“We are responsible for what we are, and we wish ourselves to be, we have the power to make ourselves. If what we are now has been the result of our past actions, it certainly follows that whatever we wish to be in future can be produced by our present actions; so we have to know how to act.”
Do not waste your life in doubts and fears, spend yourself on the work before you, well assured that the right performance of this hour’s duties will be the preparation for the hours or ages to follow.- Benjamin Franklin.
The secret of right action, in reality, is not a secret. It does not lie in any procedure that we repeat. There is no magic by means of which we can follow the path of idleness and yet make our life productive, No! The secret lies in our own motives, in our power of application. It is not the strong physical body which makes the productive human being, it is skillfulness in action, knowing how to adjust ourselves quickly, how to perform a task with the least spending of energy. This is what gives the immediate achievement.
There are some people who talk little and accomplish more, while others talk much and accomplish nothing. Whether we spend our days at home or go out daily, we must be doing something for our self-preservation. A man who does nothing, his mind and his physical body quickly weaken. He becomes lifeless although carrying on a life. One who is so convinced of his own thinking that he is indifferent to what others say, and who is willing to give himself to his task, that man will accomplish his purpose. Great performers know this, also geniuses, though perhaps unconsciously. They plunge into their effort.
There is the moment when we forget our surroundings, forget everything but the one thing that we are doing, and those are the supreme moments of our life. They make it possible for us to attain success. One who works with indifference, how can he accomplish anything? His mind is not in it. His mind, his soul, his energies are all divided. If our mind is not in our undertaking, we shall look like labourers who have no real awareness of what they are doing, they only pretend. If they break things they do not care, they merely want their earnings. Such work can never bring satisfaction to us or to anyone and we learn nothing from it. When the aim is low it can only produce something very small and unsatisfying.
What we need is the understanding spirit, the love element. By that I mean we must learn to love the task we are performing. It is not the talker, the noisy, aggressive type of human being who produces the most or who brings the greatest amount of blessing. It is the quiet, concentrated worker. Although he asks nothing, he receives everything. Whether we care for the fruit or not it will come to us when we deserve it. Let us carry this in our mind, in our consciousness. It will ennoble us, it well heals our wounds when we are disappointed. To restore ourselves to that one is to rid the soul of selfish desires.
“Righteousness is the accordance of actions with what is right. In all things success depends on previous preparation, without such preparation, there is the failure.”
“Success is not to be measured by the position someone has reached in life, but the obstacles he has overcome while trying to succeed.”
Also, Read Right thinking and right living
