Moving from ideas to action

Sometimes moving from idea to action is (relatively) easy: there’s something you decide to do and you just go off and do it. Other times it’s not so simple….

After the initial excitement of a new idea comes hope, and then - sometimes - doubt. Now doubt can be a good thing! Not all ideas are good ones and some should be stopped before any action is taken. But the problems start when you become trapped in the hope - doubt - hope loop - of revisiting your idea without either scrapping it or taking action (see diagram).

Now, sensible people will move quickly from idea to excitement to evaluating their idea and then either taking action or moving on to something new. But so many of us aren’t so rational. The hope-doubt loop keeps us in a sort of fatiguing limbo where emotions run high but not much else happens as a result.

As Dale Carnegie (who was probably one of the sensible ones) said:

“Inaction breeds doubt and fear. Action breeds confidence and courage”.

Too much time spent in the hope-doubt loop increases the chances of falling into the pit of uncertainty and disillusionment, where no idea seems good enough and nothing is progressing.

This is not to say that there is an easy solution here. But sometimes I find it’s helpful just to see the process for what it is.