What was the last big idea you had? When did you have that idea and what happened to it? Does this story sound familiar: You are sitting in a chair in a silent room thinking when you suddenly have a brainwave, an idea just struck you. Excited by the aha moment, you quickly find a notepad or your smartphone to write the idea down. This could really be something and you need to explore it soon. However, this is as far as it goes because you forgot to take action on it, got busy with other stuff and didn’t put in the work.
Unfortunately, this situation occurs more often than one might think and in more ways than one can fathom. It happens during conversations, while you are driving, listening to podcasts and also when you are about to sleep (This one happens to me all the time, I get all my good ideas in the dead silence of the night). Inspiration strikes in odd places at odd times and we can’t always be prepared for it.
Consequently, most of our ideas are lost, some never to be found again. However, there are ideas that grab a hold of you and infect you like a virus (the choice of words seemed apt to the global situation). We have so many projects we want to complete but they never reach fruition such as fitness goals, financial goals or business goals. The reason for this incompleteness is simple: we don’t take immediate action on our ideas and wait for the right opportunities to execute.
Procrastination is a big issue personally and more often than not the thought is that I will get to it eventually when I can devote time properly. What we often forget is that in order to achieve results we need to take action. This is true for everything in life no matter how big or small the task at hand may seem.
My top goal is to take control of my life and that starts with helping around the house so I can learn stuff like cooking, washing clothes and similar chores. By force of habit, I don’t do these things on my own. Sometimes, I do think I should do a particular task but then I don’t. When I tell this to my dad he often says that I should put these thoughts into action immediately.
I face a similar situation at the prospect of going to the gym or exercising. I know I should do it and sometimes I want to do it but I almost never end up doing it. The answer is the same: when you get a mature and responsible thought, act on it immediately.
When I am dealing with things that are not so “spur of the moment” and need to be planned, I often find myself faltering because I keep planning with zero execution. In 2017. I wanted to pursue standup comedy because it seemed like a good idea at the time. I would get all these ideas for jokes some of which I documented and many of which I forgot. The pursuit ended even before it began because I never actually got around to writing jokes on a consistent basis. I had ideas that I never executed.
The point is straightforward: Taking action and putting in the work is necessary for getting results. Every project and goal in life requires total commitment from our end. We get ideas, inspiration and motivation but we don’t get results because we don’t put in the work. Ask around, everyone has hundreds of ideas for anything you can fathom in your mind. But not everyone is successful because ideas alone are useless without execution.
We need to put in the work every day without fail because things only work if we do. Everything needs at least two investments from us: time and effort. If we want to change something that is not working for us now, we need to put in the work to change it and repeat on loop daily till it becomes second nature.
The next time an idea grabs a hold of you or when inspiration strikes, say the following words: “Let’s get to work!”