If there’s no action, you haven’t truly decided. – Tony Robbins and here
Objects at rest. No decision yet. The big one on the right, that's my project car...
What does that mean?
This is a Twitter-Friendly version of “Remember, a real decision is measured by the fact that you’ve taken new action. If there’s no action, you haven’t truly decided.”
This quote is about hesitation, reluctance to commit and the trouble you can get in when you procrastinate. It’s also about taking action, decisive and energetic action. This quote says that if you aren’t taking action, you are still thinking about it. Once you have finished your analysis and come to a conclusion, it’s time for action.
By taking action, you are making a decision. You are cutting yourself off from the other choices and working energetically on the path you have chosen. Yes, you still have to keep your head on a swivel and look to see how well your approach is working. If need be, you can still modify your approach, but keep working towards your goal. In extreme cases, you might come to the conclusion that you selected the wrong approach. Same thing, when you reach a decision, you take action. Until you take action, you’re still thinking about it, right?
Why is making a decision (and acting on it) important?
The word decision, or to decide, comes from Latin decidere, which means to cut off. When you decide, you cut off debate. When you decide, you cut yourself off from the other possibilities in order to proceed with the path you have chosen.
However, until you take action, have you really cut off your internal debate? Have you really selected the one path you will start off with, cutting off the possibility (for the moment, at least) of working the other paths? I would argue that you have not.
To me, this means making the decision is the razor’s edge between the thinking-planning-researching phase and the action phase. And as the quote says, if there’s no action, you haven’t truly decided.
Where can I apply this in my life?
Don’t wait. There are two phases of achieving a goal. They may be done repeatedly as you approach your goal, but there are only two of them. Those two steps are thinking and acting. That’s it. Take a moment and let that roll around in your head. Like Yoda’s dichotomy, you are either doing or not doing, right?
You start with thinking about your goal. Then you do some planning, researching, scheduling, and talking. Perhaps going around that loop several times before you have a plan you like. You might make several competing plans and consider which one you think is most likely to succeed. Now the thinking phase is over. Any further thinking is just wasting time, procrastination or other forms of delay.
If you’ve made a decision, there is nothing further to do but to act. Take the first step. Until you act, it’s not a plan, it’s a fantasy. It’s a dream. It’s a pleasant thought, but nothing more. By taking action, you are making it real. Then you keep taking action until you stop getting the desired result.
Here is where you start to iterate, or repeatedly go through the steps. Something didn’t work as expected. Stop the action, and think. Think about what went wrong, why it went wrong and what needs to be done differently to get it working again. Come up with a new plan and make a decision. Decision made, stop thinking and start acting. Repeat as necessary until the goal is achieved.
If you’ve been following this blog for any length of time, you know that I usually end with a rather firm request that you take action immediately. Not later, not tomorrow, not next week, not when you finish reading the post, get up and do something! This quote is the reason why. No matter how small the step is, once you take it, magical things begin to happen.
With action taken, the plan changes from a dream to something concrete. Both in fact and, more importantly, in your mind. You start believing that it’s happening, which can be scary sometimes. It also starts building momentum. Objects at rest will stay at rest. Action is the force that starts the motion. Once it’s moving, it wants to keep moving, and the more action you take, the faster it goes, and the harder it is to stop. Just pay attention to the direction you’re rolling, you don’t want to roll too far off course!
Take a moment and think of all the things you have planned, but aren’t presently working on. They can be brand new, or partially complete, but not presently active. Select one you want to get working on and consider why it’s presently inactive. Was there a problem you haven’t solved yet? Was an adjustment needed, but you never got back to working on the project? Take a moment and figure out what you need to do to get back to the action.
That was the thinking phase. You have a plan, you have an approach, you have something you’re going try out, so get busy. What of the first few steps can you begin right now? Yes, right now. This blog isn’t going anywhere. Do you need to make a phone call, order parts, consult with a friend, schedule an appointment, make a parts run, or… what? Whatever it is, do it now.
Think it through, yes, but once a decision has been reached, quit delaying. Action is the proof that a decision has been made. It’s the graduation ceremony for the plan. Without action, it’s never going to get done, so get busy!
From: Twitter, @motivatquotes
confirmed at : http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/t/tonyrobbin173238.html
Photo by Strange Ones
