Sure These Words Speak Volumes, Yet Rest Assured, It'll Be Your Actions That'll Have the Final Say

Alright so you may not be rubbing your hands together in feverish anticipation, but in the back of your mind the wheels are definitely turning.

Why? Because deep down you know things could be better. In fact you’ve known it for some time.

Still, something’s holding you back. Something’s missing, something you can’t quite put your finger on.

Ahh, but what if you could?

Regardless of field or function, every industry has its catalog of keywords, words that are commonplace within the workplace, and the Personal Growth and Achievement industry is no exception.

Thumb through the pages of any self-help shop manual and you’re sure to come across words such as, confidence, discipline and motivation; passion, purpose and talent. Words that, with regard to your everyday hopes and dreams can not only speak volumes, but are likely to play a determining role in whether those everyday hopes and dreams sink or swim.

For example, motivation, let’s be honest, without it you ain’t got a leg to stand on.

Those hopes and dreams? Fuhgettaboutem, because without the M word you’re going to have a tough enough time just getting your keister up off the couch.

But now picture yourself a self-motivated super ninja.

Imagine your sofas delight.

Imagine giving Judge Judy the bird.

Think of all you could accomplish.

And how about talent, another bonafide rock star in terms of “livin’ the dream.” Albeit as a rule talent is largely considered a God given gift and not all of us can be gifted.

But what if you were?

What if you did have the goods?

Imagine what it’d be like.

Imagine the possibilities.

Think of the adulation.

Yet this is just a snapshot of the household lingo akin to the self-help community; ambition, creativity and determination; habit, persistence and productivity are all how-to hall of famers in their own right.

And frankly we could go on and on, because at the end of the day our hopes and dreams are every bit as different as we are, as are our individual strengths and weaknesses.

There is however one communal thread that weaves throughout this patchwork of diversity, and that is, despite your aspirations, aside from any personal haves or have-nots, in order for you to make any headway at all you’re going to have to put in the time and effort ꟷ in spite of everything else, you still have to do the work.

So as you might’ve noticed all of the so-called "keywords" mentioned thus far are in fact nouns, and while I’ll admit this is by design I must also point out that there’s more than ample documentation corroborating the opinion that nouns are the go-to unit of language when it comes to realizing one’s full potential.

One can certainly argue as to which nouns should be on the list, but the fact remains, nouns rule the roost.

The reason for this is that nouns (by definition) designate a person, place, or thing, and by and large when we find ourselves short of achieving that which we’d genuinely like to achieve we immediately adopt the idea that some “thing” is missing. Something that if we could only get our hands on it would make us much better equipped for the task.

And so we set about in search of that certain something which might tilt the odds in our favor, that missing piece of the puzzle if you will, and time and again it’s a noun that inevitably catches our attention.

 

Why?

Because unlike verbs and adjectives nouns denote something practical and powerful, something clear-cut and self-contained.

In a word (pardon the pun) nouns spell success.

Plus they’re tangible, so in much the same way a piece of puzzle fits seamlessly into its place a noun fits neatly, and rather conveniently, into our lives.

Make no mistake, with the right noun(s) in your arsenal you’ve got a great shot at making a go of it.

Nevertheless, nouns are not a cure-all solution, because more times than not it’s not some “thing” we need, but as Reece Robertson reminds us, something we need to do. Something that if we truly want to continue making strides toward being the best we can be we need to keep doing.

Hmmm, keep, now there’s an elusive little word that often slips under the radar.

Why do you suppose that’s the case?

Simple, keep isn’t a noun.

It’s not a person, place or thing.

It’s not tangible.

But is it practical?

Is it powerful?

Is it worthy of hanging with the big boys of Personal Growth and Achievement?

Here’s what Roget’s Thesaurus has to say:

Keep is a verb, a verb is a word which is used to describe an action, state, or occurrence, it is late English in origin, and it means to:

Worthy?

I’d say so, because no matter how different they may be, in the end we all have hopes and dreams, we all possess the same inherent ability to hope and to dream.

And if we truly wish to preserve those hopes and dreams we must care for them, we need to defend, foster and nurture them so to protect them from all that threatens to block, deter and potentially prevent them from one day becoming something so much more.

Like all things treasured and cherished we need to celebrate our hopes and dreams.

We need to commemorate our hopes and dreams, and the only way to possibly do that is to show them the honor and respect they so deeply deserve.

See you soon, till then, keeep it up.