This past weekend I went to watch the UFC fights with family and friends. There was a large group of familiar faces, and a few not so familiar ones. While getting up for some snacks I got involved in a conversation about web design. This happens to be one of my passions, and previous sources of income. One thing lead to another, and we began talking about career paths, and life choices.
And then it happened. This person mentioned that she was reading the very same book that blew open my mind, and changed the way I viewed life. The Millionaire Fastlane by M. J. DeMarco! While we were talking it occurred to me that this individual has the characteristics of what I like to call an action taker. So how do I define what an action taker is you might ask? In my opinion, all action takers have the following core characteristics.
Inner Drive
The best way that I can describe this is, a warm feeling inside of yourself. It feels like you have an engine revving incessantly within your being. You have your foot all of the way down on the pedal. You want to go right now, but you just don’t know where. You just know that you should have already been on your way, and that time keeps on ticking.
It is a very important element, because it makes you want to learn more. It makes you go looking for something to run to, so you search and try to find out what that is. Without this inner drive you’ll just be happy with where you currently are, and you’ll probably stay there for the rest of your life. An inner drive prevents this, and invites you to move forward, into the unknown.
Failure
When I first got started with eCommerce I was really ready to get into it. I wanted to succeed immediately, but I knew that if it really was that easy everyone would be doing it. What I’ve realized through the years is that there have been many failures along my journey. From those failures I have always found a positive lesson that could be used to bring me closer to success. As an action taker, you must be willing to fail.
You should actually be doing things that have the potential, to cause you to fail. If you stay in your safe zone you are less likely to fail, and in turn less likely to learn anything. Think about it, most people around us like to stay in their safe zones, so they never grow to their full potential. They never learn anything, apart from others who have shared their knowledge. How do you think these individuals gained that knowledge?
Through taking chances, and often times failing! Through the experience of failing, you pick up specific details which you could never have been exposed to otherwise. A lot of these details fill in the gaps for you as an individual. It is natural for everyone to have different holes in their learning capacity. We make different mistakes, and fail in completely distinctive ways.
Without a doubt, when you fail you are bound to learn something useful. You should be continually learning, and trying new things. Things that may cause you to fail, and grow. These failures will not only make you a better person in business, but in all areas of your life as well.
Persistence
If you cannot find a solution to a problem, don’t just give up so easily. You should continue to work on the obstacle until you understand what has to be done to solve it. This is something that’s extremely important because if you just quit you’ll never reach your full potential. Being persistent by nature counteracts the notion of quitting. Of course in the beginning thing’s are going to be challenging, that’s of course traditional behavior, and action takers know this.
Anything new that you aren’t familiar with is going to be foreign to you, and burdensome. But over time, as you remain persistent you’ll become more, and more comfortable with the environment. Before you know it you’ll have mastered that area, and will be ready to tackle the next problem. Those that lack persistence often remain at the back of the line. Your objective is to get to the front of the line remember?
Knowledge Sharing
Everything that i’ve learned in my life is because a person cared enough to share their knowledge with me. When you share the knowledge that you’ve gained with others, they will open up to you, and share back. This is contrary to what the majority often do. By nature people are protective of their knowledge, and seldom willing to be the first to share. They see themselves as masters in their area of expertise, and don’t want to volunteer anything out of fear.
Fear that if they gave you too much information, you would become just like them, and they would no longer be extraordinary. I’ve realized that if you are the big fish in a small pond it’s time for you to move on. There is always a bigger pond where you can reappear as the small fish, and through the acquisition of advanced knowledge can work your way up again. You can never reach elevated position, unless you share your what you currently know, and get yourself out of that boxed mindset. When you do this, it forces you to become a better person, to seek higher knowledge, so you can become more masterful in your area. With this elevated mentality you will grant yourself the experience to again become the bigger fish.
Long Game
Nothing happens overnight, there is no such thing as a legitimate get rich quick scheme. Anyone that promises this type of result is most likely a trying to scam you. An action taker will understand this, and realize that they have to put in a lot of hard work to see results. Afterall what it all comes down to is that it’s all just a long game. You have to work hard, move one step at a time towards, your goal.
Think of it like this, you’re running a marathon, and the race is going to continue until everyone gives up. Do you want to be the first person that gave up? Of course not, you want to stay standing for as long as possible. So you must take in the fact, that the longer you stay in the game, the more likely it is that you will achieve success. As long as you focus, and stay persistent nothing can stop you.
Your success won’t come easily, often times it can come after years, and years of hard work. This hard work is what we refer to when we say the long game. Of course, the majority of people are never going to stick around for that length of time, and you can use that common weakness to ensure that you are the last one standing.
Plan for Success
You can try to reach your goal without a plan, and you’ll find yourself stuck with attempting to accomplish that task forever. For without a plan, you’re not going to get anywhere. Planning is one of the most essential things not just in business, but in life. I know of many people that all they do is talk, about whatever it is that they are going to do. Months later I hear them still talking about doing the same exact thing.
The reason that they are going to keep on talking is that they don’t sit down, and actually make a plan of how to get their task done. An action taker will sit down and plan it out, and systematically check off each objective until they have achieved their goal.
Always Learning
An action taker is always seeking for things to learn in order to give themselves an advantage. They are always willing to listen to a teacher, and absorb what’s useful from the conversation. This useful information can then be used to better their own life. You should have the mindset that you are both a student, and a teacher. You are a student who is always willing, and eager to learn.
And you are also a teacher, who is always willing to share your knowledge with others. We are living in such a great period of time right now, where any bit of knowledge that you’d like to acquire is available freely, you just have to ask. If you don’t continually learn new things, you will become stagnant, and stay in the same place without growth. You should always be in learning mode, scanning for places where you can find even the smallest bit of useful information.
Self Investment
A lot of people don’t see the value of investing in themselves. They would rather buy expensive things that bring them momentary joy. When you invest in yourself, ultimately you end up increasing your own personal value. Anytime I start a new business, and it starts generating income, I use a portion of that to invest in myself. You can invest in yourself by purchasing books, or even coaching programs from others who are further along their journey than you are.
When you learn more from other people, you put yourself in a situation where you elevate yourself above those that choose not to self invest. The important thing to remember is that whenever you invest in yourself it has to be purposeful. The knowledge that you acquire should be able to blow open a whole set of new doors for you to walk through, and explore. Most of my mentors, also invest in themselves on a regular basis, and of course so do I.
What are some qualities that you believe action takers should have? Please leave your comments below. I read each and every one.