“In quietness and confidence shall be your strength.” Isaiah 30:15 NKJV
Action is what brings imagination to reality. It’s what keeps the world working. Imagine if the earth decided to quit revolving and rotating, everything would stop. Imagine if our fathers of science or music refused to act on what they saw in their minds, we’d still be in the stone age or worse.
I like action because it’s the only reason I’ve been able to add skill and knowledge to the raw materials I came with. But I’ve also fallen into the trap of getting started abruptly because everyone says it’s better to act fast.
Purposeful action means you validate your goals and plans with inner conviction and an understanding of why you have those goals. Sometimes, this takes days, weeks, or months. It is an action that’s taken not under the pressure of the demands you’re trying to meet, but in the quietness of your heart and mind.
Unfortunately, this can end up as analysis paralysis especially when the person involved has the traits of a perfectionist. This thin line causes people to ignore the purposes behind the actions they want to take and just do it.
Not everyone values inner conviction. Once the external factors say, “it’s time”, they move regardless of how they feel about it. You move fast this way but are prone to a lack of fulfilment or constant diminishing returns in passion along the way as well. On the other hand, being purposeful about the actions you take to pursue your mission can take time, but helps you automatically recalibrate your fulfilment and passion as you move forward.
“Am I sure about this?” is a question to ask before starting a new plan. Many times, you’ll know the answer. The reason this is important is so that at the end, you won’t say something like, “You said we should do this, now we failed”. That’s for people who prefer to blame others without taking responsibility.
Your priorities, personality and earlier experiences will influence how you run with your ideas. For me, I usually need facts, a basic structure of the process and inner conviction about the actions before taking the first step. For others, a gut feeling is enough. Regardless of the path you choose, strive to have unwavering confidence in what you do and an understanding of why you’re doing it.
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