Last night we were playing some family basketball. The Teams were my 7 year old son and I versus my wife and our 3 year old daughter (my 3 year old insisted on these pairings). My son is not an aggressive type – more a thinker and planner. He would run to the hoop, I’d pass the ball to him. 9 out of 10 times, he would dribble away from the basket, turn run around, dribble, dribble more, look for a shot, then pass the ball back to me. Meanwhile I’m yelling “TAKE THE SHOT!”. He took a few more shots – but still was apprehensive about just shooting the ball.
Afterwards, I asked him why he wouldn’t take the shot. He said, ”Dad, I wasn’t ready, I wanted to make sure the shot I took was going to GO IN.” After a hug, I explained to him that not every shot you take is going to go in. In fact, I said, if you never take the shot – it absolutely cannot go in. By taking more shots you will increase the amount that go in, because you will get better and better. A head nod for “Yes now I get it” a hug, and off we went to practice.
I see this a lot in the companies and executives I consult with - in all sizes of companies $100k to $700M. People will procrastinate “taking the shot” or “pulling the trigger” on a project because the fear of a “miss”. They will have meeting after meeting, planning session after planning session, read book after book, study, think, ponder – but never take action. Does any of this sound familiar?
Actions create reactions
I know a great innovator – a real dynamite at ideas. She has so much potential, but she has never pulled the trigger on one of her ideas, and made them reality. Why not take action? Maybe because she is great at innovating – but bad at EXECUTING. If this is the case, then a logical step is to GET HELP. Get someone that can hold you accountable, drive the action process and help you move forward. Otherwise many of her (and your?) great ideas – that could turn into millions of dollars – will never have a chance to come to fruition.
At some point you simply have to take action. It’s the ONLY way to create reactions, either positive or negative. If the reactions are negative, then you know what not to do again (see NetFlix). Practice more, study more, but eventually again, you will have to pull the trigger, take the shot and take action. If they are positive, then you can keep building on those actions and produce wonderful outcomes. Either way – NOTHING WILL CHANGE unless you take the shot. Get help – and get moving!
SHOOT THE BALL!
Steven Placey
Rock Your Business® President and Best-Selling Author, Steven Placey is an Innovative Business Strategist, a Big Idea Guy, who has helped hundreds of Entrepreneurs, and CEO’s of 1st and 2nd stage companies develop millions in new revenues, getting their companies unstuck, and growing through Innovative, high ROI strategies.
