“The Universe doesn’t give you what you ask for with your thoughts – it gives you what you demand with your actions.” -Steve Maraboli
In an effort to give you a few tools to arm yourself for the task of that demand, I give you excerpts from and links to 3 different action-taking self-help type spots.
With respect to goals, projects, and other to-do items, it’s easy to get stuck too long in the thinking and planning phase. You can sit around writing and rewriting your goals, delving into your subconscious mind, working through emotional blocks, summoning the power of Thor… whatever.
But if you don’t eventually get into action, you’re wasting your time.
How can you get into a sustainable mode of direct action without feeling like you have to torture yourself to get moving? What can you do to cross the barrier between merely thinking about what you want and actually making it happen with your own two hands?
Here’s a simple technique I use. This has worked very well for me when I’ve applied it. It usually takes only 5-10 minutes.
(Click the link above to see the whole post including the techniques.)
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People at the top of every profession share one quality — they get things done. This ability supercedes intelligence, talent, and connections in determining the size of your salary and the speed of your advancement.
Despite the simplicity of this concept there is a perpetual shortage of people who excel at getting results. The action habit — the habit of putting ideas into action now — is essential to getting things done. Here are 7 ways you can grow the action habit:
(Click the link above to see more…)
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"If you pay attention, you learn something from taking a smart step. More often than not, it gets you close to what you want."
This is an excerpt from Just Start: Take Action, Embrace Uncertainty, Create the Future. Note that "Creaction" is a word the authors made up by combining "creation" with "action."
What exactly is Creaction? Well, to start, it is based on acting and creating evidence, as contrasted with thinking and analysis.
Here’s one way to think about that pivotal difference. A dancer dances. Substituting thinking for dancing doesn’t work. If all you do is think, you end up just thinking about dancing. There is nothing to show for that thought.
Thinking is often a part of creating, but without action, nothing is created. This is true for even very intellectual, cerebral fields. For a task to be considered creating, you must publish, teach, or whatever. Daydreaming by itself is not creating.
How does Creaction play out in practice? How does it help us deal with uncertainty? The process has three parts, which repeat until you have reached your goal or decide you no longer want to.
(Again, click the link above to learn more.)
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As a bonus, dear readers, I'm sharing one of my favorite 80's hair metal videos, about action, albeit a different kind of action. It was the 80s afterall.
