Action Archives - Page 5 of 5

Do Your Own Pushups

Posted on January 30, 2020

The optimal way to change something in your life, is to make the effort yourself.

Sure, you can watch Tiger Woods play golf everyday and that might help your golf game a little. But to make, lasting and significant progress, you need to go do it yourself.

Whether this means getting up early to travel through rain or snow to get to the gym and do a challenging workout, put in the work to build your business or put the gruelling extra effort in to progress your career, only you can do it. If your personal trainer, competitor or work colleague put in the hard yards and focus on the results, they will get the benefit, not you.

It’s nice to have supporters and people cheering you on and hoping you get the work in and the results out, but only you can make it happen. No well intentioned effort from your Mom, Dad, spouse, friend, neighbour, etc will make your body, business or career better. You have to grind it out and win those results for you. And you will feel amazing for it!

Go! Do your pushups.

Action Think About It

Actions Speak Louder Than Words

Posted on January 26, 2020

“As I grow older, I pay less attention to what men say. I just watch what they do.”

– Andrew Carnegie

I love this quote. It is such a useful thought. It is a great way to understand people’s intent, sincerity and desire.

Replace “men” with “people” and it’s even better.

Action Progress

Uncomfortable to Unstoppable

Posted on January 20, 2020

Frequently people stop because something is uncomfortable. People will often shy away from a challenge because it is socially uncomfortable (what people might think or say if you tried), physically uncomfortable (a challenging skill or strenuous) or mentally uncomfortable (trying to solve a difficult problem).

If only people remembered that you always have to get through that uncomfortable stage before you can get to the unstoppable stage.

If you can remember, you were usually uncomfortable when you started doing anything for the first time. It could have been putting your hand up in class, or speaking in a meeting (social), learning a new sports skill (physical) or learning your times tables (mental).

The trick to remember is that it always gets better and easier if you put in the effort and accept greater guidance from someone who knows how. Then if you keep trying, practicing and developing, you will start to be quite good at it (witness anyone progressing through times tables or solving a Rubik’s Cube).

Then if you practice even more, you can become unstoppable. What a great feeling that is. To know you are one of the best in a certain endeavour.

That period of being uncomfortable is the way the Universe checks to see who really is interested in progressing further.

To progress from Uncomfortable to Unstoppable, you need Action Not Words.

Go do it!

Action Think About It

How Important Is This?

Posted on January 16, 2020

If I want to gauge how important something is to me or to someone else, I put it through the same filter I have since I was in my teens. This filter I use is the following: Is the person using the care, diligence and urgency that I imagine a heart or brain surgeon would use on the country’s leader or that a Marine or SAS operative would use on a special mission?

These scenarios are life and death. Mistakes can cost lives, including your own, if you were the patient or the operative.

These people will be highly trained, well drilled, and focused on a successful outcome. They will confidently take action to achieve their desired result.

They probably don’t use phrases like, “I kinda feel like I can give it a try and then we will just see what happens.” Certainly words you do not want to hear from your heart surgeon as they are putting you under…

Action

Action Not Words

Posted on January 15, 2020

I read with interest, an article about the 2020 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductees. Congratulations to all of them. Hard working and action oriented people. It’s usually the way to success. Grind. Discipline. Focus. Battle.

I was reminded about a band that was inducted last year, which was one of my favourites in my teens: Def Leppard. They had a song on their massively successful breakthrough album, Pyromania, called Action Not Words. I’ve often thought about that phrase. It’s short, clear and exactly what is required to move things forward.

You need more action in your life. More action moving you toward the outcome you are looking for. Results not reasons. Execution not excuses. So if you want to be more successful in anything, remind yourself of this simple phrase: Action Not Words.

Go get it done.