Taking Action

Take action!  It sounds so easy.  It rolls off the tongue.  It’s something you can tell yourself you’ll do.  “Tomorrow I am going to take action!  I am going to write a chapter in my book.  I am going to create a sales letter.  I am going to buy a domain name.” 

Tomorrow comes and you don’t take action.  You don’t write a word of your book, much less a chapter.  You don’t work on a sales letter.  You don’t even buy a domain name. 

No 'biggie' you think, you can always do it tomorrow.  Or next week.  Or next month.  After all, you rationalize, 'I’m in this for the long haul.  If I’m going to do it, I’m going to make sure I do it right'.

It’s that procrastination disguised as perfectionism rearing it’s ugly head again.  But you can rationalize that away too.  It’s good to do it right the first time.  As the saying goes, 'if you’re going to do it, then do it the best that you can'.

And so you end up not doing it at all, because you procrastinate, you make excuses, and you try measure up to a self-imposed yet impossible standard of perfect. 

'They' told you to take action, 'they' made it sound easy - no one ever told you that it was actually damn hard. 

So what’s the problem?

Fear 

Procrastination and perfectionism tend to be symptoms of fear.  Fear of success, fear of failure, fear of change.  It’s much safer to dream about success than to actually take the steps to make that life a reality.  We can dream about living in a big house and driving a fancy car and going out on exotic vacations BUT taking steps to making those dreams come true is scary as hell. 

Many people have a business idea that they know will take off and become huge.  Maybe it’s the next big fad online, or perhaps it’s a book that will fly off the shelves like Harry Potter. 

Just thinking about the idea makes the daydreamer excited.  Perhaps she gets started on it, growing more excited as time goes by.  But as the idea comes closer to fruition, something happens.  The dreamer goes into perfectionist mode.  Suddenly nothing is good enough.  Or suddenly something comes up, and the dreamer seems unable to complete the project.  Sometimes the dreamer outright engages in self-sabotage by taking on bad business partners or making other obviously foolish choices. 

This Is Fear Talking

Sometimes we’re afraid that our idea will fail.  We consider it our baby, and we’ve been nurturing this idea in our minds for so long that if we actually let it go and take action, we’d be crushed if it failed.  In fact, if the idea failed WE would feel like a failure. 

And so we hold onto the idea, and instead of taking action we merely dream about how big it could be.  We start living in the shadows of those who are taking action, criticizing them like armchair quarterbacks. 

“Oh, his book isn’t so hot.  I had the same idea for a plot except my characters wouldn’t be flat two-dimensional stick figures,” we soothe ourselves after someone releases the book we were going to write. 

“Pffff, MillionDollarHomePage.  I have an even better idea that will make tons more money than that dude,” we tell ourselves. 

It’s so easy to say our ideas are better than everyone else’s.  As long as we don’t take action on them, we never have to prove to ourselves or anyone else that the idea IS better.  It’s safe.  It’s easy.  And we still get the ego stroke of considering our ideas to be brilliant, and we get the pleasure of daydreaming about what we’d do with all our millions of dollars. 

On the other hand, sometimes we fear success.   

We worry about how our lives will change.  We wonder if we’ll have to hire employees and deal with that hassle.  We worry about doing our taxes properly.  We worry that friends and relatives will crawl out of the woodwork and start hitting us up for money.  We even worry about fame – perhaps envisioning how hard it will be to go for a nice night out on the town without getting mobbed by our fans. 

All of these worries…before we even make our first dollar!   

Some people go so overboard in worrying that they drop their idea because they don’t want their life to change.  Some people work on the idea so that it only succeeds enough to bring in an income that they’re comfortable living on.   For example, if they make $40,000 a year on a job, then their business ideas bring them about $40,000.   

It’s as if they’ve put up a barrier in their mind that won’t let them cross that income line… as if they don’t believe they deserve more or deserve success. 

So How Do You Identify Your Fear

The first step in overcoming your own obstacles to success is to identify what’s holding you back.  What are your personal fears? 

