Winners make choices and take action to implement those choices. We’ve been socialized in North America to believe that “action” equals a massive expulsion of energy, which can be paralyzing when making a choice then choosing what action take.
A quote attributed to Andrew Carnegie is “you will lose more to indecision than a bad decision.” As I said to my seven-year-old recently “if you’re constantly asking, ‘what if’ you’ll never get to enjoy ‘what is.’”
Most choices we make are minor and the action we take to implement can be small. Whether you “dip your toe in,” “test the waters” or “be 1% better,” a little action creates a little momentum, which you can build on. No action creates inertia, which can be an even stronger force than momentum.
Recently we had a client in session who was struggling with a choice to pursue a business opportunity that they are passionate about but would be a departure from their long-time business. We said to them, “the beauty of pursing one path or the other is that you can adjust your path as you go and, in this case, switch paths entirely if you like. Whichever path you choose we will celebrate that and support you and if you choose to adjust we will celebrate that and support you with your adjustment.”
In an episode of the cartoon, Duckman the title character is paralyzed by fear because with every step they take up pops a future version of themselves based on the (in)action they took. At one-point a past version of them pops up. This version is about to marry their now deceased wife. Present day Duckman is paralyzed with what to tell the past version of them and settles on, “you’ll love her forever.”
If you believe that you’re making the best choice with the information you have at hand, which can change quickly, you’ll be more likely to stop asking “what if,” make a choice, take action and enjoy “what is.”
Until next time… go enjoy what is.
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