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One of the things I hear from clients and others is that there are so many things that they could be doing, that they feel overwhelmed. Because they do not know where to start, they end up doing nothing.
Instead of taking action to market their businesses, create products, build a website, or whatever they could be doing, they do nothing.
Obviously, doing nothing is not a good choice. And it is a choice. You either choose to do something (a specific task or project) or you choose to do nothing.
Here is the secret to deciding which of many possibilities you should explore:
Write them all down on a piece of paper. Grab a pencil. Close your eyes and make a pencil mark on a random part of the page. Do the thing that is listed where you made the pencil mark.
Don’t like that idea? Well, you could post the list on your bulletin board and throw a dart instead, but that can be dangerous (especially if your eyes are closed).
I suspect that right now you are scoffing at this idea. After all, this will not help you to determine the best possible action to take. It is random! You need to analyze all of the possibilities, discuss them with everyone you know, make detailed pro and con lists, then decide on the action that will be the perfect thing to do.
That is what you are doing now, right? As Dr. Phil would ask, how’s that working out for you? If that course of action leads to doing nothing, because you can not decide which action is “perfect,” you are choosing to do nothing.
Doing anything is better than doing nothing.
Did you hear that? I am going to say it again.
Doing anything is better than doing nothing.
Print that sentence out in big type and post it over your desk. Read it, out loud, several times a day. Embroider it in a sampler. Write it on your hand. Put in on sticky notes all over your office, your car, your kitchen, everywhere.
Doing anything is better than doing nothing.
The next time you say, “I know I need to <blank>, but I have so many ideas and I do not know which one I should do,” use this technique. Just choose one and do it. Any one. Because– all together now–
Doing anything is better than doing nothing.
6 responses so far ↓
1 Melodee Patterson // Aug 5, 2008 at 8:16 am
Thanks, Cathy. This is exactly the place that I’m in at the moment. (I haven’t perfected what I’m going to do yet…) So I’ve written down my new mantra:
Doing anything is better than doing nothing.
2 Cathy Stucker // Aug 5, 2008 at 8:36 am
Melodee, committing to a course of action can be a little scary. We wonder what else we will miss out on by choosing one thing.
The point to remember is that if you wait until you are certain of the “perfect” action, you will miss everything because perfect will never happen.
In the words made famous by Nike, Just Do It! (whatever “it” is).
3 Cheryl Pickett // Aug 5, 2008 at 5:52 pm
The Internet is an awesome tool most of us can’t imagine doing without for even a day, but “overwhelm” is a definite downside.
Your reminder is much like the old adage “every journey begins with one step”. If you never take that first step, you can’t go anywhere.
Great post!
Cheryl Pickett
Publishinganswers.com
4 Cathy Stucker // Aug 5, 2008 at 7:37 pm
So true, Cheryl. There are so many possibilities that it is hard to choose just one. I find myself asking if I should create this product, or build that web site, or start offering a new service or . . . any of a hundred other things I could do.
I wrote this post because I sometimes have to remind myself that the best action is the one I take, not the one I just think about.
5 Leona Shankle // Aug 9, 2008 at 3:20 pm
I also find myself in the position of working on many things at one time and feeling overwhelmed to the point of doing nothing because of it. Case in point, after reading your post I proceeded to continue “researching blogs” instead of acting on a brand new marketing idea that came to mind immediately. My way of doing nothing.
Thanks to you I am on track with a new mantra, “Doing Anything is Better Than Doing Nothing”. I will return for more – often.
6 Working at Home on the Internet // Aug 15, 2008 at 5:19 am
[...] Stucker presents Choosing the Right Action posted at Cathy Stucker, saying, “Do you have so many ideas that you can’t decide which [...]
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