Pablo Picasso stated, “Action is the foundational key to all success.” Albert Einstein said, “Nothing happens until something moves,” and John Maxwell declared, “Everything worthwhile is uphill.” Therefore, if you want anything worthwhile, if you want things to happen, if you want success, you must act!
What Converts Dreams to Reality?
Action is the fuel that drives dreams to their destinations. Yet, many of us embrace delayed action, slow action, or inaction. I say, “Action is everything, and everything you desire requires action.”
Your Inner Voice Is Often the Action Stopper!
In reality, action may be one of the most difficult steps you may have to take. That is because your inner voice tells you not to take action or embrace inaction. The inner voice tells you that you have enough time to do the task. It adds that you work so hard, and that you need a break, and that you should not miss your favorite TV show. Your inner voice always wants to encapsulate you within the boundaries of your comfort zone.
Your inner voice continues to add more of these convincing suggestions until you soon become a victim of this self-manufactured reality, within the web of your mental creations. Soon you walk away from the day’s responsibilities and put them off until the next day. But, before you know it, the deadline becomes tomorrow, and now you enter into a frenzied attempt to complete the task, against a backdrop of shrinking time. Hence, you moved from inaction to crisis-induced activity.
Moving from Inaction to Action Requires Motivation
Clearly, action can be brought about by desperation or by inspiration. It is better to act based on inspiration, good planning, and internal motivation, rather than stress, external pressure, and desperation.
Steve Harvey
Life is not easy, as TV comedian Steve Harvey has said. He worked his way from rags to riches, from nobody to celebrity, from a dreaming-man to a reality-man by taking action in his own life. We all need to take action to override our inner negative voice and move forward.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Actions Helped Him Win the Presidency
When we look at some historic events, we can appreciate the significance of timely action. The unfortunate event of the 1929 stock market crash cost President Herbert Hoover his presidency. It led to the emergence of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who presented his promising “New Deal,” which was meant to provide economic relief by escalating the federal government’s activities in various business sectors. FDR promised the New Deal and gained his way to his presidency, defeating Herbert Hoover at the polls.
President John F. Kennedy’s (JFK) Quick Action Prevented a Possible Nuclear War
Another event of great global significance was the Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962. It began when the United States detected Soviet ballistic missiles in Cuba. President John F. Kennedy’s prompt action defused a possible full-blown nuclear war between the United States and the Soviet Union.
This crisis followed the 1961 failed Bay of Pigs invasion. Upon Cuban President Fidel Castro’s request, the Soviet Union’s Premier Nikita Khrushchev had placed nuclear missiles in Cuba, about ninety miles from Florida, too close for comfort! Under President Kennedy’s leadership, the Soviet Union dismantled their offensive weapons in Cuba following several days of tense negotiations. The world was ever grateful for this peaceful resolution.
We Need to Take Action in Our Daily Lives
Let us move from historic actions to our daily lives. We all need to take action in our own lives at times of peace and during challenging times.
John Maxwell states that the time to take action is when the idea is hot, and the emotion is strong. Action should be immediate! The drive for action usually will diminish over time if you remain in the inactive zone. Hence, you need to discipline your emotions, tame your reactions, motivate your motivations, and take immediate action.
Most of the time, we do not want to take action. We want to be in our comfort zone. The major controlling factor in this scenario is your inner voice. In other words, you can be your worst enemy.
Inner Voice
The inner voice is usually set by default to be negative. But in order to push your dreams to their destination, you have to step out of your comfort zone. You must embrace action and hard work. Gene McNaughton speaks of mindset, skillset, and action-set. Once you finalize your plans to achieve your goals, you need to assess your skillset. If you need additional skills, you need to acquire them in order to execute your plan effectively. This then leads to the next step, which is action. A plan will remain a plan in your mind, and it becomes valuable only when you execute the plan in a timely manner. Even if you are not 100 percent ready for your project at hand, you should jump into the water and execute your actions.
Procrastination
This first step is of paramount importance; otherwise, the all-too-familiar, often-uninvited friend called procrastination will set in and erode your plan. As you take action, you can continue to refine and refresh your actions for optimal results.
The two important steps when it comes to action are: 1) to start, and 2) to keep going non-stop with carefully planned breaks to reenergize and revitalize yourself. Don’t forget: The greatest enemy to action is procrastination.
This raises the question: When and how does procrastination take root in your mind? Remember these two important factors sequentially. First, there is the thought, and second, there is the action. Usually, a gap exists between thought and action.
The greater the gap between thought and action, the greater the chance of procrastination that takes a foothold in your mind’s creative field. Once procrastination sets in, this gap between thought and action keeps increasing, until it converts all planned, intentional action toward total inaction. This is why many gifted people die with their dreams and goals buried six feet beneath the ground without realizing them during their lifetimes.
