Fresh out of college, I was selling ads for a small town radio station in Mississippi. Now, we didn’t have much of a training budget, but what we did have was air time. And air time is a highly perishable commodity; if you don’t sell it just goes away. So radio stations will often trade air time for meals to entertain clients, greens fees for the general manager and sometimes training for the rookie salespeople.

I was fortunate enough to be on the receiving end of such a deal made with the local office of the Dale Carnegie corporation. The main goal of the training course was to boost confidence through public speaking and most surveys will show you that public speaking is America’s number one fear. Ahead of spiders, snakes, the number 13 and Justin Bieber songs. People are more afraid of speaking in public, than of dying.

Once a week, our motley crew of salespeople, retail clerks and other assorted social climbers would gather, seated in our folding chairs, quiet and meek as church mice because we knew once class started we were going to have to get up in front of everyone and give a new speech. Every week.

But every week the instructors would stroll confidently to the front of our somber lot, welcome us and ask us to stand and repeat after them:

“Act Enthusiastic and You’ll Be Enthusiastic.”

And again, only louder.

“Act Enthusiastic and You’ll Be Enthusiastic.”

Smiles a mile wide. Fists pumping in time with the chant. They willed us out of our shell.

Once more, like you mean it!

“ACT ENTHUSIASTIC AND YOU’LL BE ENTHUSIASTIC!”

And here’s the crazy part. It worked.

Still works today.

That Dale Carnegie course was more valuable to me than my university degree. I learned the power of action. Of just simply doing whatever it is that needs to done. And doing it with enthusiasm. Even when you don’t feel like it. Even if you’re more afraid of doing it than dying.

And I learned the power of words.

“Act Enthusiastic and You’ll Be Enthusiastic.”

Those 6 words, not only got me up front of class every week to give my speech, but helped me dial the phone every day when I had no desire to make another call.

They helped me ingrain the habit of stopping my car every time I saw a new store being constructed, traipsing through the mud to see if I could find the owner and handing out my business card.

Especially when I just didn’t feel like it.

So that’s my top quote on the power of just doing. It’s been stuck in my head for decades now.

Here’s 20 more that I hope stick in yours:

“The secret of getting ahead is getting started.” ~ Mark Twain

“The only way to do it is to do it” ~ Merce Cunningham

“Action is a great restorer and builder of confidence. Inaction is not only the result, but the cause, of fear. Perhaps the action you take will be successful; perhaps different action or adjustments will have to follow. But any action is better than no action at all.” ~ Norman Vincent Peale

“Talk doesn’t cook rice.” ~ Chinese Proverb

“Action is the antidote to despair.” ~ Joan Baez

“We cannot start over but we can start now & make a new ending.” – Zig Ziglar

“The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing.” ~ Walt Disney

“Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.” ~ Theodore Roosevelt

“There are two mistakes one can make along the road to truth… not going all the way, and not starting.” ~ Buddha

“I think there is something more important than believing: Action! The world is full of dreamers. There aren’t enough who will move ahead and begin to take concrete steps to actualize their vision.” ~ W. Clement Stone

“A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” ~ Lau-Tzu

“Knowing is not enough. We must apply. Willing is not enough. We must do.” ~ Bruce Lee

“Action expresses priorities.” ~ Mahatma Gandhi

“The path to success is to take massive, determined action.” ~ Tony Robbins

“It isn’t enough to think outside the box. Thinking is passive. Get used to acting outside the box.” ~ Tim Ferriss

“Create a definite plan for carrying out your desire and begin at once, whether you ready or not, to put this plan into action.” ~ Napoleon Hill

“An ounce of action is worth a ton of theory.” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Success seems to be connected with action. Successful people keep moving. They make mistakes, but they don’t quit.” ~ Conrad Hilton

“Action is the foundational key to all success.” ~ Pablo Picasso

“Just Do it.” ~ Nike

Terry Lancaster is the VP of Making S#!% Happen at Instant Events Automotive Advertising, father of 3 teenage daughters and a Beer League Hockey All Star, as if there could ever be such a thing.

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