Change what you do

Honest living requires change anytime there is reason to believe that the present path doesn’t lead to the desired outcome. Recognize the parts of your life that are less than what you want, and find something better. If you aren’t getting the results you want, you need to either make a change to the recipe you are following or find a better recipe.

If you wish to improve your situation, you must improve yourself, and the place to start is by asking what you could do differently to obtain a better outcome. Whenever you find yourself in a situation you don’t like, ask these simple questions:

• What actions can you take to change the outcome?
• Are there changes needed inward that precede those outward changes?
• How many of these possible actions have you taken?

Some situations are easier to see and understand than others. Don’t suffer continuously for faults you have the power to see and fix.¹ If you aren’t sure what you can do to change your situation, the best thing you can do is find someone who might be able to see more about it than you do, especially if they have succeeded in the change you are attempting. Short of this, you can also experiment with changing different parts of your life to see which might be causing the problem.

Whatever you do, don’t get stuck in analyses paralysis. Don’t become one of many people who get stuck endlessly planning for what they never end up doing. When overdone, planning can actually cause more harm than good.

In life, recognize situations where you need to shoot in order to aim. Such cases are a lot like firing the MK-19 grenade launcher, a large automatic weapon where the delay between shot and explosion requires aiming adjustments to be made as you shoot. In like manner, upgrade any action that fails to deliver the intended results:

5 Now therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts; Consider your ways.
6 Ye have sown much, and bring in little; ye eat, but ye have not enough; ye drink, but ye are not filled with drink; ye clothe you, but there is none warm; and he that earneth wages earneth wages to put it into a bag with holes.
7 Thus saith the Lord of hosts; Consider your ways. (Haggai 1)

Feedback comes through action. Action generates information. The bolder and more enduring the action, the stronger the signal of whether to continue. Make moves as bold as reasons suggest to be necessary, and adjust just as boldly for just as solid reasons.