In the mail today, I received the author’s complimentary copy of my new book, Leadership by Invitation. I was being interviewed earlier in the week about the book and was asked the question; “What is the one thing you would tell someone who is writing a book to help them reach their goal of actually getting it published?” Great question!
Simple answer. START WRITING.
I spend a lot of time thinking about what I write. I blog multiple times every week, create content on a regular basis, and am already working on my next book project. You might find this hard to believe, but do you know that until I actually start writing, nothing gets written? I can spend all day thinking about it, I might even have a pretty good idea on what to write. But until I start pounding the keyboard, nothing gets done.
You have to Start before you can Finish!
I think there are a lot of similarities between this thought on writing and just about anything else you might want to achieve. We have to START. At some point in time, we need to decide that we are done getting ready and just go for it.
There are also similarities on what happens after you start. I have found that in writing, it is only after you start writing the words that the story really starts to come to life. One thought leads to another and “whaddayaknow” a few months later you have a book.
It’s no different in anything else. You want to lose 30 pounds? Well, you have to lose one before you can lose the other twenty-nine. You want to make a million dollars? You have to make one before you make the other … you get the picture!
The Power of Knowledge comes through Action.
The point is, you have to START. If you are reading this, I will make the assumption that you are fairly well educated and have acquired a significant amount of knowledge over the years. But what are you doing with that knowledge? I used to think knowledge was power. NOT! The power of knowledge does not come from simply possessing it, you must act upon it.
This gap between what we know and what we do is the gap that will lead us not only to success, but to significance. Everyday should be a day of closing that gap. But it takes action. Yoda said it best; “There is no try, there is only do and do not.” [Tweet This] So which is it going to be?
In order to close the gap we need to “DO.” The way we do anything is to START. I have found that it is much easier to start something small as compared to something big. It much less intimidating and much easier to achieve. I have seen so many people take on large tasks and fail because they did not identify the small steps along the way.
Every Great Accomplishment has been Achieved One Step at a Time.
Writing is a great example. The idea of writing a book may seem too much for you to ever accomplish. But how about a chapter, better yet a paragraph and if you still think it’s too much, just write out a sentence. To my knowledge, there are no books out there that were not written “one letter” at a time.
Today’s Challenge: Choose something in your life that you want to do but have been putting off because “it’s just to big” and break it down into small steps and START. That is how you will close the gap between what you know and what you do.
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Barry Smith 5/23/14 photo by author © Building What Matters 2014
