Jonathan Winters once said “If your ship doesn’t come in, swim out to meet it.” How often do opportunities slip off people’s hand by taking too much of time planning and analyzing. To be successful, you have to do what successful people do, and successful people are highly action-oriented. The world doesn’t pay you for what you know; it pays you for what you do. No matter how much you plan and analyze, something’s will never show up until you start executing.

You don’t need to have a “perfect” business plan to start executing your business ideas. Success is a function of taking a conscious approach to time, speed and action. While you are still thinking to, planning to, hoping to, intending to, dreaming to, someone else has taken the bull by the horn and you tend to be envious or jealous when you see someone else successfully executing what you are still thinking about. Truth be told, what you are thinking, someone else within your proximity is also thinking the same. What really counts is the speed of execution.

I didn’t take a special training or course on writing and publishing when I wrote my book “The Science of Success.” However, I browse the internet downloading materials on writing and publishing. I read biographies of great authors such as J.K Rowling, Brian Tracy, Zig Ziglar, Brendon Buchard, Harold Kushner, Tim Lahaye, Jack Canfield, to mention a few. I subscribe to newsletters on writing and publishing, participate in webinars, and so I started. However, I acknowledge from the start that my first writing might not be the best of my writings, it might not be enlisted as Bestseller but that wasn’t my drive anyway.

I wrote the book, proofread by a professional and it was published. Have received mails and comments from different people around the world on how the book has really helped them. The point is; if you wait for the perfect time or qualification, to do something, you might never get anything done. Perfection never exists in the world of man, it’s a misconception and it’s misleading. Even practice doesn’t make perfect, practice only makes improvement.

Many people refuse to take action in life because they are zealously waiting for the lucky day. Wake up, wake up dude, such day never exists. It is when preparation meets opportunity we tend to say people are lucky. Nobody get anywhere in life by chance, anybody who succeeds has consciously or unconsciously applied the law of success. Define what you want to become, make a plan and start taking action. Until you give attention to your intention it will never become a reality. Please know this; 1000 good intention is not as powerful as one action.

I have seen people who keep on writing and rewriting their CV just to make it perfect while the job they intend to apply for has closed up on them. I quite understand the urge to make things look perfect, professional and excellent, but you need to admit that sometimes, you can’t be too careful not to make mistakes. Life is not about making things perfect. It is about continuous improvement periodically.

Some of the flimsy excuses given by those who don’t take action include

· They don’t want to look like they wanted or needed it badly

· They weren’t sure if life will give them what they really want

· It look so far, they weren’t sure they could reach it

· Other people need it more than they do

· They didn’t want to look greedy

Jack Canfield once wrote, “Most successful people I know have a low tolerance for excessive planning and talking about it.” Planning has its place, but it must be kept in perspective. Most people are familiar with the phrase “Ready, aim, fire!” The problem is that many people spend their whole life aiming and never firing. They are always getting ready, getting it perfect. The quickest way to hit a target is to fire. See where the bullet landed and then adjust your aim accordingly. If the hit was 2 inches above the target, lower your aim a little. Fire again.

It is time to quit waiting for perfection, inspiration, permission, reassurance, someone to change, the right person to come along, the kids to leave home, a more favorable horoscope, the new administration to take over, an absence of risk, someone to discover you, a clear set of instruction, the pain to go away. It’s time to start taking action.

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