Don’t Wait to Be Great – Do it Be it in 2008

Let’s face it; New Year’s resolutions just don’t work. Why? Some might say it’s because they were drunk when them made them! But the truth is, most resolutions fail because they focus on everything we don’t like about ourselves. This is the year I’m going to lose twenty pounds, join a gym, get organized, quit smoking… and the list goes on and on. So this year, instead of making another lame claim about what you’re going to do, or instead of focusing on what you didn’t accomplish last year, why not just stake a claim to be great – and then take action on it. I recently saw the movie, “The Bucket List.” Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman play characters that are both dying of cancer and they made a list of things they want to do before they kicked the bucket. Well, in January 1990, probably before some my teen readers were even born, I made my own “bucket list” and wrote down 100 things I wanted to do before I died. I took a look at that list and picked one thing that I could do that day – I wrote to Arnold Schwarzenegger. Arnold had just been appointed Chairman of the President’s Council of Physical Fitness and Sports under the first Bush administration. I admired him for his vision, his leadership and for his courage to go for it. I sent my letter off to the White House, not knowing if he’d ever read it or receive it. But just the act of doing it gave me the courage to try more new things. That one act set off a chain of events that led me to where I am right now in my career. I just did it. I had no idea that six months after sending that letter I would receive a letter from Arnold praising me and encouraging me in my work with youth. At my very first New England Speakers Association meeting, I told that story and received my very first standing ovation. Then just six months later, I was chosen to represent New England at the National Speakers Association’s annual conference and received a scholarship to attend and got to tell it again to an even bigger audience. Since then, I have told that story to thousands of people and inspired them to take action in their own lives. There’s an old proverb about three frogs sitting on a lily pad. One decides to jump off. How many frogs are left? There are still three frogs on the lily pad. One only made a decision to jump. The universe rewards action. What is one thing you can do today that would have a dramatic effect on your health, well-being or quality of your life? Why not make your own list of everything you want to accomplish before you die. Then pick one thing – anything, big or small and do it today. Go skydiving or dare to tell someone how you really feel. It doesn’t matter what you do, but you just have to do something. From Terminator to Governator, Arnold Schwarzenegger says “The meaning of life is not simply to exist, to survive, but to move ahead, to go up, to achieve, to conquer.” Don’t wait; you could be just one step away from greatness. Don’t just make a decision – do it.