If you are skeptical of this fact, now is the time to test it. Your assignment today (and every day forward if you choose) is to do at least one nice thing for someone else. It can be nothing bigger than offering a smile and a hand to an elderly woman in the grocery store or not honking at the guy who cuts you off in traffic. You have no idea of the ripple effect you set in motion when you scatter small acts of kindness around. They change the people you touch, and they change you.
There are two rules to keep in mind when carrying out this assignment. One, you have to be sincere. Don’t compliment someone on their bad haircut and then make fun of them behind their back. You must be honest and sincere when carrying out each act of kindness.
The second rule is you must not expect a single thing in return. Try not to take credit for the act. Anonymous acts of kindness are the best. Don’t worry about getting praise for your actions. You will be rewarded by a jolt of excitement and happiness when you carry out your good deed unnoticed. Don’t believe it? Try it, and see how you feel.
Here is a little secret: acts of kindness are not completely selfless. The ripple reverses itself, and you will begin to feel good from the inside out.
5
Destiny carries with it an unfortunate connotation. It sounds pre-determined, unchangeable, and inactive. Some people tend to think of destiny in the same way the main character sees her fate in the opera Carmen. She reads in the tarot cards that she’s going to die, and what happens? She dies. Not a darn thing she can do about it. It’s her destiny.
That’s not reality. What you choose to do every single minute of every single day shapes your destiny. Don’t sit around like Carmen in front of the bull ring waiting for destiny to come upon you. Choose your destiny before it chooses you.
Winston Churchill said destiny is a thing to be achieved because it takes real effort to fulfill your destiny. You can’t sit around waiting for destiny to show up. You must act. It’s time to own up to what is going on in your life today. What are you doing to steer the boat? Did you throw your life into cruise control a long time ago, or are you actively pointing yourself in the direction you want to travel?
Your assignment today is to take one step toward achieving your destiny. Chart your course. Look at your list of dreams and pick one thing you want to achieve by the end of this year. Congratulations! You have a destination and a timeframe. Now, what can you do to launch your journey? Is it compiling a list of recruiters to call? Is it getting on the Internet to search for a long-lost friend? You don’t have to reach your destination today. Just start the journey. Soon your destiny will be clear.
6
You are destined to do great things in your life. It is okay to believe that. It’s true. In order to accomplish great things you must start small and think big. Allow yourself to imagine the impossible. You may start with a phrase like, “I would like a job I enjoy going to every day.” That’s a great dream. Now go bigger. Try something like, “I would like to be an influential person.”
Feel free to get specific and maybe even be a little selfish. No one will see this homework assignment but you. “I would like to travel the world” or “I would like to be a millionaire” is perfectly acceptable, if it is your dream. Nothing is too big, too silly, or too ridiculous. What can you imagine if you have no rules or boundaries? Add to your dream list whenever you can, and read through your dreams every day. Don’t forget them.
Dreams mean nothing if they are not followed by action. Here is your new assignment: start another list of Action Items in your notebook. This is a list of tasks you never seem to get around to doing. It may include items such as: clean out the garage; wash the windows; send a letter to your great aunt who is bed-ridden; learn a craft; take a load of old clothes to a charity. There should be nothing earth-shattering on this list. “Take over the world,” for example, would not be a good choice. This is just a list of simple things. You don’t have to do any of them today. Just create the list. What does this have to do with dreams? You’ll see.
7
I want it now! (But I don’t want to have to do anything to get it.) Sound at all familiar? One of the biggest obstacles to achieving your dreams is laziness. It’s hard to reverse sloth. You think about cleaning out your closets, but you are glued to Seinfeld reruns you’ve watched a million times. How can you catapult yourself off the couch and into action?
You must move, no matter what. You don’t have to find the cure to cancer today. Just find something simple that needs to be done and do it. The best antidote for laziness is putting one foot in front of the other. Don’t listen to the little voices in your head that whisper, I’ll start tomorrow. Ignore the equally damaging voices that whisper, “I should have done this three months ago.” Just go. Don’t think. Do.
Impatience is another looming roadblock. Maybe you’ve done the first few exercises in this book, but you’re not seeing results. Therefore, you’re thinking about regifting this book to your brother-in-law for Christmas. He’s a big, fat loser. He probably needs it worse than you, right? Wrong. Don’t let impatience halt your progress. Hang on. Don’t leave before the miracle occurs.
Your assignment today is to turn off the TV. Pick one action item and do it. Do not even consider the results or the rewards. Just launch yourself into action. When you’re done, congratulate yourself. You’ve conquered laziness and impatience today.
