The Action Cycle: Step 6 - Action
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“A moment of clarity without any action is just a thought that passes in the wind. But a moment of clarity followed by action is a pivotal moment in our life. ”
BE the person who will achieve the goal by taking action.
I recently read a book by Anne Lamott called, Bird by Bird. Anne Lamott has reminded me of an important concept that I wish to share with you. In my own words, it looks like this:
To accomplish a goal, you have to embrace doing the work.
To become a published author, you need to embrace writing – to spend time with pen and paper (or computer and fingers!), and get through shitty first drafts and hours of self-inflicted pain, in order to get to the gems that will eventually become your final work. Don’t get ahead of yourself and worry about finding an agent or publisher until you have mastered the discipline of writing – often!
To become a successful service-based entrepreneur, you need to be good at something and do that work, while also working on your business. What does that mean? It means planning your business steps and then taking action. Create a niche, a website, a signature presentation, a social media campaign, or a newsletter. Taking action sometimes requires you to take steps you don’t love but your goal requires it. You might need to “put yourself out there” and ask people to be your client. You can’t just slap up a website and hope that people will find you.
To have an organized house, you need to embrace the steps it takes to get organized. Are you willing to take time to purge, sort, take trips to Goodwill, create systems, and then actually keep up the activities so that your house will stay organized? (I always wonder how many hoarders go back to hoarding after having their home makeover on tv.)
To get healthier you need to act like a healthy person acts, eat like a healthy person eats, and think like a healthy person thinks, especially when you are grocery shopping! Your mind needs to become healthy, with a new relationship to food and exercise. 99% of all people who lose weight will gain it back because they haven’t really changed inside. They’ve played a temporary game and then slipped back into their old habits.
All of these examples have something in common, they are goals that take time, require consistent behavior, and need maintenance. This means they require new habits and systems to perpetuate the progress, before, during, and after the initial goal is achieved.
Let’s look at it another way. Once you have a clearly defined desired outcome (Ex. A clean house, written blog, or healthy body), and the decisiveness to move forward (“I will get this done!”), it’s time to embrace the journey you are embarking upon. Follow your plan.
When it comes to your goal, who do you have to be to take all those planned-out steps? What thoughts will keep you moving forward?? Continue to ask yourself these questions and you will continue to grow.
Embrace the work and embrace the person you are becoming.