Chapter 4 Letter 4: Do it now

Motto: Opportunities come by chance. Bad habits can dictate our success or failure.It is easy to cultivate, but difficult to serve. Successfully bringing one great idea to life is far more valuable than trying to come up with a thousand great ones at home. (To conquer you have need to do, to do again, ever to do! And your safety is insured. ) December 24, 1897 Dear John: I always remember what wise people say.A wise man said it well, "Education covers many aspects, but it does not teach you any of them." This wise man showed us a truth: If you don't take action, the most practical, most beautiful, The most workable philosophies don't work.

I have always believed that opportunities come by chance.Even the best ideas have flaws. Even a common plan, if it is actually implemented and developed, will be much better than a good plan that is abandoned halfway, because the former will be carried through, and the latter will be wasted.That's why I say that there is no secret to success. To achieve positive results in life, it is of course good to have extraordinary intelligence and special talents. There is nothing wrong with not having them. As long as you are willing to take positive actions, you will be closer and closer to success.

Sadly, many people fail to heed this biggest lesson and end up reducing themselves to mediocrity.Look at those ordinary people who are mediocre, and you will find that they are all living passively. They talk far more than they do, or even just talk but not do.But almost all of them are experts at making excuses, and they will find all kinds of excuses to procrastinate until finally they prove that this thing should not be done, cannot be done, or is too late. Compared with such people, I seem to be much smarter and cunning.Mr. Gates touts me as a proactive, spontaneous doer.I'm happy with the flattery because I lived up to it.Positive action is another hallmark of me, and I have never liked to talk or talk.Because I know that there is no result without action, and there is nothing in the world that is not achieved by putting ideas into practice.As long as man lives, he must think about action.

Many people admit that knowledge without wisdom is useless, but what is even more frustrating is that even if there is knowledge and wisdom, if there is no action, everything is still empty talk.Action and readiness can really be seen as two sides of the same coin.Life must be enough.Too much preparation without taking action will end up wasting time in vain.In other words, there must be moderation in everything, and we must not fall into the trap of constant rehearsal and planning, but must admit the reality: no matter how thorough the planning is, it is still impossible to accurately predict the final solution.

Of course, I do not deny that planning is very important. Planning is the first step to obtain favorable results, but planning is not action, nor can it replace action.Just like playing golf, if you haven't played the first hole, you can't reach the second hole.Action solves everything.Without action, nothing happens.We can't buy foolproof insurance by any means, but what we can do is make up our minds to carry out our plans. People who lack action have a bad habit: they like to maintain the status quo and refuse to change.I think this is a bad habit that is deeply deceptive and self-destructive, because everything is changing, just like people live and die, nothing stays the same.But because of the fear in his heart—the fear of the unknown, many people resist change, even if the status quo does not satisfy him, he dare not take a step forward.Look at people who are supposed to be successful in their careers but are not, and you can see how hard it is not to sympathize with them.

Yes, when everyone is deciding on a major event, they will have more or less worries and fears in their hearts, and they will all face the trouble of whether to do it or not.But the "action group" will ignite the spark of their hearts with determination, come up with various ways to fulfill their wishes, and have more courage to overcome various difficulties. Many people who lack action are naive and like to sit and wait for things to happen naturally.They naively think that other people will care about their affairs.In fact, no one else is interested in them except themselves, and people are only interested in their own affairs.For example, in a business, the higher the profit ratio, the more proactive we should take action, because success or failure has little to do with others, they don't care.At this point, we'd better push it, because if we're lazy, withdrawn, and wait for someone else to take the initiative to push things forward, the result is bound to be disappointing.

Only when a person relies on himself can he not let himself down and increase his chances of controlling his destiny.Smart people just make things happen. The most frustrating thing in life is that there are too many things you want to do. As a result, not only do you not have enough time to do it, but you think of too many steps to do everything, and you are overwhelmed by the emotion of not being able to do it, so that nothing can be achieved.We must admit that time is limited, and no one person can do everything.Smart people know that not all actions will produce good results, only wise actions can bring meaningful results, so smart people will only learn from the work that has been done to achieve positive results in the future, and do work related to the completion of the greatest goal, And dedicated, so smart people can always make the most valuable contributions and reap a lot of benefits.

To eat an elephant, you need to eat one bite at a time. The same is true for doing things. If you want to accomplish everything, you will only let the opportunity slip away.My motto is: Rockefeller does not do justice to emergencies. Many people make themselves passive. They want to wait until all the conditions are perfect, that is, the time is right before they act.Life is full of opportunities at any time, but almost no one is perfect.Those passive people have a mediocre life, precisely because they must wait until everything is 100% beneficial and foolproof before doing it.This is what fools do.We must compromise with life and believe that what we have is exactly the opportunity we need now, so as to keep ourselves out of the quagmire of forever waiting before taking action.

We pursue perfection, but nothing about human beings is absolutely perfect, only close to it.Waiting until all conditions are perfect before doing it can only wait forever and pass the opportunity to others.Those who wait until everything is ready to go will never leave home.To become the "I'm going to do it now" kind of person is to stop all daydreaming, think about the present all the time, and start doing it now.Sentences such as "tomorrow", "next week", "future" have the same meaning as "it can never be done". Everyone has times when they lose self-confidence and doubt their abilities, especially in times of adversity.But people who really understand the art of action can overcome it with strong perseverance. They will tell themselves that everyone has failures, and when they fail miserably, they will tell themselves that no matter how much preparation and thinking in advance, When you actually start doing it, you will inevitably make mistakes.However, passive people do not regard failure as an opportunity to learn and grow, but always warn themselves: Maybe I really can't do it, so that I lose the ability to actively participate in the future.

Many people believe that what you want can come true, but I see it as a lie.You can buy a dozen good ideas for a dime, and the initial idea is just the beginning of a series of actions, followed by a second phase of preparation, planning, and a third phase of action.There is never a shortage of people with ideas in our world, but very few people know that the success of bringing a good idea to fruition is far more valuable than a thousand good ones at home. The real basis people use to judge your abilities is not how much stuff you put into your head, but how you act.People trust people who are down-to-earth, and they all think: this person dares to speak and act, and he must know the best way to do it.I have yet to hear anyone take credit for not bothering others, not taking action, or waiting for orders to do something.Those leaders in business, in government, in the military, are very able and willing people, people who are 100% proactive.Those who stand on the sidelines will never be leaders.

Whether you are an automatic person or a passive person, it is a matter of habit.Habits are like ropes, we weave a rope every day until it becomes too thick to break.The ropes of habit lead us either to high peaks or to low valleys, depending on the good or bad habits.Bad habits can control us, success or failure, it is easy to form, but difficult to serve.Good habits are hard to form, but easy to maintain. To have the habit of doing it now, the most important thing is to have a proactive spirit, get rid of the habit of sloppy spirit, be determined to be an active person, and have the courage to do things, don't wait until everything is ready to do it, there is never absolute perfect thing.Developing the habit of action requires no special ingenuity or special skill, just hard work so that good habits will blossom and bear fruit in your life. Son, life is a great battle, in order to win, you need to act, act, always act!In this way, your safety can be guaranteed. Merry Christmas!I think there is no better Christmas gift than sending you this letter at this time. love your father