Ringer - Action!: nothing happens until something moves

ACTION!

Also by Robert Ringer

To Be or Not to Be Intimidated? That Is the Question.
Looking Out for #1
Restoring the American Dream
Million Dollar Habits
Wordasaurus Quick-Answer Guide

Nothing Happens
Until Something Moves

Robert Ringer

Copyright 2004 by Robert J. Ringer

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without the prior wirtten permission of the publisher.

Portions of this book were previously published in the books Getting What You Want and Million Dollar Habits by Robert J. Ringer.

Published by M. Evans
An imprint of The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc.
4501 Forbes Boulevard, Suite 200, Lanham, Maryland 20706
Distributed by NATIONAL BOOK NETWORK

ISBN: 978-1-59077-058-0

Design and typesetting by Rik Lain Schell

Printed in the United States of America

To Ester and Andrew,
the two purist souls on earth.

OVER THE PAST DECADE, I have become increasingly and consciously aware of a remarkable tool that is not only at my disposal, but is available to every member of the human species. It isnt that I was not previously familiar with this tool; on the contrary, I have employed it quite effectively throughout my adult life. What has changed is my heightened awareness of its preeminent role in steering the course of events.

The tool I am referring to is action. Its supreme position in the universal scheme of thingsand, on a purely secular basis, in determining to what extent human beings succeed or faildid not come to me as a sudden revelation. Rather, it was an accelerating evolution. Further, I am convinced that it is still evolving today. What I believe triggered my mind to begin focusing on action as the key ingredient in a meaningful life is a quote I happened to run across by the nineteenth-century German playwright, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Said Goethe, Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. (I will be dissecting this quote in detail in .)

Goethes words had such a dramatic impact on my thinking that they inspired me to go back and review my earlier self-development books in search of the word action. What I found is that each of those books is filled with anecdotes and stories about action, but the idea that action is the very essence of life is not addressed.

Today, I am absolutely convinced that neither success nor happiness is possible without action. Further, I firmly believe that there is a direct link between action and spirituality. These conclusions are not based nearly so much on all that Ive read about action, but on firsthand experience. My increased understanding of the importance of action has resulted in a dramatically expanded insight into how life works and has given deeper meaning to my personal philosophical beliefs.

Because of this, the skeletal structure of this book is based on a previous work of mine, Getting What You Want. While I was pleased with the content of that book, I was dissatisfied with the title and the publishers orientation of my material. Fortunately, I was able to have the book taken off the market at an early date, and was subsequently successful in acquiring the rights to it.

As it became ever more clear to me that action is the key factor that determines how an individuals plays out, it also became obvious that this was the precise orientation that was needed for much of the material in Getting What You Want. In addition, I have included some material from another one of my books, Million Dollar Habits, which has added clarity to a number of important issues.

I believe that the incorporation of this material will be especially helpful to first-time readers who are unfamiliar with my philosophy. I learned early in my career that an author should never assume that a reader has knowledge of everything he has previously written, particularly when it comes to material that is foundational to what the author is currently writing about. On the other hand, if you are already familiar with my writings, I trust that any repetition herein will serve as a beneeficial review for you in much the same way that it has for me.

Clich as it may be, writing this book was a true labor of love, and the reason for it became obvious to me early on. Clearly, it was because the book was based not only on what I most often speak about in public appearances, but on the way I live my life on a daily basis. Thus, with the publication of Action! my thinking, living, writing, and speaking are almost perfectly aligned.

Normally, the last words of a book bring feelings of relief and exhaustion. With Action! however, writing it was such a joy that it was the first time I can recall not wanting to see a book project come to an end. Hopefully, you will feel the same way when you finish reading it.

On a separate note, you will find a somewhat self-deprecating character known as The Tortoise popping up in a number of illustrations on the pages ahead. The Tortoise entered the world through my first book, Winning through Intimidation (now rewritten and retitled To Be or Not to Be Intimidated? That Is the Question.). I adopted him as my alter ego, so to speak, because so many of the anecdotes in that book were reminiscent of the legendary tortoise-and-hare tale.

The Tortoise is the classic antihero, the unglamorous plodder who always seems to find a way to come out ahead no matter how harshly life treats him along the way. Flash isnt his stock in trade; his strengths are consistency, perseverance, resiliency, and resourcefulness. Hes the kind of reptile who, upon being told that he cant play in someones game, simply goes out and starts his own league.

Above all, The Tortoise demonstrates that the outcome of most situations in life are decided over the long term. Quickly getting out of the starting blocks may get peoples attention, but all that counts is where you are when the race is over.

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didnt do than by the ones you did do.MARK TWAIN

I HAVE ALWAYS BELIEVED that the difference between success and failurein any area of lifeis not nearly as great as most people might suspect. I have also been consistent in my belief that the slight difference between the two is primarily a result of whether or not one practices certain success habits that are based on universal wisdom, or, in simpler terms, common sense.

As the years have passed, however, I have increasingly zeroed in on action as the most important success habit when it comes to determining how an individuals life plays out. This life-changing conclusion evolved as a result of four key insights that gradually fit together in my mind like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. These insights, which have had a dramatic impact on my life, work in concert with one another to make action an path.

Nothing happens until something moves are the words of the greatest scientific mind of the twentieth century, Albert Einstein. The Theory of Relativity may have been Einsteins most important contribution to science, but these five simple wordsnothing happens until something movescomprise his most important contribution to me.

While his observation is an indisputable scientific fact, there is no doubt in my mind that it applies to all other aspects of life as well. Ideas can be precious commodities that can change the world, sound preparation is invaluable, and knowledge and wisdom are essential when it comes to giving one an edge in the pursuit of great achievements. But ideas, preparation, knowledge, and wisdom are all but useless without action, because action is the