The way I see it, achieving success really comes down to 3 key ingredients:
DREAM IT
PLAN IT
DO IT
Sounds simple enough right? But surprisingly, in building our careers, we often make the mistake of omitting one or more of these key ingredients.
Building a career is kind of like building a house:
DREAM + PLAN but NO ACTION = NO HOUSE
DREAM + ACTION but NO PLAN = A HOUSE THAT WILL PROBABLY FALL DOWN
PLAN + ACTION but NO DREAM = A HOUSE THAT YOU MAY NOT ACTUALLY LIKE.
Whether you’re building a house or building a career, you need all 3!
Happy Building!
Jennifer
Simple, complete, profound…wisdom!
As Joe Vitale is fond of saying, “The Universe loves speed”. I’m all for planned action.
Oooh … you’re so right! The one I see the most with entrepreneurs is the DREAM+PLAN, But No Action. Lots of people have a dream and plan, and plan, and plan, and plan some more, then plan some more about how to implement the plan, then plan how they will handle the success … but never actually take the action!
I think it’s fear getting in the way. Do you have some tips on moving past that fear for those who feel stuck?
Hi Jennifer, YES, that’s a big one for artists and entrepreneurs alike. I actually wrote a short post about this awhile back http://www.jennifertruesdalestudios.com/are-your-ducks-in-a-row/
I think that sometimes, yes, it’s fear that gets in the way, but I also think that sometimes it’s a simple matter of not really knowing what actions to take, or probably more commonly, which actions to take first. This is where mentors and coaches are so vital! When I work with someone who is feeling stuck in the “planning phase” and not really getting into action, I immediately help them to make the actions smaller, simpler. For example, maybe they want to contact someone in the music industry who could potentially help their career, but they’re feeling intimidated. Perhaps the first step would be to simply gather all contact info for that person. DONE, action accomplished. Next step, DRAFT the e-mail to that person (don’t give yourself the step of actually sending it, just DRAFT it)…..There’s a great book “The Bodacious Book of Succulence” in which the author SARK talks about Micromovements. These are small steps that can be done in 5 minutes. I think this is a very helpful approach!
The other thing I see a lot with artists is the Dream + Action but no Plan. These artists are busy running around building websites, getting promo photos, recording demos, hiring radio promoters and working to get press…. All worthwhile actions, HOWEVER there’s no real sequence to them so they may or may not end up with any kind of tangible result. Years ago I worked in the marketing department of a well known record label. We made sure that all of our promotional and marketing actions were laid out in a particular sequence and timeline to yield the best result possible. I’m a big fan of efficient action!