Thanks for all the support with getting to 100 newsletter subscribers before my birthday – I have actually got to 115.
Welcome to all new subscribers.
When I created the target, I set myself the challenge of mentioning my website and newsletter to 1 new person everyday.
I’m grateful to my colleagues who were very helpful in assisting me get to the target.
This month’s theme is about taking action. The growth of my subscriber list is an example of how a small daily action can pay off. I just needed to be brave and make a start!
Also, hopefully you’ll notice the extra wisdom this month, now that I’ve completed 5 decades on the planet! 😉
Happy June!
Sinead
PS If you know someone else who might like to subscribe, here’s the link
Oprah Winfrey was born on 29th January 1954 in Mississippi, USA. She had a poor upbringing and moved between Wisconsin and Tennessee alternating between living with her maternal grandmother, her mother and her father throughout her youth.
50 years ago, she won the Miss Black Tennessee beauty pageant. Following this, she got an opportunity with a local radio station. From childhood, Oprah had been a gifted speaker and these skills won her a scholarship to college where she studied communication. She left college before getting her degree as she got a job in TV in 1975. However, she returned and submitted her final assignment 10 years later to graduate in 1987.
The Oprah Winfrey show was first broadcast in 1986. After 25 years, it came to an end but at that stage it was broadcast in over 100 countries worldwide and had a weekly audience close to 50million people. Its popularity and longevity led to Oprah becoming one of the most influential women in the world.
Oprah takes so much action and has so many endeavours that this newsletter would be a lot longer than a 5 minute read if I were to list them all. She is accomplished at acting, writing, publishing and broadcasting. In addition to this, she is a very generous philanthropist, supporting many causes worldwide.
In 2013, President Obama awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom which is the highest honour that can be awarded to a civilian in the US.
Such is her influence, many publications talk about an “Oprah effect” if she endorses a product or service or recommends a book for her book club.
Impressive person!
‘Just do it’ is a phrase synonymous with the sportswear brand Nike. It was first used in 1988 and the accompanying advert showed an 80 year old man running across the Golden Gate Bridge.
Walt Stack was something of a legend in San Francisco’s athletic community as he partook in many different types of exercise and was running 17 miles a day in his 80s as well as swimming a mile in cold water and cycling 6 miles. One of his famous pieces of advice for those in his running club was “start slow and taper off”.
Initially, I thought it ironic that Nike had chosen Walt for their advert as I felt their “Just Do It” message was about speed and urgency and then Walt had a more slow and steady approach. However, the more I think about it, I realise the message is actually about getting started. It doesn’t matter whether you will be going fast or slow, the key thing is to start, to take action.
We can have all the plans in the world but they are really just day dreams if we don’t start taking action.
Here’s 5 thoughts about taking action.
- Stop waiting for everything to be perfect. We’ll never start if we are waiting for perfect conditions because life always has curve balls in store for us.
- We should be specific about when we are taking the action – perhaps set an alarm. Help ourselves by choosing a time that fits well with our routine.
- Use a visual cue to reward ourselves. In his book, “Atomic Habits”, James Clear tells a story about a stock broker who rose to success. His initial strategy included adding a paper clip to a jar every time he made a sales call.
- You don’t have to know all the actions that are required to get to your goal, you just need to take the next action. I really like these lyrics from “The Next Right Thing”, which is a song from the movie Frozen 2. “Just do the next right thing, Take a step, step again, It is all that I can to do, The next right thing, I won’t look too far ahead, It’s too much for me to take, But break it down to this next breath, this next step, This next choice is one that I can make”
- Action begets more action. My simplistic interpretation of Newton’s laws of motion is a body at rest stays at rest but a body in motion remains in motion unless acted upon by an external force. So taking the first action builds momentum and keeps us going.
As Nike might say… Just do it
“You just have to keep on doing what you do…Keep going. Start by starting.”
Meryl Streep
“Small deeds done are better than great deeds planned.”
Peter Marshall
“You don’t have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great.”
Zig Ziglar
“The big secret in life is that there is no big secret. Whatever your goal, you can get there if you’re willing to work.”
Oprah Winfrey
Sinead Huskisson 