One way to identify your fears is to learn to listen to your own negative self-talk  That doesn’t mean that you should agree with it.  Quite the contrary.  Instead, you need to become aware of your self-doubt and turn it into positive talk.  But just becoming aware of it is the first step. 

For example, let’s suppose you want to become an author.  Very confidently assert out loud, “I am a successful author.” 

Now listen. 

Chances are, your negative self-doubting voice will chime in and try to slam you down.  It will say, “You’re not an author!  Writing articles for other people doesn’t count!”  Or it will say, “Oh yeah?  If you’re an author how come you still haven’t finished that novel that you’ve been talking about for three years?” 

Or perhaps you have dreams about becoming wealthy.  If so, out loud say, “I have more money than I know what to do with.” 

Then listen. 

What is your negative voice telling you?  Is it telling you that money is evil?  Do you attach negative connotations to wealthy people, such as calling them “high falutin’” or “show-offs” or “braggarts?” 

Many times that negative voice we have that tries to slam us down is programmed by those closest to us.  Stop and listen to what your friends and relatives say about people who are wealthy, for example.  Is there a slight edge in their voice hinting at disdain?  Is there an “us and them” mentality.  Does it seem almost undesirable to become wealthy? 

You’ve probably heard these people talking in a negative manner all your life, so it’s no wonder that you have your own negative voice popping up and telling you that you can’t do something.  Yet there’s a part of you that WANTS to achieve success.   When the “success” part of you clashes with the negative voice, you stall.  

Stop Stalling - Time To Get Rid Of That Negative Voice 

First off, if you haven’t already identified your fears just by asserting what you want to do and listening for the negative voice to trample over your dreams, take out about half and hour and do just that. 

Often times you can get answers really easy if you relax and meditate.  Clear your mind, and don’t censor anything that comes to your mind.  You want to be able to clearly hear what your negative voice is telling you. 

Another way to do it is to talk it out on paper.  In “The Artist’s Way,” Julia Cameron suggests that you do what she calls morning pages every day.  Morning pages are basically brain dumps.  You set aside a quiet, uninterrupted time each morning to just write out at least three pages of whatever is on your mind …and you don’t censor, edit or judge. 

Sometimes you can’t think of anything to write, in which case you can just write “I can’t think of anything to write, what the heck are these pages for”.  Do something.

Most of the time you find yourself writing about things that bother you.  It’s like you clear your mind of the “little things” so you can look at the big picture.  Maybe you’re upset that you’re an adult but your mom still wants to get in your business.  Maybe your boss is ticking you off.  Maybe you’re irritated because your significant other doesn’t help out around the house. 

You write down these irritations and move past them.  Now your mind is clear to focus on your passions and your work.  The longer you write, the more relaxed you become.  You can actually start asking yourself questions, and then listen for the answer (and write it down).  Doing these pages becomes almost meditative, and as you relax your inner censor relaxes so that you can uncover how you really feel about things. 

So after you’ve done a morning brain dump of whatever is on your mind, you start asking the important questions.  For example, you write down on paper, “why am I so afraid of money?”  Or you ask yourself, “why am I procrastinating on this project?” 

The answer will come.  You will be tempted to censor it, or edit the reply.  Don’t do that.  Just write down whatever comes into your mind …write without judgment.  Later when you go back to read what you’ve written, you’ll find your answer.  You’ll discover your fears.  You’ll find out exactly what is holding you back. 

Perhaps you’ll discover that your negative voice is telling you that you’re too old.  Maybe your negative voice is saying it’s selfish to focus on your business.  Maybe that negative voice is saying that you need to wait until the kids leave home, because you don’t have time to work on your business now. 

Indeed, you may find that your negative voice has a whole host of excuses why you can’t do what you really want to do.  And as mentioned before, it may be attaching a whole host of negative attitudes to your success as a way of discouraging you from even trying. 

