Think less. Act more.

My latest bulletin board addition

Yesterday I came across a blog post by social media expert Mari Smith, about her use of an annual one-word theme to guide her through the year. Simpler than making resolutions, it's one word that serves as a touchstone for making decisions and achieving goals.

At the end of the article, Mari asked, "What's your word?" And instantly, the word "Action" came to me. I actually got a little choked up at that moment. Because this is one of my biggest weaknesses. I have a lot of great ideas, but I neglect to take action on them in a timely way, especially the books I'm writing. I tend to endlessly cogitate, contemplate and ruminate on things I need to be doing, but when it comes to doing them, I'm a slacker.

Almost immediately, it occurred to me that "action" wasn't a strong enough word. I needed a command: "ACT."

First thing I did after choosing this word was to open the file for one of my books and put two good hours into working on it.

This morning, after five straight days of rain, the sun broke through. I had been on a client call and figured I would miss my workout again, or at most, put in a halfhearted home workout (my house has pretty limited space for exercise). The moment I saw the sun, I raced to my workout clothes and was down at the stadium in no time.

As I finished up my sixth set of stairs, a cooldown lap and some stretching, the sprinkles started. By the time I was on the freeway headed home, it was raining again. If I hadn't taken the opportunity to ACT, I would not have a great workout under my belt right now. Hey, it's not even 2011 yet!

Then, this morning, while reading a tweet by Alyssa Gregory, I found this: an article about action days as a way to be more productive.

And while eating lunch, I came across this quote on Facebook: "Contemplation often makes life miserable. We should act more and think less. Take action and you can achieve ANYTHING."

I think I chose the right word.

How about you? Yes, I'm blatantly borrowing Mari's one-word concept. My word for 2011 is ACT. What word would you choose to apply to your life, your business, your speaking in 2011?

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