How to Take Action Every Day: 5 Powerful Habits

How to Take Action Every Day

“It had long since come to my attention that people of accomplishment rarely sat back and let things happen to them. They went out and happened to things.”
Leonardo Da Vinci

One of the biggest and most common problems with improving your life or the success you want out of it is that you may not take consistent action over a longer time period.

Now, consistency isn’t the sexiest or most exciting word.

But it is, coupled with time, what will give you real results in your life.

Sticking with the program and doing something consistently – and not just when you feel inspired or something like that – is very, very powerful.

This is something I have struggled with a lot in the past. And on some days I still do.

But over the years I have found a few things that really help me with this.

1. When you’re taking action, focus only on the process.

I use this one, for example, when I do my workouts and when I write. I don’t take responsibility for the results in my mind.

I take responsibility for showing up and doing my workout/the writing. That’s it.

The results come anyway from that consistent action. And this makes it easier for me to take this action because:

  • I know that is all I need to focus on. And so my energy and attention is only focused in one direction and I do a better job.
  • I feel a lot less pressure on myself. And so I’m more relaxed and prone to continue compared to if I stare myself blind on the potential results that never come as quickly as I may want and if I’m on an emotional roller coaster from day to day.

2. Remember why you are taking action.

Find your top priorities and reasons for why you are doing what you are doing.

It could be to provide for your family, to save up for traveling, to get the job you really want or to improve your self-confidence. Or something else.

To not lose track of why you are taking action and to stay focused:

  • Write down your most important reasons. Take a few minutes, sit down with paper and a pen and write down the top 1-3 reasons for why you take action and want to keep doing that in your life right now.
  • Put that note where you can see it every day. Like for example in your workspace or near your bed so that you see it every morning when you wake up.

3. Reminder: you don’t want to hurt yourself.

When you disappoint yourself and don’t think and do as you really deep down want to you hurt yourself by lowering your self-esteem.

Whatever you do during your day sends signals back to yourself about what kind of person you are. Do the right thing like being effective, kind, going to the gym or simply rest and you feel good.

Get lazy, negative or just plain mean and you tend to feel worse after a while.

You don’t get away, there is no escaping yourself. And there is always a price to pay.

4. Take smaller steps on the days when the big ones seem too daunting.

On some days getting started with any of the the most important tasks may seem daunting. And so you start to procrastinate.

When that happens, one thing that has worked for me is to be kind.

To nudge myself forward instead of beating myself up.

So at such times I take:

  • A small step. I may make a deal with myself to just work for 5 minutes on a piece of a bigger and more difficult task.
  • An even smaller step. If that small step feels like too much and I start to procrastinate I make a deal with myself for 1 or 2 minutes of work.

Sometimes that results in a few dents put into a big task, a couple of smaller tasks being completed and many breaks being taken throughout the day.

And sometimes the easy start or restart to the day is all I need to get going again and to have a good and very productive time before the evening arrives.

Either way, I move forward instead of standing still.

5. Celebrate what you did today.

When you appreciate your good work you feel even better about your life and yourself.

And over time taking more action with less inner resistance becomes possible and you associate action with more positive emotions than you may at this time.

So…

  • Take two minutes at the end of the day to think about what you can appreciate about what you did today. Or write down a couple of self-appreciative things in your journal.
  • Have a tasty treat or a bigger celebration.
  • Tell someone how nice something turned out, how you learned a good lesson or how proud you are over something important you did today.

Reward yourself for the things you did right today to strengthen your action taking habit.

And remember to be kind to yourself for the things you may have missed or not gotten done.

No point in trying to beat yourself up. No point in trying to be perfect.

See what you can learn from it and perhaps try another solution tomorrow and see if that works better.

 

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About the Author

Henrik Edberg is the creator of the Positivity Blog and has written weekly articles here since 2006. He has a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Gothenburg and has been featured on Lifehacker, HuffPost and Paulo Coelho’s blog. Click here to learn more…

Comments on this entry are closed.

  • I struggle so much to be consistent. Sometimes work just becomes so overwhelming I feel it’s impossible to stay on top of it all. I’ll try to follow some of these tips, Henrik, and hopefully I get better at living my life.

    Thanks for sharing!

  • sahaya Richard

    Reading the best matter creates apostive difference and this happens everytime iglance in your blogs thanks

  • Emilly Kimani

    i am in the middle of something great and this is just what i needed..
    thank you

  • Sara

    I like your advice are very practical & down to earth. Stuff like that inspires me

  • Debbie van Dijk

    Thank you for this. I also have a hard time being consistent with many things. Sometimes, just the thought of having to do something, which I must do every day, like, dishes, cleaning cat box, makes me feel angry or depressed,when really these things are nothing . Not difficult, don’t take that long. I am trying to just do them without thinking about them. Maybe I should be more mindful of everyday chores, think of them as something I am able to do, as so many people are unable to perform even the simplest chores, and they want to. I like the idea of celebrating!! Thank you, I always get so much from your advice, Debbie van Dijk.

  • MOSHI

    Thanks for the advice bro

  • MCP

    Amazing blog and so much learn from each article. Just reading it calms me down and gives strength. Thank you.

  • larry

    Well said Henrik, thank you for putting yourself out there and sharing your inspirational thoughts.

  • You are a wonderfully generous and inspirational person. Thank you for your words and for your kindness.

  • Marisa Dalla Valle

    Consistency and focus on the PROCESS, so true! Best advice ever!

  • Sarah

    Ur blog is just incredible it always give me a new spirit to face the upcomings in better way May God bless u the kind person ??

  • Anonymous

    Thanks this all is helpful.

  • Saul Perez

    I am grateful for your blog. This has helped me in more ways than I can count. Thank you Henrik for all your great advice.

  • Ricardo c domingo jr.

    Thank you very much