Many people won’t take action until everything is lined-up, all the pieces are in place and they feel they’re in the “zone” – whatever that means. These are just excuses and self –justification for procrastinating. One of my Profs at university said it best “You are better off with a B grade strategy and an A grade implementation than an A grade strategy and B grade implementation”. Translation – get off your butt and take action even if it’s not perfect. Good enough is generally good enough.
Actions generally precede skillful execution. If you only think about doing something without acting nothing will change. It’s the equivalent of “ready, aim, aim, aim….”but failing to pull the trigger. Dinner flew by again, you’re a vegan by default.
Apply these steps to act your way to success.

  1. Select the priority issue or task to act on. Avoid secondary issues to avoid delay.
  2. Prepare the environment to succeed – get the necessary resources and information but don’t over analyze.
  3. Conduct several trial runs to ensure you are on the right track and recalibrate quickly. Only if needed. If you’ve done it many times before, you’re likely good to go.
  4. Lean in hard and be prepared to “fail forward”. Failure and challenge is often the very best teacher.
  5. Constantly innovate. Try a right brain approach. Attack technical challenges from a non-traditional, more creative approach to break the mind block.
  6. Act! Pull the trigger and see what the results of your efforts are.
  7. Act!!

Don’t let your desire for perfection, or the fear of failure, become the reason for your procrastination.
Only put off until tomorrow what you are willing to die having left undone. ~ Pablo Picasso