Motion vs. Action

In James Clear’s book Atomic Habits (I recommend it!), he discusses the concept of motion vs. action. In a nutshell, it’s the idea that we spend too much time planning what we’ll do instead of actually implementing. Because we are planning (motion), we trick ourselves into thinking we’re actually doing something (action). 

It’s an easy habit to fall into. We plan for all the different ways we’ll improve how we’re managing data, but we never implement the ideas or the plan. And often that’s because the plan is so overwhelming, we don’t know where to begin.

My suggestion: Choose just one idea to implement, and focus only on that. It doesn’t even have to be the “most important” issue. Just executing a single idea will help set you in motion, and once you get the motion started, momentum will help carry you through to the next idea and the one after that.

Find your one idea and implement it!

About Wes Trochlil

For over 30 years, Wes has worked in and with dozens of associations and membership organizations throughout the US, ranging in size from zero staff (all-volunteer) to over 700. In that time Wes has provided a range of consulting services, from general consulting on data management issues to full-scale, association-wide selection and implementation of association management systems.

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