Taking the Plunge: From Thought to Action

There are some people in life who have clear ideas about what they want.  You see them every day.  These people take immediate action and somehow effortlessly bring their goals into fruition.  Just look at the lawyer who decides to become a free lance writer, the corporate executive who quits his job to become a professional poker player, the plumber who decides to start a restaurant, the 70 something year old man who climbs Mount Everest, or the person who decides to learn a new language, each person at some point decides to deviate from his or her current path in order to try something new.  While everyone’s shift may vary, the underlying yearning to accomplish something outside of their comfortable realm of existence ultimately drives them in a new direction.  If you are anything like me, however, you have many thoughts and ideas, but struggle to take action like others you see around you.

As we enter the New Year, it is important for us to reflect upon our hopes and dreams for the upcoming year and beyond.  More importantly, once we identify our motivations and goals, we must overcome the challenges in crossing the bridge from the land of thought, to the pasture of accomplishment.  Some of these barriers may include fear of failure, difficulty with organization, lacking discipline, poor knowledge in the subject area, or even something as simple as getting caught in a rut.  There can be any number of setbacks that seemingly won’t allow us to move forward.  Tackling these hurdles can be a considerable struggle at times, even to the point of anxiety in which we decide that the benefits of pursuing our desires do not outweigh the stress we experience.  It can also be tough to put on the blinders and concentrate on the task with a microscopic focus, but it is important to remember that these are often illusions which contain little substance in holding us back.  Sometimes we psych ourselves out and give more weight to these challenges than is deserved.  At any rate, whether real or imagined, these challenges can certainly be annoying and make progress a more painful experience.

What inspired me to discuss the difficulties we face in achieving our dreams is that I had been thinking about starting a blog and pursuing writing for a long time now.  This is something that has been brewing in the back of my mind for a few years, but I had never taken action until now.  A couple of years ago, while living in New York, I realized that I had been interested in personal growth and development, except I had no idea how to delve into a field such as this since there is no predetermined path to pursuing this area (like there is with becoming a doctor or a lawyer).  Building credibility was also a concern and the technical aspects of starting a website made me anxious.  As of a couple of days ago, I realized that this was something that I wanted to do, so much that the anxiety caused by worries of a missed opportunity took me from the realm of thought to action.

January 1^st is the start of the New Year, and I wanted to start it off on a fresh path.  2008 and 2009 were difficult years for many, and I especially noticed this in the lives of people I know and in my own life as well.  There were many blessings that happened as well, but overall things seemed pretty dim for many.  On that note, I’m deeply optimistic of what 2010 has in store for us and I thought it was rather fitting to begin with a new path, so here are some things to consider when bringing your thoughts into action.

The gestation period

Prior to reaching the point where we can simply take action, there can sometimes be a gestation period in which we let things brew a while before we pursue things.  This is what happened to me over the past couple of years.  I had the idea to enter the literary world, but just needed time to let things simmer while I took care of other things.  Finally, after a time of doing things that didn’t matter to me so much, I came to realize that it was time to apply myself and to begin writing even if I may not have had much experience before publishing this first entry.  There was a critical moment that compelled me into action.

Challenges can be addressed along the way

There is no magic bullet to disarming the challenges we face, except to simply realize that the size of these matters is only as large as we deem them and that we can still take action without directly addressing these matters on the outset.  As for my case, although I may not have any programming experience and, as of this first post, my website is not anywhere near where it needs to be, I’m taking the plunge from thought to action in exchanging ideas with others within the blogosphere.  We don’t need to have everything figured out before we move forward and in fact it is impossible to anticipate everything that could arise.  There are always problems that confront us and we will need to take care of them as we go along.  Keeping that in mind, try not to let currently perceived barriers prevent you from acting on your dreams, because new difficulties will inevitably appear. 

Don’t be afraid to make mistakes

I’m sure that I’ve made plenty of mistakes in this first post and that it’s not entirely perfect, but nothing is ever perfect, and I’m confident that over time I will be able to communicate with my audience more effectively as I get to know them.  Trial and error can be your best friend when inaction seems to be the best alternative.  Taking some action is better than running around in circles while not accomplishing anything.  I tend to take a lot of time to mull things over, analyzing the pros and cons of the situation, and then deciding on a course of action.  If one is not careful, this takes you on the path to nowhere and often I have found myself in this position.  Fear not, it gets easier with time and practice.  The keys to staying in the realm of action are persistence and desire.  In order to stay in action, we must keep moving and push onward.

Passion is potent

Persistence appears in many forms and can be motivated by a variety of things.  These motivations can include but are not limited to money, opportunities, family, and obligations among a host of other things, but passion, at least for me, seems to be the biggest motivator in whatever I do.  If I’m not deeply invested in what I’m doing, it is difficult for me to continue with that activity.  Indeed, there are many people who are capable of doing things that they have no interest in (staying in a job that a person doesn’t like), but I am not one of them.  Whether you are able to do this or not, a hint of passion can never hurt and can only help you to bring your thoughts into action.  Your hopes and dreams will innately contain the element of passion, so use that to spring forward in bringing your ideas into reality.

If all else fails, focus on the “what if”

If you find yourself struggling to make that first step, ask yourself how you would feel at the end of your life if you did not act upon your hopes and dreams.  Often, the thought of missing out on something is reason enough for us to give it a try.  If you don’t feel like you would be missing out on anything by not bringing a particular thought to action, then it may not necessarily have been worth pursuing in the first place.  If you feel or think you would regret not having done something, then why are you waiting?  Assuming that we do not engage in reckless behavior, most of the time we have more to lose by missing an opportunity than by preserving the status quo.

With these thoughts in mind, I wish you all the best in the upcoming year.

I would also love to hear your thoughts on the matter.

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Article by Aaron Wong

has written 116 awesome articles for us at Looking For My Life