Whether We’re “In Motion” or “Taking Action”, We Risk Failing
This week, I revisted James Clear’s Atomic Habits. I first read his book when I started my business in January 2020. I wish his ideas had stuck right then and there. Had they stuck, I would have saved myself a lot of time—free of the paralyzation that stemmed from constantly trying to learn, scheme, and plan.
I’m a slow learner, though, and I always have been:
“We are so focused on figuring out the best approach that we never get around to taking action. As Voltaire once wrote, ‘The best is the enemy of good.’
“I like to refer to this as the difference between being in motion [emphasis added] and taking action [emphasis added]. The two ideas sound similar, but they’re not the same. When you’re in motion, you’re planning and strategizing and learning. Those are all good things, but they don’t produce a result.
“Action, on the other hand, is the type of behavior that will deliver an outcome. If I outline twenty ideas for articles I want to write, that’s motion. If I actually sit down and write and article, that’s action.
“Sometimes, motion is useful, but it will never produce an outcome by itself.
“If motion doesn’t lead to results, why do we do it? Sometimes we do it because we actually need to plan or learn more. But, more often than not, we do it because motion allows us to feel like we’re making progress without running the risk of failure. Most of us are experts at avoiding criticism. It doesn’t feel good to fail or to be judged publicly, so we tend to avoid situations where that might happen. And that’s the biggest reason why you slip into motion rather than taking action: you want to delay failure.” — James Clear
I’ve been in motion throughout a lot of my life.
And, as Clear outlines, it’s a false front. It makes me feel like I am making progress. It makes me feel like I am doing something. It makes me feel like I am taking action.
But, I’m not.
When I’m in motion, I’m simply left with a bunch of schemes, a bunch of plans, and a whole lot of anxiety.
And, because I feel overwhelmed and anxious — due to all the scheming and planning that I did — I get paralyzed by the enormity of the work that I’ve laid out in front of me.
This is the point where the vicious cycle starts: by being paralyzed, a day goes by — then another and another and another — and I sit on the sidelines watching another perfectly planned approach — a fail-proof plan — fade away.
So, I sit down and repeat the same process over and over and over…
A lot of us are in motion with our goals: we come up with wonderful plans and then forget that the plan doesn’t get us anywhere unless we actually engage in the work.
And, maybe the best way to help us move from being in motion to taking action is to look at areas where we are successful—where we have repeatedly found success—and ask ourselves:
What do I do with [fill in the area] that makes me find success over and over and over.
I needed to do this so that I could find success with my business. So, I looked at my exercise and fitness habits—a place where I’ve repeatedly found success—to better understand taking action.
With working out, I get in my reps — day after day, week after week, month after month — and, sure enough, I find myself continuing to make progress and find success year after year. And, it doesn’t happen by having big and elaborate plans. It happens because I do the thing—small, big, and every magnitude in between—repeatedly.
I left my stable job in Janauary 2020 to become a coach, speaker, and writer.
For 18 months, I learned, schemed, and planned.
For 18 months, I was in motion because I was afraid to fail.
And, ironically, for 18 months I found myself failing over and over and over…
But, when I finally started treating my business the same way that I treat exercise and fitness—getting in reps day after day, week after week, and month after month regardless of the outcome and risk of failure—I finally started to gain some traction.
Like fitness, by taking action the needle is starting to move and the only way to find out how it turns out—how the scheming and planning unfolds—is to risk failure by putting in my reps.
I guess the lesson in all of this is as follows:
Learn a bit.
Scheme a bit.
And, plan a bit.
But, just do it a bit.
Then, simply start doing.
Because it’s better to risk failing by taking action than to guarantee failure by living in motion.