Just Do the Work and Feel Good!

As you can imagine, having a primary focus on action over feelings has not been easy. I have struggled with it and still do.

However, as time has passed and I have grown, so has my understanding of this principle. I think it only makes sense when you are exposed to it for long enough and in the right amount.

When you first dive into this “action-first” mindset, it feels like there is no way you could ever feel good about yourself again… but man, was I wrong if you’re reading this right now and thinking, “can someone please just explain what the hell Action First Leading means?” then keep reading because that’s precisely what I am going to do in this post!

   1. Right Feelings Follow Right Actions

The first step in understanding this principle is understanding what right feelings are.

They are the emotions you feel when you do something good for yourself.

When you love yourself and act in ways that align with your intentions, peace and a sense of fulfillment come from these actions. What should your primary focus be?

Your thoughts or your actions? It’s all about balance.

If you focus on the views, you will have more doubts about not acting, but if you focus on the action and get into a rhythm, those doubts will go away, and you will naturally feel good doing it.

   2. Have Faith in Your Plan of Action

Before taking the first action, it is essential to have a clear and concise plan for your goal.

This may seem like a no-brainer, and you may not even need me to tell you this, but when I was first starting, I would always think about how I would feel if my goal didn’t work out or how hard the process was going to be.

That little voice was always telling me not to do it because it seemed too much. The problem with this was that it created many false starts and wasted time.

Action First Leading transfers over into living an active lifestyle where you are learning and growing every day.

It gives you many opportunities for self-reflection, leading to growth and happiness.

So trust yourself in your plans and have faith in them before the first step!

   3. Action Creates Motivation, Clarity, and Excitement

As humans, we are wired to take action.

There is something in our DNA that says “do something, anything” instead of “sit around and wait for the world to change.” This is why action-first mindsets are so powerful – you can create motivation, clarity, and excitement by taking action.

Let’s use an example from my life, when I first started meditating two years ago, I was the most miserable person on the planet.

I didn’t know what it meant to be mindful and how to meditate until I read the wonderful book – Think Like a Monk – by Jay Shetty

It took me hours every day to figure out how to do it right.

After two years of avoiding meditation, it was only when I finally decided to jump into meditation head first that I was able to start seeing accurate results (and feeling good about myself) quickly!

Action gives us clarity and excitement because as our mind slows down,  it becomes more aware of things that we might have been blind to before.

We have a better sense of what will work for us and what won’t because we’ve tried it out firsthand. The action also increases our motivation because if you’re constantly approaching things from a place of action-first mindset, then you’ll always feel motivated.

When you’re not acting on your goals, there is a high chance that you’ll give up on them – which means you’ll go back to feeling unhappy with yourself again!

   4. Practise Makes Perfect

As the saying goes, practice makes perfect.

I believe this to be true.

This principle is true for both playing an instrument and exercising any skill.

What I am saying is that before you can get good at something, you need to spend time practicing.

In life, it’s essential to work on what we are interested in first, then move on to the rest of our goals.

In my case, I spent four months with nothing but action-first as my primary focus before progressing on other things like business development, personal growth, etc.

If I had not done this, I wouldn’t have found success in anything else because there would be no muscle memory from four months without action-first.

The reason ACTION FIRST LEADS TO FEELING GOOD DOING THE HARD WORK (FOR ME) is because once you start building your muscle memory and implementing these principles into your life – the feeling of doing the hard work becomes more accessible.

You become more efficient at getting results, and the satisfaction level in achieving those results becomes greater too!

    5. Small Results Usually Lead to Big Ones

It can be a difficult transition when you first dive into the whole action-first mindset. I know that it was for me.

However, once you get over that initial hump and get into it, you will achieve more and feel better about yourself than ever before.

This is because when you work in small incremental steps towards your goal, each step feels like a success.

You’ll realize that even though the result may not be as significant as you would have liked it to be, if you keep taking small steps in the right direction, your goal will eventually come closer and closer until it becomes a reality. The first step is getting started with something new.

Being wholly committed to an idea or project might seem intimidating initially, but if you just take the first step towards whatever task or goal is on your mind, the next few steps seem much more manageable.

It’s all about taking action and making progress – whether big or small – every day.

To make this principle work for you, remember to set achievable goals so that each day’s progress feels tremendous and leads to more improvement down the road! So what does this mean?

Action-First Leading means focusing on doing hard work instead of focusing on how hard things are going to feel (especially in comparison to inaction).

Taking action is always better than waiting a while and feeling bad about the situation.

    6. Choose to Embrace the Challenge

As you begin to implement action-first into your life, you will find yourself in situations where you are faced with a challenge.

When I started my journey toward becoming an author and entrepreneur, I found myself in a case where my book was not selling well.

It wasn’t that I was doing anything wrong, but rather the fact that the book just wasn’t connecting with people, and it became very frustrating.

In this challenging moment, many of us would feel stressed out and anxious as we try our best to identify and isolate what has gone wrong and figure out what we need to do next.

This is where I made the mistake of feeling bad about myself. When I felt wrong about how things were going for me, my self-esteem took a hit… But guess what? The more I felt terrible about myself, the worse things got for me! What did that teach me?

The answer is simple: taking action first leads to “feeling good” doing the hard work. I’ll admit it was different because before starting this journey, I never had many problems with low self-esteem.

However, when I felt bad about myself or wasn’t confident in my ability to execute something, now there is no place in the world like stepping back from that and choosing to embrace the challenge!

   7. Join and Interact with Related Communities

I believe one of the best ways to feel good after doing the hard work is by joining and interacting with related communities.

For example, I have joined and interacted with several Facebook groups related to my niche to connect and learn from others in my industry. This knowledge makes me feel good because I know I am learning new ways to improve my business.

Additionally, joining these communities has many other benefits, such as getting your voice heard, which you deserve!

My advice is this: don’t get too caught up in the feeling-good thing or settle for ” good enough ” ; instead, find a group or two that you want to be a part of and dive in deep – even if it feels like a chore at first.

    8. Enjoy the Process and Learn from Mistakes

Life’s hardest thing is to enjoy the process.

It’s difficult because we often think about the end goal, not appreciating what it takes to get there. Action First Leading is about taking action and feeling good about yourself after you have done your work.

This is a massive shift for people who are used to thinking about what it will feel like before doing anything.

The key here is that you must learn from the mistakes that you are making on your journey and move on from them. Don’t beat yourself up over bad decisions and don’t dwell on them either… just move on and make new ones!

Final Thoughts

Keep Going no Matter What!

No Matter how many setbacks you encounter, how long it takes, or how hard it gets, just keep going. Keep pushing through because eventually, you will get the results you are looking for.

As long as you keep going, you’ll keep getting better. And as you get better, you gain more confidence. That alone is success – Tamara Taylor

If you ever want a new feeling- feeling good – again in your life… just do the work and feel good.