Now, some authors have come up with various recommendations, including waiting for a time frame of five seconds, at which point you are expected to act. In my opinion, a five-second wait time is not necessarily a good or sustainable approach. This is especially true after the novelty of five seconds of counting wears off, and you are back to square one.
Gapless Living
I want to introduce a relatively new concept, which I call “gapless living.” What is gapless living? Gapless living is when the refined thought and the action occupy the same spot of time. This means no gap exists between the refined thought and the action. This is an all-powerful way of extinguishing all procrastination so you can live a productive and successful life. This is the avenue where all your dreams are realized, where the invisible becomes visible, and where your dreams, desires, and goals reach their final destination.
Refined thought is the final product of your goals and plans being analyzed, processed, and refined in your mind. Once you attain your refined thought, you are then ready to execute. This is when you trigger your gapless living and execute consistently, effortlessly, and effectively every time, all the time.
Factors that Influence Your Action Step
Another element to consider is the value and sign you place before the action step. All actions, events, circumstances, and words that people say to you have zero value or no value by themselves. They are all lifeless, so to speak. It is you who give them life. It is you who give them a value between one and ten, on a scale of one to ten, one being the least value and ten being the highest value. You also attach a sign to all of the above, namely, a negative, positive, or neutral sign.
When you assign a task that needs to be acted upon, a high value of nine, and a negative sign, then your mind looks at that task and tells you it is too hard a task to execute and you may not act. On the other hand, if you assign a low number of two and a positive sign to that task, your mind tells you that task is not too bad, and that it is easy to do; then a higher chance exists that you will act upon that task. I recommend you assign a low number and a positive or neutral sign to all your tasks at hand, and this will make it easier for you take action.
Your selection of the appropriate intensity on a scale of one to ten and your assigning the proper sign of positive or neutral forms the basis of a filter or a new lens through which you see the world and the tasks at hand or the projects on your plate.
Optimal Lens to View Your world
Thus, the best and most effective lens through which you should see the world around you should be one that promotes action, extinguishes procrastination, and creates no gap between your refined thought and action, not even five seconds. This optimal lens should have a lower intensity (zero to three), a neutral or positive sign, and a near-zero excitement level. Such a lens will help you live an effective gapless life in a consistent manner, and soon, you will reach your dream destination. This will bestow upon you happiness, wealth, and peace of mind.
Overcoming Negativity
You need to override the inner voice with your own script of positivity, determination, and purpose. This process can prevent the weeds of negativity from growing in your mind’s garden. You should also make a shift toward positivity. Keep negative people, negative TV broadcasts, and all negative energy away from you. When you are mainly parked in the positive zone, if a negative event comes your way, it usually will not stick. It will have the least effect on a positive person like you. In spite of this negative event, you will be able to take action in a calm, controlled, and most effective manner.
In summary, action is everything. Take action and transform your life for a better future.
I always believe in you and you can do it!
References and Further Reading
- https://www.fdrlibrary.org/great-depression-new-deal
- https://www.history.com/topics/cold-war/cuban-missile-crisis
- https://mindfulambition.net/dealing-with-negativity/
Author
DrTJ (Thomas John, MD, DTM) is the author of Your Lifeonomics: Take Action Now to Immediately Improve Your Life.
Visit him at speakerdrtj.com. Email: [email protected]. Click here to order your copy of the book: Your Lifeonomcs
“DrTJ” / Thomas John, MD, DTM, is an international best-selling medical author, professional keynote speaker, personal coach, motivational speaker, and corporate leadership and sales trainer.
He has delivered numerous medical speeches as an invited speaker and keynote speaker both in the United States and worldwide. He has been featured globally on TV and has appeared on The Doctors Show.
Internationally, he has been invited to speak in Canada, Italy, India, South Africa, Serbia, Argentina, Greece, Brazil, Mexico, Peru, and Finland. He is listed in Chicago’s Top Doctors, America’s Top Doctors, and America’s Top Ophthalmologists. He has been featured in leading newspapers and magazines in the United States and abroad.
Dr. TJ is also a rock ’n’ roll drummer, dancer (ballroom, line, disco), and writer.
If you want a powerful, inspiring motivational and professional keynote speaker who will leave your audience members with an impactful experience they will never forget, book DrTJ today!
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Dr. David Burns, the famous psychologist, wrote that motivation comes from work, work does not come from motivation. The key is to start and motivation develops as you work.
This is so very true. How many times have you dreaded doing a chore and then, because it an important chore and you MUST do it, you get started and think to yourself “This isn’t that bad. Why did I wait so long to get this done.?” I have found that the real trick is to get started. Or in the words of Itshak Perlman, “The hardest part about practicing is getting the violin out of the case”. Just get started, you have the ability to solve problems as you go!