Actions speak louder than words. We know this. We know people can make grand declarations about their ambitions as easily as turning oxygen into carbon monoxide, adamant that someday it will all happen for them. At Noteworthy Communications, we love words. Words are our specialty. We understand the immense power of the written word. However, we also understand that words without follow through are just flimsy wishes, falsehoods we tell ourselves and the world, in the hope that is enough to make them reality, which it is not.
When it comes to our ambitions, the ones we are actually determined to bring forth in our lives, action is a base requirement, the bare minimum. Sometimes that action resembles a high energy rush of nonstop sweat and hustle. Other times, the necessary action may appear slower, quieter, and contemplative. This kind of action can be referred to as “proactive waiting,” which does sound like an oxymoron. The concept of waiting proactively may be mistaken for inaction when it is really a necessary practice if we want to achieve our goals.
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Don’t Quit Your Daydream
When we are brave enough to share our dreams out loud, there will always be naysayers. Naysayers are familiar with the dreamers who are all talk and no action. They know that most people never follow through on these dreams that are supposedly so important to them, and they are tired of hiring about it. Perhaps the naysayer is a former dreamer themselves.
So, what makes us different? We practice proactive waiting. We visualize. We multitask. We network. We study. We put in the work that any worthwhile dream requires. As long as we remain dormant, our dreams will only be just that, something we escape to when our day-to-day monotony becomes too much. The only way to prove the naysayers wrong is to act and turn that dream into an undeniable reality.
When Noteworthy Communications was still just a twinkle in our founder's eye, proactive waiting was essential. We visualized what running our own business would look like, even as we spent average working hours at a more stable job that paid the bills in the meantime. We sacrificed evenings and weekends to lay the groundwork so that someday, there would be no day job, only the daydream made real.
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Don’t Abandon Your Strategy
A dream is a start, but a strategy keeps us moving forward. Strategies should be well thought-out, but also flexible, because unforeseen circumstances are always lurking in the shadows waiting to throw us off track. Waiting for what we want is frustrating, especially if we must wait on other people before we can move forward.
We want to set up our website, emails, and social media accounts, but we must wait to open our business bank account to purchase the domains. We want to open our business bank account, but we must wait for our business registration to be certified by the state. Everything is on hold just when we are raring to get started!
As we are waiting for other puzzle pieces to land in their rightful places, we do not have to be immobile. Ignoring everything that is temporarily out of our control in the process, what can we do to be productive right now, right this moment? Can we draft the content we will eventually be able to share on our website and social media? Can we research articles, books, or lectures on our chosen topic of business to ensure we are as informed as possible? Can we attend networking events to expand our professional contacts? By not allowing ourselves to become distracted or complacent during the inevitable lulls in our progress, we can still manage to remain focused and stay the course.
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Don’t Drop Your Energy
Success is not accidental and certainly not instantaneous. The pursuit of our goals, and eventually the achievement of our goals, requires consistency, even when it seems like nothing is happening. The illusion of a lack of progress can be discouraging, but if we keep in mind that little steps lead to big strides, we can glance backward and see just how far we have come, and we can be proud.
Finding ways to continuously self-motivate is crucial, because we cannot depend on others to be our cheerleaders all the time. Nothing will ever just happen for us simply because we want them to happen. We have to make things happen for ourselves and own our individual dreams. Their manifestation is our responsibility, and no one else’s.
Whether we decide we want to achieve a specific goal right now, within the year, or as part of our five-year plan, we must all learn to take part in the process of proactive waiting. There is always something we could be doing to bring that goal just a little more within our reach. What are you doing right now?
As previously discussed in Chapter Four: We Get What We Give, we learned how the appreciation we show others tends to come back to us in myriad ways. The same is true in terms of effort. Through any endeavor, what we manage to accomplish is directly proportional to the effort we exude, even during, and sometimes most especially, through proactive waiting.
At Noteworthy Communications, we understand that any business endeavor constitutes a fine balance of wild momentum and proactive waiting. If you are ready to take a productive step forward, of any speed, Noteworthy is prepared to help turn your ambitions into achievements, and the waiting into doing.