CA049: Time for action

“Thought and theory must precede all salutary action; yet action is nobler in itself than either thought or theory.” ~ Virginia Woolf You know what you want, you’ve created your vision and set your goals. You’ve got in the right mindset and done the mental preparation. You’ve planned your actions and know where to start – so what now? Well it’s time to actually do it – it’s time for action. Planning for action is key but none of it matters if you don't put your plan into action and follow through on your goals. Changeability is about taking action. But it’s not a ‘running around like a headless chicken’ sort of action. It’s not being busy for the sake of it action. It’s about managing your mind to make changes in your life, and that means it’s action based on mind management techniques. The very techniques we talk about on The Changeability Podcast and are laid out in the Changeability: Manage your Mind – Change your Life book. If you follow and practice these your action becomes: Action born of your vision and goals Action grounded in attaining the results of your visualization. Action in line with the empowering beliefs of your affirmations. Action founded on the energy generated through appreciation. Action centred in mindfulness of your present experience, making it count. Action stemming from the creativity of your subconscious. Action implemented with the clarity and focus arising from meditative practice. It’s time for action, but there’s potential traps stopping you.   Procrastination Procrastination is the number 1 killer of action, but what’s behind it? Fear - Sometimes we’re afraid of either the action itself or the outcome if we achieve it, so we find other things to do to distract us Uncertainty - We’re unsure what to do to get going Perfectionist tendencies Overcoming procrastination Examine the thoughts and beliefs behind the fear and use affirmations to replace them with positive affirming beliefs Acknowledge the fear and get on with the action Recognise it wont be perfect and this is a delaying tactic Think in terms of days not months or years, to bring your future self nearer to your present self and raise awareness of the price of not taking action Busyness for the sake of busyness   Sometimes we just like to feel we’re busy. Being busy is almost addictive and makes us feel like we’re achieving something even if it’s not the actions we need to take to get us to our goals. Set your priority and prioritise it Make this your one thing to get done before moving on to other activities The ‘to-do’ list Surely the most simple productivity tip of all time is the good old fashioned humble to-do list. Try writing it by hand with a box to tick it off when completed Write your to-do list the night before, so you can get up and get on without thinking about what you need to do   Action on action The time for action is now – and the key is consistency and purposeful activity. Take positive consistent action every day Ask yourself if your actions today support your goals The Changeability Podcast episode 49 In episode 49 of The changeability Podcast – Time for Action – we talk about all of this and more including: What stops us taking the action (even when we think we want to take it) Tips for overcoming procrastination and being busy What’s going on in Kathryn’s mind when she should be taking action 5 ways to help you take action everyday What to do when you feel stuck How to deal with self-sabotaging thoughts The question you need to answer everyday   “It's a terrible thing, I think, in life to wait until you're ready. I have this feeling now that actually no one is ever ready to do anything. There is almost no such thing as ready. There is only now. And you may as well do it now. Generally speaking, now is as good a time as any.” Hugh Laurie What about you? What are you taking action on today? Let us know in the comments below. If you like listening to The Changeability Podcast help us out Nominations have opened for the first ever UK Podcasters’ Awards and are open for the whole of July.  If you like our podcast we would absolutely love it if you’d consider nominating us for a UK Podcast Award. You can nominate us up to once a day for each day of July – so if you really love us you can do it everyday – but even once would be fabulous. Simply click here and then on ‘nominate this podcast’. You’ll be asked to verify it with an email address, Facebook or Twitter (this is to make sure it’s only 1 vote per podcast per day). Thank you very much K and J xxx