Hello everyone and welcome to another episode of Success Quotes. Today, we’re going to look at a quote by George Bernard Shaw.

George Bernard Shaw said: “There are those that look at things the way they are, and ask why? I dream of things that never were, and ask why not?”

2 categories of people

What we need to understand with this quote is that there are two categories of individuals. Those who are passive, on automatic pilot, and who live according to the external events that happen to them. And a second category of people who are more active, who will provoke events to change their lives and live the life of their dreams.

Which category do you fall into? Do you live your life as it is, or do you take action to ensure that your life matches your dreams? How does this work in practice? How are you going to get out of your life and take action?

DON’T PAY TOO MUCH ATTENTION TO INFORMATION YOU CAN’T INFLUENCE
The first piece of advice I’d like to give you on how to get out of your life is not to be too interested in information you can’t influence. This may sound a little selfish at first. But when you’re interested in news, usually the kind that’s on the news, wars, famines, climatic incidents, hurricanes, anything that’s happening in the world that you can’t directly influence. This information undermines your morale.

When you see famine in one part of the world, you’re going to say to yourself that these are very sad people, and this sadness is going to get to you, this feeling of empathy is normal. If you see human beings suffering in another part of the planet, you’re going to be affected by that suffering yourself.

DON’T ABSORB ALL THE SADNESS IN THE WORLD
This suffering impacts you and makes you suffer your life. You’re going to be in a complaining dimension. You’re going to complain, saying, for example, “It’s horrible what’s happening in Africa, the famine, it’s really sad and I’m sad because of it”. Or something closer to home… there’s a crisis right now, it’s hard to get out of it, and if it’s hard to get out of it, it’s bound to be hard for me to get out of it too.

If you look at what’s happened in Fukushima, for example, nuclear power isn’t good, look at what it’s doing in Japan, which means that nuclear power is bad, so I’m overwhelmed by everything that’s happening and it’s affecting me personally.

STAY AWAY FROM THIS TYPE OF INFORMATION
I’d advise you to stay away from this kind of information, which comes to you continuously, without you having to look for it yourself, simply by watching the 8 o’clock news.

OR TAKE ACTION IF A SITUATION PARTICULARLY AFFECTS YOU
If you’re particularly sensitive to famine in Africa, then take action and make a donation, even a modest one. If a situation, be it a climatic incident on the islands of Haiti, or a technological incident like Fukushima, really affects you, take action. Make a donation, even if it’s five dollars, and feel you’re doing something to help people you feel empathy for.

There will be a huge difference between the person who watches the news and complains, who says “the world we live in is bad. The world we live in really sucks. It’s not right.” It’s a pessimistic view of life, and unfortunately, the TV news has a tendency to lean on pathos (on sadness) and will present you with information that will affect you.

If the news doesn’t affect you more than that, of course, it’s always annoying to hear it, but step away from it a little, not to mention being selfish. Try not to take too much part in information you can’t influence. If it really affects you, act on your own scale. When you act on your own scale, it will take a weight off your shoulders and allow you to live your life in your present circumstances, with your problems, in your country, and refocus on your own life.

CREATE YOUR OPPORTUNITIES
The second piece of advice I’m going to give you, which is a little longer than the others because it’s so important. This advice is: if you have a project, an ambition, a will, take action! Don’t wait for external events to happen and say to yourself “one day I’ll be lucky, it’ll come to me and I’ll seize the opportunity.” No !

You don’t seize an opportunity, you create one. When you create an opportunity, you necessarily seize it at the same time. You don’t have to wait for people to come to you or for a particular event to happen. If you’re looking for a job, don’t wait for a job fair, don’t wait for people to come to you with job offers. Do it yourself. Create your own opportunities to act on your goals, the projects you want to accomplish, your family if you want to help your family.

WHAT IS ACTION?
There are two main things to do when you want to take action:

Create opportunities, create your life. This means, for example, doing some research on the Internet if you don’t have the information. You want to learn how to cook and you don’t know how, how to make cupcakes. Search the Internet for someone who can teach you how to make cupcakes.

FIRST ACTION: RESEARCH
Make a phone call. If you’ve found someone on the Internet who can help you, you give them a call. If you’re looking for a job, find out which companies are hiring in your field and make some calls.

Create your own opportunities. It sounds simple when you put it like that, but too many people are on autopilot, waiting for things to happen, for opportunities to come to them on their own. On the contrary, the most important thing is to create those opportunities, to do the research, to be proactive, to call the people who can help you, to ask for advice, to reach out to others before others reach out to you.

I’m going to summarize this article for you. I’ll repeat George Bernard Shaw’s quote: “There are those that look at things the way they are, and ask why? I dream of things that never were, and ask why not?”

Remember not to let yourself be affected by external events over which you have no control, and if these events really do affect you, in that case, take action on your own scale, with a small donation of money, a small action, something on your own scale, so as to refocus on your life day by day and in your life circumstances. Once you’ve refocused on your life circumstances, be proactive.

Don’t wait for opportunities to come to you, create and seize your opportunities by researching on the Internet, and making the first phone call that will ensure that you achieve your goals, realize your projects, live the life of your dreams.