Have the courage to make the changes YOU deserve!
Stop Strategising, Start Doing! – 5 Ways to Gain Clarity and Take Action in Your Business
How good are you at taking action in your business? Do you make goals and set about making them happen right away, or do you get stuck strategising?
It’s a common issue, so if you do, you’re not alone. Let’s dig into it together…
What Happens When We Spend Too Much Time Researching and Planning?
Don’t get me wrong, research and planning are important. I would never endorse doing away with due diligence completely, especially if you’re investing time and money into a project or launch. But a balanced approach is essential. I’ve seen too many business owners falter because they can’t get past the first phase.
Strategising should be a launch pad for ideas, not a dead end. By all means, research the market landscape, make sure you’re on the right track, and dig into the financials, but don’t forget to dive into the bit that comes next – turning your ideas into reality. This is where the magic happens.
Why Do We Get Stuck in this Phase?
Procrastination might be part of your creative process. In small doses, it’s not a problem. There are lots of people who work best under pressure, only taking action when they absolutely have to. However, when you work for yourself, you might be the only person who can apply that pressure. If you don’t, nothing happens, and you get stuck.
For some, it’s fear of failure and/or perfectionism. Strategising is a safe, comforting space full of possibility. In many ways, nothing bad can happen in this phase. You’re free to focus on positive outcomes, measurable facts, and best-case scenarios. Taking action involves a lot more uncertainty. On paper, projects are predictable. In real life, not so much.
Overwhelm and a lack of self-belief can be factors, too. Sometimes, all that research and planning leaves you feeling like you can’t possibly do everything you need to in order to achieve your goals. It might be the volume of work required or the nature of the tasks we need to complete. If your brain is particularly busy, you might struggle to identify what needs doing in the first place.
5 Ways to Gain Clarity and Take Action in Your Business
1. Check in with Your Goals
Sometimes we get stuck because our goals and the things we’re working towards no longer align with our values or overall vision. When this happens, resistance can actually be a sign you’re focussing on the wrong things.
If you’ve been strategising without taking action on something for a while, check in with your thoughts and feelings about the intended result. Does it still feel like something you want to achieve? Will it move you closer to the life and business you truly want? If not, it’s probably time to put the task aside and work on something else. Flitting from one goal to another can be a form of procrastination too, so I’d encourage you to work through the suggestions below before embarking on something new.
2. Treat the Root Cause
If this is a recurrent issue for you, instead of beating yourself up for feeling stuck, get curious about why it keeps happening. The root cause could be something that’s easily fixed, relatively speaking. For example, if you’re overwhelmed, you could start by asking for help or taking a few things off your to-do list in order to focus on the task at hand.
If the root cause is more complex, you might need some additional support. For example, things like perfectionism and fear of failure can come from underlying mental health issues. Similarly, procrastination means something very different if you’re neurodivergent. I would never want to downplay these challenges or suggest you can work through them on your own. However, identifying why you repeatedly find yourself stuck and frustrated could help you move forward.
3. Set a Deadline for Research & Planning
If deadlines and boundaries work for your brain, start setting them for every phase of a project, especially research and planning. Give yourself permission to spend a certain amount of time strategising but commit to a firm start date for your next steps.
4. Create Accountability
For most of us, it’s much easier to stick to deadlines and stay on track when we have someone or something holding us accountable. If you work for yourself, you might need to get creative. For example, accountability could come from sharing your working process with your online audience. Telling them when you’ll be launching something new not only builds anticipation and excitement, but it also forces you to take action. Alternatively, you can enlist the help of a coach or co-mentor. Read Why Finding a Business Buddy is Good for the Soul (and Your Bottom Line) for more on the latter.
5. Frame Everything as an Experiment
When it comes to taking action, your mindset can make a big difference. Framing everything as an experiment removes the pressure to succeed and makes failure part of the process. I’m all about learning from mistakes! Focus on testing your strategy and see what happens next. My recent post, How to Hit Curveballs and Build a Resilient Business, might help with this.