What motivates you into taking action?

 
Art by Iris Zhou

Art by Iris Zhou

 

Any step taken is a departure from where you are now.

I was looking through my old notebooks, seeing my plans at the start of 2016, 2017, on and on. At the end of 2016, I had written that I wanted to start doing events. Last month (of this year!), was the first time I hosted an event for the magazine. It took three years and clearly, writing down your goals doesn't work on it's own.

Some things, no matter how excited I might be for them, just don't seem to kick me into action. I think it comes down to the number of decisions to be made between now and actually doing the thing. When a friend mentioned she wanted a pixie cut, she only had to pick a salon before she was strutting with her head held high and ten inches of hair chopped off.

 
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Of course, not every goal can be accomplished in one sitting or through one decision. Long-term goals, that take daily work, need some sort of enduring motivation. If I have a vision for how things will go, even just a small moment of celebration or conversation, I will keep thinking back to it.

When I think about motivation and taking action, I usually think about health. So many people make the goal of eating better or being more active and some are even making careers out of helping you do so.

I read about a conversation between Outdoor Voices founder, Ty Haney, and Lululemon founder Chip Wilson.

They're both founders of activewear brands but act with different approaches to their goal of getting people to be more active. Put simply, Haney believes people will go for that next hike or class because they feel good after

 

and Chip believes it's because they look good doing it. The success of their respective companies shows they're both onto something when it comes to motivating you to take that next step (literally).

For me, when I'm finding myself hesitate or delaying doing something, I often ask myself, why not? If the answer is because it's hard, try again. Not every task will be right for me but the ones that are I just gotta do!

What gets you to take action? Does it always work?

p.s. Figuring out what it is you want to take action on and feeling serious in your craft.