I’ve heard it said that one’s life is a lot like a book. That makes sense because there are lots and lots of pages, and many different chapters. Every chapter can be chocked full of different problems and settings, along with new experiences and many different challenges.
The actions you take determine what occurs in each chapter. How would you rate your previous chapters? Did you take action at the right time? Were your actions related to your goals? Or were you merely reacting?
To be perfectly blunt — your actions are the decisions you make, and they will determine the path and trajectory of your book, that is, your life.
Should you be faced with a difficult decision, I think it’s pretty easy to overthink things. Unfortunately, if you think about things too long, the time for doing can be drastically reduced. What makes us reluctant to take action and make changes? I think the answer is Fear. More to the point, the fear of failure.
It’s axiomatic that taking action will create an impact. It follows that impacts change your life. My Dad used to tell my brothers and I to “do something, even if it’s wrong.” For the longest time we all struggled to figure out what he was saying. It was a bit confusing because he certainly wasn’t a fan of failure. But what we eventually figured out was that he really didn’t mind us failing now and then, he just couldn’t stand the idea of not taking some action.
We humans are pretty good at thinking. But just thinking about a problem is never going to get you where you need to be. Many times, thinking and doing can feel like opposite ends of a spectrum. They’re not — they’re absolutely connected. It’s not an “Either-Or” proposition. Taking action is about integrating the thinking and the doing.
“Do something — even if it’s wrong” is a simple but powerful statement and another way of saying “Do the Work”. I think this can help you get over a fear of failure and “paralysis by analysis” and take action toward the goals that matter most to you.