The Unseen Work Behind Achievement

Planting Seeds Without Instant Results

Faith And Prayer Need Action

Craft Your Work And Build Identity

Right Here Right Now Focus

Beat Doubt And Fear With Action

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Greetings and blessing. It is well with you. It is well with you today. It is well. I'm declaring it well. I don't know if it's well, but we're just gonna say it anyway. You know, it starts with what's in your mind. Yesterday we said what's in our minds makes a difference. Yesterday was Making Moves Monday. Today is Take Action Tuesday. You're listening to The Sweet Spot. We get it going here on The Sweet Spot. We don't hold back, we don't just say Tuesday, we say Take Action Tuesday. And dear Sweet Spotter, we've been in a series. A series that is based on a book called As a Man Thinketh by James Allen. A profound book that speaks about the power of our thoughts. Yesterday, we saw that we really have to have purpose attached to anything that we're trying to think about, that we should know what the purpose is. So Monday was about the mind. What was in our mind? What was the thinking about? Today, Take Action Tuesday is about the labor, not the labor that's on the calendar, the label that this is the labor that nobody sees, right? So look, the author James Allen said it's the most important work a person can do. Because achievement is not an accident. He wrote, and I'm quoting him, achievement of whatever kind is the crown of effort, the crown of thought. What you have accomplished yesterday didn't begin yesterday, it began in the invisible days before it. Everything builds on everything else. Life is nothing more than a series of small actions. Absolutely. And in the ancient wisdom, we're cautioned that even though life is about action and it's about doing and getting things done, we should not just grow wary of doing these actions. We should not back down and allow fatigue to take us over. It says in Galatians, in the ancient wisdom, that we should not grow wary of doing good things, of taking good actions, because guess what? In a due season, we will reap if we do not give up. Across religions, across philosophies, across worldviews, this idea of action, of actions and positive and right actions delivering an outcome is pretty much sacrosanct. It is everywhere, it is sacred, it is something that we see over and over again. So a lot of times we miss the part that says in due season when we're taking an action. Because the action you take today doesn't always give you the immediate benefit. Sometimes it's not in this hour that you see the result. Maybe not even in this week. But the harvest is always in motion when you're planting. Remember yesterday we said that the author James Allen of this book, As a Man Thinketh, likened the human mind to a garden where you're constantly planting, and what you plant is really important. The kinds of things you plant is what you're gonna grow. It makes so much sense. And lots of times the action you take of planting a seed sometimes doesn't show up until much later. Maybe you're working with someone, and that person's not progressing the way you'd like them to progress. You keep planting the seed. Maybe you're not where you should be in life. You are working towards a goal, and it's really not coming as quickly as you would like. Keep planting the seed. I keep telling you guys, there's this, there are these two trees in my mom and dad's backyard. And they started off as just totally these tiny little seeds that they planted in the yard. I don't know when that avocado tree became such a ginormous, gigantic tree, but now it's huge, and the mango tree is ridiculously huge. And these things, I tell you, when I saw them, when I saw my parents planting them, I could not imagine that those seeds would be these mammoth trees that we're looking at today. So don't despise small beginnings, don't think that your small actions are not gonna pay off. They do. Dedication and hard work are the key. Nipsey Hustle said it best. He said, Dedication and hard work, believe in your flyness, conquer your shyness. Don't be bashful, all right? That's a little rap stuff for you, and I'm cool. I'm going way back with Nipsey Hustle. That's to tell you how old I am. Yeah, but dedication and hard work, man. Believe in your flyness, conquer your shyness. The work beneath the work. The work beneath the work is the belief that you have to carry. Yeah, the belief that you have to have, the grind that you have to have when nobody's watching. That's the move. That's the action. That is the action for take action Tuesday. Name one thing you've been working on that hasn't produced a visible result yet. What is it that you're trying to get that you're not there yet? Do not stop. Tuesday, take action Tuesday is not harvest Tuesday. Okay, Tuesday is not the harvest today. Today it's about tending, it's about gardening, it's about grinding, it's about putting in another rep. It's about you do not back down, you keep working, you keep working, absolutely, because you've got to earn it, you've got to plant, you've got to root up the weeds. The author writes that everybody gets what they plant, not what they wish and pray for does a person get, but what they justly earn. That's what he says, not what they wish, not what they pray for. Now, the wishes and prayers are only gratified, he says in his book. The wishes and the prayers, they're only gratified and answered when they harmonize with your thoughts and actions. Now listen to that carefully. He's saying that wishes and prayers are gratified when they align and harmonize with thinking and action. So prayer does matter, your wish and your belief does matter, your intention matters, your vision matters. But the author James Allen is unambiguous. He says that they must be married to action. You know, the ancient wisdom says the same thing. What does the ancient wisdom say about you having all this faith? Like you can have all the faith in the world. But what does James 2.26 say? You got it. Faith without works is what? Dead. Dead. Not just like limping along. They called it dead. So you can have all the belief you want, all the faith you want if you do not marry it to action. I don't care how tiny or small it is, you're not gonna get the results. That's what the author of this book, as a man thinketh, said. But that's also corroborated in the ancient wisdom way before he even said it. Alright, you're not into the ancient wisdom? Hey, in the Zen tradition, guess what? There's a beautiful book I read. I love it. I share with all the athletes I work with. It's called Chop Wood and Carry Water. And