It All Matters

“The roots of true achievement lie in the will to become the best that you can become.”  -- Harold Taylor

How many times have you heard, or said, “It doesn’t matter what I do – say – think – believe.  It will make no difference at all and nobody cares.”?  We have all done it, and it is really some of the most misguided thinking we can have.  Let me put it simply and clearly, it matters!  It all matters!

Those who think what they do does not matter are defeated before they start.  If it does not matter why do anything?  For it to matter you have to care that it matters.  You have to believe that you have something to say, that you have something to contribute to the world you live in.  My friend, you do matter.  You matter very much.  We need your ideas, your thoughts, you opinion.  If we agree we are made stronger, if we disagree we are made stronger still.

I would like to look at four areas where you matter a great deal.  These are in what you do, say, think and believe.  Keep in mind that if you matter, then everyone matters.  The world is made up of many different people of many points of view.  As a writer and teacher, I may get to express my point of view more than some, but that does not mean mine matters more.  Every person has something to offer and each one who is honest and true makes us all better. 

“If you have integrity, nothing else matters.  If you don’t have integrity, nothing else matters.”  -- Alan K. Simpson

1)     What You Do Matters.

Brian Tracy says, “It doesn’t matter where you are coming from.  All that matters is where you are going.”  Do you know where you are going?  Don’t buy into the thinking that it doesn’t matter where, or that “God knows” and He is not saying.  You have been given the power from God to go to where He sends you.  That means that He tells you where and you go.

Goals are like rudders on a ship.  They direct you to where you need to travel.  However, the rudder does not set the course, it does not decide where you are going to end up, that is your job.  As the great Yogi Barra use to say, “If you don’t know where you are going how will you know when you get there?”

Everything you do everyday moves you closer to a destination.  You must know what that destination is in order to do the right things.  Moments count and every one you waste is gone forever.  The person who has a clear sense of purpose is one who only does what moves them in the right direction.  What you do everyday matters.

 “The greatest achievement of the human spirit is to live up to one’s opportunities and make the most of one’s resources.”  -- Marquis De Vanvenargues

2)     What You Say Matters.

Here is a saying from Plato that is worth writing down and reading at the start of every day, “Wise men speak because they have something to say; fools because they have to say something.”  Sorry, did I step on a toe?  I confess that dear old Plato stomped on mine when I first read this.  How many times have we felt that we had to say something rather than have something to say?

Words mean things.  They matter and they are powerful.  Words can heal and they can kill.  Words can form creative ideas and inspire and they can cause defeat and hopelessness.  Joel Osteen said, “You can change your world by changing your words…Remember, death and life are in the power of the tongue.”  Therefore, speak life and healing.

Always keep in mind that what you say has great power.  Use your words well and when you have nothing to say, say nothing.  Mother was right, “if you have nothing good to say, be quiet.”

 “We are masters of unsaid words, but slaves of those we let slip out.”  -- Sir Winston Churchill

3)     What You Think Matters.

Before a thing is done, or a word is said it is first in the mind.  You think more than you do anything else.  You even think when you sleep.  That means that what you think about matters most of all.  Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “Life consists of what a man is thinking about all day.”  What are you thinking about?

Those who tend to be negative and a pessimist think negative thoughts all day.  In their mind they are in arguments with people, they think about how things go wrong and how they can never get a head.  Optimist or positive thinkers think about positive things all day.  They are thinking of the possibilities before them, the next great idea they will have or how blessed they are.  So, what do these two groups of people have in common?  They are what they think about.

You have control of your thoughts.  You are the only one that does.  You can not blame bad thinking on anyone or anything else, not even on God.  Your thinking is up to you.  James Allen said, “You are today where your thoughts have brought you.  You will be tomorrow where your thoughts take you.”  So where do you want to be?  Change your thinking and change your world. 

“Nothing limits achievement like small thinking; nothing expands possibilities like unleashed thinking.” – William Arthur Ward

4)     What You Believe Matters.

It all comes down to faith.  What you believe to be true and how that affects your life.  Everyday you are faced with impossible things and mountains to climb.  If you are without faith and believe that you cannot get over these mountains, you will never succeed.  If you believe that there is a power that will make a way where there is not way and that you can not fail, you cannot help but succeed.  As Henry David Thoreau once said, “It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see.”

Faith does not come with a logical explanation for itself.  Faith is just believing.  That sound so simple that it must be wrong but it is the truth.  St. Thomas Aquinas put it this way, “To one who has faith, no explanation is necessary.  To one without faith, no explanation is possible.”

Believe in God, believe in yourself, believe in the power of a dream and you will succeed at all you do.  No one believes in you more than God does.  He created you for a purpose and He knows what wonderful potential is in you.  Believe in Him as He believes in you.  Don’t think that what you believe, or think or say or do doesn’t matter.  You matter!  I repeat, you matter!  It all matters.

“Keep away from those who try to belittle your ambitions.  Small people always do that, but the really great make you believe that you too can be great.” – Mark twain

© Jack Hickey 2010