"Get understanding."  Prov. 4:7 NKJV

Incorporate these six principles into your life:

1. Don't worry when you're doing your best. God accepts no less, but He demands no more. "Trust the Lord and do good...and He shall give you the desires of your heart!" (Ps 37:3-4 NKJV)

2. Don't hurry when success depends on accuracy. "Good planning and hard work lead to prosperity, but hasty shortcuts lead to poverty" (Pr 21:5 NLT).

3. Don't form conclusions until you have all the facts. Everyone you meet has unmet needs, unhealed wounds and unfulfilled hopes. If you want people to evaluate you  by your best qualities rather than your worst, "Do to others as you would have them do to you" (Lk 6:31 NLT).

4. Don't believe a thing is impossible without trying it. When you are in God's will, doing things God's way, sensitive to His timing and willing to persevere, your problems are just a platform for Him to work on your behalf (See Ro 8:28).

5. Don't waste your time on trivial matters. In order to put first things first, you must ask yourself, "What is it that only I can do, or do best?" Only when you've answered that question will you know what you should do.

6. Don't think that good intentions are an acceptable excuse for doing nothing. Examine your life; are you a "talker" or a "doer?" Get specific about your diet and your devotions, your finances and your family, etc.

Write these words on a card and read them regularly: "If it is to be, it's up to me." James writes, "Faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead" (Jas 2:17 NKJV).