How can I create a bias toward action?
One of the coolest parts of living full time in San Francisco was all of the incredible conversations and discussions that happened. Visionaries, future thinkers, philosophers and spiritual wisdom seekers. I feel like I was always finding my way into a truly fascinating conversation, and I haven't found that level of depth and frequency anywhere else.
This was also something that was frustrating to me.
It appeared to me, at least in some of my circles, that there was a direct inverse correlation between how visionary a person or company was and their ability to execute and operate. And that's not a knock against anyone or anything thing. The world needs both operators and visionaries. For me personally, I think the ideal balance is somewhere around 80-20 with a bias toward action.
This all has given me a greater appreciation and respect for people who execute at the highest level.
These people, as a default, are action oriented as opposed to discussion oriented. They want to build, create, iterate, improve, optimize, test and prototype. With everything they do.
This ties directly into my previous thought: "How can I think 14 steps ahead?"
Applying this bias toward action means repeatedly taking that first step toward the North Star. With the minimum time necessary to recalibrate, it becomes time again for action.
The way I see this becoming more prevalent for me personally is through:
- Simplifying the complex into tiny, bite-sized pieces and ruthless executing on them
- Making more space and time blocking specifically for taking action
- Creating regular checkins for completion of action items
- Being aware of when I get pulled into the world of the theoretical, hypothetical and futuristic
This isn't the first time I've thought about these things. I've tried various to-do lists, time blocking, and checkins but never from this perspective. I'm excited to see what structures drop in on my quest to rebalance my own method of operation with a bias toward action.