All the written plans in the world, all the inscribed goals, dreams and desires won’t even make good wallpaper if you don’t take the first action.

Instead of putting off doing what you know you must, dedicate each day to working your plan to get better and to move closer to your goals. Some time ago, I started calling this kind of focus “oxygen-thinking only,” which means that you do only what’s absolutely required to get the result.

Remeber the Apollo 13 movie, when the astronauts were running out of oxygen and there was no time to waste? All you have is one second to do something to move yourself closer to home. There are times in business when that is exactly the right way to operate: oxygen-thinking only. Whatever must be done next gets done, and anything else is just a distraction that gets put off to another day. When you operate in this way, you can actually make procrastination work for instead of against you.

There are many brilliant people out there who analyze and plan and never get to first base because they don’t get out and “do.” Have you ever been so afraid of making mistakes that you were paralyzed into observation instead of action?

Don’t let this stop you ever again. The worst thing that could happen is that you’re wrong. Big deal! You’ll try something different. Once a plan has been researched and thought through, it’s time to get in the game.

You’ll have the most fun when you’re actually on the playing field. Every professional sports team starts the year focusing on winning the championship. They practice every day with winning in mind. Some days are better than others. They never allow one bad practice or one bad day to deter them from the end result.

I suggest you apply this kind of focus and commitment. If your goal is to get in better shape, for example, then if you miss a planned workout or eat a few cookies, don’t let that derail you. Or if you are building a business and you have a sales dip for a day or even a week, don’t let that deflate your discipline for the rest of the month.

Don’t give up, thinking one misstep means the whole plan is out the window. Success is the accumulation of many small steps in the right direction; just one out of line does not need to take you entirely off
course. Recognize the deviation and get yourself back on route to your dreams.

Keeping your eye on the mark is the only way to hit it. You cannot hit a target you aren’t focused on — except by accident.

Don’t trust your success to accidents. Trust your success to yourself and your actions.

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