The 100 Action Principles

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The underlying message of the Action Principles is very simple:

1. Improve yourself.
2. Help others.​

Set Goals​

Unless you shape your life, circumstances will shape it for you. You have to work, sacrifice, invest, and persist to get the results you want. Choose them well. You can’t start your planning until you know where you want to go.

You are the sculptor of your own image. Have others already done what you want to do? Study them and do what they did. Start anywhere, at anytime, and persist. Stop worrying what others think about what you can or can’t do. Believe in yourself and your abilities. Have the self-confidence to challenge your current situation. This is your life to live; it’s day by day and step by step.

Write down your goals. Only three percent of people have written goals and only one percent review those written goals daily. Be in that elite one percent. Visualize the attainment of your goals often. Goals are dreams with dates attached. You will only become as great and as happy as the goals you choose.

 

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Divide & Conquer​

A common denominator among the successful is that they are focused on the immediate accomplishment of specific objectives. Separate the important from the urgent and allow time for both. Break down any large task into a series of small tasks and start taking action. In the beginning, don’t be too concerned with how you will achieve your goals. With commitment, research and patience, the means will come. Answers materialize when the facts have been collected. Your goals will evolve into a set of action-oriented objectives, which will become a series of to-dos.

Now prioritize. If you don’t prioritize your day’s activities, everything is of equal importance. Whether one thing gets done or not doesn’t matter. You want your activities to be important, to have had a clearly defined purpose. Write your to-do list every day. Prioritize it. Make at least one of your daily objectives a challenge. At the end of each day, you’ll be able to relax and bask in that wonderful feeling of accomplishment.

 

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Write a Personal Mission Statement​

Create for yourself an evolving document that outlines your purpose in life. Who are you? What are your values? What do you intend to do with your time to make your one life meaningful? Excepting acts of God, it is you who determines your future. You don’t have to listen to those who say you are too old, too young, too poor, too unattractive, too uneducated or the wrong color, gender or nationality. They are not speaking of someone following the Action Principles.

When you read inspirational passages in other books, magazines or newspapers, write them down or clip them out. Put everything together in a folder or box. This will serve as your motivational reserve and will help you create a personal mission statement.

Your mission statement only has to be a few sentences or paragraphs. Refer to your mission statement periodically and don’t be afraid to change it as you grow. A mission statement will help you to establish a foundation upon which you can build your dreams and goals and from which will flow your objectives and daily to-do list.

 

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Follow Through​

Follow through to make sure that you’ve done the job right. Follow through to say thank you and offer new ideas. Follow through to ask for more business. You earn respect by saying what you’re prepared to do and then doing exactly that. Follow through shows that you are a person of your word and someone who cares. It shows that you are accessible and that you want to keep the lines of communication open. You may make mistakes and follow through gives you the opportunity to correct and to learn from those mistakes. Personalize your follow-up with handwritten notes and phone calls. Small gifts, tickets and lunches may also be appropriate follow-up incentives. Check up on yourself and reap the rewards. Follow through amplifies your effectiveness.

 

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Hmm I might have issues with certain parts of this one...

Submit to a Higher Power​

Look at the big picture. You build your life upon your faith. You cherish your faith. You aren’t afraid to tell others of your beliefs. You stand for positive values. You are ethical in your dealings. You pray and meditate to have the courage to face your fears. You pray and meditate to have the strength to accept, endure and triumph over the hardships and small daily annoyances that the path to success will present. You celebrate the good that you find in the world.

With humility, submit. You are but one fragile, fallible human. Every religion has prayers. A prayer is your conversation with God. Your success and happiness is God’s answer. Your selfless good works in helping others are your prayers put into action.

 

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Don't Complicate Matters​

Don’t complicate your life. Think before you act. Look for the simple ways or answers first where less can go wrong. Work from your basics. Make sure that you understand the assignment or the problem before you begin. What are the time and performance expectations that will indicate satisfactory completion? Reexamine how you are doing things. Is a task consuming all of your time? Is it worth the time you are investing? Do you have the necessary resources? Can it be delegated? If so, is the right person assigned to complete the job? Your research, your quiet time, your commitment to teamwork and your prioritized to-do list should all help. Pare away the unnecessary. Even the philosophy underlying these Action Principles can be stated very simply. Improve yourself and help others.

 

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Commit to Never Ending Improvement​

Constantly seek ways to do things better in all areas of your life. The Japanese have a word for the concept of never ending improvement, kaizen. Progress and ultimate success come to those who train and keep training. If you choose to stop and become aware, you can become a better spouse, son, daughter, friend, employer, employee, athlete and citizen.

Commitment comes from the inside out and is tested often. Measure yourself against the best. Most others will choose to be average. This is what average means. You won’t know your limits if you don’t keep trying. Reject the idea of good enough. Commit to excellence. Take each of your goals and think of how you can improve one percent each month. Success is a journey. It is not a quick fix. The joy is in the doing. Think of success not as a peak to be climbed but a high plateau to be walked.

Always encourage children or employees to do their best and to keep going. Set the bar high for yourself and them. You will all be the better for it.

 

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Be Frugal​

Separate your wants from your needs. You want to work for all you need, not necessarily for all you want. You do not have to sentence yourself to a lifetime of hard labor for the false trappings of status. Living on less can eventually yield much more. The simpler you make your life, the easier it will be to maintain. Think in terms of moderation. It is easier to buy things than to sell them. You can make a comfortable life for yourself by finding contentment in the things you already have and holding reasonable expectations.

Be pragmatic. To build an investment bankroll, you can work more or you can spend less. Many people who write and stick to a household budget find that the simple act of thinking and organizing before spending can yield savings of between 10% - 15% of their earnings without seriously compromising their lifestyles. Give yourself a raise by being frugal.

 

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Make Today Special​

Many people enjoy using the first few minutes of the day for their reflective time. How did yesterday go? What do you want to accomplish today? What will be most important? This, of course, becomes your prioritized to-do list. How will today vary from your usual routine? Can you think of any small things that you can do? Perhaps there is something that you’ve been avoiding, that, if you do it, would make you feel especially proud of yourself.

Give each day a specific purpose. For unsuccessful, unhappy people, there is often a sameness to their days. Is it Monday or Thursday? Is it March or November? Is it 3 o'clock in the afternoon or 10 o'clock in the morning? They’re in a rut and it doesn't matter.

Everybody has the same amount of time each day. How are you going to spend your 24 hours? Plan in advance. Make lists. Lists are your road map to personal accomplishment and balanced living. Always carry paper and pen. What are

you doing today to ensure a better tomorrow for yourself and your family?

 

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Record Your Thoughts​

Carry index cards, a hand-held computer or a small notebook. Borrow napkins to write on. As you become an action-oriented person, positive thoughts will occur with increasing regularity. Write down your ideas. You will have good ideas because you will have many ideas. Review your notes before your quiet time or before bed. You will become your own best therapist. You will see the ways to solving your own problems, finding your own route to happiness and realizing your own dreams. Spend most of your time thinking about solutions and not problems. Get back to recording your thoughts.