Now is the time to act. Now is the time to live. There is no time other than the present. The past is a memory and the future is never here. Now is when you can make a difference, and now is when you can fulfill your dreams.
If you wait until the time is perfect, you’ll wait forever. If you think you don’t feel like taking action, and that you’ll wait until you feel like it, you won’t ever feel like it. If you make excuses, you’ll end up watching your precious time slip away with nothing to show for it. Instead of sitting around waiting for enough energy to get going, go ahead, get yourself moving and you’ll create the energy necessary to keep you in motion. If you just do not feel like doing anything, that’s the time when you can make the biggest positive difference for yourself by going ahead and taking action anyway.
Now is the time that matters. In ways small and large, your world right now is filled with opportunities to make a difference. Take the initiative. The only thing necessary to take the first step is your decision to do it.
Make that decision. Take that first step and put momentum solidly on your side. If you think you can’t do it, stop thinking and start doing. The smallest positive action can begin to erase even the biggest doubt.
When you find yourself making an excuse, take a good, careful look at that excuse. What if you could transform it into a powerful reason for stepping forward? Whatever serves as an excuse for not taking action can instead serve as a compelling reason to go ahead and act. It all depends on how you choose to see it.
Stop and listen to the excuses you make. You’ll realize that they’re only excuses because you cast them as such. But you don’t have to do that. The events and circumstances in your life are what they are. What makes them meaningful to you is the way you choose to see them and respond to them. There are plenty of perfectly reasonable excuses for not moving forward, if you decide to view them as such. However, it is just as realistic to see those same factors as reasons to take action without delay, as reasons to go ahead and make the most of now. The amazing thing is, whatever may be stopping you could be pushing you forward.
Make the choice to let that happen. Transform the excuses into powerful, compelling reasons to take action. Instead of being stopped by why you can’t, be energized by why you must.
Remember, success does not come to those who merely have great ideas. Success comes to those who have great ideas and who follow through on them. Your carefully crafted plans bring value only when you put them into action. The best of intentions are useful only when you follow through on them. During the course of the day, many thoughts cross your mind. Yet just as easily and quickly as those thoughts come, they recede, so it’s crucial to begin acting on the best ones right away. Before a valuable and meaningful intention gets pushed out of your mind by another thought, do something about it. Set the process irrevocably in motion and begin to bring that intention to life. When you think of doing something, there’s a reason why you have that thought. Listen to what the thought is suggesting, and take action immediately.
Don’t let the idea or the intention or the vision slip away. Take action and make it real. Now is your moment to create value. The thoughts that come to you now are the thoughts that are best acted upon right now
— Ralph Marston
