Deciding is the first step, not the last!

“Five frogs are sitting on a log. Four decide to jump off. How many frogs are still on the log? “

Most people answer one. I will probably never forget the first time I heard John Maxwell tell that simple example. His response to the question was very impactful. He said the answer is: “Five, because there is a big difference between deciding to do something and doing it.”

The first time I heard John say that was about nine years ago. I have thought about statement a lot since then. What I have concluded is that the moral of that example is not about belittling the importance of making a decision. It is simply that after the decision is made, action must be taken. If not, the decision was simply a futile mental exercise.

People make decisions all the time. To see that process you never have to look far. Just pay attention to all the decisions that get made and ‘committed’ to at the beginning of every year. People say that this year I am going to:

• Lose weight
• Save more money
• Focus more on my personal development
• Take professional development courses

The list goes on and on. To be perfectly clear, taking action often requires far more than merely the financial commitment. How many times have you known someone (of course, that is someone else) who decided to lose weight? They go out and join the gym and sign the contract. While they are making the payment every month, they are not taking real action on the decision. What changes? You guessed it…NOTHING!

What would your list look like? What are three to four things that you would really like to see change? Is it your health, your finances, your career, or something else? Make that list. Then determine a couple of things that are within your control that can be done to make positive changes in each of those areas.

Once you have done that, determine the first step you need to take to get started. Don’t worry about figuring the whole thing out yet, but simply focus on one step at a time. I have seen far too many people who never take action because they believe they have to finish figuring out the entire process before they are ever willing to move. That is one of the biggest causes of procrastination and failure.

Determine that step to take, make the decision, write it down, and give a short deadline to get it done. Then, put it into action!

DREAM BIG!!! Then take MASSIVE ACTION!

Chris is passionate about helping companies achieve Leadership and Sales excellence. 

Contact Chris at (501) 326-7401 if you are ready to begin developing your leadership and/or sales teams to wage war against the status quo and begin achieving massive top and bottom line growth.