Promise only what you can deliver.  Then deliver more than you promise. - Author Unknown

Are you a big talker?  Are you always rambling on about how great your achievements are, how much you’re capable of, how far you’re going to go in life?  Speaking confidently about yourself and your activities is a good thing – but NOT if you’re just blowing hot air.  Some people do this in an effort to build up their courage or seek approval from others.  They lack a strong sense of inner security and belief about who they are and what they do (or want to do).  While we can easily understand and sympathize with this temptation, we need to focus on not falling into the trap ourselves.

Rather than letting your mouth tell others who you are and what you can do, let your actions do the talking.  Promise less but give more.  Give WAY more.  Let everything you do shout your worth to the world.  In fact, you’d be surprised how much of communication is actually non-verbal.  Words are only icing on the cake.  It’s your countenance, your demeanor and your attitude that speak the most about you.  If you blow a lot of hot air, all you do is steam up the room and create a fog that makes it difficult for people to see the genuine you.  You may think this obscures the less developed parts of yourself, but most people have surprisingly good radar and can smell a façade easily.

Actions, however, tell the whole story.  What you do is who you are.  You are what you do.  Your achievements, your energy and your character will reach out and grab the attention of those you wish to align yourself with.  If you always strive to do your best in everything you do and push yourself to be not just “good” but GREAT, you will infuse your unique energy into every activity and the results you get will astound not only you but everyone you touch.

  Remember, a truly great person doesn’t have to say a word about their success because it’s written all over them.

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You’ve got a lot of choices.  If getting out of bed in the morning is a chore and you’re not smiling on a regular basis, try another choice. – Steven D. Woodhull

Believing that you can’t change your circumstances is one sure way to feel powerless.  You can spend all the time in the world bemoaning your job, your relationships, your finances, your lack of opportunities, or your streak of “bad luck” . . . but doing so only keeps you locked into an illusion of permanency.  The truth is you always have choices.  You may not like the choices available, but they are still yours.  You can choose to act, or not act; you can choose to be optimistic about the possibilities that exist for your life, or you can accept limitations at every turn.  Deciding which choice is best is the tricky part.

Fear can also disguise itself as a condition of powerlessness.  You may know on some level that you have choices but refuse to acknowledge them because you fear the unknown.  You know you can leave a dissatisfying job, but then what will you do?  Will you find another job to replace it, and if so will it be a job you enjoy, or be worse than the one you just left?  You know you can dissolve an unhealthy relationship, but is being alone really any better?  At least now you have someone there, even if it’s not the person you’d prefer be there.  Rather than face uncertain outcomes, you avoid making choices at all.

Whether you really believe you have a shortage of options or you are simply making excuses because you’re afraid to move forward, know that it’s ALL within your control.  Just like every other person on the planet, you always have the most basic opportunity before you now: resign yourself to staying where you are, or roll up your sleeves and make something happen.  If you worry about making the wrong choice, know that you can always make another choice.  You can keep making choices as often as you’d like until you find something that works for you.  To avoid making choices altogether doesn’t serve you, because in the end even not making choices is a decision all its own.

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