Andrew Rondeau

Andrew is the owner of this website and has been a Leader, Manager, Coach and Consultant for the last twenty-five years.

Take Action And Ensure Your Career Is Successful

By Andrew Rondeau
Published 07/31/2008

Success in any entrepreneurial endeavour is conditional on a simple truth: Learning does not always require thinking.

Actually, thinking often hinders learning.

Hinders learning?

That flies in the face of most of what we know, doesn't it? As children, we were often reproached when we made mistakes: "You just weren't thinking! Don't you ever think about what you're doing?"

Then there's the most successful personal development book of all time telling us to do what?

Photo courtesy of Lindsey Spirit

That's right, "Think and Grow Rich".

True it is a fantastic book and a must read for success minded people. However, many of us get so tangled in thoughts that we can't get out of our "heads" and take the action required for success.

Socrates, one of the greatest "thinkers" of all time, said, "Action equals knowledge."

Action, not thinking, is how we achieve results.

Take playing the piano for instance. We could think about playing the piano but we will never become better until we start pecking away at the keys.

If you were to ask an accomplished pianist to think about what they are playing in the middle of a rapturous concert, the music would probably fall apart into a series of painfully disconnected notes.

The same is true with typing.

Ask a person who flawlessly types over 70 words a minute to think about the key strokes, and you could probably watch the mistakes pile up.

Thinking hinders execution.

Thinking can hinder success.

The fact of the matter is we can intellectualise all we want, but until we take action, we will never accomplish anything.

There is a mantra in the martial arts that says "Ready, Fire, Aim".

Simply put, this means take action and correct that action as you go.

It is quite probable that many businesses never get out of the starting gate because of over-thinking and over analysing.

Most people want all their ducks to be lined up in a row before they begin. This will never happen. The time will never be perfect.

The key is to get started and then "keep on keeping on."

In the martial arts, students practice moves over and over and over again. They train their bodies to transcend thought and take action in the moment.

Imagine a trained martial artist being attacked on the street thinking, "Hmm, okay I'm being attacked. Should I turn my body this way or should it be the other way? Okay, now I have to trap the assailant’s arms, tighten my fists, pull back, and strike."

Of course, this is not what happens in the martial arts. The key teaching in the martial arts is to ACT. NOW! ...In spite of the mind's tenancy to analyse the situation.

The worst kind of thinking is fear of failure.

The "What if" disease.

What if I lose all my money?

What if, what if, what if?

Fear is paralysing.

It stops the movement necessary for success.

Fear weakens our resolve, cripples our creativity, and ultimately stagnates our successes. Conversely, movement overcomes fear.

When struck by fear, move. Do something!

So, don't wait to explore your entrepreneurial spirit; take action now.

When those pesky thoughts creep up, and they will, scare them away with the mantra, "Don't think, don't think, don't think, don't think..." and watch your dreams and goals cascade towards you.

What is the bottom line? "Don't think and grow rich."

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1 Response to "Take Action And Ensure Your Career Is Successful"

Ari Koinuma

said this on 31 Jul 2008 1:32:06 PM EDT

While I agree with your basic premise that overthinking and overanalyzing can lead to paralysis, I can't endorse the blanket notion that thinking is bad for productivity.

Particularly, there is a danger in this common notion:
>When struck by fear, move. Do something!

Fear can stifle our judgment and cloud our views. Fear is not a good ingredient for making good judgment. True, action is required to resolve something. But doing SOMETHING because doing ANYTHING is better than NOTHING is a tempting but dangerous notion.

One time, I heard from a person who used to work in ER.
"Don't just do something. Stand there."
He said that in a high-stress place like ER, the tendency is to rush to judgment, hurry to action. But in medicine, doing something is definitely not better than nothing -- for that something can cause allergic reaction and kill you. He says that if you're unsure of what to do, then don't do anything. Decide to wait until you have a better picture.

I think this applies to life in general. We should choose inaction when we're crippled with fear. We should choose inaction when we're uncertain. Not to avoid mistakes and failures. Simply to make decisions we feel good about.

But -- we're talking about entrepreneurship, so I am sure what you're saying applies more often than what I'm saying. I don't think we're in disagreement. I was just pointing out to readers that context is important -- if you tend to overthink, Andrew's advise is spot on. If you tend to make poor decisions and over-rely on the notion of doing something, then heed my advise.

ari

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