Yesterday, on my way down to Biloxi, I saw an IBM ad in the Chicago airport that caught my attention. It read: “Stop Talking. Start Doing.” I really have to give the marketing people at IBM props, because ever since I saw that ad, I haven’t stopped thinking about it.

Stop Talking. Start Doing.

Immediately, the tag line got me pondering all the things that I talk about. Finishing my degree. Buying a home. Traveling the globe. Learning a second language. Living debt free. Becoming a millionaire. Making an INCREDIBLE difference in the world. The list goes on. But you know what? None of these things really matter unless I actually “do” something about them. I can talk all I want about my ideas and my life’s ambitions, but talk is cheap. It’s only the “doing” that counts for something. That’s the part that actually gets us from a dream to fruition, from an idea to a solution, from a possibility to a reality.

So, needless to say, this simple, yet thought-provoking ad, which grabbed my eye and seared my brain as I raced through the O’Hare terminal at 95 miles an hour, has left me both troubled and compelled. Troubled, simply because I’m bothered by the number of unmet personal goals I’ve done nothing about; but compelled to take action immediately on all of them. I don’t want to be known for one who just talks about potential or talks about the possibilities. Good lord, we could talk about potential and possibilities and theorize and visualize until we’re all blue in the face. It means nothing without action. Remember, great things don’t happen just because you talk about them, great things happen becase you DO them.