Why is it that some people seem to be succeeding at everything they do? Why do they move ahead by leaps and bounds while others, much more talented, it seems are not even getting anywhere?
The answer lies in the way we all approach things. Successful people have a plan and they back their plans with action while others either do not plan or don’t work their plan.
Success is a planned event. Success doesn't happen by accident. It does not happen because you found your mojo.
I truly believe in goal setting, game planning and then working on those plans everyday to achieve my goals. But I am aggressive about working on my plans. I love working hard and long hours to achieve my goals.
Occasionally, I even find myself running ahead of myself and I need to stop to plan (or adjust the plan) when I notice that happening. I guess that happens when I get excited about something new or adventurous. Well, I know I am getting better and better at controlling this, as time goes by.
Some People Spend Too Much Time Planning
On the other hand, I have friends who not just plan every aspect of anything they want to do, they make it an excuse for not taking action. They like to plan every aspect of everything, document everything before they take the first step towards achieving the goal. Whether it is about starting a new business, learning a new skill, taking vacation, starting a website, getting married or having children. Everything must be thoroughly planned.
A plan without action isn’t going to create much success, is it? No wonder so many people have big plans and nothing gets materialized for them year after year. They make planning such an endless exercise that it paralyzes their ability to take action.
Imperfect Action Is Better Than Perfect Planning
When I started my first website setup activity, I didn’t have any plan. I didn’t even know what I needed to do to get indexed by Google. I didn’t know the importance of commenting on other people’s blogs or anything about social media marketing.
All I knew was, I was going to create a website where I could share my thought processes with the world. I planned to write about things that mattered to me. I thought of sharing some of my favorite inspirational stories, a few poems and anything I became passionate about on the way.
Did I have a perfect website setup for me? Not really. In fact it was a disaster. There was nothing about my first website that I can’t laugh about today. But you know what? It gave me the confidence that I can setup a website of my own. It gave a boost to my self-confidence that eventually led me to the concept of Personal Branding and Social Media Marketing concepts.
If not for the courage to take action when I knew I didn’t have the perfect website design or expertise in my hands to get started, I wouldn’t have achieved the things that I have so far. I am proud of my decision to get started, to keep learning and to keep improving.
If you have a project that you are planning to launch, and you are stuck in the planning phase, I encourage you to take that first step on a leap of faith. Just take action and commit to take small actions each day towards the achievement of your goal. A few years down the line you will be proud that you took action today.
It's okay to have an imperfect starting point. It’s okay to make mistakes. You shouldn’t worry about perfection because you never can be perfect.
Just get started. Have faith, keep learning and keep moving.
Steps To Stop Planning And Start Doing
If you are like me and run ahead of your plans, you know that you need to slow down and plan a bit before going too far. Planning is important and it helps us, not just in avoiding potholes on the way, it also helps us to achieve goals in an organized fashion.
But if you find yourself always postponing your activities because you feel your plans are yet not finalized, you need to stop planning any more and start taking action right away. You need to do something and stop worrying about perfection.
Here are a few important steps to help you pave the way:
- Have your plans broken down to small actionable steps that you can work on a day-to-day basis. It helps measure your progress. It also serves to catch you procrastinating when things start to backlog.
- Don’t just plan to achieve a goal. Plan to try new things as well. This will help you overcome the fear of failure.
- Make yourself accountable to somebody you respect. If you have a mentor in your life, talk to your mentor and share your plans with him/her. Accountability is a great motivator.
- Healthy competition is a great way to stop planning and start doing. I have benefited from this method to a great extent. Have a competitive spirit. Compete with somebody who is doing better than you in your domain.
- Believe in yourself. If you believe you are better than you think you are, your subconscious will help you break out of the habit of procrastination behind planning. Self-confidence is the key element in achieving anything.
Questions: How do you plan to achieve your goals? Do you write down your goals? How do you ensure that you are taking actions on a daily basis to achieve them?
Please share some tips from your experience by clicking here. Thank you kindly!
Goal setting and planning are critical elements to success. There is no doubt about that. But if we postpone the action part, it becomes a reason why we aren’t moving in the direction of our goals.
I make sure I do at least one thing that I don’t really enjoy doing to achieve my goals on a daily basis. This helps me practice discipline and I think that is a great way to make sure ACTION is taken every day.
That’s absolutely true.
Thanks Kumar,
I can personally relate with and reflect on the thought provoking principles, ideas, and action steps imperatives discussed in this article. I have lots of housekeeping to embark on to clear up the inventory of stuffs to be cleared up on my desks and shelves. It’s about time do begin to do more than I’m currently doing!
Great Ime. We must begin taking steps for our plans to work. I wish you all the best!
This is so super awesome. Thank you so much for sharing.
Thank you Kuda. Appreciate the appreciation.
Hi Kumar,
You begin your post by asking why is it that some people seem to be succeeding at everything they do?
Not only do they have an action plan, but I believe successful people also have an extraordinary mindset. They’re willing to:
DO extra research and study to outshine the competition.
GIVE extra care and consideration to others.
GO the extra mile in customer service.
PAY extra attention to details.
Kind Regards,
Bill
This really nice article, I remember my grand parents used to say "Less talk and more work", this is what I can relate with this article. Currently I do have set of Goals, but not written so far. Thanks a lot, Mr. Kumar you keep me motivated to achieve my Goals.
Plan + no action = no results
No plan + action = some results
I agree, planing is important to get better and faster results, but just planning is not getting any results!
yes Mr.Kumar. You explained very well harmony between planning and action and important role of each task in real life.
1 Gram of ACTION is much better than 1 KG of PLANNING!!
I try to develop an end state. From that I work my way backwards and divide the process into smaller and easily manageable tasks. However, on larger projects this approach seldom works.
I have leaned to trust my gut feeling. I plan the next step and get on with it accepting that I do not have a plan let alone a definite end state. The alternative is worse, however. That would be not to take action.