May 09, 2017

204: How to Cultivate a Bias Towards Action

Do you ever feel that things aren’t moving forward or aren’t moving fast enough? If so, this episode is for you. In today’s episode, Steli and Hiten talk about how to cultivate a bias towards ACTION. Accomplishing your tasks and learning how to take better and faster action starts from just doing it—just start moving! Listen as Steli and Hiten shares tips on how they became action-oriented people and why Einstein was right when he said “nothing in the universe happens until something moves”.

Time Stamped Show Notes:

00:05 – Today’s episode is about how to cultivate a bias towards action

00:32 – Feedback from listeners say that Steli and Hiten have a bias towards action in their podcasts

01:15 – Steli was travelling the past two weeks and the one theme that kept coming up was people need to take more action

02:34 – Entrepreneurs in the startup world need to create this bias to take better and faster action

03:08 – Hiten shares the companies that have a bias towards action like Nike’s, “Just Do It”

03:46 – Progress takes action and actually doing things

04:14 – You should understand what motivates you to take action

04:24 – For Hiten, it is a spark or a motivation to do the action

04:55 – Hiten says his motivation for the podcast is Steli’s passion for it

05:54 – Steli knows that he is not the main driver for the action, but has people in his life that can make it happen

06:27 – When travelling, Steli finds friends who will organize the trip so that he can just join in

07:11 – Steli and Hiten have people around them that take care of things and they play the support role

08:19 – Hiten has a priority list of people that he responds to via email

09:31 – Hiten knows someone who responds to emails on the 30-day mark

10:15 – People take action either because they want to get something or want to get away from something

10:38 – Pain is a much stronger motivator than pleasure

11:17 – If fear is your main motivator, you will more likely take less action

12:32 – Steli says there was a time when he did not take action because he was not inspired to do things

13:03 – Steli now has an internal mantra to act even when he does not feel like it, and he has accomplished a lot more because of it

14:13 – People don’t take action because they get paralyzed without even knowing it

14:52 – Steli says the trick is to make sure that you address the problem of why you are resisting doing the important things

15:14 – Steli shares how he was not as action-oriented as he is, today

15:51 – Steli realized that the only way to generate results was by taking action

16:40 – Steli learned that he needs to create results first, and study the data later

17:30 – During meetings, make a decision and get things done rather than adding things to discuss

18:19 – Hiten is driven to take action when he is impatient or bored

19:28 – Hiten is very impatient with business matters and takes this attitude in addressing the issue at hand

20:09 – Action is about impact and impact starts from small steps

21:40 – Know what the end goal is so that you are motivated to take action

21:46 – “You need to know where you need to go”

22:05 – Steli shares Albert Einstein’s quote, “Nothing in the universe happens until something moves”

22:21 – The only way to move things forward is to TAKE the responsibility to take action

22:46 – Do not be afraid of negative results or making mistakes, because it is an opportunity for learning that can help you take faster action in the future

23:17 – End of today’s episode

3 Key Points:

Cultivating a bias towards action starts from actually doing it.

Do the necessary action first, then study the data later.

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By Steli Efti & Hiten Shah: Serial Entrepreneurs, Sales & Marketing Experts, Startup Investors & Advisors, CEOs running multi million dollar SaaS Startups

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