Your Actions Are Far More Telling Than Your Thoughts

"One thing I've learned in the self-development business: We all have lots of reasons why we aren't doing something we 'should' like investing, flossing, or starting a business.

No time, no money, not sure where to start, etc.

Sometimes the truth is simpler: We just don't want to."

—Ramit Sehti

A mentor once taught me to evaluate my belief systems by observing my actions rather than my thoughts. That advice had a profound impact on me and my career.

If you are an entrepreneur who only “finds” a couple of days a week to work on your business and yet somehow are able to watch Netflix every day, you believe you can succeed while prioritizing Netflix over your business.

If you would ideally spend money to properly market your entrepreneurial endeavor but don’t have the budget yet you go out for drinks every weekend, you believe that going out for drinks is more important than getting the news out about your product or service to the very people it could help.

If you’ve been talking about spending money to market a product or service but can’t afford it while simultaneously going out for drinks every weekend, you believe that going out for drinks is more important than getting the news out about what you have to offer.

If you are always tired from not getting enough sleep yet you spend a full hour on your phone at night before you go to bed, you believe that scrolling through Instagram or TikTok is more important than that extra hour of sleep and the productivity boost that science promises it will bring.

If you are learning to improvise but you transcribe one solo a year rather than one solo a week, you believe you can learn how to play jazz by transcribing far fewer solos than just about anyone who came before you and successfully learned the language of jazz.

Let me make one thing very clear: It is very much okay to prioritize going out with friends every weekend over having a marketing budget.

The problem occurs when our actions don't align with our goals. And especially when we don't realize it.

So what can you do about it? Here are some steps I propose to make sure you are on the same page with yourself.

Action Steps:

1. Write down your 1-year, 2-year and 3-year goals. Be specific. Only specific goals are measurable and only measurable goals can get you into the feedback loop that is essential for success.
2. Take a week to document your actions. How long are you spending doing each activity? Which activities are you doing during your most productive hours of the day? Write it down. Consider this an audit of your behavior. Be brutally honest about it.
3. Figure out exactly where your actions are not 100% aligned with achievement of your 1-year, 2-year and 3-year goals and write down what changes will help bring them into alignment.

I once heard someone say that when setting goals, people frequently commit to doing way too much when making one-year goals and don't commit to nearly enough when making five-year goals. That's why I suggest one-year, two-year and three-year.

But do whatever works for you!

And remember, a goal that's not written down is just a wish.

So stop thinking about what you should be doing and examine what you actually are doing. Then use this data to make sure those actions are aligned with your clearly defined goals. If you do all of the above steps regularly the sky is the limit!

(This originally appeared on the TEM Blog)