Just Do It Now!

"The world cares very little about what a man or woman knows; it is what the man or woman is able to do that counts."
Booker T. Washington

Knowing and doing are two completely different things. In my life I’ve known brilliant people who are full of theories, solutions, and ideas yet, they never seem to accomplish much. On the other hand, I’ve also known many individuals who may not know much or have well, thought-out plans or ideas yet, they are successful in life. What sets these people apart is Action!

Action is one of the single most important traits that leads to success. Without action, it is impossible to accomplish much of anything. Action, whether in the right direction or not, is always better than no action at all. In fact, the ability to do is often much more valuable and fruitful than knowledge.

Rarely is there action that is wasted because of a lack of knowledge, but often there is wasted knowledge because of a lack of action. Below are a few suggestions on how to get going!

Become Uncomfortable

Often we have a natural tendency to stay in our comfort zone. By doing this, we don’t do enough to challenge ourselves or rock the boat a little. Simply stated, we don’t take risks. When we avoid risks and avoid challenging ourselves we become stagnant without much movement forward towards achieving goals. For this reason, we must take action and be willing to be uncomfortable. In fact, if we do not feel some degree of discomfort in our lives, we are not doing enough to be successful; we are not taking enough action.

Be Wrong

Another fear we have that keeps us from action is our inability to be wrong. Many who know a lot want to protect or maintain that image. They believe taking risks and failing is an indication they do not know it all. Thus doing is much harder than simply knowing. This fear can quickly make those who know into those who do not do--creating perhaps an even worse reputation than the one they think they are protecting. We must be OK with being wrong, as all successful people have been wrong before they’ve been right. Taking action may take some faith and some humility, but it will bring about good results.

Be Active

Another tragic reason why people who know are not the same as the people who do is because they are lazy. Putting forth effort is too much work, thus simply knowing is enough. Instead of being productive they are more interested in relaxing, watching television, or surfing the Internet. These people like to talk and even ridicule those who are taking action only to find out that life is very disappointing and empty without action.

Have Faith

One last reason people who know do not take action is because they lack faith and courage. Since they do not know the future, they wait and wait and wait. Simply not knowing what will happen tomorrow is not a good enough excuse to not take action, as we will never for certain know what tomorrow will bring. Successful people are those who do not see the entire picture yet they have a vision of what the picture may be. Then they try to create it though doing. Though most often their vision is not completely accurate in the end, it is often close to what they envisioned, because they took action and helped create it! Take courage and have faith by doing instead of simply knowing.

In conclusion, to use the famous Nike phrase we need to “Just Do It!” and just do it NOW! Taking action and living by faith allows those who don’t know a lot to be much more successful than those who do know a lot. Learning to be uncomfortable, to be wrong, to be active, and to have faith will help us all as we begin to take action toward our dreams. We cannot allow ourselves to simply be one of those who knows; we must all be one of those that does.