You have big dreams and big plans. You have educated yourself, set your goal and worked towards it. But, you see some obstacles in your way and you want to make sure everything is just right before you act, right?
That’s how we all get sometimes. It is good to plan, but there is never a time when everything is just right. If you wait for that moment, you will never take action.
But, Greg, what if I go for it and fail? What if I’m rejected?
Great questions. This is where we remind ourselves the simple truths that we often forget. If you never take action, aren’t you failing already? If you learn from a failure or a rejection, can’t you just take action again in a better way that has a greater chance of success? Isn’t taking action how you have achieved your success so far?
Aren’t all these objections to taking action really just a way we hide from our fear?
I just met a new friend yesterday who reminded me of how I wasn’t taking action and was giving in to fear. I have so many things I want to launch, but I find myself waiting until everything is just right.
He asked about how I got started in radio and I remembered – I took action.
He asked how my show became nationally syndicated and I remembered – I took action.
Then I started remembering how I wrote my book, started my blog and started speaking – I took action.
Everything wasn’t even close to being just right. But, by taking action, things started to come together. I met people who helped me. I learned things that helped me. I gained momentum and confidence and kept taking action.
My new friend hit me with it hard when we were talking about how I could increase my speaking business. He said, “You should see if you can work with Dave Ramsey. He endorsed your book and you would fit in great with him.” I told him I agreed.
“Then why don’t you call him and ask — today?”
Great question.
So, I did.
I also wanted to set up a speech at a friend’s business, so I called and asked him. I took action.
It was a little scary, but it felt great.
What have you been thinking about doing but you’ve let fear stop you? Take action.
Ask.
Do.
You will be surprised how fast fear falls and miracles happen.
Questions for comment: What have you been planning but not doing? How did you take action? What happened when you took action?
Great article.
The topic of action, for me, is closely related with intention. In that for the majority of my life, I often had the best of intentions, but rarely followed through with action. Simple things. Like buying flowers for a girlfriend or random acts of kindness.
This intention without action manifested an unrealistic view of self. My ego blurred the line between doing the right thing—action—and thinking the right thing—my intention.
I’m sure you’ve heard the parable about the three frogs sitting on a log, one decides to jump; how many are left? Three, he only made a decision but took no action.
As you noted in this article, fear was powerful in keeping me stuck for years between two areas I hated the most: the way things were and change.
Not until the pain of living the way I was living was greater than the fear of change and trying something different, was I willing to take real action. For me, it was a bottom emotionally, spiritually, and physically due to addiction and the acceptance that I was unable to fix myself.
Every amazing experience and the progress I’ve made towards happiness since then has been a result of action I have taken, action puts me in direct interaction with the universe and those around me, thus providing feedback, joy, love, and happiness.
Action takes willingness to accept the outcome of the action. Through the recovery process, I learned self-acceptance, self-awareness, love, and emotional connectedness with self. The result was twofold: 1) the ability to emotionally connect with others and 2) my happiness and self-worth is less contingent on external factors. Thus I’m more willing to accept the outcome of action.
Thanks for this great article on action, it’s one of my favorite topics!