I was at an event last weekend and I asked 2 female millionaires this question:
"What differentiates you - as millionaires - from others? What are the attitudes you have or the things that you do differently that have helped you to become millionaires?
They each had different answers. But there's one thing they both said and it stood out very clearly to me:
They both said that no matter what, they keep taking action. Even when they don't know what to do, they take the next action - any action.
After the event, another successful woman messaged me on Facebook.
This is what she said:
"You asked a great question on Saturday evening - characteristic / distinction. My answer to that question is action. Without a doubt, action. We continue to take action, even when we're tired, and life gets too busy to take action. We still take action."
But it's not the millionaires or even the Facebook message who have inspired this week's post. It's a lady called Lyn, who emailed me this week after attending my "Set Backs and Stepping Up" presentation for The Global Women in Leadership Summit. She thanked me for my session telling me it had made a huge difference to her. She described herself as "the stereotypical shy person in a room full of strangers".
Despite being a stereotypical shy person, this is what Lyn did after my presentation:
"I have genuinely spent the last few days thinking about all the things I can do in order to connect with people - I've accepted an invitation to an event; I've started my Fabulous 50 list; I've contacted 7 people so far, from that list; I've been through my Outlook contacts to see who else I should be speaking to!
I've also applied for a job I saw advertised online - it was one of the headline jobs in an email, I took a look and decided to send off my CV - usually I would have agonised over whether or not to send it, and whether or not I'm actually capable of doing that role. I used to spend an hour a day poring over the websites, trying to find something that I can do (without a degree!). Today, I just thought, ooh that looks good, it's in London, it's a better salary (and different level) to what I usually look at; I'm sending my CV! I have just proved to myself that I don't have to spend hours overthinking these things - and that's probably a bigger deal than the actual application!!"
Did you read that last bit? I'll repeat it, just in case!
"I'm sending my CV. I don't have to spend hours overthinking these things."
Wow! How's that for a bit of weekend inspiration, eh?!
Quite simply, Lyn took action. Even though she's shy. And I bet you agree when I say that she's got a big chance of getting the job she wants because of taking these actions.
We can talk ourselves to death about WHY we don't take action - too shy, lack of self-belief, don't have time, no energy, don't know what to do, don't have the support, don't know where to start, too tired at the end of the day.
There's some tough love coming with this week's post. Let's cut through the c**p and get straight to the point: In brief, you gotta take action!
How do you do that? Well let's imagine you don't have ANY excuses - what is one action you COULD take towards your goal?
Now do it!
And then...
Rinse and repeat.
But maybe you really DO have a valid reason for not taking action? Let's deal with that now, shall we? :)
Take for example this common and understandable reason amongst busy women with multiple responsibilities:
"I'm too tired at the end of the day".
OK - I get that. Don't we all? :)
But if you have a goal and you really want to achieve success, whether it's with your career, your money, your relationship or anything else in your life, you're going to have to take action anyway, even if you're too _____________ (fill in the blank with your excuse)!
If you don't know where to start, just start anywhere. Do it EVEN IF....
Keep taking action - just like those millionaires.