The Rabbi Says: #5 in our series

The whole point of wisdom is to make life better. There is no greater waste than to have a bunch of great ideas, and not to use them.

There are lots of things we promise ourselves but never get around to doing. We fool ourselves into thinking we made a commitment, but we didn’t! You overslept? It’s because you weren’t serious enough about the commitment. If there was a big business deal and you had to wake up at 5 a.m., you would have absolutely gotten up at 5 a.m.

Apply this idea to the greater goals of living. If you don’t get started today, you may never do it. Even if you don’t have the time now, at least write down your good ideas before they become lost forever. Put them on your calendar. This forces you to periodically review priorities — and gives you another opportunity to begin taking action. Because the difference between a dream and a goal is a dealine.

Another tool is to ask yourself: What would I want to teach others? How would I go about doing it? This is the essential process of living. Articulate it, teach it to others — and then put it into practice yourself.