Get down on it

"When we know what we want out of life, we need to get down on it and get busy going after it.  Only then will we have our best life."

Last week we discussed how to find your useful passions and get busy making other people’s lives better.  Until you do, you’ll never see the results you want to see from adopting a personal ministry.

But that’s true in every arena of life.  If you want results, you must take action.  And isn’t that what we all really want?  No matter where we are in life or what we’ve been through, at the end of the day we all want results.

How do we get results?  Results come from one and only one thing: action.  Too many of us are sitting on the sidelines waiting for God to act so we can receive results when in actuality God is waiting for us to act by using the agency and the talents He gave us to deliver our results to ourselves.

We must act.  When we know what we want out of life, we need to get down on it and get busy going after it.  Only then will we have our best life.

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Don’t complain

Most people do nothing to effect the change they want.  When life throws them a curve — and life will always throw you a curve — most people complain.  They complain about how unfair it is, how disadvantaged they are, or how luck doesn’t favor them.  And the only thing they do in addition to complain is complain some more!

But where does that leave them?  It leaves them at the station because they never got on the train; they never took action.  And therefore, they didn’t get results.  Results don’t come without action.  So if you don’t take any action, you don’t get any results.

In addition, your focus determines your reality.  That’s why people who constantly complain can never rid their lives of the misery and depression that prompts them to complain about how miserable and depressed they are.  When you focus on the negative, your reality will be filled with negativity.  The way to change your reality is to change your focus.  To have a positive reality, take action to focus on the positive.

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Change it up

Now, I can hear some of you saying, “Yeah, well, I took action and I didn’t get results.”  Maybe you asked someone out and got rejected.  Maybe you applied for a job you didn’t get.  Maybe you tried to stick to a weight-loss diet and couldn’t resist eating that pizza.  Whatever it was, you saw what you wanted, you took action to get it, and you fell flat on your face.

It’s true that if you don’t take action, you don’t get results.  But perhaps it would be better to say if you don’t take any different action, you don’t get any different results.  Your results are always consistent with the action you take.  So when you want different results, you need to change it up and take different actions, ones consistent with the results you want.

Is your life the same as it was two years ago?  If so, it’s because last year you didn’t do anything different than you did the year before.  And next year will be just like last year unless you start doing something different.  The next two, five, or even ten years of your life will be just like the last two, five, or ten years unless you start doing something different.

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Look for the little things

And this is where most people get stuck.  They know they need to do something different.  They just don’t know what that something is.

Enter partnering with the Lord stage left.  When you partner with the Lord, He’ll show you what you need to change.  “And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things” (Moroni 10:5) — including the truth of the changes you need to make to move towards your best life.

In that effort, it’s best to look for the little things you need to change — the small habits you can practice every day that will move you in your desired direction.  After all, the big wins we want in life are just collections of the little wins accumulated consistently over time.

When you know what little habits you need to adopt every day, get down on it and stick with it.  Don’t wait for your blessings to appear magically.  Know the results you want, determine the actions you need to take to get those results, and then get down on it.  When you start to move in the direction of your goals and dreams, feeling that progress will invigorate you to do and be more.  And that will bring you more joy in your journey.

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You can listen to the monologue from today's episode of Joy In The Journey Radio here.  Please also feel free to continue the conversation by leaving a comment below.  Want to hear more?  Listen to the whole show by going to the show page for this episode.