Determination: The Will to Achieve…
Determination isn’t just another word. It’s a word that embodies a way of life. It embodies the spirit that drives the human race forward. It blesses us with the will to achieve, without which we’d still be moping in caves. If imagination is the spark, then it’s determination that ignites the fire (see Imagination: Are You Using It?).
Famed American editor and author George Horace Lorimer (1867-1937) stated that, “You’ve got to get up every morning with determination if you’re going to go to bed with satisfaction.”
And yet how many of us do? How many of us spring from bed as if to attack the day that lay before us? Rather, the vast majority of us sullenly go about our day, not knowing whence we came, and whither we go. Without aim or purpose, we stumble through time, scattered in direction, scattered in thought, and scattered in promise. Determination is but a word without meaning; determination is but a word without depth. It brings shivers to those of us that adopt complacency, and forego the vagaries of an existence brimming with determination.
If life’s purpose is to achieve, then determination is life’s catalyst. Without determination there can be no achievement, and without achievement there can be no life purpose. It’s the glory of achievement that renders the beauty of life and makes our earth-bound experience so worthwhile. Decimate determination, and with it all achievement ceases. Kill the spirit to create, and life becomes nothing more than a mundane existence, if we continue to exist at all.
The world is awash in opportunity, and yet so many of us forego it. Instead of acting, we sit back and observe. We observe the few that do act, that take the risk, bear the brunt, and endure the hardship. With dogged determination they carry on against overwhelming odds, only to be laughed at when they fail, and snickered at when they succeed. Such is the world of the achiever.
The achiever knows no excuses or self-pity. Where others lay blame and cry foul, the achiever moves forward. Where others scream injustice, the achiever moves forward. Where others ask for handouts, the achiever moves forward. Through all the naysayers, through all the red tape, through all the barriers, the achiever moves forward. With determination, the achiever always moves forward.
Thankfully, determination is a choice; it’s our choice. Are we determined to make a mark upon the life gifted us? Are we determined to take responsibility for our actions? Are we determined to make the most of each day? If so, then we’re sure to go to bed with the satisfaction that Lorimer alluded to…
For more, check out The C.A.T. Principle: Change, Action, Trust – Words to Live By, a Global Ebook Awards GOLD Winner for Best Self-Help Non-Fiction Ebook of 2014, available at Amazon and Barnes & Noble. See the latest Amazon reviews here. Now revised and expanded, and a Nominee for the Best Self-Help Non-Fiction Ebook of the 2015 Global Ebook Awards.
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A 2014 Global Ebook Awards GOLD Winner for Best Self-Help Non-Fiction Ebook.
2015 Global Ebook Awards Nominee for Best Self-Help Non-Fiction Ebook