Now that you’ve identified your specific “excuses,” take a few minutes and see how they relate to your fears.  For example, when your negative voice says “you’re too old,” perhaps what it’s really saying is, “I’m afraid to try because I’m afraid of failing, so I’ll just say I’m too old.” 

When your negative voice says, “money is evil,” perhaps it’s because you have a fear – based on an underlying, programmed belief – that people who become wealthy become insensitive jerks.  You want to become rich, but you don’t want to become a jerk.  But you can’t seem to tease those two concepts apart.  You have the belief that money and insensitivity cannot be independent.  So you don’t become wealthy because you’re afraid of the person you’ll become. 

If you step back and look at it from the outside, you realize that it’s all hogwash of course.  Being rich doesn’t make someone a jerk.  A business only fails when you give up tweaking.  This is not a one shot deal – if it fails the first time, keep trying.  Just ask Edison who tried about a 1000 different ways unsuccessfully to create the light bulb.  Does anyone care about his so-called failures?  Of course not.  He’s known for his success! 

The same is true of you.  You may not hit a home run with every idea you have.  Those who succeed are those who keep swinging.  Those who succeed are those who stop worrying about 'failing' – to them, failing is not failure.  Instead, it’s a lesson, an opportunity to learn how NOT to do something.  This is testing and tweaking …and this is how someone achieves success. 

If you’ve sat down and identified your negative voices fears and bad attitudes, you’ve won half the battle.  Just acknowledging your fears and showing them the light of day is a huge step towards become successful and living your dreams. 

But also remember this – identifying and battling your fears is not something you do once.  Chances are, they are deeply ingrained and programmed.  They are part of you.  That means that sometimes you will deal with your fears daily.  Whenever you hear that negative voice chiming in, stop it.  Then replace the negative thought with a positive one. 

For example, when you hear yourself saying, “money is evil,” replace that thought with a positive one.  Think about the GOOD money can do in the world.  Think about how much you could help your favorite charity if you were extremely wealthy. 

Remember, what you focus on expands.  Focus on positive associations with wealth and focus on attracting that wealth to you, and you put the wheels of the Universe in motion to give you what you want.  Focus on your problems, you negative associations with (for example) money, and you will get more of the same. 

As you trample the negative thoughts and replace them with positive ones, you may find that you stop procrastinating and start taking action …after all, stalling on a project is just a symptom of your underlying fears. 

However, sometimes the mere act of taking action (while working on stomping on that negative voice) will also get your momentum going.  It’s as if doing what you fear most – in this case, working on your business or your book – is the “cure” for the fear. 

Now we are coming full circle in this report.  At the beginning we started off by saying “Take Action!”  We know now are fears prevent us from taking action.  Yet we also know that if we can just get started, sometimes those fears will melt away.  So the question becomes… 

How Do We Get Started Taking Action

One of the best ways to just start taking action is to find someone to hold you accountable.  If you stand up and publicly declare that you are going to do something, and then ask your accountability friend to hold you ask you about it later, you’re more likely to do it. 

Think about it for a moment.  Let’s say you’ve made a to-do list.  On your list is writing 2500 words for your book today.  If you don’t tell anyone about it, then it’s easy for you to not do it, and then to even rationalize and make excuses to yourself as to why it’s ok that you didn’t work on it. 

However, if you tell your accountability friend that you intend to write 2500 words today, and you are required to check in with your friend first thing in the morning to report your progress, do you think you’ll do it? 

You bet you will! 

It’s embarrassing to have to admit that you didn’t do something that you said you were going to do.  Moreover, your excuses and rationalizations will sound pathetic to your friend (and you know it, too).  If you tell your friend you didn’t get it done because you had to run important errands, she’ll ask you what errands.  She’ll also ask you how much time you just surfed aimlessly online. 

It’s embarrassing to admit the so-called important errands included getting your dog’s teeth cleaned and picking up bagels at the bakery.  Could errands like that wait?  Damn straight - those were just excuses.  Your accountability friend won’t let you slide on excuses like that any more.  And as you become accustomed to “checking in” with your accountability friend, you won’t let yourself slide by with weak excuses any more. 

