Don’t just sit there! Do something!

Over the years I’ve been and done many things. Everyone has. In my case, I’ve been a Xerox salesman, a volunteer firefighter, and a successful entrepreneur. Believe it or not, all these seemingly unrelated personas had at least one thing in common, what I’m going to talk about today, and that is:
A bias toward action.

What do I mean by this? I mean, if there’s a choice between sitting in a conference room planning what I’m going to do, and getting out there and doing it, I hope that I choose action. This is not to knock planning, discussion, and consensus-building. Believe me, I’ve done my share of those. I know that you can’t reach your goals unless you take some time to define them and plan how to reach them. What I mean is, there comes a time when you need to stop planning, talking, thinking, dreaming, and get out there and make it happen. And, too often people use the excuse of planning or researching to keep themselves from taking needed action.

They confuse planning how to do the job with the real job itself.

As a salesman, my “real” job was not to sit at my local Xerox office and plan to call on clients; it was to get out there and make the calls. And can you imagine if a volunteer firefighter arrived at the scene of a blazing building, sat down and whipped out his laptop, and began to develop a keen Powerpoint presentation about how best to put out the flames?

Good Enough

No, there comes a point when your plans are good enough; a point when it’s time to get out into the real world, and make your plan a reality. So whether you’re just starting a business, or you are developing and online business strategy to extend your brand equity, you’re going to have to take action. I know it can be overwhelming at times. You realise just how much you’ll need to do to succeed, and it can freeze you up so you can’t take that first step. The thing to do is try not to think about all the tasks you’ll need to do, and concentrate instead on just doing one thing, no matter how small. Take one baby step toward realising your goals, and you’ll get a boost of confidence and energy. You can use that enthusiasm towards taking your next baby step, and so on. Just do something. And then do another something. And before you know it, you’ll realise all those baby steps added up to that proverbial journey of a thousand miles, and your goal is within reach.