Enough Talk

Enough Talk

Have you rallied the troops for one of your inspirational “let’s make it happen” talks. The problem with talking is that talking “ain’t” doing. A lot of hot air is expended talking about how great the coming month, quarter or year is going to be.

But talk is cheap. If you’re really serious about making this your best year ever, talk won’t get you there. So how do you really get things done? The short and simple answer is you just do something. The harder part of the answer is that you have to do something differently.

If you want the future to be better than the past, you must act today in a way that is different than the way you acted yesterday. If you stop and think about it for a few minutes, you can probably think of several things that you know you can and should be doing that you’re not. Your job is to quit talking, stop procrastinating, and start doing. Here are five ways to get moving.

1. Start small. Pick one thing that you’re not doing now that you know you should be doing. Maybe, you’re doing it, you’re just not doing it enough. For example, if you want to increase the number of sales appointments you have, look at where you are and increase it slightly. You’ll be more likely to follow-through with your goal if it’s realistic. So if you had eight appointments last week, set nine for next week. Gradual increases will yield results. Just keep increasing a little bit at a time.

2. Be accountable. Most people want to achieve more, but they’re not willing to be accountable for their actions and results. Accountability means discipline and discipline means doing the important things when you would rather be doing something else (or nothing at all).

3. Make mistakes. The more mistakes you make, the better. Sounds crazy, doesn’t it? But the reality is that if you’re making mistakes you’re actually doing something. Learn from your mistakes and you’ll be way ahead of the game.

4. Do it now. Create a sense of urgency to your day. Increase the tempo of your activities and you’ll find that you not only get more done, you’ll be more energized and focused.

5. Get your priorities straight. Don’t get caught in the time trap of having to check 87 things off of your to-do list. Instead, focus your time on the most important tasks. Ask yourself, “What’s the future impact of doing this now?” If the future impact is high, make it a priority. If the future impact is low, move on.