He who deliberates fully before taking a step will spend his entire life on one leg.

He who deliberates fully before taking a step will spend his entire life on one leg. – Chinese Proverb

Whether he is procrastinating or just 'reflecting,' he's not going anywhere while balanced on just one leg. To take action, he'll need both feet on the ground.

What does that mean?
The quote opens by considering someone who spends the time to fully deliberate all possible outcomes and ramifications of an action before acting. The implied question is ‘How long will that take to accomplish this task?’

The quote finishes by answering that question. The statement is that they will spend their entire life standing on one leg. The implication is that they will start the step, but never complete it, because of the complexity of fully deliberating their action.

This attitude will lead, according to the quote, never doing anything but continuously deliberating and refining your thoughts on the action you wish to eventually get around to doing. Does that remind you of anyone, or have you ever experienced even a little of this yourself?

Why is action important?  
While there is a place for thinking and planning, there is such a thing as too much of a good thing. At some point you have to get out of your ivory tower and get your hands dirty. All thinking and no doing makes for a very boring and dull life.

Action is the only real cure for too much thinking. Not everything can be known, not all contingencies can be anticipated, much less mitigated. Once you have a fairly good grasp of the risks and rewards, and can see a path forward, it’s time to quit thinking and start doing.

Action is what gets things done. No among of thinking will ever actually get things done (Theoretical Physics and Philosophy excluded). Think some, plan some, act some, observe some, think some, plan some, act some, and repeat until you get where to you want to be.

Where can I apply this in my life?
This one hits kind of close to home, as it is another way of phrasing my biggest obstacle, the dreaded “analysis paralysis” mind set. I have a tendency to obsess over every possible outcome, every possible branching point, and every possible impact on my life.

While there is a fine line between procrastinating and thinking about something, it isn’t particularly visible from the outside. While you may or may not be busy on the inside, it’s not showing anything on the outside. Action is what others can see.

What are you thinking about doing? What are the specific reasons you are still thinking and not yet doing? Spend a few moments and consider some of the projects, actions, or whatever you call them which are stuck in a holding pattern while you consider the possibilities.

Grab some paper and write a few of them down (four or five would probably be a good number with which to start). Then take a few moments and list for each one, what the specific hold-ups are. Is it lack of funds, lack of knowledge, lack of skills, or lack of enthusiasm? Are there things you don’t understand or don’t feel qualified to tackle? Write down all of the reasons that come to mind.

Select one project to work on for the moment. Write down why you have to get it done. What is the reason, and why is that reason so important to you that you are going to get started sooner rather than later. If you don’t have a good reason, that may well be why it’s not going anywhere, right?

Now, look at each reason/excuse you listed for why things weren’t happening and brainstorm up a few different ways around that challenge. If you aren’t skilled enough, can you take a class, bribe a friend with pizza and beer, or hire that section to a professional?

When you’re done, you should have a path forward that should allow you to actually put the other foot down, and start moving on with the project. There are no magic bullets, and you may need to reassess several times during a project. But action (after a little analysis and planning) will get you moving again.

Action is what is necessary. Not rash or reckless action, but thought out and planned action. There is a middle path between all action & no thought and all thought & no action. So get both feet on the ground and get moving!

From: Twitter, @tonyrobbins
confirmed at : http://quotationsbook.com/quote/47635/
Photo by Mostly Dans