I recently spoke to an international audience of men about getting stuff done.

The talk was promoted as “ACTIONS SPEAK LOUDER THAN WORDS.”

David Lee is set to host an inspiring session titled "Actions Speak Louder Than Words."

Drawing from his rich background in leadership training and personal development, he will share real-life examples and strategies that illustrate how decisive actions can lead to significant changes in both personal and professional spheres. This session is not just another talk; it's a call to action for those ready to make a meaningful impact in their lives and the lives of others.

Until reading this introduction a couple of hours before going live, I was going to flip the title by bringing up the power of words and the benefit of having “power” words in your armory as you go about your daily activities.

At the beginning of any coaching program I take my clients through, I ask them what their power word or words might be for them to getting cracking on their goals, at the thought or utterance of this particular word.

I then take their word on for myself, with the design being to learn and teach from direct experience.

The power word is designed to provide an impetus and bias for action.

As I say to my clients, in most cases, my role is not to teach but to remind them of what they already know.

As with any of my mnemonics, one glance at the object, one sound of the signal, the first words of the song and one voicing of the word should immediately incite me to action.

As a wordsmith, I employ many words to motivate and remind myself of my purpose in life and each moment.

Where across the course of your day today could it be that you can consider a word that might mean something special to you to encourage and move you towards the positive actions you know you should be taking?

One of my clients power words for 2024 is “networking.”

“Your network is your net worth” I was told by a boss early in my ad sales days.

Taking on my client's power word; networking, I have committed to having three coffee meetups a week with someone in my network or someone I hope to be in my network.

It has provided many positive experiences I would otherwise be without, and the discussions my client and I have had around networking have been invaluable as a result.

Someone once criticised me for having Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) on my LinkedIn profile because they told me NLP gets a bad rap as a new-age technique that can be seen as manipulative. Given that I have spent a great deal of time and money on NLP accreditation and have seen the many benefits my clients have experienced due to employing NLP techniques, I have not removed the mention.

Curiously, where new-age comes into it, there really is nothing new under the sun. Most personal development and success literature these days and across time is the distillation of viewpoints and interpretations of ancient texts, spiritual or otherwise.

I encourage anyone who will listen (or read these words) to journal every morning. Ancient Philosopher Plato 428-348 BCE, a student of Socrates and teacher of Aristotle, said,

“Thinking is the soul talking with itself.”

We all learned to think on paper through essays and assignments from our earliest ages. We first identified with our name by writing it in our earliest days at school and developed our thinking and comprehension style through our written word.

Some 250 years after Plato’s death, Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius, the most powerful man in the world at that time, kept a journal he wrote in Greek, emphasising the importance of virtue, self-discipline, and rationality in overcoming adversity and living a meaningful life.

This journaling has been translated, interpreted, and compiled into what is now known as “Meditations”, consisting of 12 books containing his thoughts on ethics and self-improvement.

My most potent mnemonic is “Memento Mori”

This Stoic reflection on the impermanence of life translates as “remember you will die.”

In Book II of his Meditations, Marcus Aurelius wrote, “You could leave life right now. Let that determine what you do and say and think.”

The ancient take on the modern “pseudoscience”

You could leave life right now. Let that determine what you do (programming) and say (linguistic) and think (neuro)

Memento Mori. Pretty powerful words that remind me not only to get on with living my best life before it’s too late, but also stand as a very powerful reminder to not listen to the naysayers and well-meaning advice of “friends”. Many times when I’ve questioned them at a later date for words that have had a negative impact on me, most people either deny having said those words or don’t even remember saying them.

Think, Speak and Be well.

DL

“It never ceases to amaze me: we all love ourselves more than other people, but care more about their opinion than our own.”

MARCUS AURELIUS