[YDL 2.0 EXCERPT 5] You Need To Do Something To Make It Happen

Here is another excerpt from my forthcoming book, Your Digital Life 2.0. This excerpt comes from the Goals section of the book and talks about the necessity of action.

Your Digitial Life will launch on Monday 11 December on Amazon, iBookstore and directly from my website. For more information click here  

“Action
Without action nothing happens. So many people say they want to achieve something, yet they never do anything to make it happen. It always astounds me that so many people use the phrase “I want…” yet just sit there and do nothing to make that want happen. I strongly believe that all human beings have the ability to achieve almost anything they want, if they would just get up off the sofa and take some action. Do something, anything. To make something happen, you need to do something. To make a cup of tea, requires you to put the kettle on, put a tea bag in a cup and pour the hot water over the tea bag once the kettle has boiled. That is action. Your cup of tea is not going to make itself. Even if you do not make the tea yourself, you still need to ask someone to make it for you. That is action.

One of the biggest causes of inaction are the words “when Christmas is over I am going to…” or “after the New Year I will…” or “when my kids have gone back to school I will start…” These are excuses to not do something. There is never a right time and there will never be a situation when the conditions, time, weather or whatever it is that you are using as an excuse to not do something will be perfect. Once you have decided you want to do something, then that is the time to start doing it. If nothing else, you can start by capturing your thoughts into your note taking application and begin the process of planning out how you are going to achieve it and why you want to achieve it.

This book did not write itself. Each day I scheduled time to write at least 500 words. Some days it was easy, other days it was very hard. But I knew that unless I took action and typed at least 500 words each day this book would never get published. And that really is the point about taking action, it does not have to be one huge effort, done right, taking action on anything whether it is a goal, a project or writing a book, it is small, manageable action steps that take you closer and closer towards whatever it is you are wanting to achieve.

Take some time to have a think about all the things you are making excuses for not doing. Things like, cleaning out your wardrobe, looking in to enrolling in a further education programme or even buying your first home. Whatever it is you want to do, write them down and then write out the reasons why you have not started. When you have completed this exercise, take a look at those excuses. What you will find is that they really are not stopping you from starting. Quite often the reason you have not started is because you really do not want to do it, or the motivation for doing it is not in line with your real values. This is where your note-taking application can be of real value because it will show you exactly what you truly want to do, and what you do not want to do. If you do not want to do it, then remove it or put it into your someday | maybe folder to review at a later date.

Remember, action is what makes things happen. Excuses never do.”