Why Taking Action Brings Clarity

Ever had an inspiring idea, something that didn’t let you go for weeks, maybe even months, because you really wanted to make it happen? What happened to it?

Over the past few years, I’ve spoken to hundreds of people, many of who shared great ideas with me. Dreams. Business ideas. Career plans. Something they wanted to achieve, or just try… Most of them are “still thinking about it”, or “looking for more clarity” when I check-in with them.

Now, I do recommend doing some thinking before going about pursuing your dream, business-idea, or the like. It makes sense to have a plan. And oftentimes a bit of research does makes sense, too.

But most of us just don’t seem to know when enough research is enough.

And so we’re looking for more clarity, first. Because “getting ready to get ready” feels safer, and more reasonable. You might find out you "need" some more credentials, money, preparation, marketing skills, etc.

However, many of us go on a journey to get clarity, and never come back.

So What's the Problem?

The trouble is, unless you take action, you’ll never find clarity. No reasoning, no logic, no amount of data or reading about others who have “done this before” will give you the depth that action can give you. Why?

Because action is taking you into an experience. And experience provides way more ‘data points’ than research can.

How will it feel actually writing a blog, daily, for 30 days (vs thinking of topics, target audience, and marketing)? How will it feel to actually reach out to potential clients on a daily basis for a month? How will it make you feel to announce to your LinkedIn network that you're launching a new project?

50%, Go!

In 1998, just a few weeks after I had joined Microsoft (from IBM), my new director saw me print out a 2-pager hand-out in preparation of a meeting where I was requesting some extra budget. He asked my what it was. I said it was a short concept, actually thinking it might be a bit 'light'. He called it a ‘book’. "The market is moving fast", he said "no one's going to wait for us, so don't waste your time researching when you already know what you want to do." We called it the "50%, Go" principle. Have an idea, do some research, test it with an audience, and when you're about 50% sure it's going to work, start rolling it out...

The truth is, when we have passion for something, too much research can be killing the motivation to even try. Being able to try something not only gives you clarity and a reality-check, it also gives you lots of more ideas along the way, things you couldn't think of by 'thinking about it'...

So, give your passion a bit more fuel, set yourself a 'mini-goal' and take some radical action for 30 days to find out if it's really as fun as you think it is... and don't give up for the time you've set... you will not only get more clarity about what you really want, you'll also gain more courage. (hint: courage also doesn't come from doing research, it grows by being used)...