I’ve got some bad news for you; you won’t get the opportunity to read this incredible book entitled The Stevedore in the White Fedora. This novel, filled to the brim with stirring passages, was going to captivate your imagination and take you on a breathtaking adventure to some of the most infamous ports of the world. Replete with intrigue, passion, action, suspense, drama, and hot romance, this book was assuredly going to reach the top of the best-sellers list. And the ensuing movie based on that captivating story was going to rivet you to your seat to the point you would forget all about your popcorn and cola.



The only problem is … the book has not been written yet. And it never will be. That’s because Isaac Will, who had the whole splendid script in his head and who kept promising himself he was going to take time off to write it someday, died of a heart attack four days ago. Mr. I. Will’s funeral will take place at 3:30 today, in Somerset Cemetery.

Those who knew him well selected for his tombstone a fitting poem by James Albery:

He slept beneath the moon,

He basked beneath the sun,

Lived a life of going-to-to soon,

And died with nothing done.

Most people think of cemeteries as sad places. I do too, but for a different reason. When I drive by one, I don’t just see grass, trees, flowers, monuments, and mourners. I see unwritten books that were going to enthrall their readers and unfinished plays that would have enchanted their viewers. Never written goodbye letters. Never started paintings and sculptures. Never completed love songs that would have made your eyes mist over. It was Oliver Wendell Holmes who wrote, “Most people go to their graves with their songs still unsung."

Many people are saddened by the daily news of disappearing species that will never come back. But equally sad is the fact that each and every day, around the world and around the clock, thousands of ideas, projects, products, inventions, and solutions disappear forever when they are buried with the people who died without ever realizing their dream. I agree with what Stephen Sondheim said on this; “A dream is just a dream, if it’s only in your head. If no one gets to see it, it’s just as good as dead."

So I beg of you, if you have something inside you that you want to bring out into the world, start working on it now! Today. Action today, my friends. ACTION TODAY!

Follow the advice of Napoleon Hill; “Don’t wait. The time will never be just right."

Please, don’t wait, or your story might sound like this one …

On Wednesday, December 3, 2003, I walked into Margarita Pizza to buy one of their award-winning traditional Italian pizzas (best in Montreal in 1999). I’ve been stopping there for the same reason every other week for the last 30-some years. But there was something different there that day. For the first time ever, Attilio, the owner, was not behind the counter.

A friendly woman informed me that she and her husband had just acquired the business a few days earlier. After owning the business for forty years, 76-year-old Attilio Janiello finally decided to sell it and enjoy the fruits of his labor. And from what I heard, the “fruit" was very large.

The deal was signed and money changed hands on the previous Friday at 4 PM. His friend told me that on the way home from the bank that afternoon, Attilio stopped at a travel agency to enquire about plane tickets for a trip to Italy he was planning to make in the coming months.

On Tuesday December 2nd, at about 8 AM, while having breakfast with his wife and reading his Corriere Italiano, Attilio died of a heart attack. He enjoyed the fruits of 40 years of labor for less than 100 hours ... And yet, I’ve heard since that visit that he was willing and ready to sell …about 15 years earlier. He was ready, but he didn’t go… Perhaps he was waiting for the time to be just right…He waited too long.

What is YOUR biggest wish, YOUR lifelong dream ... and what’s keeping you from going after it? Are you waiting for “everything in your life to be right?" Waiting to have “all your ducks in a row?" It’ll never happen. You’re never going to “have it all together." That’s like trying to eat once and for all.

Follow Robert J. Ringer’s advice; “Action today! Develop the habit of living in the present. The best day really is today, so get started now, no matter what your problems are and no matter how long you’ve already procrastinated."

Here’s the best recipe I know for getting rid of procrastination. It’s two words: DOn’t waIT!

So my friends, to use the words of Nike®’s marketing people, whatever it is that will make your life what it was intended to be, the reason for which you showed up on this planet, go ahead, just do it!