How to Turn Enthusiasm Into Action

Have you ever been to a seminar or workshop, and come away feeling really fired up, determined to make changes in your life, certain that this time was it?

Have you ever read a mind-expanding book that gave you real insights and fired you up to make changes in your life?

I’d be pretty willing to guess that you have. And, if you’re like most of us, I’d also guess that despite the initial surge of enthusiasm, you found yourself sinking back into normal life without making any changes. That cool idea you had in the pub never made it off the back of a beer mat. Your new exercise regime only lasted for a few days.  You read a book about setting up your own business, but never got round to taking any action.

When you want to improve your life in some way — by simplifying, by being more frugal, by starting to exercise or eat healthy, by learning more productive habits, by being a more positive or compassionate person — you are learning a new skill.

And when you learn a new skill, all the reading in the world won’t teach you the skill. You have to learn by doing.

(Leo Babauta, Stop Reading About It And Do It, Zen Habits)

We tend to get stuck at the “reading”, “thinking” or “dreaming” stage and never make it to the “action” stage. It’s been happening to me all my life – I still have a notebook from several years ago which has various ambitious life goals that I set as an undergraduate student: most of which I never got around to doing anything about.

Why and How We Get Psyched Up…

If you’re anything like me, you probably get that “Oh cool!” rush of enthusiasm when presented with an idea that gives you a whole new angle on the world. Maybe it’s a new way of thinking about your relationship with your kids, or a different take on the world of work. You go into a fast-forwarded day-dream, where you can imagine living the life of the author (or speaker, or blogger) who’s inspired you.

We’re great at imagination – creating images of things which don’t exist, making things in our head. This is how literature and art come about. And it doesn’t take effort or time to imagine something: you can dream about running your own business, or being a best-selling novelist, or playing at a gig in front of thousands of screaming fans.

But how often do you throw aside the book or run out of the seminar to get started? And how often do you go home, talk excitedly about your ideas to your partner/housemate/friend … and find that, six months down the line, you’ve achieved precisely nothing?

It happens to me all the time. I’ll buy books on computer programming, swearing that this is finally going to be the year that I get past chapter three. (I’ve been doing this since I was fifteen – that’s almost a decade…) I’ll spend a day getting excited about some new business venture, only to let my enthusiasm slowly slip away until it becomes yet another dead idea.

I think that when our enthusiasm doesn’t make it through to action, there are several problems going on:

1. It Isn’t Right For Us

Sometimes, we know deep down that a particular course of action or a particular idea isn’t going to work for us. Perhaps it’ll be too much of a distraction from the rest of the things we want to accomplish. Maybe, in the hard light of day, that brilliant plan concocted over a bottle of wine isn’t quite so impressive after all.

2. It Isn’t Right For Anyone

Occasionally, we’ve been taken in by hype. An author or speaker is great at ramping up our enthusiasm – but they don’t really have anything to say. We feel inspired while reading their book (or listening to their podcast, or hearing them speak at an event) – but when we get some perspective, we realise that they didn’t really have anything of substance to teach.

3. We’re Afraid

Sometimes, we have a deep sense that this is something we want to do and something that’s right for us to do … but we might feel as much fear as excitement. Yes, the idea of running a business and being our own boss is captivating: but it would mean huge changes to our lifestyle, work and financial situation.

These times are the ones which I want to concentrate on now.

So how do we translate that motivation and enthusiasm that we feel to begin with – that sudden realisation of “Yes, I could quit my job” or “Yes, I could write a novel” or “Yes, I could learn to paint” – into action that makes a difference out in the real world?

The crucial thing I’m trying to get across is that there’s nothing wrong with you if you regularly get psyched up about something, or spend hours reading about something, but fail to take any action. You’re pretty darn normal. Just learn to distinguish between times when you’re procrastinating over good ideas and times when your enthusiasm has waned because you got fired up by empty hype.

Helping Yourself to Take Action

These are a few techniques that have worked for me. Please adapt them, ignore them, or come up with your own ideas, if that works for you:

Take A Course That You Pay For

For a couple of years, I fiddled around with short stories (squeezing them around my day job). I had an idea simmering away in the back of my mind for a novel, something much more challenging and complex than anything I’d attempted before. It wasn’t until I started on an MA in Creative Writing that I found the confidence and the time to actually begin.

If you have a long cherished ambition, taking a course is a brilliant way to virtually guarantee that you’ll make progress. I’m sure that my sporadic, and unfailingly abortive, attempts to learn to program would succeed if I paid to go on a course.

And yes, you’ll probably be reluctant to spend money – that’s a good thing, because it means you’re going to be highly motivated not to skip the classes you’ve paid for.

Another benefit is that courses involve other people – who are often invaluable for keeping up your motivation and enthusiasm. If you have a weekly class, you’ll be buoyed up by the progress and ideas of others. An expert tutor or course leader can give advice specific to your situation: this often makes it a much more effective way to learn than reading books on the same subject.

Depending on your goal or project, taking a course may help validate it in the eyes of the world. (This shouldn’t matter – but for many of us, a big stumbling-block is not wanting to make our families ashamed of us!) Taking an academic or vocational course might help show that you’re serious. Plus, in some industries or fields of work, having an official qualification will make people take you seriously.

Get Other People Involved

Of course, you don’t need to fork out a lot of money for a course in order to have the support and creative buzz that comes from getting a group of like-minded people together. You could join a local evening group (or set one up). You could join a web forum, or start your own blog. Ideally, you want something which involves interaction with other people – and accountability to them – on a regular basis. It could be as simple as sharing your progress with a few friends on Twitter, once a week.

As soon as you start talking about your plans or dreams or hopes with other people, you start giving form and reality to things which previously only existed inside your head. The very process of verbalising your thoughts can reveal areas of dodgy logic – wishful thinking, convenient forgetfulness, or fudging around points that might not work.

I find that, despite being quite an introvert in many ways, I get a real boost to my energy by being around other people who are “into” the same stuff as me. When I share a draft piece of fiction with other writing students, or with my tutor, and return home full of ideas to strengthen or progress what I’m working on. When I meet with the other Elders at my church, and return feeling a sense of renewed strength and enthusiasm for my role within the church.

Pin Your Projects to a Calendar

While you’re still feeling fired up and enthusiastic, or at a time when you’ve recaptured something of that first spark, sit down with your diary or calendar. Set yourself some specific actions on specific dates. These are going to vary depending your project, but some examples might be:

• Read the first three chapters of [book title] and make notes
• Send off three job applications
• Make an appointment with the bank
• Spend an hour writing
• Go to a gym class

All of these are individual tasks, small steps to take you towards your completed project. It’s so easy to feel overwhelmed in the face of a big, challenging goal; you look at where you are now, and where you want to be, and the gulf in-between can seem so daunting that it’s easy to give up.

But that gulf is imaginary. There’s not really a huge gap – there’s a path. And if you keep moving further down that path, you will eventually reach your goal. (You might even find a bigger and better goal waiting for you once you get there.)

I’m hoping that, as you’ve read this post, you’ve been encouraged about your projects or ventures, that the little spark of enthusiasm has been refuelled. But I’m very aware that reading a blog post often leaves you feeling briefly uplifted … but results in no changes whatsoever.

Here’s my challenge to you. Pick one of your goals or projects, perhaps something you’ve been stalled on for a while. Get out your diary or calendar. Write down two concrete actions that you’re going to take in order to get moving again. If you’re willing, share them with us in the comments – there’s nothing like public accountability to give you a nagging sense of guilt when you’re tempted to skive off!