Action is the Goal

Thursday, October 16, 2003

Coach Colle, Executive Mentoring and Coaching, Inc., http://www.mycoach.com

(This is one of those issues of My Coach's Notes that you will probably have to read over several times to receive the full benefit.)

We have just returned from having spent several days in dialogues in Ojai, California, with a delightful group of people and I've come to some new and profound insights that I'd like to share with you today. Is that okay?

On our return trip back from the weekend, The Phyllis and I spent several more hours of continued dialogues discussing what we learned and the significance and impact those new insights will have on our lives.

First, allow me to establish a few parameters so we're on the same page or at least using the same basis in language:

* You already have all the information you will ever need to live your life fully.

* All the decisions you make are based on information from the past.

* If you make a decision, you're looking to the past to build your future.

* Most of the time, you make excellent decisions.

* You’re moving your life forward when you take action.

* When you discuss something, you're postponing action. (This is often referred to as analysis paralysis or perpetual procrastination.)

If you disagree with one or two of the above, then feel free to throw those out. With the remaining agreements you can create your own Action is the Goal Program.

Now, stop and think about this for a moment:

* When you are presented with an opportunity to take action, what is your normal response? If you stop to make a decision, you’re no longer in the moment and you could make a bad decision. You also have jumped ‘out of the moment’ and ‘into the past’ to work on your past-based future.

* What would happen if you simple took action at a moment of opportunity? You would be taking action that is based on what was right for you at that moment. In the vast majority of times, you will have taken a right action. It also moves your life forward in the moment.

* When you’re ‘in the moment’ you’re not aging because the present is timeless. The process of ‘deciding’ keeps you ‘in time’ and even presents conflict, which is another way of saying, you are on your way to your own death.

An added bonus for ‘acting’ is that you will get a huge number of items finished because you're accomplishing them as they arise. (This is one of those points you may want to go back and reread the whole thing again.)

The other tricky part of staying 'in action' is that you must stay focused only on the action itself. Anything else you think about during an action that distracts you will reduce the effectiveness of your action. For example, I was writing this column and began to think about trimming my fingernails because I noticed they were hitting the keys before my fingertips. What did I do? Coach Colle stopped, trimmed his fingernails and resumed the column with full concentration. Both tasks were completed in highly effective manners and I stayed in the moment with both of them.

This Action is the Goal Program may take several attempts as opportunities present themselves before you automatically begin to take action instead of making a decision to take an action before you get the hang of the process itself. Be gentle and patient; this is a new and very different way to function as an adult. You spent years acting with spontaneity but as you went through school and became ‘adulterated’ you forgot how effective the Action is the Goal Program was for you. If you need some help, a nudge or some encouragement please contact me.
- Coach Colle

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