Quotes About Action

Start before you're ready. Good things happen when we start before we're ready. For one thing, we show huevos. Our blood heats up. Courage begets more courage. The gods, witnessing our boldness, look on in approval.

Start playing from power. We can always dial it back later. If we don't swing for the seats from the start, we'll never be able to drive a fastball into the upper deck.

overthink. Don't overprepare. Don't let research become Resistance. Don't spend six months compiling a thousand-page tome detailing the emotional matrix and family history of every character in your book. Outline it fast. Now. On instinct. Discipline yourself to boil down your story/new business/philanthropic

Don't prepare. Begin. Remember, our enemy is not lack of preparation; it's not the difficulty of the project or the state of the marketplace or the emptiness of our bank account.

We can always revise and revisit once we've acted. But we can

Tremendous power lies in the simple, physical act of stationing our body at the epicenter of our dream. There is magic in putting our ass where our heart wants to be.

He meant don't overthink. Don't overprepare. Don't let research become Resistance. Don't spend six months compiling a thousand-page tome detailing the emotional matrix and family history of every character in your book. Outline it fast. Now. On instinct.

Don't worry about quality. Act, don't reflect. Momentum is everything. Get to THE END as if the devil himself were breathing down your neck and poking you in the butt with his pitchfork. Believe me, he is. Get the serum to Nome. Get the Conestoga wagon to the Oregon Trail. Get the first version of your project done from A to Z as fast as you can.

Only one thing matters in this initial draft: get SOMETHING done, however flawed or imperfect.

In writing, "action" means putting words on paper. "Reflection" means evaluating what we have on paper.

Resistance will unfailingly point to true north. The action it most wants us to stop, we can let resistance use to guide us. The more important, the more resistance.

Procrastination is the most common manifestation of resistance.

She has proven she has guts. Does it matter that, alone at a traffic light, our passionate dreamer finds herself breaking down in tears? Does it make a difference that she's terrified of the choice she has made, that she has to fight off nightly the overwhelming urge to pack up and go home? All that matters is that she has taken action. She is here. She has left there behind. This does not go unnoticed, by mortals or by the gods.

In myth and legend, when the hero commits to an intention by taking bold action, he enacts a Cosmic Overthrow. He "crosses the threshold.

It is not an idle or airy-fairy proposition to declare that the universe responds to the hero or heroine who takes action and commits. It responds positively. It comes to the hero's aid.

Let me say this about courage under fire. In my experience, valour in action counts for far less than simply performing one's commonplace task without cocking it up. This is by no means as simple as it sounds.

Procrastination is the most common manifestation of Resistance because it's the easiest to rationalize. We don't tell ourselves, I'm never going to write my symphony. Instead we say, I am going to write my symphony; I'm just going to start tomorrow.

Never forget: This very moment, we can change our lives. There never was a moment, and never will be, when we are without the power to alter our destiny. This second, we can turn the tables on Resistance. This second, we can sit down and do our work.

she doesn't wait for inspiration, she acts in anticipation of its apparition.

Act, Junah, but act without attachment, as the earth does. As I do. The rain falls, with no thought of watering the land. The clouds roll, not seeking to bring shade. They simply do. And we must too.

There is no other time. Today is the Superbowl. Today is the day I give birth. Today is the day I die.

The professional shuts up. She doesn't talk about it. She does her work.

Boldness has genius, magic, and power in it. Begin it now.

Steven Pressfield