Action Changes Things

I am not the best writer. In fact, one of the reasons I started Three Action Thursday was to develop a consistent habit of writing and, ideally, get a little better at it. (Feel free to look back at my first piece and tell me if that is in fact the case.) It is rarely easy to come up with these pieces, though, and to set time aside in my schedule to write them is often a real challenge…and, if I’m being honest, there are some weeks where I really don’t want to do it. But I “feel” like it is important, and I know it is providing value to others, so I do it anyway. And there is almost always a payoff. An email from someone saying it hit home this week. Or someone shares the blog link on social media. So I take the action, and I push forward.

This “lack of action” happens to all of us in various realms of our lives! We avoid doing the one thing that is absolutely necessary for our success because it’s hard or tedious or because we are consciously or unconsciously fearful.

Fear is interesting because it goes both ways. Fear of failing is the obvious one. Trying something new and failing comes with psychological baggage and a desire to avoid that feeling again in the future. But fear of success is real too. With success comes a fear of “selling out” or becoming someone else all together outside of the lens of who we think we truly are. But even worse is the imposter syndrome. Imposter Syndrome is a psychological pattern in which an individual doubts their accomplishments and has a persistent internalized fear of being exposed as a “fraud”. Fear is a huge reason we do not act.

“Diamonds are nothing but chunks of coal that stuck to their jobs.” – Malcolm Forbes

Ultimately, being successful means doing the thing we don’t want to do at the highest competency level when we absolutely do not want to do it. (I’ll type it again, so you’ll read it again.)

Being successful means doing the thing we don’t want to do at the highest competency level when we absolutely do not want to do it.

There is truly nothing more important than being consistent about acting.

We all act on a daily basis on some things but not others. Sure, at times we call out sick from work, but for most of us getting up and going to work is non-negotiable. We should be just as deliberate with taking action when it comes to our hopes and dreams as we are in relation to going to our jobs.

This is absolutely true in our Three Action Thursday domains of personal finance, relationships, and personal/professional development.

• We will spend more time thinking about how we can save money (cut out Starbucks, shop at thrift stores, clip coupons) than how to make an extra $10K or $20K each year.
• We will spend more time feeling sorry for ourselves when we weren’t invited to a social gathering or haven’t seen our good friends in a while than we will planning our own intimate get together with the people we truly care about.
• We will spend a ridiculous amount of time binge-watching shows yet wonder why our life and career have been stagnant for the last five years.

**Action: Identify a single action that you are failing to take within each of our three domains, and begin planning how to implement it consistently in your life. Remember: Action (truly) Changes Things.**