Your actions, not your thoughts, are what define who you are. You can plan, you can dream, you can pray, you can think.

But at the end of the day, the only way to become the person you want to be is to start being that person. Action is what separate you from who you are and who you want to be.

Your only chance of having the relationship you long for, finding the job you most desire, getting your children to behave the way you want.

And having the best government possible is to be the partner, worker, parent, and citizen you most want to be.

Who you have been is not who you have to be. At the same time, who you are today will determine who you are in the future.

The way you live your life today determines the quality and experience of your life tomorrow.

Who you are is a function of what you do, so whether you are consciously trying or not, you are always crafting your future Self.

Every day you make choices – some big, some small. Those choices add up to who you are today, and who you will likely be tomorrow.

Whether it is what you are having for lunch or what you say to a frustrating colleague, you have hundreds of chances every day to define who you are.

Without conscious direction, your identity is left to forces, patterns and stimuli beyond your control.

The job you stumbled into, the history of loss or disappointment, the apartment or the neighborhood you live, the movies you watch – these will all determine who you are, if you do not consciously decide to choose them for yourself.

The phenomenon of waking up one day to discover that you are living a life you do not truly love is a real one. It happens when you do not actively decide who you want to be.

Without a captain at the wheel, a ship will just capitulate to the sea. So will your life.

Some of your decisions can move you toward who you want to be, while other decisions can move you away from that person.

The good news is, when you view every decision as a building block, you know the next decision about who you want to be is just around the corner. You are creating yourself at every step.