I know what I’m about to say will be contrary to everything you’ve been told your whole life about making decisions and taking action. And you may not like it.
But you need to hear it.
Because you’ve been playing it safe. Weighing all of the pros and cons to every little decision. Worrying about what actions you should take, to the point of action-paralysis where you end up doing nothing. Constantly trying to figure out the “how.”
And this is what’s holding you back from achieving the things you desire.
How many times has this scenario played out for you:
You’re sitting around and suddenly an idea hits you, out of nowhere. You’re excited. It’s a really good idea. It’s resonating with you on every level. You can feel your energy raising to a higher vibration.
The momentum is building.
More ideas come rushing to you as you write this one down, giving you more and more clarity on what it looks like and how to pull it off. You’re so excited about it you want to just dive in right now and take action…
But then that voice surfaces. The one that says: you need to sleep on this.
So you do. In the morning you’re still pretty excited. But your day is super busy and you never get around to doing anything with the idea. You tell yourself that it’s OK and you’ll get to it tomorrow.
But somehow you never get to it. Eventually, the idea no longer holds the magnetic charge it once did. You no longer feel the same way about it.
And it’s done. Off to the idea graveyard, with all the other ideas you never acted on.
I used to be like that too. I would sleep on it. And wait. I would overthink everything. I’d over-prepare. I’d try to make it perfect.
Then a whole year would go by, and I didn’t create much or put much out there. I’d end the year, again, annoyed and resentful and feeling like it was never going to happen for me.
I was never going to be the fully expressed creative person I wanted to be.
I was constantly getting these ideas for things I could do and create, but most would end up written down in my notebook and that’s about it.
And then one day I had a thought… what if I just did it? What if when an idea comes to me, I just act on it, immediately? No sleeping on it. No wasting time worrying or thinking about it.
What if I stopped thinking I had to know the how or see the full path to the end result? What if I just trusted that if I take whatever step is revealed to me in the moment, the next step will show itself soon after?
What if I stopped thinking that every decision or action is permanent and give myself permission to change my mind or pivot whenever I want to?
So that’s what I do now.
In fact, it’s a core value in my company: Act on Divine Downloads.
When an idea comes to me that’s so charged up and high-vibe that it has me bouncing out of my seat, I act on it. I don’t worry or overthink or spend too much time planning or preparing.
I figure out what I know right now, I determine a set of actions to take, and I hit the ground running.
As new information or pieces reveal themselves to me–as they always do when you are on the journey and taking the actions–I pivot, tweak and adjust where I need to. And I don’t worry about it.
This has meant that I’ve jumped into a project, such as Dream Life Or Bust magazine, put out one issue and then discovered it wasn’t in alignment with my vision after all, and I’ve dumped it, without a worry or thought otherwise.
It has also meant I’ve gotten an idea for something, like the Daily Think Different, and instead of making it all complicated like my over-prepared, over-planned mind initially told me it had to be, I just kept it simple. I started handwriting a daily message, snapping a pic of it and posting it on Instagram and Facebook.
Simple.
Then yesterday, I got the idea that I should start taking the Daily Think Different message and creating short videos for my YouTube channel where I expand a little more on the daily message. Rather than wait, I recorded, edited and uploaded the first video in the Daily Think Different series last night. (YouTube channel here: www.youtube.com/jenniferblanchard)
And then, instead of sleeping on it, I decided to update my old podcast and turn the audio from the DTD video into a DTD podcast where you can hear the Daily Think Different message and then a short explanation expanding on it. I created a new logo, uploaded the audio and set iTunes for a refresh.
Done and done, as I like to say.
I don’t wait anymore. I take action.
And I don’t care what anyone else has to say about it.
There are people who would say I’m scattered and that I need to stop changing things so much. That stuff used to bother me.
And then I decided to accept myself for who I am, and gave myself permission to be that person.
Who I am is someone who figures things out as she goes.
I fly by the seat of my pants in life and in business. Sure, I know A LOT and I’ve been doing this for a long time now, so I have a much better idea of what to do and how.
But it wasn’t until the last 6 months, and most especially, the last few weeks, where the bigger vision for my business and life has revealed itself to me.
Now I am crystal clear about who I am, what I stand for, what my message is, what I want to do in the world, who I want to help and how I want to help them. I have fully embraced and accepted the mission and the purpose that I once treated so casually.
And so, of course, everything in my business and life are aligning themselves to this new focus.
The actions are coming to me. I know exactly what I need to do. And, most importantly, I’m doing it.
What idea have you been sitting on that you know in your heart you want to act on? Dust it off. Today is the day you take action.
Dream life or bust,
jen
