Convert ideas to actions

CONVERT IDEAS TO ACTIONS

Living a purposeful life requires you to devote yourself to fulfilling your personal mission statement. You have concentrated your attention upon where you want to go and what you want to become. You may want all of or a combination of the following: money, health, education, faith, relationship, success, recognition and creative expression. However, it is not enough just to visualize or imagine something. Vision, information and knowledge are only potential power until they are converted into results through effective actions. Ideas and intentions are fine but without commitment and action you can never realize your goal. You don't achieve your goal simply by wishing and wanting it. To achieve your purpose in life, you must be able to progress from having a global picture of what you want to accomplish in your lifetime to taking action. Your thoughts, ideas and choices need to be converted into decisive actions. This is where most people have doubts and uncertainty about their ability and the outcome. Some people find it difficult to act if they have to take risks. The risk of failure becomes a daunting barrier. The key is to acknowledge that there is a certain amount of risk and uncertainty while you remain focused on taking action. While you can expect some mistakes and setbacks in the process, you can develop life skills to cope and overcome them. You need to expect changes and be prepared to adapt and improvise. By being flexible and adaptive and by persevering, you will eventually achieve positive outcomes and experience success. It is when you act by striving to do your best that you have the opportunity to develop resilience and self-confidence. The whole process of converting ideas to actions should be done in alignment with your values, principles and purpose. This involves some careful thought about setting realistic goals and planning appropriate tasks. The challenges you face to accomplish your mission can best be summarized step by step as follows:

1. Determine your purpose
2. Create your vision
3. Set specific goals
4. Plan your strategy
5. Focus your energy
6. Get the proper tools
7. Take decisive actions
8. Monitor your progress

You should have a very good idea about your purpose in life by now if you have written your personal mission statement. The previous exercises have helped you to create a clearer vision of where you want to go and who you want to become.
The third step is to set your goals. What are your goals? Each of us will have to answer this question personally. Most people can relate to goals such as: be happy, become successful, build satisfying relationships and maintain good health. You can be given guidance and advice but in the end it is a decision you have to make on your own. Only you can decide what you want to do for the rest of your life. Guided by your purpose in life, set realistic and manageable goals. It is important that your objectives are as specific as they can be.
You'll need to plan your strategy to help you focus your efforts toward achieving your goals. An action plan based on your strategy is a must, especially for major goals. List the actions that will be required to achieve your goals. Your plan should be specific and should spell out exactly how you are going to accomplish your goal. A proper plan is essential if you want to be rewarded with the desired results. The next step is to focus your energy through self-motivation, perseverance and readiness to make the required efforts. The sixth step is to acquire the physical and psychological tools you need to reach your goals. This step is often skipped because it is time consuming and requires commitment, concentration and discipline. It can be anything from training and overcoming obstacles to developing the required skills and confidence to see you through. The seventh step deals with taking charge. A good plan without action achieves nothing. It's time to put your plan into action. Now you move from the thinking and planning phase to taking decisive actions. The eighth step is to monitor your progress and to measure your achievements.
There should be a good balance between your home and work. Make sure your family relationships are not suffering while you are pursuing your professional responsibilities. You should monitor that you are functioning with positive characteristics such as honesty, integrity, kindness and respect. It is also very important that you have the capacity to enjoy and celebrate your little victories along the long and sometimes difficult road toward achieving your goals. These skills can be learned, refined to suit your particular circumstances and used over and over again as your journey in life takes you into uncharted territory.
When you are ready to convert ideas into actions, pull out the anchor. Set your sails and cast away. Keep your eyes all the time on your Northern Star, your personal mission statement.


Extract from my book: Become your best
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