By Ian Ash
There is a Japanese proverb that states, “Vision without action is a daydream; action without vision is a nightmare”.
I use this whenever working with businesses on their company strategy or when supporting business leaders with business plans since no matter how well defined the strategy or plan is, it is worth little if no action is taken.
In her excellent book Mindset, the educational psychologist Professor Carol Dweck identified that children would tend to adopt one of two mindsets.
* Fixed mindset, in which the belief is we are each endowed with a certain (maximum) level of intelligence and talent and growth mindset that says nothing is fixed and everything can be learnt. Those with a fixed mindset would typically only take action if the outcome could be assured (i.e. they could not fail) since succeeding was more important to them than the overall level of attainment itself. Hence those with a fixed mindset would not necessarily take action if there was a reasonable chance of failure.
* Growth mindset, by comparison, was those with a belief there was no limit to their achievement and that they would either succeed or learn from their failure.
Nelson Mandela eloquently captured the essence of this with his famous statement, “I never lose. I either win or learn”. This quote provides an excellent clue as to how to overcome resistance to taking action.
It is fundamentally about the mindset with which we tackle tasks.
If we adopt Nelson Mandela’s view, then we really are liberated to try out new things since there is no such thing as failure; only learned experience from which we can do things better next time.
Imagine that – you can’t fail, you can only learn or get better at doing whatever it is you need to do!
The consequence is that the only way you can really fail is by not taking action at all.
As will be clear by now, I am a massive fan of quotes since they so often neatly encapsulate key points or ideas and one specific one related to taking action was drawn to my attention by a wise client that I have recently started working with.
The following quote by Theodore Roosevelt is as powerful as it is uplifting. I hope that it will inspire you to worry less about making mistakes.
“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”
Have I changed your mind about taking action?
Ian Ash is the managing director of OrgMent Business Solutions.
