The Biggest Mistake Smart People Make (And How To Avoid It)
There is a habit smart people have of reflecting on their ideas, making lists, planning, strategising, but leaving out one core aspect - Action.
This can be a huge hindrance when creating a business and although business planning can be extremely helpful it will not run on any fuel unless there is strong, fearless and consistent action.
What does action consist of?
Essentially people think that getting into motion is action, actually it isn’t.
You can have wonderful ideas and be consistently busy, but it just isn't translating into definable action. Ideas and projects are lovely and they can float around for so long, but without some consistent action, the ideas will slowly start to fizzle out and die.
Another killer to action is reaction. This means reacting to text messages, e-mails, social media, as well as reacting to the external minutiae that present itself, this creates a knee-jerk reaction that ultimately goes nowhere.
Taking clear, concise action to get to where you want to go is another matter altogether. There is a common mistake that often happens to smart people. In many cases, without ever realising it. The mistake has to do with the difference between being in motion and taking action.
How does being in motion differ from being in action?
When you find yourself in motion, you might be busy, but that task doesn’t produce an outcome in itself. Action on the other hand is taking you directly towards creating a result. Motion shouldn’t be undermined, as it allows the preparation of the action by strategising. It makes you feel you are progressing more without risking failure, but motion in itself will not lead to the result you want.
It's important to be mindful about what stops you going from motion to action. Ask yourself what is blocking you when making your next move.
Reflect on what is stopping you and holding you hostage in the ’no mans land' between motion and action.
What would you need to do to override this?
Question what’s getting in the way. It's really important to push through your self limitations to creating action. Often what's getting in the way is mindset and sometimes it’s easier to keep procrastinating rather than stepping out of the comfort zone and taking actionable steps.
The mistake people make is that they believe they need more confidence, more money, more self belief before they begin the process.
Dismiss this and throw caution to the wind. You can get into action despite your confidence levels, financial situation or self belief.
Shift from motion into action in 2 simple steps:
- Schedule your actions and stick to them.
Set specific days when you will focus on one aspect of your business or life. Set days when you blog, have conversations with clients, deal with paperwork, have your creative time or network. For example, I attend a work hub 3 days a week. During this time, I'm having conversations with potential clients whilst I create programmes as it's a great space in which to do so.
The days in between when I work from home, this is where I schedule conversations with my actual paid clients and when I attend to paperwork. This gives structure to my week.
If you want to get fitter or lose weight, schedule a programme which you pay in advance and which will ensure that on fixed days you're excersizing.
- Pick a date to shift from motion to action.
Pick a date when you're going to be finished with your project, rather than leaving it open ended. Make it known and share with someone who can keep you accountable. This is when motion will not produce a finished result, but action will.
In these situations, I find that it’s best to simply pick a date.
Put something on the calendar. Make it public. This is when you finally launch what you have been building for months. You can then begin to take all the steps needed to work towards the date.
When running a business, creating or launching, the first step is to be mindful of what is needed to produce results. Which actions are needed to get you from where you are to where you want to be. What you set your mind to is actionable, it is just a matter of committing to it and going for it fully. Not allowing for fear of failure, lack of self belief or limiting mindset to get in the way.