"When I first decided I wanted to make a difference, I had no idea how to do it."

A thought by John C. Maxwell & Rob Hoskins in their book, Change Your World (p. 39). HarperCollins Leadership. Kindle Edition. (Click on the book title to go to Amazon to buy the book.)

Is that also what you want to do?

John says, "I wasn’t sure what I would do or where it would take me or how I would get there. I just knew I wanted to help people, so I started doing what I could. Mother Teresa said, 'I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the waters to create many ripples.' Little did I know that those humble beginnings of just starting to do what I could were creating ripples. You can create ripples too. Here’s how to get started:"

He continues, "As I write this, my dad, Melvin, is ninety-eight years old. He’s always been my hero. I’ve learned a lot from Dad. When I was young, one of his favorite riddles to ask us kids was about five frogs sitting on a log. 'Four decided to jump off. How many are left on the log?' he would ask.

"The first time I answered, 'One.' 

"'No,' Dad replied. 'There are five. Deciding is not doing. You have to do more than decide. You have to take action!' 

"Thanks to those frogs on a log, I learned there’s a huge difference between good intentions and good actions:

• People with good intentions want to add value to others but find reasons not to do it. 
• People with good actions want to add value to others and find ways to do it. 
• People with good intentions can be passive, inconsistent, and disappointing. 
• People with good actions are deliberate, consistent, and willful. 
• Good actions represent the dividing line between words and results."

He then says, "We often hear about the haves and the have-nots. When it comes to making a difference and changing our world, we should probably be talking about the dos and the do-nots. We tend to want others to judge us on our intentions. But what ultimately matters isn’t what we intend to do. It’s what we actually do. How do we miss this? We rarely tell ourselves, 'I’m never going to do this good thing.' Instead, we tell ourselves, 'I’m going to do this tomorrow.' But when tomorrow comes, we don’t follow through. Maybe we mean to, but we don’t. That’s why the biggest gap between failure and success is the distance between I should and I did."

So very true. Yes, yes! #continuethought