What do you do if you come up with a really great idea?
Do you just sit there thinking “oh, if only…”, or do you start looking at how to make it happen?
Taking action is the only thing that separates people who succeed from those that don’t. The people that really succeed in life have something in common. They start doing things first, and then try to work out the details later. As one of my friends says, “ready, fire, aim”…
Woody Allen pointed this out when he said something like, “80% of success is showing up”. What he meant was, the people who can’t even be bothered to try will never succeed. Well, of course not, but sometimes even the most obvious things need to be stated for you to notice them.
And trying to do stuff isn’t so hard either. All you need to do is decide you’re going to do something and then try to do it!
You’ll have problems. You may even fail completely on your first few attempts. It doesn’t matter, every failure is one step closer to success.
I remember reading that Thomas Edison failed hundreds of times to make a light bulb that could be used domestically. (He didn’t invent the light bulb, he improved on it.) When asked about his failures, he claimed that each one was actually a success because he knew he was nearing his goal. Which is an interesting thing to say in itself. It expresses a positive and persistent attitude.
If you can get into that frame of mind and hold it, and just keep working towards your goal no matter what, you will succeed.
It won’t happen overnight. It will happen eventually. I’m living proof of that.
It’s been a struggle for me. Technically very competent, but for years lacking in oomph to make things happen. So it’s taken me a while, and there are certainly things I could improve on, but every time I try something and even though I might fail, it’s still a success.
Because next time, I know how to do it better.
Have you started doing things yet? Or are you still just dreaming about it?
Make a plan. Today. Try to stick to it. Change the plan. Do what you can. Take action.
Just do something.
