Now take deep breath and take action before its too late

“Action is the foundational key to all success.”

–Pablo Picasso

Known world-wide for his paintings and sculptures, the Spanish artist, Pablo Picasso, was also a co-creator of a popular movement in art known as “cubism.” Picasso’s quote reflects that he knew what it would take to be successful. He believed that the most basic tenet to achieving goals is to take action. 

Even when people didn’t seem interested in his art, Picasso just kept painting, sculpting and creating, no matter what. He put into practice what he believed: if person takes action, he’ll succeed.

The essence of Picasso’s quote is, “do something” to make success happen.

How to Apply Pablo Picasso’s Tip to Your Life

You must do something related to your goals if you want to achieve them. The most basic key to accomplishing something is to simply take action.

• Focus less on the details.

• Don’t be concerned about doing something wrong.

• Just get started.

• Continue to do whatever it is you’ve chosen and the actions you take will lead you to success.

For your big goals, divide them into small, achievable steps that will lead you ever forward until you’ve accomplished your biggest desires.

It’s much easier to take action when you only have a small mini-goal to work on. However, achieving these small goals one by one will bring great success.

For example, if you have a goal to lose 30 pounds, you can do this in 30 weeks by losing a pound a week.

Each week, focus only on losing 1 pound. This is a goal you can achieve.

Each week, determine what you can do to lose that 1 pound - whether it’s cutting back on sodas, sweets, or chips, going for evening walks, or taking the stairs at work - and follow through with whatever action it takes to get it done.

What is your mental attitude?

“Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude.” –Thomas Jefferson

Thomas Jefferson was the third U.S. President, the writer of the Declaration of Independence, and a leader. In this quote, Jefferson focused on the importance of one’s mindset to achieving success. Jefferson expressed that as long as a person has a positive “mental attitude,” he’ll continue to strive toward and achieve his goals.

Jefferson believed there’s power in one’s own mind and that being positive is the best way to release that power and benefit from it.

On the other hand, Jefferson acknowledged that a person who lacks a good mental attitude will be thwarted in his efforts to accomplish goals. No matter how hard he tries, if he’s not in a positive frame of mind, success will elude him.

How to Apply Thomas Jefferson’s Tip to Your Life

These strategies will help you maintain a positive mindset: 

Use positive self-talk. You engage in a running dialog with yourself all day long. Take advantage of this natural tendency and encourage yourself by saying things you like to hear. Praise yourself for your accomplishments and say good things to yourself all day long. Soon, you’ll notice a positive change in your everyday thoughts as well.

Repeat affirmations. Reading and repeating affirmations will help you strengthen the qualities you wish to develop and even assist you in adopting new habits and qualities. If negative thoughts are a challenge for you, positive affirmations will help steer you away from them and replace them with positivity.

Practice meditation. Meditating will help you reduce the stress in your life, focus on moving forward toward your goals, and bring you serenity– all helpful steps for developing and maintaining a positive mindset.

Seek the silver lining. Even when things don’t go as planned, find something good in every situation. After a while, this technique will become a habit as you discover your new positivity.

Thinking positive not only makes life a lot more pleasant, it sets up an atmosphere around you that’s upbeat and encouraging to others and draws others toward you.

When you think positively, you take the mental approach of, “I can achieve whatever I set my mind to.” This attitude sets you up for success!

Take Responsibility

“I don’t think of myself as a poor deprived ghetto girl who made good. I think of myself as somebody who from an early age knew. I was responsible for myself, and I had to make good.” 

 –Oprah Winfrey

Oprah Winfrey is a one-of-a-kind businesswoman, talk show host, actress, and media mogul who now owns a television network. Winfrey focuses on how she took responsibility for her own life at an early age. In this quote, Winfrey stresses that she never thought of herself as someone who was “poor” or “deprived.” She chose not to see herself as disadvantaged in any way. Instead, she regarded herself as equal to everyone else and, like anyone else, knew she was the one responsible for her own life. Even as a young person, she was compelled to do something with her life. She knew no one else would do it for her. Winfrey brings home the importance of taking control of your own life as early in life as possible. She viewed her personal sense of responsibility as the key to “making good.” 

How to Apply Oprah Winfrey’s Tip to Your Life

Regardless of your background, you can be successful if you take responsibility for your own future.

Consider these ideas:

• Circumstances don’t control your future. Refuse to allow your personal situation to color your sense of who you truly are or what you can accomplish.

• Instead, view yourself as capable of achieving anything you set out to accomplish.

• Seek solutions to your challenges so you can keep moving forward toward your goals.

• Your success doesn’t depend on luck, where you live, or whether you’re rich or poor. It does depend, however, on how you step up to take responsibility for yourself. Avoid blaming others, making excuses, or just wishing things will get better.

Have faith in your Instincts

“Again, you can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something-your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.”–Steve Jobs

You’ve no doubt heard of Steve Jobs, the co-founder of Apple, Inc, and a successful entrepreneur and businessman who created iPods, iPhones, iPads, and numerous other technological wonders you can’t live without. 

The idea behind Jobs’ quote is significant because he talks about how you can’t know everything when you first set out to do something. Jobs believed one just has to have faith that in the scheme of life, what he does will eventually have an impact. Jobs stressed that you must have trust in what you’re doing. 

When you have that faith, you’ll continue your journey, doing what you have faith in. It’s only later, down the road, when you can look back and see the impact of your work. 

How to Apply Steve Jobs’ Tip to Your Life

Even though you may not have a complete sense of how what you want to do will fit in to the big scheme of things, if you truly feel it’s what you should be doing or that it’s the right thing to do, then just follow through with your pursuits. Have faith that you’re supposed to be doing what you’ve chosen. 

Regardless of whether you believe in destiny or prefer to listen to your gut: what does your internal “trust-meter” tell you to do? 

If you trust your instincts that something you want to do will be effective or useful to someone, then pursue it and keep doing it. If you continue in the pursuits you have faith in, you won’t be disappointed. Your work will eventually come to fruition.