Most business owners — in fact most people — confuse true action with deceptive illusions, and our brains use a variety of techniques to deceive us into thinking we’re actually getting things done.
Here are the top 5, according to Jeffrey Pfaffer and Robert Sutton, authors of The Knowing-Doing Gap:
- Thinking that knowledge itself is enough to bring success. A huge number of business owners fall for this one. They spend a lot of money on more information: shelves heaving with books, training courses and DVDs. But does all this translate to success? For the most part, no. Because knowledge is not the same as action. (I must hold my hand up here, unfortunately)
- Thinking that talking, meeting, and discussing is the same as taking action. This is one of the most destructive activities businesses can partake in: endless meetings to “get stuff done”. Unfortunately most meetings just a waste of time & money. Talking about stuff is not the same as doing it.
- Thinking that measuring things is action — or that it contributes to performance and productivity. You should be measuring stuff — what gets measured gets managed and improves, etc — but the act of measuring isn’t action. It just feels like it. Ticking things off your to-do list is immensely satisfying, but it’s not actually productive.
- Thinking that making a decision is the same as taking action on something. Again, this is seductive because it feels decisive. Most people spend far too much time dithering so finally making a decision feels good. But make no mistake: it’s not action, it’s just the thing that happens before the action.
- Thinking that planning is the same as taking action. Again, this feels like a decisive, productive thing to do. And planning is important. But again, it’s just a first step. Don’t mistake it for actually getting off your backside and executing your plan.
Do you know what is actually required to take action?
Getting on with it.
As Nike say: Just do it.
Have a great week
Paul