Thoughts combined with action and deeds creates momentum towards a goal.
Thinking about something, committing it to paper (or a different media) and starting to take action on that thought is what gives us substantially all forward progress.
Thinking about something, and letting it pass – leads to regret.
There probably is no more fundamental truth about personal productivity than this; think about it and get started doing it.
The distance between a thought and the start of action to achieve the goal is called hesitation. There are two forms of hesitation; passive and active. Passive hesitation is where reservation to start on the task is either because of distraction or concern over what it would take to accomplish the goal. For example, I may hesitate because I feel incompetent or because I don’t know. Another form of passive hesitation is that I may not be able to focus due to distractions that I let take over my available time. Regardless of which it may be the outcome is the same. Nothing is done to achieve your goal.
The other form of hesitation is constructive. It’s deliberation on how to accomplish the goal. While it may start out as a feeling of incompetence, it quickly can turn into many different ways or optional paths to take to start achieving your goal.
If you hesitate to do a thing; it should be to determine whether or not the thing is worth doing, or what it would take to get it done.
Again; thinking about something, committing it to paper and starting to take action will create momentum and odds are lead to greater success. Thinking about something and not taking any action (even if the action is the decision not to do it) leads to regret.
-d
Danny Kolke 