Sentiment without action is the ruin of the soul. Edward Abbey
Your ability to set goals, make plans, and take action on them determines the course of your life. Brian Tracy, Eat that Frog!, p 14
This is where it begins. Otherwise it’s just a nice idea. Without action all your effort is a rocking horse; a lot of activity but no movement. Without action it’s a dream; add a due date and the chances that dream become reality go way up. Otherwise, yup, it’s just a nice idea.
Action is in the DNA of a man. Yes, I said “man.” It may be in the DNA of a woman, but I’m not one, and I’m not writing to women, though I’m pleased you are reading. But, for men, action is smashed into our DNA. The first man was created in the wild. His name was Adam, and the job God gave him was to create and cultivate. Both are verbs; words of motion, words that advance.
When I talk about action, refer to the process as defined by Webster as the fact or process of doing something, typically to achieve an aim and a thing done; an act. There is more. I refer to actions that are noble, motivated by character, executed with benevolence, with solidarity. The low road, the pimp, and the bully all act; their actions reveal character but they create and cultivate suffering, they are selfish.
Things can freeze me from taking action. Feeling like I’m not enough or I can’t do that are paralyzing.
Bill Hybels, in Courageous Leadership, calls the bias for action to be the litmus test for leadership. John Maxwell calls self leadership the highest form of leadership [and the hardest!]. Mash these together and action becomes the litmus test for self leadership.
Action is where integrity is forged. Make a promise to do something is the first step in building integrity. Alice Martin writes A promise is the first part of a decision, a responsibility that you have chosen to take on. The difference between someone who takes action like this is not just the difference between 1 and 10. It is the difference between 1 and 1,000,000. Why? Most action is selfish, low road, acting out.
Action is in short supply. Most men don’t take action, or really create or cultivate. They move things around. A friend of mine sells computer hardware. Jan shared the idea that we don’t really do, but rather move things around. We forward an email proposal. We strategize. Analyze. Second guess. Critique. Talk big. Dream. All good stuff but it’s just pushing things around. Action is movement. Action advances. Action inspires.
Right action is flows from a compelling vision for something. This compelling vision is the Why behind what we are doing and how we intend to follow it through to completion.
Action is about control. My, my, my, how we want to be in control. Of our wives, kids, boss, the weather. We love being in control. But when it comes right down to it we have control over only three things. Oh, we think we have control over all this other stuff, but when all is said and done, there are only three things we truly have control over.
- My Attitude. Victor Frankl writes Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of human freedoms – to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way. We can choose our response in any given situation.
- My Acceptance. I can choose to accept things I have no control over. I struggle with this so very much. I want control over things that I have no control over. This causes so much pain, anxiety, and moving things around.
- My Actions. I CAN choose what I do.
Action, at the end of the day is what measures us. Good intentions are shallow. It is what is done. Lined off the to-do list. In the can. Moving a large project forward at the end of the day is action driven.
Taking action is what men were/are created for. To create and cultivate that which lies in front of us each day.
This next season of your life, the life you were meant to live, it is just on the other side of courageous action. Actions, that will move you where you want to go.
People who have attained excellence follow a consistent path to success. The first step is to know your outcome, to define precisely what you want. The second step is to take action – otherwise your desires will always be dreams. You must take the types of actions you believe will create the greatest probability of producing the results you desire. The third step is to develop the sensory acuity to recognize the kinds of responses and results you’re getting from your actions and to note as quickly as possible if they are taking you closer to your goals or farther away. Tony Robbins Unlimited Power, p 11