Are you great at learning and planning, but poor at executing your ideas? You’re far from alone. Most people seem to get more enjoyment from making grand plans than actually doing anything about them. We plan diets, businesses, and trips to climb mountains, but we rarely take any actual action. We’re thinkers, but not doers.
Something has to change, or your life will never change. Deciding in your head changes nothing. Everything stays the same in the physical world until you do something that creates a ripple. Then, everything can change.
Consider these ideas to direct your life where you want it to go:
1. Realize that you’ll never have 100% of the information you’d like to have. The military teaches their special forces units to act when they have 70% of the possible information. Seventy percent is easy to obtain in real life, but 100% is essentially impossible. If you need all the information, you’ll never do anything.
• There’s a saying that A-students end up working for C-students. How often are C-students right? About 70% of the time. Think about it.
• C-students are more likely to say to themselves, “I know about 70% of the information. Let’s see how it goes.” It might be a horrible perspective for success in school, but it works well in real life.
2. Thinking about doing something is more exhausting than actually doing it. Have you ever noticed than when you finally did something you’ve been avoiding that it was surprisingly easy? Just assume that will always be the case and push forward. You’ll be right more often than not.
3. Set a deadline. If you’re one of those people that can’t seem to stop learning, planning, and scheming, give yourself a deadline. Tell yourself that you can keep doing what you’re doing until Friday, but then you must take a actual action in the real world.
• This will also force you to spend your time learning the most important things. Deadlines are wonderful for narrowing your focus. Create a deadline and stick to it, no matter what!
4. Visualize success. If you’re having a hard time pulling the trigger, one of two things is going on: You’re either dreading the work, or you don’t believe you’ll be successful.
• The antidote is to regularly visualize success. Imagine successfully launching your business or cleaning out the garage. Notice how you feel, what you think, and what you see. Keep that mental picture close at hand.
5. Take a small step. If you’re struggling to do anything, just do something. Buy a domain name, make one phone call, write one article and put in online. Do something. A little bit of momentum might be all you need.
• Do one small thing today and two small things tomorrow. Keep going, and in a week, you’ll see a difference.
6. Reject instant gratification. Instant gratification is a trap. Learning more information is fun to many people. Taking action is not, at least not in the short-term.
• A long-term perspective energizes action.
• A short-term perspective results in more stalling.
If you’re more of a planner than a doer, this is the reason that you’re not making as much progress as you’d like. Things only change when you take action.
All hesitation is based on fear. It’s might be fear of making the wrong choice, fear of failure, or fear of doing something uncomfortable. Wasting your life should be an even bigger fear.
Avoid the regret that comes from not living your life fully. Start living today!
