One of my favorite words is “action.” I admire people who live in the habit of action. They get things done, and I want to encourage you to be one of those people. Not action without thinking, planning, and processing. But knowing when to act and doing it. Truthfully, the greater problem is that most of us wait and wait and have excuses to never act. I love the saying: anything worth doing is worth doing wrong. Most of us try to wait for the right time, the right place, the right everything, and never act.
Make the most of your time. Do what you need to do and don’t over-think it, or you’ll just add another item to your long list of things that have kept you from achieving great things in your life. Don’t wait for perfect conditions; act now rather than merely fantasizing about it or waiting for ideal circumstances to arrive.
When it comes to living a life of action, there are a few key steps that we can take to make sure that we’re being productive and proactive. These steps include:
1. Identify your goals.
When you know what you’re working towards, it’s easier to take action and stay on track. This is especially true in our faith. As God leads, as He shows us what to do in His Word, the Bible, we should act in obedience. Delayed obedience is disobedience.
2. Make a plan.
Once you know your goals, put together a plan for how you’re going to achieve them. The word we often use for this is strategy. You can’t develop a strategy unless you have first identified the goal. Then you work on a strategy to reach it. The best way to make a plan is to break your goal down into smaller, more manageable steps. This will make it easier to stay focused and motivated and stay on track. I like to break mine down by the year. Then I take those and break them down by the quarter. Then the week and ultimately the day. It’s not that I’m just a super disciplined person and it’s just my nature, I’m a creative. So this is a daily discipline for me. I’ve learned that I need to do this to reach my goals.
3. Just start.
The best way to achieve your goals is to start taking action! Don’t wait for the perfect moment, just get started and make progress bit by bit. What is something you can do today? Take action on those tasks, and make progress towards your goal, today. It may be that you need to take the action of simply identifying a goal. Just start!
Take action now. Don’t just wait and dream and wish. Have a plan: how you’re going to do this, what you need to do, and do it now. The earlier you take the first step, the sooner your goal will be achieved. Break it down into manageable steps and start today!