Knowledge is Not the Answer. Taking Action Is.

This article was originally published in July 2020. All content is original.

Personal development is the second fastest growing industry as according to Market Research author John LaRosa. This $9.9 billion dollar market is expected to grow on an uphill trend reaching $13.2 billion by 2022. With the shift to virtual platforms that began during the pandemic of 2020, the industry may see even larger gains as people are hungry for knowledge asking themselves the question, "How can I make my life better?" And yet many discover that even with all the knowledge, strategies and tactics, their life remains unchanged.

Human motivation is driven by two things. The PAIN of the current circumstances or the perceived PLEASURE that is just out of reach. The average person spends hundreds if not thousands of dollars in pursuit of an answer to relieve the pain and live in pleasure and bliss, success, and wealth. But yet in 1956 Earl Nightingale identified the statistics that are indicated to be true. In an audience of one hundred on this pursuit, four will apply some of the tactics they have learned, but ONLY ONE will find the success. 

The question becomes why? Is it lack of knowledge? Is it lack of drive or motivation? Is it lack of effort? For many years I asked myself these questions. Why does everyone else around me have success and yet I am still struggling? What am I doing wrong?

THIS SIMPLE FORMULA IDENTIFIES THE REAL CHALLENGE. You and I simply fail to take action. We fail to apply everything we have learned into a consistent plan to get to our desired outcome. We become paralyzed by comparison and the need to have everything perfectly lined up and in order. Jesse Itzler describes it this way. Change your thinking from ready, aim, fire to READY, FIRE, AIM. In order to make progress we simply need to start. 

Think of all the knowledge we have learned as a keg of dynamite. The dynamite expands and expands, but yet it is missing a key element. The fuse lit by a flame. The dynamite is worthless until touched by a flame.

To help you fuel the flame and take action as you seek a better life, with more fulfillment, more wealth and more satisfaction, step number one is to become FEARLESS AND FOCUSED. "Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts," said Winston Churchill. Becoming fearless does not mean we ignore the fear or sweep it under the rug. 

Here's my analysis from 2020.

"There is a tremendous amount of real fear that we are experiencing during this quarantine in Spring 2020. The real fear of sickness or death. For my husband who is fighting cancer, he faces a fear of becoming ill and then dying alone with no one by his side. We fear bringing this virus into our home and infecting others. We face the fear of breaking the rules, and being shamed for not wearing our masks. For many, the bigger fear is the decline of the economy, the loss of a company you built from the ground up, loss of a job, the loss of freedom that we in America hold close. The entire world has been shaken by fear."

Today I challenge you to shift how you view fear. It requires that you say "I acknowledge the fear but I will not let it hold me down. Instead I will allow it to shape who I become." Allow the fear to be your driving force, driving you towards a better life.

The second part of this challenge is to become laser focused. Business builder Sharran Srivatsaa describes this as the Singularity of Focus. What is the one thing that must be done to move my business and my life forward? Not two things. Not multiple things. One thing. Determine that one thing and then put all of your energy behind it.

This is why we fail. We create this laundry list of all the things we want to do and accomplish. We want better health, more wealth, better relationships, to wake up early. We try to do everything at once. We say to ourself, tomorrow I am going to wake up at 5am, run a mile, drink a green smoothie for breakfast, and secure ten new clients today. The chances of any of these things happening when you have been waking up at 7 am, never running more than a few hundred yards, eating donuts for breakfast, and securing only one client, it highly unlikely. You have heard this saying, "He is a jack of all trades, but the master of none." Become focused like lightning on the one thing. And watch the needle move. The more you practice this singularity of focus, the more success you will find. It is a series of small decisions that make the biggest impact.

Becoming fearless and focused is the foundation to taking action.

The next step is to LEARN FROM YOUR FAILURES. A quote attributed to Matt Chandler says this, "It's OK not to be OK, just don't stay there." We face many failures over the course of our life. It could be loss of a business, loss of a marriage, loss of a job.

It is challenging for us to recover from major failures. But those who are successful in life face many failures. Author and speaker Jon Gordon tells the story of the rejection by more than 30 publishers before The Energy Bus was published. Here's what he recalls, "I don't say this with an ounce of pride. I say it with tears in my eyes because I know the miles I've traveled, the failures I've experienced, the adversity I've faced, the rejection I felt and the faith that carried me. 

I say this to you because I want you to know there's no overnight success. There's a story behind every achievement and it's filled with sweat, pain, hard work, struggle, tears and joy."

My dad said it this way, "When you get knocked down, pull yourself up by your bootstraps and keep going." It is by being RESOLUTE, RESILIENT, AND RESOURCEFUL that we learn from each failure and choose to be better than we were the day before. It is okay to grieve a failure and loss, just don't stay there. Take the lessons you learned and build a better tomorrow.

Taking action requires that we AIM HIGH. My son Nathan is a Boy Scout. In scouts you learn that in order to hit the target with the arrow you must aim high. Damon John described his process of reading his goals every morning and every night, and making them BIG. The bigger the goal the more it challenges us to succeed. We may not make it, but we are guaranteed to have made significant progress in the process.

After we change our perspective on fear, learn from our failures, and aim high, we now have the ability to MASTER OUR HABITS. Since 2018 I have been determined to change my mornings. The irony is that I nearly failed college Biology and Chemistry on my path to become a Marine Biologist because I could not get up early. Then I discovered the 5amClub. It was suggested to me by a business colleague, as if everyone knows that the secret to life is getting up early. For six months I struggled. I tried. I failed. I gave up and slept for days. Then I wrote on my white board in BIG BOLD LETTERS - HOST THE 5AM CLUB.

It was September 11, 2018. Sharran Srivatsaa's single line reply through a Facebook message was, "you are really good." He invited me back. And within just a few weeks I became the weekend guest host, broadcasting nearly every single Saturday and Sunday morning with over 300 episodes broadcast. This opportunity changed my life. It's not getting up early that changed me.

It was the small intentional changes, structuring my mornings to maximize my capacity to learn, grow and contribute, and by saying no to late night television, that I have been able to expand my ability to live a better life. It is not perfect, nor without struggle, but each day is better than before.

The lynchpin to taking action is mastering your habits, one day at a time.

Coach Tim Grover tells the story of the greatest legends of all time in basketball including Michael Jordon, and there are many themes these winners have in common. They EXPECT RESULTS. They throw the ball hundreds of times before walking out on the court. They visualize the exact feeling of sinking that ball. They see the trophy in their hands. They may fail hundreds of times, but they keep going because they EXPECT RESULTS. We think too small. We look at life through a finite lens. What if you and I were to step back and simply say, "I expect results." By simply saying these words and writing them down, we cement in our mind that there is no other choice. I will win. I will overcome. I will impact others because I have the determination and the expectation that no matter how hard and long the road is, that it will lead to where I want to go. EXPECT RESULTS. Lead with integrity and service. FUEL THE FLAME AND TAKE ACTION.

Join me on social media @hannabederson and listen on weekends, www.5amclub.net.