ANOTHER MAJOR PIECE TO THE PUZZLE - ACTIVITY (PART 1)

A parable to start today’s article:

A master was set to travel to distant lands. But before his trip, he called three of his servants and gave each of them a talent according to their abilities. To the first servant, he gave five talents; to the second, two, and just one for the last servant. Then he went on his journey.

The first two servants went and put their money to work. While the last one dug a hole in the ground and hid what he received.

When the master came back, he asked the servants what became of the talents he gave them. The first one proudly replied that he gained 5 talents more with what the master had given him. The second servant also earned two talents more than the initial two he received. When the third servant came forward, he told his master what he did claiming that he did it out of fear.

Obviously, the master was very happy with the first two servants. As a reward for what they did, he put them in charge of more things and invited them to share his happiness. As for the third servant, he took the talent from him and banished him from his house.

We don’t get rewarded by the level of need but by the level we deserve.

No matter how much we have been given (or how little) it is our responsibility to do something with it.

That is how we change pennies into fortunes and obstacles into opportunity - by taking all that we have and all that we are and putting it to work.

Knowledge and good feelings need to be converted into activity.  The more we start, with wise investment, the more we will receive.

So it is important to start with:

1. Sound personal philosophy
2. Right attitude
3. Open and building knowledge
4. Feel good about selves and opportunities

But this is not enough within itself. What we know and how we feel determine our potential for achievement. Whether we actually achieve our goals is ultimately determined by our activity, i.e. what we do with, how we feel, what we know, and what we have.

So with a good personal philosophy, great depth of character, and good attitude, we then need to add to these valuable attributes an attitude of doing rather than making excuses.

Why we sometimes get stuck on the ground floor:

We must find ways to demonstrate on the outside what we feel and the values we possess on the inside.

We need to take all that we are to the marketplace and put it to work.

We may need to stay up late at night developing new plans to achieve our dreams and work hard day after day to make those dreams a reality.

Get around the right sources of influence and associate with those who can help us and find out all about our market.

Do it constantly, with an intensity and a level of commitment that would put many of us to shame.

(For me, this is to write, coach, and share knowledge through song)

It is our lack of intense, disciplined activity that has allowed evil to flourish and good men to flounder. We have no one to blame but ourselves.

What if we all gave 100% to our jobs, our families, and our communities?

What if we right now we started to read books and replace errors with disciplines and associate with people who have stimulating ideas? What if converted our dreams into plans and our plans into refined activists that would lead toward the achievement of our goals.

What a life we could have with our families and friends, a life with challenges, excitement, and achievement. And what an inheritance to leave behind.  A wealth of virtue integrity and substance with which to build a whole new world. All because we cared enough to do something with our lives and to put our skills and talents to work.

Harnessing the vision of the future:

Niagara Falls is one of the most breathtaking spectacles in the world.  The power of the force of the water of these falls has been harnessed to provide an energy source to hundreds and thousands of people.

Our own dreams can be as breathtaking and beautiful as nature. But they must also be harnessed and converted into some form of energy if they are to have any value to ourselves and to the world around us. Otherwise, they remain only an exciting but untapped spectacle of human imagination.

Our level of activity must = our level of intent.

Discipline is a much milder pain than regret.

Activity = the application of all that we know and all that we feel combined with our desire to have more than we have and become more than we are.