The society I live in, the books I read and the conferences I attend in order to create an outstanding life all stress one thing – taking action. Taking action is praised because it moves us from dreaming to achieving. And for a long time, I was here for that rhetoric. I was always busy DOING something.
But more recently, I’ve realized that the most effective people I've studied focus their energy on only doing the right things. The "right thing" could mean the important action or the action that would reap the best results if executed at this time. I interviewed Myleik this week (our interview will air early next year by the way) and she shared how she doesn’t force herself to execute if something doesn’t feel right. And Jess Lively, who runs the Lively show, says the same thing on her podcast. She consistently listens to her intuition before taking action.
While these women (along with countless other achievers), took the time to assess their actions before executing, many of us spend time doing things that are neither important, nor well-timed. I for example, will often do the easy thing instead of the right thing because I have less resistance towards the easy thing. More specifically, I started Depth & Candor because I wanted to explore success and happiness by interviewing people who are forging a bright path for themselves. But instead of reaching out to potential interviewees, scheduling the interviews, sending them the questions, learning how to become a better story teller, and hiring a video editor, I spent most of 2016 blogging. Why? Because it was the easier option and it made me feel like I was accomplishing something. And while there is nothing wrong with blogging, it wasn't more important than publishing interviews.
We have a little over two months before 2016 is over - and you know I’m obsessed with this timeline if you follow me on snapchat. If you hadn’t set any goals at the beginning of the year, then cool…the rest of this post probably isn’t for you. But if you were like me and realized you hadn’t met some of the goals you set, it might be worth taking a moment and assessing what you spend your time on. Were you just a busy body or were you truly achiever?
Busy bodies do lots of things. Achievers do the right things.
Since I will be focusing on interviews more, I am looking for blog contributors. Are you obsessed with building a great life? Do you want to share it with an audience of like-minded people? If this sounds like you, send me your pitch to Hiwote@depthandcandor.com.
Make the rest of 2016 count, nobody is guaranteed another day.