Seven Birds are Together on a Power Line!
Paul White's nationally distributed syndicated column, “Seven Birds are Together on a Power Line!” is published in 22 publications across seven states. This includes the following newspapers and digital publications: Midland Daily News (MI), SFGate (CA), Seattle PI (WA), Connecticut Post (CT), Laredo Morning Times (TX), Huron Daily Tribune (MI), The Telegraph (IL), and more. In this week's article, Paul recommends skipping the traditional list of “New Years Resolutions” and instead, resolve to be a person of action with all decisions and intentions related to your life.
That’s right. Seven Birds are Together on a Power Line. Two decide to fly away. How many are left? If you were like me when I first heard it, you would answer five. Simple math, simple logic. The problem that comes up is totally caused by those two birds that decided to fly away. You see, they only DECIDED! They didn’t take any ACTION. And so there they still sit, right next to the other five, puffing their chest feathers out with great intention believing that HEY…Intention counts. But does it? Do our intentions have any real value in our life? You’d sure think so the way we utilize intention to falsely lift ourselves up. What do I mean by that? Read on.
We’re not supposed to judge other people. There’s no way that we could EVER have adequate information to lay down judgement on another human being. In fact, the only person in the world we can accurately judge is ourselves. But we’re human and I’ve never met another human who doesn’t fall into the trap of judging others. I call it a trap because most of us utilize judging others so we can puff our chest feathers out and convince ourselves, in our mind, that we’re better. Here’s the problem. We judge others by their actions, and we judge ourselves by our intentions. Well, blow me a whistle and cry me a foul. That is SO unfair! Yet we do it. Why? And how in the world were we ever able to fool our minds into believing that our intentions, for US, count as actions?
Previously I’ve shared one of my favorite plaques that hangs on a wall in our home. It reads: THOUGHTS BECOME WORDS, WORDS BECOME ACTIONS, ACTIONS BECOME CHARACTER, CHARACTER IS EVERYTHING. One of the takeaways from that saying is that intentions fail to play ANY role in the development of our personal character. They may even harm it.
Examples? Wow, this is the first time I’ve seen you since your heart surgery. I really did intend to send you a card to let you know I care. Wow, I really had intended to file my taxes on time, make my credit card payment on time, pay my utility bills on time, and make my mortgage payments on time…so, can we forego the penalty and late fees due to my intentions to pay all of them on time? I intended to fill out the detailed forms for that scholarship, can I still get it? Officer, I had intended to have my brakes checked when the pedal began feeling squishy a few months ago, so can we pretend this accident didn’t happen?
Here’s the truth. Intentions themselves have no value to offer our life unless they’re paired with ACTION. The definition of intent, or intention, is purpose. But what is a purpose without action? Nothing. Okay, I need to soften the message and thought process I’m tossing at you today. Some of our inaction may come from the deep-seated thought that we want to do the right thing, we just can’t seem to find the motivation to do it. If we’re never going to find the motivation to do it, we should eliminate the thoughts and the words because it will never cross the action finish line.
Back to the seven birds that are together on a power line. When I asked how many are left, I neglected to tell you it was a trick question. Before you get mad at me, I utilized it to create a picture in your mind that cements the lesson that intentions must be immediately paired with action to create value. I also acknowledge that there are still many people that judge other people against themselves and, out of fairness, need to make sure they always compare apples to apples. In other words, they should judge other people’s actions against their own actions. BUT I have a much better solution: STOP JUDGING OTHERS ALTOGETHER!
If you feel compelled to judge anyone, judge yourself. There’s power in judging yourself if you do it the right way. The right way is judging who you were in the past against who you want to be in the future. Manage the thoughts that you’re feeding your brain. It’s THOSE thoughts that create your words and those words that lead to the actions that define your character.
We’re about to begin a new year. I hope you haven’t fallen for the old “list of resolutions” trickery. In all my life, I’ve never had anyone tell me that they experienced success by keeping a new year’s resolution. Successful people are people who can be defined as “A person of action” in every area of their life. If you feel you just have to create a list of resolutions, resolve to have only one…which is…I resolve to be a person of action with all decisions and intentions related to my life. You resolve THAT and you can buckle up right now as you approach a better life than you’ve ever had before. Hey…I Believe In YOU! GiddyUp!
Paul White is a guest columnist and author. Purchase his life-changing book “The Answer Discovery – How to Change the World by Helping Others…and Ourselves” at http://bit.ly/PaulWhiteAmazon. If you’re interested in getting in touch with Paul, please submit an inquiry via our Contact Page.