Get out there and take ACTION!

It’s time to take action.  How many times have you heard this?  I know that I’ve heard it way too much.  Why then don’t we listen?  I don’t know how long it took me to finally get off my butt and build my house.  Or when I knew I needed to switch jobs but still stuck with the same one for another year or two.  I mean it’s great to be a dedicated employee and all but was I really doing much good for anyone staying at a job that I no longer enjoyed? 

These are the types of things that I have struggled with my whole life.  I’ll bet if you dig a little you would find that you have done the same.  Today we are going to talk about how to start taking action and stop delaying.

There are seven simple steps.

Figure out what’s holding you back.  What’s holding you back from taking action right now?  Is it your loved ones, fear of losing what you have, lack of confidence?  What is it?  Figure that out and tackle it head on.  Only after you do that will you be able to truly take action right now. 

Pray!  This might not be up your alley but let me tell you that once I started praying more, and giving it back to God.  That was when he really started blessing me with abundance of knowledge and peace.  Most of all peace.  I remember coaching someone on praying once.  They said, “Dan, I’m scared to pray because then everyone will know I’m a Christian!”  Is that a bad thing??  Depends on who you really want to be.  Personally, I hope that everyone I meet knows that I’m a strong Christian that tries hard to live a godly life.  What I told him was, “you can pray anywhere anytime and no one will ever know it unless you want them to.  You can pray with your eyes open, you can pray when you driving, you can pray before during or after a conversation, while you’re sitting, standing or paying down.  It doesn’t matter.  What does matter is that you are taking time to talk to God.”

Listen and take action.  Listening is the first step of taking action and huge risks that will in the end reward you greatly.  Listen to your inner feelings and voices.  If you think that you should call someone, don’t hesitate and call him or her right then.  If you feel that you should stop eating, then by all means stop eating.  If you feel that you should jump off a bridge, then either make sure the bungee rope is tied tight or that the water is deep enough that you won’t hit rocks, lol.  Listen and take immediate action.

Don’t let small decisions take too much time.  The rule that I have is that if won’t affect me in 5 years I don’t think twice about it.  I make the decision and go with it.  What does that really mean?  When someone asks me where to eat, I give them a place.  If they say when do you want this, done by?  I answer with a time.  If they say let’s go to lunch sometime, I answer with ok how about tomorrow?  Those things won’t affect me in 5 years.  Now the decision to start a business, that might affect me.  The decision to buy another house, more land, or another truck.  All of those are big decisions and I take time to make those and do my research.

If the risk is HUGE, the reward will be HUGE.  Have you ever been married?  Or had kids?  Or bought a house?  Or a car?  Or chosen to go to college or start a career?  All of those are HUGE risks that come with HUGE rewards.  You have to be willing to take risks if you want life changing events.  You can’t expect your life to change if you continue to live the same way.  You have to step out of your comfort zone in order to make real changes in your life.  So next time you have the option, go climb that mountain, ask that person out, just do it.

Don’t ask permission.  Asking permission even from yourself will never allow you to grow.  In fact, it takes you back to your childhood when you had to ask for permission for everything.  Dad can I have this candy bar.  Heck if you want the candy bar then buy it!  Who cares?  Stop asking permission from others before taking that leap of faith and moving to the next level.  I remember asking a trusted adviser if they thought I would be ready to start a business.  They said, “I would hate to lose you so I would have to say, that you can do anything, as long as you don’t leave.  Lol” I was asking permission to take a leap of faith.  I was waiting for the stars to align so I could take that next step.  Now don’t get me wrong I’m not saying that you don’t need to communicate with your spouse or partner.  That is super important.  In case you missed it, go back and read the part about prayer.  That is communicating with the most important person in your life, well at least my life.

Failure is not an option!  Thomas Edison said it best when he said, “I did not fail once, I just found 10,000 ways not to create a lightbulb!”  I’m not saying that you won’t fail, what I am saying is that you can’t view it as a failure.  You have to see it as a learning experience.  Yes, there will be some “learning experiences” that cost you a lot of money, but hey, it’s just money.  You came into this world without a cent to your name and you’ll leave this world empty handed as well.  The point is that you are going to make mistakes; don’t let them throw you into a depression.  Keep your head and keep moving forward.  Taking risks comes with many learning experiences.  That is just something that comes with the territory.  Don’t be afraid to start taking action today because you are afraid of failing.

With so many people in the world, strive to be the 1%.  The 1% that go out and take action.  Not the other 99% that are still working that 8-5 job hating every minute of it.  Take action today and make the changes that you NEED to make to improve your life.  Remember that time is the new currency.  You have limited time on this earth, but you can earn as much money as you would like! 

Taking in inch of action now will take you closer to your goal than a mile of intervention!