The Anti-Excuse Formula
One thing that drives me nuts about personal development and success gurus is that they say 'you can do and be anything you wanna be' yet rarely follow it up with action steps.
Let me be honest here...Passion, success, determination, dreams, goals....All of it doesn't amount to anything without action!
Without action, everything else doesn't matter!
Here's a simple 'action plan' I developed over the years when I want to get some new ideas out in the market or get myself out of any creative funks I might have found myself in..Trust me it happens more than I would like to admit;
1. I Dive Deep Into Some Good Books
My favorite 'spot' in my home is my reading corner. I make sure I allocate time every single day to read something that will help my growth. No matter how bad things are going in my life or business, reading puts me into ' creative thinking' mode. I find ideas from what I read, inspiration and fantastic life lessons. But this is only part one of my formula...
2. I Get A Fresh Page In My Journal & Write Down What I'm Learning
I'm a big believer in writing in journals. And there is a good reason why. Not only am I learning things each and every time I pick up a book, but I want to REMEMBER what I'm learning as well. Hey maybe you are super human and can remember things from weeks ago that you picked up...Not me.
If I don't write down what I am learning I will forget by the time you are done reading this sentence...What was I talking about again???
3. How Does What I Am Learning Fall Into My 3 Vital Functions?
I wrote about finding your 3 vital functions a few months ago on Steemit and years ago on my other blogs. This is critical to finding your calling and discovering hidden potential! If I'm reading about an amazing developer or programmer and cross reference an idea they bring up with my vital functions, I'll be able to see it's not the best allocation of my time. However maybe I read something that Gary Vaynerchuk wrote about media representation and it's a fantastic nugget...I then ask myself how can I implement that idea and does it align itself with one of the things I am good at...
Instant results!
4. The White Board Meets A Mind Map
Next I take those ideas that align with my vital functions and start to mind map each idea on my white board. The central idea would be front and center and then I would use a little bit of creative thinking and map ideas that could see the 'big idea' start to take shape. I'm a huge fan of not only putting things on a big white board to visualize it all, but mind mapping has been directly responsible for some of my biggest wins in business over the years.
Once you start to let your mind wander...You'll be blown away at what you come up! I highly recommend Thinkertoys by Michael Michalko for developing some great creative thinking techniques! I read it years ago and it helped me a ton!
5. And Finally...Get To Work!
Nothing left to do but put the axe to the grindstone! Developing your ideas and trying new things is one of the most rewarding aspects of being an entrepreneur. You get to see something that you 'thought of' become reality and once it's in the market...You'll be able to see if others found value in your ideas.
Nothing guaranteed though and while not every idea you have will turn out to be a winner, the more you take swings eventually you WILL connect and hit it out of the park!
These are action steps I've been following for years...And I hope they help you develop your own anti-excuse formula :)
Posted from my blog with SteemPress : http://plus1daily.com/the-anti-excuse-formula/
Great system, well laid out.
You reminded me of ThinkerToys - that's a great book. I'll have to dust off my copy and dive in again. Great stuff!
Thanks man, yeah it's a fantastic read. Eye opening and got me thinking big years ago!
I wish I'd have a tool to see how many accounts on Steem which started the same month as myself are still active. And it's only been a few months. I can only guess right now many are inactive or semi-active by now.
Action means work. An untrained mind will do anything do avoid it.
It's mind blowing....A little dip and everyone gives up lol Not everyone is built for the long haul....People say they are but let's see in 6 months or even a year who is still here. I've seen so many people come into this platform and literally give up after a few months...
A good and informative post as usual. I took it to heart and am spending time refocusing myself and concentrating on my strengths and how best to make the best use of them. Thanks for lighting my candle lol.
Appreciate that. Glad you got value from it! It's self discovery right....Allowing yourself to focus on things you are good at and being ok with things you aren't....After you master that, ideas become a lot easier to put into practice :)
Really good info John, I need to start getting back to content creation myself...Had an accident a few months ago and just need to get back to everything...
You'll get back at it :) Thanks for the comments, appreciate them very much and I'm glad you enjoyed the content!
Great blog post Jon.I also believe to the personal growth through the power of reading although I haven't personally read a loooot of them in my life.I truly believe to the cross-exchanging ideas that someone can find inside books and also "filter" those ideas inside head.I like the fact that you get so much engaged in reading books and manage to generate new ideas.Another once thank you for this blog post and the encouragement you give to us to try new things and share our ideas. Regards!
Appreciate that sir, thanks for the comments. Oh no doubt, great things happen when people communicate. Whether it's sharing ideas learned in a book or other avenues.
Reading a book and then writing it down is what I recently started and I'm loving it. So many golden nuggets will be forgotten if not written down! Love the part about taking action too! +1
Yessir, for sure! +1 always each and everyday :)
This is getting attention to detail, it works and the writing stuff down part can be a great motivation tool and plan of action.
Agreed...You see so much more when it's in front of you on paper.
These are good habits... When people hear action sometimes they hear physical activity... in this case it could be +1ing, reading a good book, writing, a blog, recording a video, joining a webinar, or even listening to a cassette. But, remember you should take action towards goals otherwise it is busy work. :) If your goals are to comment on 5 posts, have 500 followers, be level 60, and have 100 Steem crypto make sure your action helps you achieve towards that goal!
Yup, anything that gets you closer helps. Gotta step it up now...Getting too comfortable :)
oh yay... no more slacking! :)
Well done! This is generally how I roll when planning classes to teach, patterns to design, or pretty much anything else.
Yeah it works. The important thing for me is seeing how any idea fits with my vital functions. Being true to yourself and honest will help you avoid major time traps lol
Good stuff Jon, I ordered Thinkertoys before I finished reading this post. I love Amazon Prime. Looking forward to getting off my ass and bringing my brand to the next level. I have always respected and enjoyed your teachings and will continue to do so.
Awesome! Thanks man. Appreciate the kind words and yeah, Thinkertoys will get you thinking differently for sure....Allowed me to look at things in a different light. Let me know what you think!