If You Want to Be Something, Be It!
“Action is a great restorer and builder of confidence. Inaction is not only the result, but the cause, of fear. Perhaps the action you take will be successful; perhaps different action or adjustments will have to follow. But any action is better than no action at all.”
(Norman Vincent Peale)
If you want to be a writer, write. If you want to be an athlete, start training. If you want to write computer software programs, learn to code.
Life is so simple when you make it simple.
Yet, so many people find it difficult to take Nike’s sage advice, Just Do It!
Why?
Our minds are what get in the way. Our minds convince us that we need to over-prepare before we even begin.
Before we can be productive, we think we need to buy the “right” planner or calendar or bullet journal.
Or, we could buy a dollar store calendar and start writing things on it.
Before we can share what we know with the world, we have to decide on a platform where we’ll start our blog, but we need to figure out a name for our blog and decide on keywords and learn about SEO and wonder how we’re going to market it and start a new social media account that we can use to create “brand awareness” and start plotting a strategy for posting.
Or, we could just start writing.
Before we can get healthier, we think we need to pick the “right diet,” join a gym, schedule times for cardio classes, stop eating carbs or fat or sugar or whatever else we think we “should” be doing (even though we have zero education about what any of that actually means). And we can’t go to the gym until we buy new workout clothes.
Or, we could put on the sweats and t-shirt that are already in our drawer, grab an apple, and go for a walk around the block.
It is mind-boggling how difficult and involved we think things have to be in order to do them.
The reality is, step one is always the same. Just begin.
As a beginner, you do not need all of the things that someone who has been doing the same thing for a while needs. You may one day, but not today.
Every beginner needs four things:
- To start
- To be consistent
- To be observant
- To adjust as you learn
That is how every single one of those people who already have what you want or do what you want to do did it.
There is no magic button.
There is no one way to do it.
They simply began. They kept doing. They didn’t stop doing. They created habits that moved them closer to what they wanted. They worked those habits every day, even when they were not motivated or feeling like doing them.
They observed as they worked those habits. They no longer needed to figure out “what it would look like” because, when you take action, you get results, and when you get results, it tells YOU what it will look like.
That consistency and observation gave them the ability to adjust. What’s working, what’s not? There is no overthinking. The moment there is an opportunity to adjust, they adjusted.
“Intelligence is the ability to adapt to change.” (Stephen Hawking)
That adjustment gave them knowledge. The more you educate yourself, the easier it is to continue moving forward.
Action is the common denominator of all successful people.
Moving into the new decade, you have a choice. You can continue to live the same year that you have been living over and over for the next ten years. Or you can choose to do something different.
You can choose to begin.
WRITTEN BY
Robin Sacks Professionally, I am a Confidence & Performance Coach, speaker, author and motivator. Personally, I am a mom, wife, and friend.
I live for bad puns and good mysteries.
