Wonder Woman: Taking Action!

Last month we explored what it is that really matters to us in life, and
how important it is to act on what we feel passionate about.

That’s something we all know and yet most of us, at some point in our
lives, have settled into procrastination just when life awaits us; or become
resolutely unmoving at the very moment that we know we need to act.

Like swimming against the current, or keeping an umbrella right-side-out
on the windiest day of the year, I believe that constantly living "no" takes a
lot more energy than living "yes".

We have our reasons for not acting, conscious or not, and many of them
lead directly into self-sabotage. Understanding why we might side-step when it
takes as much energy to fail as it does to succeed often opens the door to
action.

The Death of Dreams

One reason is "Analysis Paralysis". By the time we’ve examined,
explored, and exhausted every last shred of implication of a particular action,
we’ve often reduced it to a pile of facts and figures devoid of any original
passion at all. It’s really hard to act on something that we’re utterly bored
by!

A second is waiting for "The Right Time". This gives us an out by
disguising our inaction while we wait for life to be different than it is: the
perfect combination of time, money, education, or whatever else we wait for when
it is we ourselves, and not our life circumstances, which will determine our
outcome.

A third way is the sad path of "I Could Have Done That …" – the refrain
we adopt when we know we’ve chosen less than we were capable of, and are left
with regret instead of the satisfaction of knowing we gave it all we had.

We long to be an actress or an athlete, but spend hours on the couch
watching others live their dreams. Years down the line, we’ll live to regret
not getting up, getting out and training in what we love so that we can live
out our dreams too.

The Unsung
Song

When next you find yourself procrastinating or unable to act when you
know you want to, ask yourself what’s really stopping you?

Are you telling yourself that you can’t fail if you don’t try? Or some
other message that holds you back?

What is it that you do to keep yourself from achieving all that
you know you could?

Then think of the person you admire most of all … what would they do
right now? Would they take action or find a reason not to?

There will always be a reason not to do something, if you’re
looking for one! And then think of yourself in ten years from now … how will
your life be different then if you take action today? Is that what you want?

Or will you, in the words of the poet Rabindranath Tagore, have spent
your life stringing and unstringing your instrument, while the song you came to
sing remains unsung?