Action

In the Merchant of Venice, William Shakespeare describes the relationship between knowing what to do and actually doing it as follows:

"If to do were as easy as to know what were good to do, chapels had been churches, and poor men's cottages princes' palaces."

It is very easy to know what we need to do and what actions would benefit us. The truth is that most of us already know what we need to do in order to solve most of our problems and to take our life to the next level. For those of us who do not, finding it is very easy as there are countless, articles, books, seminars and educational programs that will teach us exactly just that.

One of Lance Armstrong’s personal beliefs is to live fast. He says that he does everything fast, he eats fast, breathes fast and lives fast.

In his early twenties, before being diagnosed with testicular cancer, Lance Armstrong was rapidly being regarded as the greatest cyclist ever.

However, Armstrong faced the most difficult challenge ever when he was diagnosed with advanced testicular cancer and given only a 40% chance of survival. Most people would have been destroyed by news but Lance had a difficult attitude.

We live in the Information Age. We live in an age in which we know more today than we ever did before.

Throughout history, people have believed that the only thing that is needed is knowledge. The belief has always been that any problem can be resolved with more knowledge.

The truth, however, is that knowledge is not enough. It is merely potential power.

The true power comes when you know what to do and you actually do it.

In an age where knowledge surrounds us and is accessible at the click of a button, it is no longer the greatest commodity.

In his book, What's your Purpose?', Richard Jacobs writes about an interesting incident in the life of Mahatma Gandhi.

One day, a lady came to Gandhi and asked him an interesting request.

She asked Gandhi to tell her child to stop eating sweets.

Gandhi's reply was equally as unusual. He asked her to come back with her child in two weeks.

Two weeks had passed when the lady returned to Gandhi with her child.

A law of Physics states that for every action there is a reaction. This applies to life as well.

Dr. Stephen Covey, author of the Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, states that in between stimulus and response, there is always a vacant space.

This period of time, however minute, is created for human beings to think about their actions before actually reacting.

This is a time to evaluate and to decide and, most importantly, to choose the correct response.

The results of the US Presidential election confirm that the Political World is dominated by the Precautionary Principle.

During the 1980s, the Environmentalists saw how rapidly our environment was being damaged and came up with a new philosophy.

At the core of this philosophy was the Precautionary Principle. The logical basis of the Precautionary Principle states that as the effects are happening so rapidly, it is justifiable to act before full information and analysis has taken place. As the effects are so rapid, by the time any research is done to find the true extent, the damage would already have been done.