Quotes About Action

Leaders are not always the first to see the need for change, but they are the first to act. And once they move away from the pack, they are positioned to lead.

The key to this approach is refusing to stand up and speak until you know the answer to two questions: •  What is the one thing I want my audience to know? •  What do I want them to do about it?

What is the one thing I want my audience to know? •   What do I want them to do about it?

As I listen to leaders tell their stories, I hear very little about strategic planning and goal setting. I hear a lot about identifying and acting on opportunities. Strategies and goals have their place. But they don't define leadership. Leaders see and seize opportunity. And in most cases, the opportunities take them by surprise.

This goes right to the heart of leadership. Leaders instill courage in the hearts of those who follow. This rarely happens through words alone. It generally requires action. It goes back to what we said earlier: Somebody has to go first. By going first, the leader furnishes confidence to those who follow. In this way, leaders give permission.

As Paul Naeger reminds us in his excellent article Red Flag Decision Making, Emotions serve a purpose, informing us what to do. If our brain comes across something and categorizes it as a "red flag," we will be notified through thoughts and feelings created by emotion. This "red flag" alerts us to pay attention. Our emotions act as a cueing system notifying us to pay attention and take action.

As a next generation leader you already possess the talent and intuition necessary to lead. But chances are it is your courage that will establish you as a leader in the minds of others. To put it in perspective, try to identify a leader worth following who didn't pop up on the public radar screen as a result of a decision or action that required courage.

Doing it anyway" is really the only way to ensure that fear doesn't rob you of an opportunity. "Doing it anyway" is the essence of courage. Courage is the willingness to move in a direction in spite of the emotions and thoughts that bid you to do otherwise.

Courage is not the absence of fear. Courage assumes fear. If we had waited for our fear to subside before we took that first plunge off of the high-dive, we would all still be standing there waiting. We just jumped anyway. Courage is the willingness to strap on your fear and move ahead.

VISIONEERING = INSPIRATION + CONVICTION + ACTION + DETERMINATION + COMPLETION

It takes a habit to break a habit. You can pray every day for a generous heart, but until you start acting in that direction, nothing's going to change.

They say that time change things, but you actually have to change them yourself.

They always say time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself.

Después de haber comido entrambos doce nécoras, alguien dijo a Pilatos: -¿Y qué hacemos ahora? Él vaciló un instante y respondía (educado, distante, indiferente): -Chico, tú haz lo que quieras: Yo me lavo las manos.

On her eighteenth birthday, my mother had disposed of a man-eating tiger that had ravaged the villages in the hills north of Hanoi. Now, without a moment's hesitation, she raised my father's gun, took aim and put a single, irreproachable bullet through my husband's head.

Justine's virtue, in action, is the liberal lie in action, a good heart and an inadequate methodology.

The function of the fool in the Elizabethan drama, a reference point outside events but inside another kind of logic, the remorseless logic of unreason where all vision is deranged, all action uncoordinated and all responses beyond prediction.

Is there something I can do to make things better?

Going to church does not equal living for Jesus. Church is part of the Christian life, but it's certainly not all of it. It can't be all of it.

I got the wake-up call that no one is policing our oceans. I wondered, how can I do anything? What really can I do to make things better? There are some perks to being a celebrity. My job is to be funny once in a while, but it's my responsibility to make good use of it.

Too often, we work on how first, rushing to fix a problem before we've even committed to the goal of solving it. But fully understanding your goal and why you want to pursue it before taking any action will make you more likely to achieve it.

Has de dejar de quejarte y de echarte la culpa a ti, al destino y a terceros. Has de tomar de una vez los hechos como tales y no como cambios infinitamente lamentables. Porque tan lamentables no son.

I am tired of crying and feeling so helpless. I want to breathe again-just for a little while. Then I will do whatever I can to help these people. How could I not-once I met them, once I saw for myself.

Cara, we must not wait to live the life we want. Find a way to be present with the people you love.