Knowing Vs. Doing

Knowing…

Most of our formal education is about knowing, not doing. However, the real world doesn’t care what you know, only what you do. One of the battles I see business owners, sales people and damn near everyone fighting is the knowing vs. doing conundrum. It goes like this: You’re not sure about the best way to accomplish a certain task so you research it. After all, everything you’ve learned tells you to KNOW what you’re going to do. Research, leads to more questions, which beget more research. Now you’re reading, planning, researching, drafting, revising, etc.

Here’s the deal: those activities don’t move your business forward. They don’t add new money to the top line or cut spending so they’re having a negative impact on your profit margin. However, they SOUND so active. They SOUND great. They let you mask your inactivity.

Know, I’m not opposed to learning and growing. Hell, I’m all about it. This blog is nothing if not a testament to my commitment to continual professional development. Here’s a few ways you can continue to learn while moving forward:

• Read and research during off hours. If you could be talking to a client or prospective client, do it. It’s far more valuable than reading. Read at night or early in the morning when other people aren’t taking your phone calls.
• Commit to taking action, even if you don’t know how. The worst mistake most businesses make is doing nothing, or not enough. That’s far worse than doing something incorrectly.
• Give yourself a specific deadline. A date and time that you’ll take the best action you know to take.

Have more ideas to keep your self DOing? Please share.