– Action

Willingness vs Ability

Ever notice that everything comes down to a willingness to take action.

I can’t help but notice most people have lots of abilities to do things. They have tremendous knowledge and skills. Unfortunately, they lack the willingness to act.

They have a bias towards inaction. They are full of excuses for why they can’t do something. They lack motivation and a want to be a player in their own life.

Look around you, what do you see?

I bet you see two types of people. Those who do and those who don’t. Those [...]

By David McGraw|April 28th, 2014|Action|4,004 Comments|

No Joy without Responsibility

Sure the current state of affairs is fine. You have everything you need. Life is good. Of course there more, right?

Tomorrow does not happen without the seed of today.

All the hopes, dreams, and grand visions we have for the future will not manifest themselves without some effort today. We either drive our growth or it drives us. It’s gonna happen whether or not we start it.

The grass may not be greener on the other side, but it will continue to grow. All our hard work of the past can quickly vanish. Layoffs happen everyday. [...]

By David McGraw|January 22nd, 2014|Action|4,483 Comments|

Get naked and run free

Whatever you want requires you to get naked and run free in the wild.

Space is generative. Exploring an unfamiliar space is messy and uncomfortable. It is also where we find those game changing nuggets of wisdom. Familiar space keeps us stuck inside the safe stable confines of our mind living in a world of static repetitive behavior. Everything is may seem great, but it is far from it.

Pretending to run free in the wilderness is a wonderful delusional reality world. A storybook fairy tale we tell [...]

By David McGraw|November 19th, 2013|Action|5,009 Comments|

Paradoxical relationship between breakdowns and breakthroughs

Breakdowns and breakthroughs come with layers of complexity. Climbing and falling are part of a natural cycle of growth and retraction. We can’t have one without the other. It’s a paradox.

To understand and conquer this paradox, we must find our natural operational speed and move in-sync with it. Any other speed will be counter productive to achieving what we want.

Pay attention to the posted speed limit.

Too much activity leaves us flying around distracted and unfocused. Caught up in the whirlwind of chaos, we sprint past all the potential [...]

By David McGraw|November 1st, 2013|Action|5,402 Comments|

Find your guardian power and ride it past your fears

Where there is power, there is resistance. ― Michel Foucault

When your resistance shows up, you are winning. It’s time to remove your suit of armor, be brave, and push harder than you ever have before.

When was the last time you were brave?

Being brave is about taking small meaningful freeing actions. You wont magically wake up one day and be brave. You have to work at it.

There are thousands of distractions and obstacles keeping us from our dreams. Don’t give up. Stay focused. Keep going.

Be Brave. It takes guts to ignore the distractions and keep doing what [...]

By David McGraw|April 29th, 2013|Action|4,666 Comments|

Finding our motivational why

What have you risked it all to get?

We love those deeply inspiring stories. Wow…those people were so courageous and brave. They threw caution at the wind and risked it all. We secretly wish we could be more like them.

Watching deeply inspired motivation in action is a work of art. A thing of beauty.

You have your own ground shaking, heart-warming story to tell, right?

The people in these stories are driven by a sustainable motivational why. They found what they wanted and they risked it all to get it.

The only difference between them and us is investing our time and effort to do the work required.

You’ve [...]

By David McGraw|October 22nd, 2012|Action|5,062 Comments|

Find your flow

Today was a beautiful fall day here in the Nation Capital. I played hooky and spent a couple of hours hiking.

Some much-needed mental recharge and reflection time.

You see, I’ve been stuck floating along life’s path for a while now. While I enjoy comfort zone time, I’ve grown tired of the same old same old.

Each time I’ve started to paddle harder, I’ve run into obstacles that have knocked me off my stroke into float mode. Each time, I was given an opportunity to learn a new lesson.

My floating learning experience has been invaluable and enlightening in many ways. I’ve learned many things [...]

By David McGraw|October 18th, 2012|Action|5,344 Comments|

Have to…want to…get to!

I’ve spent much of my life trying to find a perfect balance between “I have to do X” and “I want to do Y.” As a result, I’ve often denied myself an opportunity to live and really enjoy the present moment. Every activity can be viewed as have to, want to, or get to. “Have to” energy drains the life out of us. Obligation and responsibility fills our being. We act to meet other’s expectations and not our own. We do to do. We give a small piece of our selves away every time we choose to view an activity […]

By David McGraw|December 8th, 2011|Action|5,482 Comments|

Propaganda for the unconscious masses

REPEAT AFTER ME….There is no such thing as work life balance. Work life balance is propaganda for the unconscious masses. You will not find your dream life pursuing work life balance. Instead, you find yourself living in a nightmare. Your dreams will die chasing this mythical unachievable high wire balancing act. There is no separation between your personal and professional lives. We are the same person at work as we are at home. Try as we might, we cannot separate the two. We are one whole human being. Our human components do not exist separately. We have a conscious mind that loves […]

By David McGraw|September 29th, 2011|Action|5,557 Comments|

Epic crash or adrenaline pumping alive?

Ever try driving a car with no hands and the peddle to the metal? Fear sets in…we are going to DIE!!! We pray for an unending straight away with no obstacles. Only one thing can result from this kind of reckless behavior…an epic crash!!! Putting our hands on the steering wheel dramatically increases the thrill and excitement as we negotiate the road at high-speed. Heart-pumping adrenaline rush…we are alive!!! Living without a sense of what we want is akin to driving with no hands on the wheel. An epic crash awaits without taking proactive action towards creating the life we […]

By David McGraw|July 21st, 2011|Action, Learning|5,429 Comments|

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