Inspiration | Wisdom

3 Wise Steps

A simple way to achieve more in life

If there were a way you could achieve practically anything you want in life without compromising yourself, would you do it? If your interest is piqued, you only need to learn and execute three simple steps.

The three steps

If you follow the below steps in succession, they will rarely, if ever, fail you. The great thing about these steps is they apply equally well to your career and personal life. As you complete each step, order results. In today’s dysfunctional and disorderly world, most of us will welcome such order with open arms!

Let’s examine the essence of the three parts of the following wisdom.

“Thinking well is wise;

planning well, wiser;

but doing well is the wisest and best of all.”

Ancient Persian Proverb

Thinking well is wise

Why do you go to school most of the early years of your life? To learn! To learn what — facts and figures by rote memorization? No, you go to school to learn how to think. Or at least that should be the reason!

Learning to think is a marvelous thing unless it is misused. Unfortunately, education is a problem in many countries worldwide. Too many learning institutions, from grade school to advanced degrees, are used for indoctrination, not for teaching us how to learn.

Young brains can be programmed to hate, fear, limit critical thinking, suppress perspectives, follow mindlessly, and many other negative things. Because of the power of teachers, professors, and institutions, schools often mislead children and young adults into adopting distorted and perverted ways of thinking. Enough about the negative side of education for now. Why bring it up at all? To shine the light on what cultivating the ability to think well can do for you.

“The mind, once stretched by a new idea, never returns to its original dimensions.” Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)

When done correctly, teaching a child or adult to think well begins the formation of wisdom in them. When you enter the workplace, you must use your ability to think and do. Doing almost always follows thinking, although we all know someone who does without thinking. Wisdom can be lost when you do first and think later!

Another caveat about thinking is overdoing it. While thinking is good, be careful about overthinking and getting stuck!

Should you not develop wisdom to think well in every area of life? By thinking well, you improve whatever you do and the results thereof.

“Few people think more than two or three times a year; I have made an international reputation for myself by thinking once or twice a week.” George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950)

Planning well is wiser

The need to plan has long been known and is essential to achieving anything in life — provided the plan comes from sound thinking.

Planning is a skill everyone should develop if they want to achieve much. Those who learn to plan early almost always outperform those who do not. We must never forget what one of our country’s forefathers said more than two centuries ago:

“If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail!” Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790)

Those who plan even a portion of their life and set goals inevitably come out ahead. How could it be otherwise?

Doing well is wisest and best of all

While thinking well and planning well can take you far in life, this third step is essential for making real gains. If you have given your career or life sound thought and planned well, the only thing left is to execute. Those who take action and do well lean on the best and greatest wisdom, accomplishing far more in life.

Some go to college planning their career ahead of time. Doctors, lawyers, engineers, and many other fields require much education, thought, and planning to enter their professions. Most of them also receive much in return.

Having served large and small companies for several decades, I cannot count how many people we hired with mostly useless degrees. It is also shocking how many people quit working on themselves after entering the workforce. Far too many never bother picking up a book to read up on their current profession. This proved particularly true for those in sales!

With little thought and little or no planning, where are they heading in their careers and lives? Scary thought, isn’t it?

With wise thought and good planning, doers find the world is their oyster!

“Whatever you want to do, do it now. There are only so many tomorrows.” Michael Landon (1936–1991)

Final thoughts

In the end, it is those who do that get things done. If only more people became thinking-planning-doers, the world would be far different!

Avoid procrastination at all costs. Heed the following advice from an old Norwegian proverb:

“The lazier a man is, the more he plans to do tomorrow.” Norwegian Proverb

Stop talking about it and do something!

“You got your talkers and you got your doers.

Most people are just talkers, all they do is talk.

But when it is all said and done, it’s the doers that change this world.

And when they do that, they change us, and that’s why we never forget them.

So which one are you? Do you just talk about it, or do you stand up and do something about it?”

David Della Rocco (1952-present)

What can you put thought to today, start planning, and take action ASAP to create the future you want?

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Bill Abbate Leadership Writer and Editor in ILLUMINATION

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