Rabindranath Tagore said in one of his poems, “Spring has passed, Summer is gone, Winter is here but I have not sung my song because I have spent my days stringing and unstringing my instrument.” Most people procrastinate putting their ideas into action as they let too many things come in the way of getting a job in action.
Plan Practically
It is said, “Perfection is the enemy of progress”. We usually put in our best to achieve perfection in what we do when we pick up work. Nonetheless, we need to understand that obsessing over the thought of whether it is going to be successful, whether it is going to be perfect or not, can prevent us from getting even a fairly good enough work started when it needs to be done. To get an idea to move ahead in life, we need to eliminate thoughts and actions that keep us from getting things done. At times we are overstimulated by too many different new ideas that surround us. At other times we are too overwhelmed thinking about the result or get entangled in thinking about how to start. Simply filter in the idea that is best relevant to the goal that you have set, understand what results you expect and make your best effort in implementing the idea you have chosen.
Set Timeline
Once you have decided to implement the idea and have a plan, you have to make a timeline to make it happen! Time spent in planning and organizing is no doubt important. However, spending too much time on planning and, wondering where to pick the thread to start and dilly-dallying trying to create a perfect process even before you actualize it, is nothing more than a waste of time. It will only get in the way of action. Our goal must be to make our ideas get into action once a decent time is given to its preparation!
Filter out the Fear of Failure
Sometimes we may be worried that our ideas may fail. Remember that not every idea is going to be superb, some ideas may not work but that is okay. We may be too worried at times about other people’s opinions. We are afraid that we may be a laughing stock, but that should also be okay. We must learn to cut out the noise that tries to drown us by it coming in the way of our progress. Let us not give up our idea, being intimidated by all such negative thoughts. Once you are sure that the idea you have is important to your goal, start creating the space and time to turn the idea into reality. It has to move from the idea stage into the actual action stage. Focus your energy on making that happen. Be brave and pursue it till it works. The smallest thing that you can do is start doing, even though it may be the smallest tiny step, just start! Even 1% of progress every single day is, after all, some progress.
Commit Yourself to Action
Have faith in your self-worth. Just take some action, no matter how you feel about your idea. The initial steps may not be very smooth, nonetheless, it will lead to some new perspective, some extra insight or some inspiration for the next step and this will therefore motivate you for more action. You will start feeling better that you have at least started and is on the forward move. You are not in a stagnant state anymore.
Do not be hesitant to take HELP
Another important thing to remember is that you may at times not be able to turn your idea into reality all by yourself. Your initial operational state should help you experience and understand where you might need other help, the experience of others, insight or another pair of hands especially when it comes to teamwork. Think about what resources you will need and work on organising them up as early as possible. When you do these things, your idea will become reality much more quickly.
Ideas have to transition from the “theory” stage to the “practical” stage and become operational. If you working as a group, it doesn’t do you or your team any good until you put it into practiceand see how well it works. As important as creativity and idea creation is, it requires action before any idea will have real value. Our creative, innovative ideas may be only random thinking unless we put them into useful action. Start executing on the good ideas you have developed during the pandemic before it fizzles out just as a passing fancy.