In high school, there were lots of girls I wanted to ask out but never did. I was nervous and afraid they would turn me down and although I fully intended to ask them out “someday,” that day usually never came.
Apparently, there’s a scientific explanation. According to research, “The longer you hesitate to do something, the less likely you are to do it.”
And that makes sense. Your fear builds, you convince yourself that you can’t do it, you tell yourself that you’ll do it someday, and then you get distracted by other things (or other girls) and it’s easier to not do something than do it.
If you want to get a particular thing done, do it immediately.
If you can’t do it immediately, if you need to do research, for example, start that research immediately.
Find something you can do related to the project–planning, making notes, talking to someone–and do it. Immediately. If not sooner.
My grandfather used to say that. “Do it immediately, if not sooner,” he would say, trying to be funny. But there’s actually a way you can do things sooner than immediately.
You do that by deciding to do it prior to actually doing it.
You can decide today that from now on, you’re going to work out every day. You can decide right now that you’re going to invest 15 minutes a day in marketing (and put that on your calendar). You can decide tonight you’re going to ask that girl out tomorrow.
When tomorrow comes, you don’t have to think about it, you just do it. Because you already decided you would.
Decide now that you’re going to get more referrals
