I’m sure old Ben had his tongue planted firmly against his cheek when he voiced the statement above. After all, Ben Franklin rarely allowed any grass to grow under his feet; somehow finding the time to be an accomplished author, diplomat, inventor, physicist, politician and printer.

And that’s not even counting being one of the United States’ founding fathers. Whew! It almost makes me feel tired just thinking about it all the things he managed to accomplish in his lifetime. Needless to say, Benjamin Franklin expected a lot out of life — and he got it. And he got what he got by his willingness to give a lot. In fact, he gave everything he had… and more.

If you constantly expect nothing good to occur in your life, then why on earth should you be surprised if nothing of note is exactly what you get? By expecting nothing, you set the stage for nothing to happen. And a life filled with nothing doesn’t sound like a very exciting life, does it?

But what if you started expecting fabulous things to take place in your life? And what if you began looking forward to each and every day, anticipating something super sensational to come into play? Can you really take nothing and make something out of it? You bet you can. Since what you expect is what you get, why not expect the best?

Sooner or later, just about everyone gets sick and tired of doing nothing, accomplishing nothing and having nothing. And that certainly includes both you and me. In order for us to change our luck and start making some positive things happen, we first must start happening ourselves.

Doing nothing is one habit we’ve got to give the heave-ho once and for all and here’s why. Sitting around moaning and groaning about what we don’t have or can’t do isn’t going to get us where we’ve dreamed of going. And sluggishly going through the motions, looking for the lazy way out of everything sure as heck isn’t going to cut the mustard either.

No, if we’re ever going to get the job done, we’ve got to put forth the requisite effort. And that means giving an all-out, positive charged, positive powered effort every single time.

Malcolm Forbes put it all in perspective when he said, “The hardest work of all — doing nothing.” Doing nothing, in reality, is very hard work indeed. Doing nothing goes against our desire to be more. Doing nothing goes against our craving to have more. And doing nothing goes against our hunger to be all that we can possibly be. Should it be any surprise that with all of this going against us that we oftentimes fall short of our dreams and aspirations?

Please don’t be guilty of shortchanging yourself or your loved ones by giving anything less than the very best you have to offer. While sitting on the sidelines and doing nothing can help you avoid the possible pain and potential embarrassment of temporary defeat that always accompanies any worthwhile venture, it also prevents you from being all that you were born to become.

Steve Prefontaine, one of the most courageous distance runners in American history, had this to say about giving it your all: “I don't want to win unless I know I've done my best, and the only way I know how to do that is to run out front, flat out until I have nothing left.” Steve never left anything on the table; always giving it his all. How about you?

Are you willing to run flat out, running until you have nothing left? And then pushing yourself a little more? Are you prepared to do whatever it takes, whenever it is needed, to get where you have always dreamed of going? Like it or not, if you’re not willing to give all that you’ve got in order to reach your goals, then you’ve basically given nothing. And that winner within is not about to allow NOTHING to stand in your way to greatness.