January 9, 2026: Friday

We’re progressing well with building our course. Once we launch, we will include videos for each file, audio files, a paperback book, and also audio book that we’ll publish on Audible. Step by step. Below is our lesson for the day:

Action

In the earlier lessons of this course, I explained how defining success gives direction, how setting goals creates structure, how choosing the right attitude sustains effort, and how aspiration allows us to see beyond present circumstances.

Those principles prepare us for the next step: Taking incremental action steps.

Action is where intention becomes reality.

Without action:

• Success remains theoretical.
• Goals remain plans.
• Aspiration remains an imagination.

Action is the discipline of working, especially when conditions are unfair, inconvenient, or discouraging.

Action Is the Bridge Between Vision and Results

Life does not always unfold the way we expect. Obstacles appear that threaten to define our trajectory. When we allow those obstacles to stop us, we surrender control over our future. We put ourselves on the pathway to failure and excuses rather than success.

The Straight-A Guide teaches a different approach. It teaches us to act in ways that align with a values-based, goal-oriented strategy, regardless of resistance.

Think of action like steering a ship through rough seas. You cannot control the weather, but you can control the heading. If you stop steering because the waves are strong, the ship drifts, potentially capsizing.

If you keep steering, even slowly, you stay on course.

As the CEO of our life, our job is to stay on course, always moving in the direction of success.

Choosing Action Over Apathy

While serving decades in prison, I encountered countless moments when I had to choose action over apathy. I hated living in prison. But even worse, I worried about the inevitable challenges I would face after release unless I prepared in advance. I realized that if I didn’t take action, I would face another type of struggle after my release. As I wrote in an earlier lesson, my research led me to conclude that one of five outcomes awaited most people in prison:

1. Unemployment,
2. Underemployment,
3. Homelessness,
4. Problems with the law, or
5. Success.

I wanted to succeed when I got out. That meant I would have to take incremental action steps, developing skills and resources that I could leverage to overcome the crisis of confinement.

At times, I would lie on my bunk, staring at the ceiling, thinking about how I might earn a living after prison. I believed my imprisonment would be a significant barrier to finding traditional employment. Rather than surrendering to that fear, I focused on developing skills that could translate into an income stream.

Through reading The Republic, I learned from Socrates that asking better questions leads to better thinking. By training myself to think critically—asking if this happens, then what follows—I realized that progress would require intrinsic motivation.

Prison systems are designed to preserve order, not to cultivate individual growth. As Max Weber explained through his writing on organizational theory, institutions prioritize rules and continuity over personal development. That meant no one would educate me unless I took responsibility for acting.

Action became my responsibility.

When the System Says No

As an example, I’ll share an experience from early in my journey, when I worked as a clerk under a supervisor named Lynn Stephens. She allowed me to use a typewriter and later a word processor for my coursework, which helped me develop my writing skills.

Later, when I transferred to a new assignment, my supervisor prohibited me from using the computer for anything beyond assigned tasks. I explained that I was pursuing a master’s degree and that my prior supervisor had supported my education. He told me she lacked authority and said that if education mattered to me, I should have thought about that before selling cocaine.

Ironically, he oversaw the education department. Sometimes, in prison, we sense that we’re living in a world that seems exquisitely designed to perpetuate failure rather than inspire success, or encourage people to live in pursuit of excellence.

For several hours, I felt paralyzed by frustration. But frustration solves nothing. Yielding to resentment would not advance my preparation for life after prison.

That moment forced a choice. I had to live as if I was the CEO of my life, taking action steps that aligned with the plans I set.

Action Is Adaptation, Not Permission

I turned back to reading, immersing myself in Les Misérables by Victor Hugo. Hugo wrote his masterpiece by hand. His work reminded me that while we cannot always choose our tools, we can choose our effort.

Action is like water flowing around a rock. When one path is blocked, it finds another. It does not stop moving.

I realized that if I wanted to become a better writer, I did not need permission from the system, or excuses about reasons why I couldn’t get things done.

I needed discipline.

I began writing by hand on unlined paper, maintaining my daily goal of writing at least 1,000 words. The process was slower and required more effort. But it aligned with my long-term objective.

No one would care how I learned to write in prison. They would only care whether I could deliver results after release.

Action Creates Momentum

That decision to focus on what I could control, rather than what the system would take away, replaced self-pity with progress.

Each handwritten page became another turn of the flywheel. Each day of effort reinforced the next. Action transformed frustration into momentum.

Think of action like compound interest. Small deposits, made consistently, grow into something meaningful over time. Missed deposits stall growth. Action keeps the account moving forward.

If we want to change our lives, we must act—even when the system resists, even when conditions are unfair, and even when recognition is delayed.

Self-Directed Learning Exercise

Complete the following exercise in writing:

1. Identify one obstacle in your current environment that you cannot control.
   Be specific and honest.
2. Identify one action you can control that aligns with your long-term goals or aspirations.
   This action should be practical and repeatable.
3. Commit to performing that action daily or weekly for the next seven days.
   Treat this as your flywheel push.

At the end of the week, ask yourself:

• Did action replace frustration?
• Did effort create momentum?
• What adjustment will I make next week?

Action turns intention into evidence. Evidence builds confidence. Confidence creates opportunity.