End result?  You just get the work done so that you can report something positive to your accountability friend.  It’s easier to just take action as opposed to lying or fumbling through with pathetic excuses.  Eventually taking action becomes easier and easier, like habit …and the more you take action, the less fear you feel, which in turn creates even more productivity. 

Another thing you should do to help you take action is to create daily, weekly, and monthly 'to do' lists.  It’s easy to think you are doing something if you aren’t keeping careful track of tasks via a to-do list.  For example, you’ll find yourself rationalizing that reading forums is important and thus the fact that you spent all day on the forums means you were productive. 

Bull. 

Sure, a little time spent on the forums is good if you are learning and networking.  But you can’t let it consume your day.  Allow yourself a set time to browse forums (say one hour), and when your time is up that’s it.  Close the forums and get to work. 

Now back to lists.

The saying is that the best way to eat an elephant is one bite at a time.  The same is true of your projects.  Whether you are creating a website or writing a book or doing anything else, it can seem overwhelming when you think of everything that needs to be done. 

Your first step is to break up all the tasks into “bite size” chunks.  These bite-size chunks then become things that you list and eventually cross off your to-do list as you complete them - this alone is a motivator and makes you feel accomplished. 

For example, instead of having “complete a website” on your list, you break it into smaller tasks.  So “buy a domain name” might be one task.  Buy webhosting is another task.  Point the domain name servers to the new host is another task.  Sketch out the website on paper is a task.  Hire a designer is another…and so on. 

Sure, some of these tasks only take a couple minutes to do – and that’s great!  You still feel accomplished when you cross them off your list. 

Another tip to help you take action is to set a timer.  For example, let’s suppose you feel more inclined to surf aimlessly online rather than start working on the next chapter of your book.  Set a time for half an hour.  Then close all your PC windows except for your word processor window, and for the next 30 minutes work exclusively on writing.  No reading, no surfing, no checking email, no answering the phone, no getting up to get a snack. 

Just write for the entire 30 minutes. 

At the end of that time reward yourself with a 10 minute break.  Then set the timer and do it again.  When you forbid yourself from doing whatever tends to distract you the most (e.g., your procrastination excuses), and you’re left with nothing to do except to just do the work, you’ll be amazed at how much you can accomplish.

One Final Tip

As you work on blasting through your fears and getting the work done, remember this: it doesn’t have to be perfect. 

If you spend six months perfecting a website before ever releasing it to the public, that’s six months of you making zero dollars.   

On the other hand, let’s suppose you released your initial draft of the site.  Let’s suppose the first month you make a couple bucks.  Not good, so you test and tweak.  The second month you make a few hundred bucks.  Better.  You test and tweak conversions, and start driving more traffic.  The third month you are up to $500.  More tweaking, more marketing, and by the fourth month you are making $700 with the site.  By the fifth month, you’re up to $1000.  By the sixth month, you’re up to $1100. 

In this example, even though the site wasn’t perfect you released it – and in those six months you made over $3500. 

Had you gone into perfectionism mode and not released it during those six months, you would make zero dollars.  And then AFTER you released it you would still need to test and tweak everything – because even though you might think it’s “perfect,” your customers who vote with their wallets might disagree and keep those wallets in their pocket.  So you’d still spend months testing and tweaking.  All you do by becoming a perfectionist is lose time, in this case six months AND $3500.

So stop worrying about if it’s perfect, but let’s face it – it will likely never be perfect.  But perfection isn’t what makes you money.  Taking action and getting your product out there is what makes you money.  There’s always tomorrow to test and tweak.  For today, just commit to getting the product out there, even if it’s not perfect in your eyes.

"Force yourself to do it, even if you don't want to."  Well, if that worked, my mother would have cured me of the habit when I was twelve.

It's exactly the attitude of self-punishment that makes you procrastinate. Start working to achieve rewards, as opposed to working to avoid punishment or failure. We work when we expect to be rewarded in return, and will not extend the effort if we expect punishment whether we work or not.