In all areas of life, taking action is the key to success. Most people, who fail to achieve what they want, fail for lack of action. The ability to take action is the skill that ultimately separates the winners from the losers in the game of life. There are a number of truths that I have come across in my business and while coaching clients, these truths are to be reviewed and lived by to produce the abundance in life that you desire.

Truth #1: It’s more essential to success to be consistent than to be precise.

The power of consistency is one of the most significant forces in the world. It far outstrips the power of exactness. If you are consistently doing enough things right, you will reap a huge reward. If you are waiting until you have it down to perfection you are not going to take any action.

In sales more than any other profession, consistency of your actions pays big dividends, while infrequent action even when right, pays very little. The daily consistency of prospecting and lead follow-up is the gateway to sales success and high profitability. Again, it’s more essential to success to be consistent than to be precise.

Truth #2: A step toward your goal is a step in the right direction, even if the step is a misstep.

To often we fail to act due to fear of failure. We can become paralyzed by the need to be right or correct in all our actions. My friend Jim Rohn says to achieve your goal you need “measurable progress in reasonable time.” That doesn’t mean all the progress we make will be going in the right direction every time.

Earl Nightingale said “that success is the progressive realization of a worthy goal or ideal.” To achieve a worthy goal we have to progress toward it through the trials. We must proceed with consistent action. It also says there are times when we will be heading in the wrong direction and have to adjust our course of action.

In the end, success is a poor teacher. The real teacher in life is adversity and short-term failure. You will always learn more from your defeats than your victories. In sales you will learn more from the sale lost than the sale made. Most salespeople think when they make the sale they did everything right. What happens if that assumption is not true? What if you did just enough right to beat out the other guy but he wasn’t any good? What will happen when the competition gets tougher or the marketplace gets tougher? Will you have the skills you need to dominate then?

To often we fail to face reality, this comes back to us in unfulfilled potential. Unfulfilled potential eventually manifests itself into regret. We have to be fixated on taking steps to obtain our goals daily, even if they are the wrong steps. It’s better to make a decision and find out it was wrong, than avoiding making a decision at all. At least you know what you should not do the next time.

Truth #3: Even when you choose not to decide, you have still made a choice.

For too many of us we just hope things get better. We hope to become healthier, thinner or we hope we earn more. We have wishes and dreams but no commitment or definitiveness to change what we are doing to ensure the desired result. We fail to take action on what we know we need to do now.

Many of us can vacillate over a decision for days, weeks, months or even years. We must realize that by not making a decision we have essentially made a choice. We end up making decisions by default that because we did not decide and act, the decision was made for us.

As salespeople, by not preparing for a changing marketplace or changing economy, our choice is solidified. We have chosen by default to not do as well or earn as much when the marketplace change occurs. Would it be reasonable to assume that our marketplace will always remain the same or improve? Would we be protecting our families and assets if we assume that we don’t need to improve our skills and abilities in sales? Our decision to not act in truth means we still have made a choice.

Take ten minutes to evaluate these truths. Are you embracing these truths in how you run your business and life? Are there changes that need to be made? When do you need to make the changes? Here’s a hint…NOW!

Don’t get paralyzed by inactivity or perfection. Turn action into your asset. That’s what true Champions do!

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