Action Creates Momentum

Let’s talk about how your actions create momentum. That's the subject of this article, and I'm hopefully going to start to help you move your life in a positive direction, just with this one powerful lesson. Let me ask you, do you feel stagnant with something in your life? Are you at a loss and don't know how to get unstuck? That is a horrible feeling. I've been there before, myself. It's not fun. Maybe you've been thinking about doing something like starting a business or getting a new job or making more money, but you really never put the time and energy towards it. I’d like you to consider this lesson, both for your entrepreneurial life and your personal life. Why? Because, quite frankly, we all struggle with it.

The solution...

I am going to go right to the solution for this problem for a change. I'm not going to make you wait. Here's the trick I learned many years ago and, it's actually not a trick, it's more of a tool… All you need to do is to take action, some action, any action, towards what you want to accomplish. Each action you take will create energy, hence creating momentum moving you closer and closer to what you want. It is important you remember this point. Even small actions against what you want are OK. You might not think that they're all that important when you first take them. But, when you do it on a consistent basis, you're going to create more and more energy, and that energy is going to turn into more and more momentum, and that is going to move you farther and farther along the path to your goal, whatever that may be.

Quite frankly, if you take the right action, you're moving forward. But, even if it’s not the “perfect” action, it’s going to provide you valuable feedback, and that's going to help you move one step closer to what you want. Be careful of the self-talk, like, “Well, that didn't work, so I'm going to take another direction.” What you don’t want to do is to psych yourself out and perhaps never take any action again. Instead, take action, whether it's “perfect” or not, because you’ll be self-aware and self-correct pretty quickly.

The best part of all of this is that the energy, directed towards what you want to achieve, will create more momentum. And, you’ll start seeing results with those actions you're taking. Let’s say, for instance, you start a business and you make your first $1,000. Then all of a sudden, you make the next $100, and then $10,000, and then $100,000, and then maybe a million dollars. All of that action pushes you forward towards that million dollars and beyond. That is what is so exciting about this concept.

Moving past the "dream state"...

I talk to entrepreneurs all the time who want to start a business, and they're in the “dream state.” By the way, there's nothing wrong with that…that's how you actually create your business, by first dreaming about it, by thinking about it, by putting that product or service together, and then finally, you're to move forward and take action. The problem is that there seems to be so many things hindering you. The biggest hurdle is fear. The fear of failure stops most entrepreneurs from taking action. I want you to get over the “fear of fear” and use this technique to overcome it.

To overcome this fear or reluctance, start by taking small steps towards the idea of starting your business. And you know what? Those steps are not necessarily so scary because you don't really have to commit to anything quite yet… you’re just investigating. I don't want you to insert all these roadblocks in your own way. Just say to yourself, “Hey, I'm just going to start looking into it,” Makes sense? OK, so if you're thinking about starting a business, the first thing I want you to do is go Google the business, the business idea, and start researching it. Start absorbing that information. I’ve got to tell you, I use this tactic myself all the time. When I have a new business concept and I'm playing around with it, it may sit in my head for a year or two (by the way, they do). Then, finally I get off the couch one day and I move... I go to Google and I start researching. That’s when things really start to move forward for me.

The second thing I want you to do is vigorously research your competition, gathering competitive information. Now we're getting a little bit more formal. I’d even go as far as to put together what I call a competitive binder, or a virtual competitive binder. It’s really just a collection of websites, screenshots, brochures and other things collect that might help bring the concept together. It acts as a tool where you can continually refer back to it and see what they're offering. Truly, it's very, very helpful.

Now, let’s go a step further and create a lot of momentum. Start writing your business plan. This will take leverage some of this research, and you’ll be able to actually start writing your business plan. Maybe it’s just your business strategies, as that's where it all starts, right? And, then you'll have what you need in order to get the business off the ground. I know that might sound like a lot, but if you take small steps to get there, it's not so scary. And guess what? It didn't cost you anything… maybe some weekends and some TV time, but it’s oh so valuable. Then, watch what happens. As soon as you start taking that first step and see the results of your actions, you'll be addicted to the process…unstoppable.

A real-life example...

Oh, by the way, you're not alone in this debacle. This happens to me all the time, this feeling of being stuck or stagnant. Let me tell you a bit of a story that doesn't have anything to do with business, but it's about re-landscaping my home and the area around it. This is one of those things I’ve been putting off, but wanting to do for years. It's a huge project. I keep saying, “Oh, goodness, I know I need to do it, but I just don't want to get started.” So, literally, one day, I said to myself, “You know what? I'm just going to start. I'm just going to start ripping things out.” And, there I went, ripping out trees and plants and all sorts of things, which by the way, turned out to be a lot of fun. This actually became a kind of therapy for me, which has been great.

Now I find myself landscaping every weekend. I'm addicted to it. And, funny, I try to find new areas to landscape all around the house because once I've gotten an area done, I'm like, “Okay, I can landscape over here and landscape over there.” I’m sure my neighbors think I'm crazy, because I drive by their houses going, “Ooh, now I could landscape that area of their house and that area their house.” It literally has created that momentum, and now I can't stop. My friends tell me that I have to go buy another house or sell this just so I can do more landscaping!

Your assignment...

OK, so here is where I want you to take action. It is your turn now. I want you to think of one thing you're currently struggling with, one thing you're currently stagnant on, whatever it might be. Or, maybe you're procrastinating just to get started. Come up with 3 small actions (they don't need to be big) that you can do over the next 10 days to move whatever this thing is, forward. And, then…this is the most important part… carefully observe what happens. As you take those actions, did you get more excited about the idea or the thing that you want to do? Did you feel more progress was made… even just a little bit of progress? Do you know feel a little bit more like you’ve gained some momentum towards what you want to achieve? Alright, that's your exercise. Good luck with it. And, do reach out to me and let me know if you’ve gained some ground…maybe I can give you a few extra pointers!

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Ken Burke is a successful serial entrepreneur, speaker, mentor, and author. He founded MarketLive in 1995, a market-leading, enterprise class eCommerce software platform that major merchants have used to generate billions in sales. He sold the company in 2016 and founded EntrepreneurNOW Network, which helps entrepreneurs grow successful businesses. He earned his MBA in entrepreneurship from the USC Marshall School of Business, which later named him Entrepreneur of the Year.

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