Thinking and doing are coincident. An action never takes place without the preceding, predominant, or simultaneous thought. No need to elaborate; many writers contribute to this obvious principle of human experience. I am what I am because of my thinking; I do what I do because of my thinking, and I am changed or redirected by my experience. This feels like an invisible hand at one time smacking me and the next moment applauding  me.

The reason we don’t “do” what we want is because we don’t think about, visualize before the event. Manifesting thought, attracting results are not new concepts. We’re built this way (I don’t think we evolved this way; I think we’re designed this way.); there’s no unique discovery in the “power of attraction”.  Understanding how concepts create or instigate reality takes energy, commitment, and action.

The laws of this universe (“Laws of Attraction”) are the laws of love: love for self, love for neighbors, love for family…love for all and everything. Within the expansive embrace of love is the gift of work, the gift of task that evokes joyful delights where time becomes irrelevant and no aspect of your work is tedious. Every expression of your gift is an act of graceful worship. Never succumb to the lie that you lack gifts given in love so that you may act in love. Experience presses down, and we are shaken, but if alert, we find what makes us whole. As a friend says, “I act, and by my faith, I am made whole.”

Steve Jobs elaborates, “I’m pretty sure none of this would have happened if I hadn’t been fired from Apple. It was awful tasting medicine, but I guess the patient needed it. Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don’t lose faith. I’m convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You’ve got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don’t settle.”

Many of us live “quiet lives of desperation” because we don’t lay claim to what we want.” Moments string together unfulfilled desire, incomplete projects , trips imagined, but never taken… hopes without commitment. Complaining undermines confidence. Blaming parents, bosses, the economy, the hidden mysteries of the universe, or your spouse diminishes responsibility. We  control our decisions. The choices we make don’t always determine the outcome, but we still must act. Our lives pivot on choices.  

Decisions provoke results and at times, the results are not so good. When disappointing failures diffuse your energy, it’s time to figure out if you’re doing the right thing. If convinced, despite the frustrations and rejections, then keep at it. Struggle to hone, develop, improve, and shine.

Steve Jobs was fired from the company he created. Here’s what he thinks about that event. “I didn’t see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life.”

Here is the real test, does the work you are doing bring you joy despite the rejection? After completing your project or task, do you feel a mysterious euphoric delight, even laughter? To me, this is the fundamental glory of completing a task you are made to do.  Steve Jobs said, “Again, you can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.”

Even if never compensated (And isn’t this what we all want?), you still provoke the dream, the desire, the interest with enduring delight, keep at it. You never know when recognition arrives (and success introduces a different array of complexities). Steve Jobs understands and explains in his Stanford University commencement speech, “You’ve got to find what you love” (June 14, 2005).

The Internet landscape with miles of html and acres of websites is the land of Internet stakeholders, known as webmasters. What do all these people want? Simple opportunities to express themselves? Is everyone on Facebook because they want to meet new people? Do writers craft articles for the fun of it (some do)? Not really. Most need money or understand the importance of money; many seek a simpler way to make a living (no more commuting, working for bosses who feign interest in them, and live with anxious expectations for a 3% cost-of-living raise); most  want to monetize their distractions.

What matters is finding what you love, doing what you love with passion and purpose, and doing that something so well that someone or some method works to compensate you, otherwise all you have is a hobby (and a hobby is the failure to test and succeed with your passion in the marketplace) .

“Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish“

See larger image Callings: Finding and Following an Authentic Life (Paperback) By (author) Gregg Michael Levoy List Price: $14.95 USD New From: $8.79 In Stock Used from: $0.01 In Stock Release date September 8, 1998.

Jill Bolte Taylor is a neuroanatomist. One day she had a stroke. You’d be foolish to avoid this 20 minute Ted Talk about what she learned. Best of all, you will learn that you have a choice about who you are. You will discover that you are more than you understand.