How to Empower Yourself to Take Action

Learning how to empower yourself to take action takes a little effort. Whether you are a highly motivated individual or not, we tend to procrastinate in doing things that do not give us immediate satisfaction or gratification. It’s easier to put off until tomorrow what could be just as easily be done today when there is no immediate payoff. For those of us who are not highly motivated individuals, the challenge is much greater when it comes to taking action. So, what is it that highly motivated people – those people who are generally highly successful in life – know that the rest of the masses do not know or do not have.

There are two things. The first is that those who are highly motivated in life are passionate about what they are doing. They believe that what they are doing is important either to their future or the future of others that depend upon them. The second is that they understand the importance of having a plan, and working the plan that they have. The rest of their success story is simply them taking action on what they are passionate about. But how does one take action? What does that look like, and how is it successfully carried out on a day to day basis? Let’s look at some basic processes that most highly successful people tend to have in their daily schedules that most of the masses do not.

If you are someone who has a dream or a vision to do something significant in your life or with your life, here are some great tips to initiate a productive action plan to move you in a positive direction. It is how to empower yourself to take action.

1. Break out your projects, assignments or goals into a list of small incremental steps that in and of themselves do not seem overwhelming to you. You might have 20 different projects, assignments or goals that you want to accomplish. It does not matter. Break each one down into small incremental parts/steps, small enough where each of them do not seem overwhelming to you. Remember the old saying, that the best way to eat an elephant is one bite at a time. You can’t do everything at once, so having a list of everything that needs to get done makes eating the “elephants” in your life much more manageable.
2. Prioritize your list of steps for each project, assignment, or goal starting with those that will allow you to best accomplish the most difficult, important or critical steps more easily. In other words, it a task that you have seems more complicated than you think you can accomplish, break it down into several smaller steps that are more realistic for you. Remember, the goal is to take action, and when you have things in front of you that seem overwhelming, you will be less likely to start on them. Keep the things you need to do as UN-threatening as possible.
3. Set aside 20 minutes each day (20MD) to spend on just one of the steps on your list that is necessary to complete one of your projects, assignments or goals. If a single task requires a little more time and you want to knock it out all at once, add additional 20MDs for each one that you want on your daily schedule, but always endeavor to keep each task small enough to complete in 20 minutes of concerted focused effort. This sort of approach in taking small incremental action steps will effectuate positive forward motion towards the completion of your project, assignment or goal, and you will never feel overwhelmed in the process.
4. One of the best ways to improve your personal performance ethic is to establish a mindset of thinking of you as an employee of yourself with you looking over your own shoulder to make sure you are doing your job. If that does not work for you, consider finding a personal accountability partner who will hold you accountable for your daily schedule. This is a very effective way to remain focused and motivated.
5. Surround yourself with wise advisors who can give you constructive and objective feedback on your direction and progress. This is an important part of remaining motivated and empowered to pursue what you have set out to accomplish. Having a group of advisers (an advisory board) will also increase your confidence as you move forward, knowing that you have people who are watching out for you and want to see you successful.
6. Persistence is powerful. Determine in your mind that even if it takes you a week or a month of 20MDs, that you will remain committed to accomplishing each one of the small steps on your list, one by one, without giving up.
7. Assess, reassess, and recommit to your success continually. Set a time aside each week or month, depending on how many 20MDs you have each week, and evaluate your progress in light of the successful completion of your project, assignment or goal.  Evaluate the timeframe you have given yourself, and the cost in time and money and relationships that undertaking your project is costing you, in comparison to the benefits and gains that accomplishing it will bring. It goes without saying that this is something to do at the beginning of any undertaking, but it remains important in evaluation of your progress and the intended outcome you want.
8. Never operate alone in your goals. Having a qualified coach or mentor is a benchmark of highly successful individuals. Periodically evaluate your progress with your advisors. Be willing to recognize when what you are doing is not working well or not getting the results you are hoping for. Seek help from your advisors to determine what you need to change in order to overcome any obstacles or challenges you are having.

By applying a systematic approach to accomplishing your projects, assignments or goals, and making a willful decision to be accountable to at least one individual concerning them, you will find that using these eight steps to be very powerful in accomplishing a great many meaningful things in your life. remember that action is propelled by attitude, not aptitude.

Is procrastination holding you back from success in what you are now doing? Have you been contemplating a course of action for something big in your life, but you feel stuck in a rut? Sometimes, all we need is someone to bounce our thoughts off of so that we can get a more clear picture of what we should or need to do in our lives. Are you ready to get started? Empower yourself by taking action today on something that matters to you. If you need some help, write to us at coachme[at]sdward.com and let’s see what your true potential really is.