one of my favorite lines from that book before enlightenment, you know what you have to do? Chop wood and carry water. After enlightenment, you know what you have to do? Chop wood, carry water. And that's the quote before enlightenment, chop wood, carry water. After enlightenment, chop wood, carry water. You see, the work does not change. The consciousness you bring to it does. You can be enlightened, you can have your revelation, you can have a great aha, but guess what? You got to get your butt up and go back to work. Because you're a businessman. No, let me do like how Jay-Z said it. Jay-Z said it in Blueprint 3. Remember when Jay-Z said this in Blueprint? I'm not a businessman, I'm a businessman. I'm not a businessman, I'm a businessman. That's not arrogance, that is ownership. You're not just doing a job, you're building something here. You are your brand. And today, take action Tuesday, is the day that you build that brand. So, this is the action for today. Pick the task. Pick a task that you've been treating as an obligation and do it as a craft instead. See all of the creativity that you can bring to it through whatever actions you have to take. Now, the output might be the same, but the effect on you when you do it this way is going to be different because of how you're going to come at it. Because you're seeing the actions as sacred. Your actions are your expression, and your body will follow the vision. Your entire world will configure around the kinds of actions you're taking. You know what the author said, James Allen, in this book, and I'm going to quote him the body is the servant of the mind. It obeys the operations of the mind, whether they be deliberately chosen or automatically expressed. So how you feel on Tuesday afternoon or Tuesday evening is not random. That is downstream of what you've been thinking since Monday morning. Your body is following what you've been thinking and the actions you've been taking for the past couple of days. So that's why the Stoics always say this. You gotta put your identity before your action, right? They say, first, this is Epictetus, one of my favorite stoics. You know I quote him all the time, right? Epictetus. I love Epictetus and I love uh Marcus Aurelius. But Epictetus said, Epictetus said this. First, say to yourself, What would you be? Then do what you have to do. You see, he's saying you've got to put your identity before your action, your vision before your emotion. You've got to know who you are, and that can inform what you do. And when you have a purpose, an identity, and knowledge of what you want to do, you become clear, you become calm, you become poised because you know that this is the moment. This moment matters. The present moment is the only moment available to you, and it is a door to every moment that you're gonna have after this. That is ticknatihan. You literally are in the right moment. You're not in all of Tuesday, you're in the action that you're taking in Tuesday. This hour, this moment, right here, right now. You know that's one of my favorite phrases. I told you, there have been a couple of locker rooms that I've been in where that phrase is on the wall. Right here, right now. Not yesterday, not tomorrow. Right here, right now, that is the action we're gonna take. So let me ask you right here, right now, what is it that you need to be doing? Right? What is the action do you believe you have to take? That you're not taking or that you need to take? What do you have to create? Maybe things aren't working well for you. Maybe things aren't going as you would like them to go. Well, do like what Beyonce said on lemonade. I I was served lemons, but I've made lemonade, right? That's what you got to do. You that's action. You see, you see, it doesn't matter what life is throwing at you. Transformation is not about the circumstance, it's about the mind that decides what it's going to do with the circumstances that are in front of it. What are you gonna do? What actions are you gonna take to handle the circumstances that are in front of you? So take three deep breaths, slow down, relax, and recenter. And ask yourself, what is the action that I need to take today? What do I need to do today? And is it the is it doubt or fear? What's stopping me? Because those are the hindrances I have to remove. The author writes in this book, James Allen, the book is as a man thinketh. He writes, the person who has conquered doubt and fear has conquered failure. Wow, what a statement! The person who has conquered doubt and fear has conquered failure. The ancient wisdom puts it this way Yea, do I walk through the valley of the shadow of death itself? I will fear no evil. However, you want to slice it and dice it. You cannot let fear and doubt rule your show or curtail your actions. Tuesday. This is Take Action Tuesday. Tuesday is when doubt shows up dressed up as realistic concerns and worries and anxieties. Oh, it's too hard. Oh, it's too slow. Oh, you'll never get that done. Oh, this maybe this is not working, maybe this is not for you. Maybe, you know, maybe whatever. The ancient wisdom says, according to your faith, let it be done to you. Right? So you gotta be careful what you say. Even the Stoics put it this way: you gotta confine yourself to what's happening right here, right now. Marcus Aurelius, confine yourself to the present moment. And remember that a journey of a thousand miles always begins with one single action, one step. You're not behind. You're in the middle of something that's still becoming, it's still evolving. You know, when you're involved in Take Action Tuesday, you're not in a sequel to Monday. You are giving yourself proof that you're not stopping, you're not backing down. Because you're willing to do the work that be that's beneath the work. The work beneath the work is always the work on yourself. Do that work first, everything else will follow. You've been listening to The Sweet Spot. It is Take Action Tuesday, and we're going in, we're going in, and we're not backing down. So, look, if this resonated with you today and you haven't subscribed yet, hit subscribe and become part of our community, the sweet spot community, and it's totally free, there's no hidden cost. And then, of course, if you know somebody who needs to take some actions or who would benefit from this conversation that we're having about taking action, about the work beneath the work being always the work on yourself, doing that first, and everything will follow. Share it with them. All right, beloved. I will see you tomorrow. You know what tomorrow is, right? Oh, yes, indeed. It is win it all Wednesday. Can't wait to see you there.