Wait a minute – isn’t it “Ready, Aim, Fire?”
Well, yes, if you’re facing a firing squad. But when it comes to your business, the best way to move forward is “Ready, Fire, Aim”
When you get caught in the quagmire of planning and perfecting before taking action that’s called:
“Ready, Aim, Aim, Aim…”
Notice that you never get to FIRE. Goals and preparation are an important part of any project. But a goal without action behind it is just a wish.
Then again, some of you more “action-oriented” individuals (read: impatient) jump into action without a plan at all. You may eventually get things done the way you intended, but there can be a lot of costly detours along the way.
That’s called: “Ready, Fire, Fire, Fire…”
It’s a good thing there aren’t any heart surgeons who decide to start operating without a plan, confident they’ll just figure it out as they go along!
The secret to combining plan and action is fairly simple:
- Prepare
- Take action
- Analyze the new information
- Implement course correction
- Repeat steps 2 thru 4
As you surely guessed, that’s called: “Ready, Fire, Aim”
You prepare as best you can, take action, and then make course-corrections based on the information you receive from your actions.
Did you know that the Apollo rockets were actually on course only about 2% of the time? That means that 98% of the time the rockets were off course! And yet we got to the moon. And back again (which was very important).
Course correction is the name of the game. And you can’t make course corrections unless you are moving… just like a rocket. That’s why taking action is so important, even if you don’t have all the answers.
So make a plan, set a goal, and start on your journey right now. Don’t stop to ensure that you’re on the “perfect” path. Just take that first step… and go for the moon.
