Be a Self-Starter

 by David H. Sandler

• A race car has a tremendous amount of potential energy but cannot start until someone waves the green flag.

• The powerful engines of a jet cannot lift that plane one-inch off the ground without ample runway and someone activating its controls.

• A locomotive can be held in place by a single block of wood placed under its wheel, yet under power it can go through a brick wall 10 feet thick.

Raw power has only potential. Machines cannot turn themselves on - people can! If you're going to wait to feel "right" about doing something, it may never happen. The self-starter knows that there is never a "right" time to get started.


Too many people sit around waiting to be motivated - as if there were some chemical reaction about to take place. The self-starter acts on his goals, and the motivation to achieve those goals is built into that action.

If you are not feeling "up to it," no amount of concentration, wishful thinking, or smoke screen planning will get you into action. Things in motion tend to stay in motion; things at rest remain at rest. The more you think about becoming motivated, the better the chances are that you won't.

The self-starter knows that regardless of how he feels at any given moment, how he will feel in the next moment is determined by the action he takes.

If you have set worthwhile goals, and have developed a plan of action, set your plan into action anytime of the day or night by acting on it. Don't lose precious time by waiting for the time to be right: Become a self-starter.

It's how you act that determines how you feel, not how you feel that determines how you act.

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Excerpted from Sandler's No Guts, No Gain!® training program. © 2002 Sandler Systems, Inc. All rights reserved.