Tag: taking action

Pause before acting (when you’re afraid)

Whenever you are afraid, try to take a step back before making a decision. Before you decide to act or not act, try to remove yourself from the situation. If a friend came to you with a problem asking for your advice, what would you tell them?

Do not make your decision based on the fears that you have. Make your decision based on what you feel is right. What would you be proud of either doing or saying in that moment.

Would you be embarrassed to tell your parents, siblings, friends, significant other, or children about how you acted or reacted in that moment. If you are embarrassed of it, why? Is it because you did not act with courage? Is it because you acted in a way that didn’t align with your values?

Never act or react solely out of fear.

Facing your fears – incrementally vs all at once

The way I see it, there are two ways to successfully face your fears. You can gradually/incrementally introduce yourself to your fears (taking baby steps – learning more about it first, then being around it, then facing it in an unimportant situation, then facing it more regularly) OR you can dive right in and surround yourself with them. The best approach depends on how devastating the outcome could be and what your mindset is.

If there are irreversible repercussions to you failing, then you should take the gradual approach. Read about what you are going to face, talk with other people who have conquered that fear, listen to books/podcasts/YouTube videos, etc. Then just go and be around whatever you have to face. You don’t need to face it yet, but the nearer you are, the more acclimated you’ll get. Start by going once per week then increase the frequency. As you become more familiar with the event, your fear levels will likely go down.

If the stakes are low if you fail/mess up, it’s probably best to just jump right in and learn on the fly. Learning is often done best by experiencing. Then you can still read, listen, talk with others, and watch others to learn more, but now you’ll have a better understanding of what they’re going through (because you’ve already been through a similar situation). You will speed up your learning curve by doing. Just make sure you have a growth mindset going into the event. You may not be good at whatever it is you’re trying to accomplish/conquer yet, but with enough practice you can/will get better.

The difference between good and great

The difference between good and great for most people is not talent or ability – it’s discipline.

Can you find the discipline to do what you don’t want to do, even though you know you need to do it? And the trick is, you can’t just do it once. You have to develop the habit to consistently do what you need to do and to make progress everyday.

Getting even 1% better everyday should be our goal. If we stay in our comfort zone, we will plateau early. But if we keep pushing the limits every day, in 10 years you will be amazed by how far you’ve come.

A hedgehog or a fox?

Are you a hedgehog or a fox? This is based on Stephen Covey’s writing…

While it is naturally appealing to be a fox (to be good at many things, but not world class in anything), should our goal be to become a hedgehog (be laser focused on mastering one thing, being world class at it, and benefitting from it)?

The idea here is to go deep in one particular subject. Read about it, write about it, talk with others who have already done it (mentors), talk with others who are on the same path (mastermind), listen to books and podcasts, and teach it (to those “behind” you on the path and to those who are not yet traveling on that path).

Learn even more by experiencing it yourself…You’ll make mistakes along the way, but as long as you take the time to figure out what went wrong (or what you think went wrong) and then get back up and try again – you’ll be better for it. In fact, some people think failing quickly and failing often is the key to success.

Because we are amateurs when we first set out to do anything, we don’t know what we don’t know. Nothing will ever be perfect and if we wait for perfection to get started then we’ll never get started. There is no perfect time. The “perfect” time to get started is right now…

If we do finally decide to take action, despite all of our preparation (aka procrastination), we will still make mistakes. So it’s best to get those mistakes out of the way and “fail” quickly! Because, in reality, it’s only a failure if you give up. Otherwise it’s only a bump in the road.

Go deep. Master one subject then try to expand to other related areas after you’ve truly grasped one. If you spread yourself too thin, you might be able to become a Jack of all trades and a master of none. But that will take a long time. If you focus on one (like a laser), you can “quickly” master it and move onto another subject if your heart desires.

Be focused, not finished

Some of us set goals (or have New Years resolutions) and feel like we did something just by writing them down.

Some of us start out with good intentions to accomplish the goals we wrote down, but when motivation wanes, when things get tough, or life gets in the way, we conveniently forget about our goals or discard them.

Some of us accomplish our New Years resolutions early in the year, not because we’re overachievers, but because we set the bar too low (almost like a checklist that has “brush teeth” on it).

And some of us achieve our goals and then relax or return to bad habits to celebrate the accomplishment. There’s nothing wrong with celebrating wins (big and small), and I actually think it’s important to note how far you’ve come. But don’t get complacent. Don’t celebrate too long or get too far off-track. It’s time to get back to work. Just because you’ve accomplished a goal doesn’t mean you’re finished. After all, you’re still alive, right? Everyday, you can get better. Strive to be better than who you were yesterday.