The importance of immediate, massive, daily action has been written about many times already but it is so important that it is worth writing about again and again. The examples in this article come from the world of business but they could apply to any other walk of life as well.
Marketing is the life blood of business but sometimes businessmen will wait until they have written the perfect advertisement or sales message before they send out even one ad. They also spend weeks making sure their website is beautifully designed with all the latest refinements.
Meanwhile good selling time is passing them by. Their product may even be out of date before they are happy with the advertisements. By the time they have everything perfect and ready to go, they may run out of capital and be forced to close down their business.
The best lesson I learned from the late Corey Rudl at a seminar in London was not to worry about creating a perfect website. Just get one up. His own dad had a website selling Ferrari car badges which was very ordinary but it was making money.
Michael Bloomberg, the billionaire Mayor of New York, credits his success to getting going without spending too much time planning:
” We act from day one; others plan how to plan – for months.”
Dave and Heidi Perry talk about a fairly average businessman and average marketer whom they call Jack.
Jack’s motto was: “Doin’ it, Doin’it, Doin’it” i.e do something, anything every day towards achieving your marketing goals.
He kept plugging away each day with his marketing even when the format of his sales brochures and forms was not very good. He would not wait for the format to be improved. He believed in ‘Doin’ it’ even if he was not quite ready to do it.
This philosophy and behaviour made him a multi millionaire and a leader. Even though what he said was not profound and could at times be downright stupid, his action oriented words and behaviour led many to trust him and to follow his suggestions.
“He knew that to get a desired outcome, he had to actually DO something to get there.”
Jack knew that if his audience would just do something – anything – every day toward their goals, they,too,would get there. He, himself, just started doing something.
He didn’t wait until he had enough money to start his business or until his advertising materials were perfect or until he had a stockpile of products to sell. He started with what he had and did something every day to achieve his goal.
You can’t dream or wish your way into riches although this can help. You have to actually do something about it however badly. What is worse than a sales ad? No sales ad. Don’t wait until you have a great website or enough money to start your business.
Get going badly now and do something every day towards achieving your goal. You may still have doubts and fears but by doing something every day you will make progress and your confidence and power will increase.
Some people want to master a piece of software before they use it. The chances are that they will never use it!
The quickest way to learn how a software tool works is to start using it on a daily basis. We will make mistakes, of course, but we will also make progress in understanding the software.
I did not use an autoresponder for ages because I was afraid of making mistakes and sending people the wrong message. When I did get round to using one, I almost immediately made mistakes but learned rapidly how to put them right and no one sent in any letters of complaint!
If possible, find a mentor who can hold your hand while you try something new. However, mentors are not always easily available so trust yourself to have a go on your own and see what happens.
You will probably amaze yourself at what you can achieve on your own especially if you don’t give up at the first signs of trouble.
Obviously preparation, thinking and planning are worth doing but there comes a time when the most important thing is to actually start taking action even if this means you are running risks. Try it and see what happens.
Start “Doing it!”
