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Take Action on Your GoalsBy Jan Peter Aursnes
Chances are you’ve read countless books and articles on how to improve yourself, professionally and personally. You may have even attended a self-improvement or  business enhancement workshop or two. But if you’re like the majority of people, despiteall this knowledge, your professional and personal life has not changed at all. What wentwrong?As with all things in your life, you have a choice to make. In this case your choiceis clear: Are you going to apply what you’ve learned in pursuit of a better life or business,or are you going to file this knowledge away and stay in your comfort zone?Realize that action is the key to making positive changes in your life. Withoutaction, knowledge is lost. Inaction will not result in fulfillment. There is only one thingstanding in the way of achieving all that’s possible: You! If you make the consciouschoice to sit back and watch the world go by without ever making an attempt at achievingyour goals, you will experience profound regret in your life.Unfortunately, many people remain idle in the face of challenges and make thedecision to stay put in a life of discontent—to remain in a job that brings them nosatisfaction and to remain in a world of unhappiness. These people take a passiveapproach to life. When opportunities present themselves, these people don’t act. They’renot prepared. It’s one thing to know what to do; it’s something entirely different to putthat information to good use and turn knowledge into action. If you don’t take thenecessary action, you will be left watching opportunity after opportunity pass you by,wondering what might have been.If you’re ready to take action and make some serious changes in your life, keepthe following points in mind.
1.
 
Don’t let fear hold you back.
You cannot let the fear of the unknown or the fear of failure prevent you fromtaking the necessary action to succeed. You must stick with your vision even when timesget tough. Napoleon Hill, author of 
Think and Grow Rich
(Hill 1987), put it beautifully.“There is no substitute for persistence! It cannot be supplanted by any other quality! …Those who have cultivated the habit of persistence seem to enjoy insurance againstfailure. No matter how many times they are defeated, they finally arrive near the top of the ladder.”So do not go on believing that the path to success will be without obstacles andchallenges. You will certainly have tough times. But don’t let any misconceptions lullyou into inaction and eat away at your dreams. Know that all great accomplishmentscome despite hardship, not in its absence. You have to be aware and prepared, and youmust match your vision with action.
2.
 
Eliminate regrets.
The regret of never trying to make the most of your potential will far outweighany bumps you will encounter along the way. There really is no limit to what you can dowith your life. It is sometimes hard to imagine what you will
not 
get out of life if you donot take action. That is a difficult concept for people to get their head around. However,
 
when faced with the idea of finally taking action, many people quickly create a long listof what could wrong and why they should stay in their comfort zone. In fact, most peoplewould never run out of reasons when asked to point out all of the reasons why they
 shouldn’t 
try to do something. Yet, the moment you ask them to create a vision for whatthey want out of life, they suddenly lose their creative prowess.When it comes to their approach to life, too many people don’t think about whatthey are losing, because they never had it. This is a flawed way of thinking. You can bewhatever you want to be. It is never too late or too early. And make no mistake, bychoosing to sit idly by without taking responsibility for what happens in your life, you aregiving up a tremendous amount. Just because you might not be able to touch it yetdoesn’t make it any less real.
3.
 
Look at your life in totality.
If you are looking for professional and personal fulfillment, you have to look atthe whole picture, your daily life in totality. You will be unable to block off ten hours of your day for work and then expect to live the rest of each day in happiness, forgettingabout work completely. Work is a part of life; therefore, to live a true life of fulfillment,you must make work part of the total equation. This does not mean you can’t lead ahappy life if your job isn’t ideal. It simply means that you can absolutely make your job part of the larger vision for your life where work is exciting and anticipated instead of unfulfilling and dreaded.So make the time to learn about yourself. Find your purpose. Put in the effort tocreate a specific vision. Develop the goals and the plan that will turn that vision into your reality. And most of all, take action. Don’t stop with a dream. Take the action that willtruly define who you are. Separate yourself from those that only talk about things. Youare unique, and you have unlimited potential. These gifts can only be offered to the worldif you take action. You were meant to express yourself and contribute your talents. Youwill make yourself happy, and this will undoubtedly be radiated to those around you.4.
 
Incorporate more meaning into your life.
Everyone has moments of happiness that they experience. When you can add thatextra element of meaning, you will take yourself to a higher level altogether. Think aboutyour job. Have you ever found yourself asking, “Why am I doing this?” Well, if you arenot really very interested in what you are doing, you will not truly care about your job,and it will show. But how do you behave when you are excited about something or trulycare about the result? Do you act differently? You bet you do. You don’t even think about the time or effort you put into reaching your goal. You just do it. Period. No matter what.Let’s say you are into woodworking. Is it a chore for you to build an addition tothe back deck? Of course not. Why not? Because you love doing it. You are excited about planning it, getting the materials, and hey, you might even need to go to the hardwarestore and buy a new tool! These are not inconveniences; they are requirements, and youdon’t mind a bit. Now what if you were then asked to build an addition to a wildliferehabilitation clinic and you happened to have a passion for working with animals. Nowyou are talking about real fulfillment. The feeling associated with such a scenario is whatyou give up when you settle for a life of the mundane.
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