Playing It Small vs. Taking Action: What’s it going to be?

Oh, it’s safe to say we have all been there at one time or another.

A certain opportunity presents itself and we have a choice to make — do we take that leap into an uncertain outcome or unforeseeable future, or do we slowly back away, going with our natural instincts to protect ourselves from the inevitable?

I have confronted many of those moments; some avenues I took, others I backed away. And I can tell you right now, the vast majority of those times I backed away turned out to be the wrong move. Alternatively, I rarely regretted the moments I leaped. I’m sure you have similar experiences.

Life coach, CNN contributor, and motivational speaker Mel Robbins doesn’t mince words on Tom Bilyeu’s Impact Theory earlier this year when talking about finding the motivation, inspiration, or courage in making the decision to take action in your life.

While I would conceptually go with “inspiration” rather than “motivation”, it’s true nonetheless — WE’RE NEVER GOING TO BE AS READY AS WE BELIEVE WE NEED TO BE. It’s a false reality we’ve constructed in our brains to excuse LACK OF ACTION. I believe I can say that because it’s happened to me repeatedly in my life.  The risk represented itself larger than the reward. I got fooled, I got took. I got barnswoggled.

And I paid the price.

I’ve lived long enough to know when I hear, from myself or others, the excuse that the “timing wasn’t right” to follow through on a goal. At least 90% of the time it was pure bullshit. Nonsense. Excuses.

That act of protecting myself from the unknown dangers, actual or perceived, is REAL, and it’s high time we’re honest with ourselves about how it affects us. The concept of RISK is a very powerful force that can pull our minds away from the best life can offer us. I can offer proof of that. The second we can admit “The Spotlight Effect” is shining its bright light on us in the moments that matter we can confront it, recognize it for what it is, and defeat it.

No inspirational post from Lewis Howes, no kick-you-in-the-ass vlog from Gary Vaynerchuk, got me to write this post. The time is never going to be “right” for me to come up with a brilliant “light bulb” theme for my blog or decide on my next career avenue. All I know is that ideas without ACTION are worthless. Mel said it above:

“What has changed my life is waking up and realizing that motivation is garbage; I’m never going to feel like doing the things that are tough or difficult or uncertain or scary or new, so I need to stop waiting until I feel like it.”

It’s never going to be that “perfect moment.” Let us, you and I, take action in our lives NOW.