Earlier in the year I did several posts about taking action and sowing habits, etc. In one of the posts, I mentioned that sometimes you just need to take SOME action, ANY action, just to get you started. That’s still true, but today let’s talk about what happens now that you’re off your butt and working on things. You want to be focused on the right actions so you can be moving closer to your goals.

And that’s the key thing. Are the actions you’re taking moving you closer to or farther from your goals? That’s it in a nutshell. It’s a simple yes or no. Am I moving forward or backwards?

Now, some of you might be thinking that you can’t always move forward, because you still have obligations and responsibilities that might interfere with your goals. For instance, if you have to work late all this week to finish a project at work, but you had planned on working on your side business, that would seem to be moving you farther from your goals. Do you tell the boss where to shove it so you can do what you planned? Do you do a minimal job so you can get out faster? Or do you suck it up and put off your plans?

What you do depends on your situation. If you can’t afford to tell your boss where to stick it, which most people can’t do, then doing that wouldn’t actually move your closer to your goals. Getting fired might give you more free time to work on your goals, but it probably won’t free you from distractions and worries that get in the way.

The action you need to take sometimes means doing something lesser to be able to do something greater later. It’s a hard judgment to make sometimes, but you’ll get better as time goes on. The key thing to remember about deciding which actions to take is this:

Am I doing the easy, fun action to avoid the harder, but vital harder action?

Choosing the easy, fun route is rarely the best one in the long run. Success requires hard work. Sometimes you enjoy it, but not always. Somethings you just have to DO.