Massive Action

“Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise:

Which having no guide, overseer, or ruler,

Provideth her meat in the summer, and gathereth her food in the harvest.“

• Proverbs 6:6-8

Take Massive Action. You’ve heard it before from a number of self-help and business coaching gurus. According to these experts, you need to assess whatever actions you are currently taking and multiply them by (depending on the particular guru) 2, 5, or even 10 times. Made 4 sales calls yesterday? Make 30 today. Followed up on 10 leads last week? Make that 100 this week. It sounds impractical, over-the-top, cheesy even. But here’s the thing … it’s true, it’s a necessity, and it works.

However, if you’ve been on the self-improvement path for any longer than 4 minutes, then you’ve likely become aware of a certain phenomenon: It’s a lot more fun, interesting, and enjoyable to learn than to do. And for the record, this doesn’t apply, nor is it directed, to lazy people. Lazy people wouldn’t even be on a self-improvement path, and would not have the wherewithal, discipline, or focus to even undertake a program of learning such as the one I’m talking about.

No, this is directed towards the aggressive guys out there, who already have it together to one degree or another. Because people of this type often suffer from a malady other than – and worse than – simple laziness. Their downfall isn’t an unwillingness to work hard, but rather the delusion that what they’re doing meets the requisite level of action to achieve success. Too often this simply is not the case.

People have an almost inherent aversion to action. In most cases we would prefer to watch inspirational videos, study tutorials, receiving “coaching”, talk about our problems, “strategize”, and on and on. Very often the last item on our list (if we ever do get to it) is massive action. There are a few reasons for this:

• Action requires courage: Taking massive action almost guarantees that we will be proceeding into unknown, uncomfortable zones, over and over again.
• Action requires patience: Hard, sustained effort usually only pays off over time, not immediately. It does not bring instant gratification.
• Action is often boring: Delaying instant gratification and focusing on high-value tasks is not flashy or exciting much of the time.
• Action invites failure: A lot of failure. A WHOLE LOT of failure. Because aggressive action takes you into unknown lands (see point #1 above), there is 100% probability that you will regularly find yourself short on skills, experience, or knowledge at any given time. That is a splendid recipe for failure, and you will be taste-testing it often. However, it is also a surefire method of success, over time. As you continually press into scary places where your skills are tested at a maximum level, you gain opportunities to “level up” quickly and effectively. Over time, those combined skills work together to make you an elite performer in your field, and they bring with them massive success.

Put the book down. Turn the video off. Get off this blog (but come back later please). If, in the coming 7 days, you do nothing but take massive action in your chosen field, suffering through the scrapes and bruises that come with it, you will likely learn more, accomplish more, and obtain more experience than in 3 months of books or videos. You obviously do not want to cut out the use of books, trainings, coaching, or any other valuable resources that helps you to develop. However, you do want to apply the 80/20 rule when determining the proper balance between action and anything else. Spend most of your time doing – and doing a lot – and watch your success grow.