“Action is the foundational key to all success" - Pablo Picasso
This is by far one of my favourite quotes, because whatever your goals, your success all hinges on action.
We can talk about our dreams, visualise them and even draw up a plan on how we are going to achieve them, but without action, none of our goals are ever going to come to fruition.
That’s why action is imperative, but it’s often taking the first step towards our goals that causes us the most difficulties. From having second thoughts to changes in our circumstances, we are all good at putting things off for one reason or another but it’s the act of taking an action that moves you a step closer to achieving your objectives – whether that’s to complete an additional training course, learn a new skill in your personal life or be in the running for promotion.
If you look back on your life in 12 months, what will you see? Someone that's still standing still, dreaming of bigger and better things, or someone who is actively taking steps to achieve their goals in their career, overall happiness or anything else for that matter?
Even if your plans don’t exactly turn out the way you’d planned, doing nothing can lead to more regrets than trying your best and not ending up exactly where you wanted to be. Be brave and don’t look back!
Change can be scary at times, but it is essential if you're going to take action and change things for the better.
Embracing the idea of change with each individual action you take can help you to deal with initial amendments to your daily routine that can seem daunting. By making these changes slowly, you can adjust much more easily than if you decided to make significant changes all at the same time.
Moving towards a change in any area of your life is much easier if you have a plan of action that you're committed to, so before you start to take action towards your goals, visualise your objectives and create a solid plan of how you're going to get there. If you’re a regular gym goer, cast your mind back to your induction. You may have had a few sessions with a personal trainer. They will undoubtedly have asked you what your fitness goals were so they could create a training plan for you to help you reach that level of wellness. Applying this same approach can make change seem less daunting and give you a framework or action plan to guide your journey.
Not only does this help break down each action that you'll need to take on your journey to a new job, healthier lifestyle or just greater happiness overall into more manageable chunks, you'll also be able to track your progress far more easily, and this will help keep you motivated should any challenges or setbacks come your way.
