It’s easy to do, many things are.
It’s also easy not to do. That’s the tricky part. ‘It’ meaning, well…everything.

Which side will you choose?

Reasons for doing something are often identical to the excuses for not doing them.

Reasons versus excuses is really just a point of view. A choice.

I don’t have any time…
I have kids…
I don’t have enough money to…

How do you choose to finish the sentence? What point of view do you take?

Do you create an excuse out of it, or use it as your very reason for doing?

Starting a side business, going after a promotion at work, getting a part-time job, working on your personal development, taking a vacation, getting out of debt, volunteering in your community, staying at home with your children. The subject doesn’t matter, it all applies.

Not having any time – is that your excuse for not taking action or your very reason for prioritizing it?

Having kids that keep you busy – is that your excuse or the exact reason you should be doing it? Do you allow them to limit you, or are you sacrificing now to provide better for them later?

I don’t have enough money – what perspective will you take with that? I don’t have any money therefore there is no way I can earn more? Or, I don’t have any money therefore I must do whatever I can to earn more?

Little things or big things, identify one or two of your daily, simple excuses for not doing certain things. Turned around, could they provide the motivation and the precise reason that you should take action?

Rare are the accomplishments that result from complex tasks. Instead, they are achieved by choosing to complete the little, simple things, over and over and over, more often than the next person.

The little, simple things. Easy to do. Easy not to do.

That’s the tricky part.

Reasons for doing them.
Excuses for not doing them.

Which perspective will you choose?

I ran into this poster last weekend:

So the key, then, would be realizing when you’re just “being busy.” Right?

Knowing when you’re just being busy, or you’re not on the right track, or you’re in need of halting your dig.

Right?

Stopping, every once in a while, is a good thing, you know. Taking a moment to put down the to-do list, to take a step back and reflect.

Pausing is a good thing. A coffee break pause, a weekend pause, a summer vacation pause.

Use them to relax and determine if you are on that elusive right track, whatever that might be for you. Then – and here’s the kicker – make sure, before you take the pause in the first place, that you’ll be able to deal with and take action upon the realizations that come forth while you’re doing it.

Otherwise, what’s the point? Might as well carry on digging that hole that may or may not be in the wrong place.

Being busy is seductive. But what’s even more so? Being busy with the confidence that you’re busy-ing in the right direction.

Don’t you think?

We all have folks in business that we admire. We look at their success, we look at their list of accomplishments, we look at their current state and wish we had it. Even just a piece of it.

We CAN have it, you know. Because those successes? They all started somewhere. They all made the decision, at some point in the past, to take action. Your success, just like theirs, lies within your ability to decide to take a step.

Do it. Like, right now. How will you ever know if you don’t?

It’s quite obvious that I spend an exorbitant amount of my time reading. Going through a book or two a week I’m often asking myself the “Which book should I read next?” question. Finishing a book last night, I started thinking this morning about my thought process in picking my next one. So why is this process important? Because of the importance I place on what I do AFTER I’ve read the book.

I read because of the concepts I learn, the characters I meet, and the ideas I generate. I read for entertainment. I read because of the content I’m then able to teach to others. And I read all sorts of things – fluffy non-fiction, novels, business non-fiction, motivational parables, nutrition books, financial books, biographies, and on and on and on. If I pick the wrong book for rightnow, I will have to force myself through it. I won’t learn as much, I won’t remember as much, and it surely won’t be as enjoyable.

After all, how can I move my business forward if I’m not taking the best advantage of my time reading new things? If I’m not really learning? The answer: I can’t.

And I’m not one who likes wasting time. :)

There is a time for each book and I have to accept the fact that sometimes I simply don’t feel like reading about a frustrated business man climbing a mountain but am totally feeling a fluffy autobiography about a wonderfully goofy, depressed, mommy-blogger. You can’t fight it.

It’s kind of like what I’ve heard my Dad say for ages about his golf swing. In the moments before you take your swing you run every, single tip and reminder and new instruction through your head about how to attack the ball, all of the logical stuff. And then you promptly flush it all out of your mind, think NO thoughts, take a deep breath, and swing away.

Review all of your considerations, think logically. But in the end you just have to go with what comes naturally.

Because if you don’t? It won’t work. You’ll fumble, things won’t go smoothly, and you will most definitely not get the result for which you’d hoped.

Sometimes I know which book is next before I even walk up to the bookshelf. Other times I stand and stare and mull it over for a few moments until the answer pops out. Once in a while I have to pick out four or five and consider them separately. But every time I consider all sorts of things…am I going to hear an author speak in the near future and want to make sure I’ve read their work…did I recently read the first book in a series and want to immediately follow-up with the second…am I tired today and want to read something light and entertaining…which book has been sitting on the shelf the longest…am I working on a project a specific book might help complete…

…you get the point. It’s a quick process but a surprisingly important one that can affect your business more than you think.

And you know what? This process could relate to practically any decision.

Interesting…

So, what say you? Do you think your reading choices (whether they’re books, magazines, websites, blogs, etc) impact your business?

Disclosure: Links are Amazon affiliates.

Every day bajillions of people start a new venture. They decide to start a photography business, they decide to open a Subway franchise, they decide to create a Facebook fan page, they decide to start selling bowling balls. Whatever. With each of those decisions and all the choices that were mulled over, how many choices were NOT decided upon? We don’t normally think about the unchosen ventures. Focus typically only falls upon the direction that was chosen.

So, let’s say you have a desk job that bores you, but you love to paint with watercolors, take photographs of nature, and teach people about living green. You want to start a business, go out on your own, and follow your passion. Ok, great! But which passion do you choose? Watercolor, photography, or being a greenie? HOW do you know which one to choose? How do you decide?

I got to thinking about this today after a Twitter conversation on the subject. You could have all the motivation in the world, but if you lack direction, you’re stuck dead in the water. The point of this post it not to announce “the way” to make a decision, because everyone does it differently and I don’t think one-size-fits-all when you comes to decision-making. The point of all of this is that, simply, I’m curious.

I have always been able to, upon realizing that I, in fact, have a decision to make, throw the available options into the back of my brain, walk around with them rolling around in there, and confidently know that within a day or two – sometimes just a matter of hours – one will specifically and certainly pop out.

I’m serious. This is how I do it. I mull and mull and mull indirectly until one of the options comes to the surface.

Is that normal?!

How do you do it? Have you ever experienced a time when you had all the motivation and options in the world but were stuck because you couldn’t make a decision on which option to pursue? Share the details. Which venture did you finally choose? How did you do it?

Outside help…time…random guess? When faced with options, how do you decide what direction to go?