Hope

Hope is a good breakfast,
but it is a bad supper.
-- Francis Bacon

We must live WITH hope, yet we cannot live BY hope. It is fine to hope for the best. That, however, is not enough. We cannot merely hope, we must take action.

It is sad how many things are tolerated in the hope that they will improve. Hoping for the best won’t do anything. Working and taking action, with hope in your heart, will bring about results. That’s a powerful combination. Hope works in your favor only as long as it is accompanied by action and commitment.

Hope cannot replace action. Do what needs to be done, hope or no hope. Hope for the best, and do everything in your power to make it happen. Yes, there is hope. Things will get better -- when you make them better.

Start each day with hope, and then get busy working. Let your hope inspire you, rather than console you. Hope for the best, and then do whatever it takes. Hope depends on you.

What will it take?

What will it take to get where you really want to go? To have the things you really want to have? To be the person you really want to be?

What will it take?

It will take work. Hard work. Late nights. Frustration. Sacrifice. Discipline. Effort. Disappointment. Discomfort. It will take your total commitment. It will take the best that you have to give.

If you think that sounds tough, consider the alternative. Regret. Wondering what you could have done if only you had given it your best shot. The waste of a life half lived, and you can’t go back.

So the choice is up to you: an easy path with a heartbreaking destination, or a challenging path with a destination of fulfillment and joy.

Any way you cut it, life is difficult. But is that really so bad? It is in the challenges that we grow. It is in overcoming the difficulties that we find our greatest accomplishments. Face life head-on, deal with the challenges as they come. Accept that life is difficult, quit wishing or pretending that it is easy, and you will then be free to live with joy and purpose and fulfillment. 

What do you expect?

Life will pay any price you ask of it.
                  -- Anthony Robbins

What do you expect to be doing next week? Six months from now? Five years from now? I’m not really talking about goals, or new year’s resolutions. Rather, what do you really expect you’ll be doing?

If you want the best out of life, you must expect the best. Because whatever you expect of yourself, whatever you expect for yourself, is what you will get.

Expectation is not the same as wishing. You can wish for a million dollars, you can even convince yourself that it will somehow fall into your hands. Yet if wishing is all you do, it won’t happen. On the other hand, if you truly expect to be a millionaire, and if that expectation pervades all of your actions on a daily basis, then you’ll find yourself doing whatever it takes, for as long as it takes, to make your expectation a reality.

True expectations influence every area of your life, and that is how they work their magic. You can work hard for 10 hours every day, and if you just expect to barely get by, that’s what will happen. Work those same 10 hours with the expectation of getting wealthy, and suddenly you’ll find all sorts of opportunities and possibilities that you never would have seen before.

What you expect, makes all the difference.

Yes, but...

The word “but” is a killer. It kills your dreams. It gives you an endless supply of reasons to live a life of desperation and mediocrity.

"Yes, I’d like to go back to school, but I just can’t find the time."

In life, there are either results or there are excuses. Unfortunately, most of us have too many excuses and not enough results. Excuses are worthless. Why do we even bother with them? They make us “feel” better, they allow us to deceive ourselves, they help us to forsake responsibility for our own lives.

"I want to, but... I need to, but... I could be, but...” But what?

To make something of your life, you need to bust some “buts". Get rid of them. For starters, replace “but” with “and". That just naturally makes things more open ended.

"Yes, I’d like to go back to school, and...

...and here’s how I’m going to do it."

"But” may make you feel better in the short run by providing justification for your lack of action. Eventually, though, your “buts” become a crutch. “But” is an escape, that too soon becomes a trap.

Go for the results. Forget the excuses.

Get started right away

Once you make the decision, once you set a goal for yourself, start acting on it immediately. That is how momentum is created. Don’t move on to anything else until you have committed some action to your goal.

And then follow through. Keep the momentum going by taking consistent action. Your initial determination will get you started, and your discipline to act consistently will get you all the way there.

Don’t stop, or it will take that much more effort to get started again. You’re already on the way, so keep going. You’ve invested your time and effort, and your hopes. And the investment will pay off handsomely when you “hold it until maturity” by taking consistent action.

With commitment and perseverance, anything is possible.

Look how far you’ve come

Take time today to be thankful for all the good things in your life. Think of everything you’ve got going for you, the people who care about you, the experiences you’ve had, your skills and interests, your faith, the beauty of life itself.

The things you appreciate, value, and care for, will increase in your life. Abundance begins with gratitude. Being sincerely thankful for what you already have, will propel you, spiritually, mentally and physically, toward whatever you would like to have.

You know you can do it, because you’ve already done it. You have filled your life with abundance. Anything you want is within reach, when you appreciate how far you’ve already come.        — Ralph Marston