FROM VISION TO REALITY

"I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free."

Michelangelo, late 15th/early 16th century Italian artist.

It's that way with all great achievements.

Envisioning what could be doesn't make it so.

You must work hard to realize the vision.

THE SECRET TO SUCCESS WITHOUT WORK? THERE ISN'T ONE!

"Nothing will work unless you do."

Maya Angelou, 20th century American poet/civil rights activist.

Not your plans to succeed, should you even bother to make any.

Not getting the right job only to do as little work as possible after you're hired.

Nothing.

It all comes down to what you do as well as what you don't.

THE VALUE OF WORRY

"A day of worry is more exhausting than a week of work."

John Lubbock, 19th century English banker/philanthropist

This says much about the value of worry.

There isn't any.

You may not eliminate it but do all you can to minimize it.

MORE THAN THE IDEA

"All the forces in the world are not so powerful as an idea whose time has come."

Victor Hugo, 19th century French poet

True, but an idea's "time" doesn't just "come".

The success of an idea is much more the result of effort and hard work than it is the idea itself.

Don't wait for "it", make "it"!

NO TWO WAYS ABOUT IT

"Luck? I don't know anything about luck. I've never banked on it and I'm afraid of people who do. Luck to me is something else: Hard work - and realizing what is opportunity and what isn't."

Lucile Ball, 20th century American actress

Let me simplify.

If you want it, work for it.

WHAT IT TAKES

"A pint of sweat, saves a gallon of blood."

George S. Patton, 20th century US Army general

It other words planning and a lot of hard work saves much waste later.

YOU ARE THE ONLY ONE YOU NEED ATTEMPT TO GET AHEAD OF

"My goal is not to better than anyone else, but to be better than I used to be."

Dr. Wayne Dyer, 20th/21st century American psychologist

If you improve yourself each day you will have done all that anyone, yourself included, can expect of you. 

Time to refocus your efforts?

YES, BUT . . .

"It is the working man who is the happy man. It is the idle man who is the miserable man."

Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) American statesman/scientist/philosopher.

Sure, generally speaking, all things being equal, however . . .

Not if the work you are doing is not at least tolerable if not enjoyable.

Not if your work leaves little to no time for a personal life.

Too much, too little of anything leads to an unbalanced, unhappy life.

NOT LUCKY ENOUGH?

"It is a great piece of skill to know how to guide your luck even while waiting for it."

Baltasar Gracian (1601-1658) Spanish philosopher/writer.

Buying lottery tickets is fine.

Buying lottery tickets as though your life depended on you winning is not.

Continue your education (no education should ever be considered complete), plan, work hard, and you'll be amazed how much luckier you are.

WHAT YOU WORK FOR, NOT WHAT YOU WISH FOR

"God gives the nuts, but he does not crack them."

German proverb

If you prefer some higher power alternative to "God", by all means, use what works for you.

The sentiment remains.

Opportunities are everywhere but you have to work to earn them.

DARK NIGHT "BOXES" WILL GIVE WAY

"Even from a dark night, songs of beauty can be born."

Mary Anne Radmacher, author/artist

This truth is not always obvious, those "dark nights" not easy to live through.

Surrounded by box mountains about to fall down upon us.

However, night's do end, new days begin, we do get through.

Whatever today's burden, persevere; better times will come whether you believe they will or not.

NO SHORTCUTS

"No pain, no palm; no thorns, no throne; no gall, no glory; no cross, no crown."

William Penn (1644-1718) British religious leader.

In other words, you must work for what you get.

HARD EARNED RESPECT, ALSO GIVEN

"Nothing is more despicable than respect based on fear."

Albert Camus (1913-1960) French novelist/essayist/dramatist.

I would argue there is no respect based on fear, unless the fear and supposed respect is that imagined by those who only observe others interacting with each other.

If so it is an illusion.

Respect, like money, is something we all must continually work to earn.

WHAT YOU EARN, NO ENTITLEMENTS

"Rights that do not flow from duty well performed are not worth having."

Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948) Preeminent leader of Indian nationalism.

You'll never have those "rights", nor much of anything else, unless you do what others recognize as "duty well performed".

And that "duty" is not confined to what you do for a living. It includes your personal and professional relationships with all whose support you value, whose opinion of you matters to you.

Privileges, success, wealth, personal relationships; in short, everything you wish to achieve in life, comes from your hard work.

You are entitled to none of it, you must earn it all.

YOU'LL GET OUT MORE THAN YOU PUT IN

"Plough deep while sluggards sleep."

Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) American statesman/scientist/philosopher.

Not one of Mr. Franklin's more erudite quotes but the point's still valid, if not always taken.

Those less inclined to work hard than those who do will also be less likely to succeed.

REGARDLESS OF WHETHER OR NOT YOU HAVE TO YOU SHOULD

"Work banishes those three great evils: boredom, vice and poverty."

Voltaire (1694-1778) French writer/historian.

Work for one, two, or all three but none more than work to live.

THE SECRET TO (THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS) OVERNIGHT SUCCESS

"Success is the child of drudgery and perseverance. It cannot be coaxed or bribed; pay the price and it is yours."

Orison Swett Marden (1850-1924) Founder of Success magazine.

True for anything worth achieving.

There are no shortcuts.

Want whatever you want but work hard for whatever you must get.

(MUCH) MORE THAN JUST THE THOUGHT

"All that we are is the result of what we have thought. The mind is everything. What we think, we become."

Buddha (563 BC-483 BC) Founder of Buddhism.

With respect for and apologies to Buddha . . . "What we think, we become"? 

Briefly thinking you will be wealthy will not make you so.

Briefly thinking you will be happy will not make you so.

The thought of whatever it is you'd like to become is only the beginning, to be followed by much planning and hard work to make it happen.

OK, BUT WHAT EXACTLY DID YOU DO?

"It is not length of life, but depth of life."

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) U.S. poet/essayist/lecturer.

When it comes to how long you do what you do, the emphasis should be on what.

RECIPE FOR ACCOMLISHMENT

"To reach a port we must sail, sometimes with the wind and sometimes against it. We must not drift or lie at anchor."

Oliver Wendell Holmes (1809-1894) American author/poet.

"Getting things done" implies taking action, often accompanied by hard work, for good reason.