Get your ACT together.

Written By Stan Ward
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If you are a leader who loves information and analysis, this how-to guide is for you.

Your strength is your ability to analyze information and make data-driven decisions. This can become a weakness under stress because you become tempted to fall into “analysis paralysis.” Analysis paralysis is a liability for leadership success because successful leaders show a bias toward taking action. To help you change your analysis paralysis into a bias for action, use the ACT model.

A is for “Awareness”

At some point you become aware of something that needs your attention at work or home. Part of leadership is to be “present” to what’s going on around you, and that means that you are taking in input from the external world rather than just being “in your head.” We must become aware. Here are some ways to help with that:

  • Get feedback! Make sure you have systems in place for how what you do impacts those around you.

  • Create systems for checking in on your business or home life. For me, that means “Money Mondays” where I take time to check financials and “Follow up Fridays” where I follow up on “warm” leads from the week or projects I did not get to during the week.

  • Before dinner, our family shares three things from our day so that we can become aware of what’s going on in our family members’ lives.

  • Find ways to use your setting to prompt your awareness. This will help you make action a habit. Note how I’ve tied certain awareness check-ins to a particular day or time of day. (For more on how to do this, see my how to guide on forming good habits.)

  • Think of productivity as the discipline of paying attention to what matters and then taking action on what matters. And that action brings us to the “c” in this model.

C is for “Challenge”

Now that you’ve become aware. What do you do next? For the more cautious or analytical person, they may want to study it first (I’m guilty of this one) - gather as much data as possible. Sometimes though, that hesitation gets in the way of success. Maybe you use data gathering as a form of procrastination, or an “avoidance” behavior rather than an “approach” behavior. Avoidance behaviors are often associated with fear, depression, resentment and things of that nature, so we want to use those kinds of behaviors sparingly. Approach behaviors require courage and they instill confidence.

The approach behavior here is to accept the challenge. This can be difficult for thinkers. But remember a corollary from Parkinson’s Law -

“Work expands to fill the time you give it.”

By quickly taking action, we can get the work done. By simply analyzing it, we make more work for ourselves. Here are some ways to accept the challenge:

  • Sometimes I’m hesitant because I’m not sure of the way forward or something seems especially difficult. In that case, I set a time and do as much as I possibly can on the issue. For example, when I have writer’s block, I set the time for 10 minutes and do as much as I can on a writing project (and I’m doing that now in writing this how-to guide).  When I have a conversation that’s difficult for both myself and the other person, we sometimes agree to set the timer and get as far as we can on the issue. If we solve it, great. If not, we come back to it the next day.

  • When fear/procrastination gets in the way, remember to “relax and act.” 

    • To relax, do one to three sets of deep breathing exercises to reset your nervous system. 

    • Then, take the action you need to take.

T is for “Thought”

One core of Influence Coaching is a focus on maximizing strengths, correcting liabilities, and making peace with weaknesses. Since thinking/analysis is one of your superpowers, we want to make sure we use it here.

To do that, allow yourself to think about it after you take action. Use reflective practices to do that. Reflective practice means you take time to ask yourself three basic questions.

What?

  •  What happened? Imagine the situation as if you were watching it in a movie.

So What?

  • What did you learn? What makes this situation matter to you? How does this change the way you see things? Give this experience meaning.

Now What?

  • How can you apply that insight moving forward? What will you do next time you are in a similar situation? Figure out how you can use this experience to both deepen learning and forward action (two key principles for making coaching work).

By using the ACT process you will allow yourself to gather the time, data, and analysis you need to make good decisions by adjusting your future actions based on this experience. The key here is you don’t allow that analysis to get in the way of the action. The ACT model will help you learn by doing rather than depending on someone to tell you what needs to be done or give you permission to do it.

One Final Point

This guide is only for those who find themselves getting stuck in analysis paralysis. There is certainly a time to think about our actions before we act. After all, the saying is “Ready. Aim. Fire” not “Fire. Everybody ready? Where are we aiming?” The cardinal virtue of prudence is the ability to predict the consequences of your actions before you act.

Additional Resources

Here are some more resources that address the issues of becoming aware and taking action. Enjoy!

Stan Ward https://www.stanleyjward.com
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