s easy to say Carrey is a millionaire successful actor and can afford to help others, he doesn’t have to. In fact, none of us have to help others in need but it’s all about the importance of altruism; giving our help to others and expecting nothing in return.
Helping to improve the welfare and happiness of people is an important factor in our own happiness. Not all of us can start charities but charity starts at home with your family, friends, neighbors, and your community as a whole. Putting a tiny amount of time aside to go out and help someone in need is all it takes to make this world a better place.
So whether you’re a Jim Carrey fan or not, it’s always good to take away the perspectives of someone who has experienced the bad times, gained success, suffered and cared for others. Remember, success is what you make it no matter where you started from.