“Do not wait until you are ready to take action; instead, take action to be ready.” Jensen Siaw
Do not wait until you are ready to take action, or it will never happen! If we all waited until the “time was right,” nothing would ever get done. Sometimes just starting is the most important thing you can do. What does taking action mean to you? To me, it is a mindset, but I realize that is not true for everyone.
The first step in taking charge is to realize that everything begins with you: just take responsibility. This means that you are responsible not only for beginning but for the final outcome as well. Even if the situation is not your fault, take ownership of it. Never play the “blame game.” That does not mean others should not be held accountable but that blaming others is a losing prospect. When you blame or find fault, you are looking backwards instead of ahead.
The next step in taking action is to take inventory of your goals. You must have concrete goals or you will not know what you are working toward. Writing down goals is a great way to envision them and will help you decide how to take action. In order to take action you must stay in the present. You must not allow yourself to be distracted by others or by your own thoughts. Always ask yourself, “Am I doing what I really need to do right now to move forward in this situation?” Sometimes the answer to that question is yes, even if you are doing something boring or seemingly unimportant.
Finally, you must be accountable to others for your actions. Telling others what we are going to do helps us develop consistency and keeps us honest. It is much harder to back out of our goals if we share them with others.
Taking action is often a matter of just getting ourselves in the right frame of mind and taking that first step. When we hold ourselves accountable, create our goals in a concrete form and ask others to keep us accountable as well, we are on our way to useful action!
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