As the ancient strategy quote says – strategy rarely survives first contact with reality. This is not to say thinking, modelling, working through scenarios, is not important. It is crucial. It is saying that things are unlikely to go according to plan and we will need to adjust as we take action.

Action comes in many forms – physical, mental, emotional. It can be individual, group, or community. And yes, it can be scary. But it is the only way to learn.

The point of action is to learn and to get us out of our heads. Action is about engaging reality and no doubt things will not go according to plan. But we won’t know how our plan interacts with reality until we begin.

Too often our focus is on keeping things the same, resisting change and in many ways resisting action. Part of the role of the change maker is to encourage action, however small, but action nonetheless. Size does not matter. Action creates momentum, it may be hard at first, but it does build. Too often we worry about perfection, of doing things ‘right’, but things are never perfect. We learn something new everytime we take action.

What action can you take today?

Photo by Brett Jordan