4. Action and Fear = Action your plan, even failure is progress.

Action

Action is a gift as it allows us to practice, learn, develop (our plan) and ultimately achieve our goal. (When we act we are able to see our idea in reality, rather than in our imagination).  Once you take the first couple of steps on your journey you can begin to make informed decisions. Is the ground soft or hard? is the terrain flat or undulating? if you know the answers to these questions you can make your journey so much easier. You can map a route through the valleys to avoid all the hills and you can walk on the grass to make your journey more comfortable. But remember just like this metaphor, if you stop at any point during your journey and do not continue, you will never complete your journey / achieve your goal.
As I'm sure you can guess, all action requires is that you work through your "to do" list. If you've planned correctly this should not only be easy, but it should be fun too. 

Fear

The only time you will have a problem with action is when you experience Fear. Just to clarify when you feel doubtful this is also fear, only in a different guise. If you feel doubtful it doesn’t make sense, you’ve got a plan. So you’re fearful your plan will fail. Anytime you don't follow your plan, it's not doubt, it's not indecision, it is, fear!

If you find that you are simply unable to even bring yourself to act, don’t worry. You’ve just over thought things and you need to unwind and reframe. The following are the three steps to overcoming fear...

1. Firstly acknowledge the truth, that life is quite short and if you continue doing nothing, you’re going to continue getting nothing.
2. The next thing to do is remind yourself of the wisdom of Aristotle. “He who can overcome his fears is truly free”, because he can continue to progress. Put another way, if you don’t overcome this fear you will never achieve your goal.
3. Try again but with a positive attitude and execution bias. Have another go, but all the time keeping in mind that even if you lose you will be creating an opportunity to learn, breaking a bad cycle and practising a skill you need to develop. You are essentially getting three positives for one negative!

Outcome/Execution Bias
Fear is caused by falling back into the bad habit if not taking responsibility, so ultimately not feeling in control. This happens because we are focusing solely on something we have no control over (the outcome) rather than something we have complete control over (the execution).
You must do all you can avoid outcome bias (the valuing of an outcome more than anything else) and concentrate solely on execution bias (the valuing of the correct method of achieving goals). You can be successful once or twice out of luck, but if you know the correct method you can improve you winning streak exponentially.  In other words, you only ever fail when you don't follow your plan, not when the outcome is something other than you desired. Things don't always work 100% of the time, it doesn't mean they're wrong. So long as you execute your plan perfectly no matter what the outcome, you are successful because you are doing the thing that will most likely work, you are practicing and learning so will be in a position to update your plan if needed.

If you don’t move you can’t progress, it doesn’t matter if movement results in failure. Failiure in itself is progress because it allows you to learn and adapt. Doubt the fear that has always held you back. Trust the plan that is moving you forward.
 

3. Guide = Create a Motivational Plan of Action that Works

We are all guilty in our hectic lives of rushing into things, usually with the best intentions and then some how ending up lost and confused. This is solely because we fail to create a plan of action. Whatever you are trying to accomplish, be it a goal you want to achieve or a negative you want to cut out, you need to plan for it. The key to planning is to know exactly what you are trying to achieve. This way you will be able to create a thorough plan of action. This in turn will enable you to move quickly and effectively between tasks and consequently to the completion of your goal. It's taken me years to learn this but just sitting down for 5-10 mins (or however long it needs) and planning what needs to be done is the key to staying on track, because it keeps you focused and productive.

Key areas for Success
The key thing before setting about writing a plan of action is to acknowledge that there are 4 main areas that you need to work on to create a buisness/product/service that will work. These are longterm objectives (they may take months or years to achieve) and each will require its own plan of action, they are...
1. Create a business idea.
2. Analysis: create a business plan for the idea by analysing it and how it fits into its market sector.
3. Learn how to run the business plan works in reality (with a small investment).

NB 1. 2.and 3. are symbiotic. You will spend a lot of time (usually enjoyable) working between them. You may create an idea start analyzing it, find some it works very well, some not so well, so update the idea with your findings, then start learning it (trading it with small capital) to find that things don't work quite the same in reality, as you such you review the business plan with your ideas for improvement.

4. Start trading (fully invest)..
As you can see when viewed together or individually they are really quite daunting, this is why we want to write a plan of action for each one.

The whole point of a plan is to action it, so don’t write a thesis. In fact create the opposite. You want to break your goal down until it is just a list of small un-daunting tasks. Essentially you want to end up with a numbered "to do" list.  How do you know if you've broken the task down enough? Simple, if you’re not able to achieve it or if you read back your list and any of it requires you to think or concentrate, you need to revisit it.

I can’t emphasize enough the need for simplicity especially if you’re struggling to complete a goal. Break it down so a child could do it. Children often need a point by point explanation.  An example of making a telephone call might be. 1. Get the phone number ready. 2. Pick up the receiver. 3. Dial the number . 4. Wait for phone to ring. 5. Wait until they pick up 6. Tell them who you are 7. Ask your question. 8. Say thank you.. 9. Place the receiver back in it’s cradle. 10. Tell dad how it went. Note that none of the numbered tasks should require you to think or elaborate, they must be easy to understand and easy to achieve.

Finally to create a plan of action that motivates you, just be honest about when you feel most happy and proud of yourself. Then frame your plan, day and efforts around what you enjoy. Personally I'm not monetary driven so the thought of making money doesn't inspire any "get up and go" in me. I am however very driven by self improvement/betterment so the idea of getting up and creating, learning, ananlyzing, proving, experimenting really gets me motivated and excited. So these are the things I frame my plan of action, day and efforts around.

Remember the goal can be infinitely complex,  but the steps you create to achieve it should be easy to understand and achieve. If they are not you will get stuck.  Any time you fail to pass a step or struggle to understand it, you need to revisit your plan and break that step down until it makes sense and is accomplished.

2. Direction & Drive = Identify your Goal & Explain why you want it

Again this is an often overlooked and neglected part of life, but should be applied immediately after you have decided to take control of a goal you want to achieve, or a negative you want to cut out. I know this is  an achingly obvious statement but it is not quite as simple as it sounds.

The problem lies with what you think society values and how it affects what you value personally. Sounds complicated? It's not. Basically most of us have a default of setting monetary goals when it come to work/business. However the problem is a great deal of us are not monetary driven, we are life style driven. Now be honest you're thinking well I'm not one of those, I want money. But do you? Do you really want a million dollars, or do you actually want the life of what you conceive to be a millionaire? Personally I'm lifestyle driven. I want a pad in the city and place in the country (preferably abroad). I want to eat and drink well and be able to look after myself and my family. Well I can buy a two bed apartment in London for £169,000, I can buy a 6 bed house in the south of France for £100,000 and while I'm there I can eat and drink well for a fraction of the price i can in a city (approx £30 a day £11,000 PA) plus the schooling is very good. So for my millionaire life style i need £269,000 for the property and i need to make approx £23,000 PA (so my partner can join me too) to live the life style I want. I have a property worth £300,000 but I rely on it for income. So if I can make £23,000 above my property income I can sell the property release the capital and live my dream. But even if I didn’t have property. £269,000 plus £23,000 per year seems a pretty cheap price for what I consider a millionaire's lifestyle!

Break Down:
My direction is my goal: to make £23,000 PA.
My drive is explaining why I want it: So I can (a) have the lifestyle that my partner and I desire from (b) releasing myself financially and from the stress of the flat.

Can you see I have identified exactly what I want to achieve. It's not a generic wish of "a million dollars". Identify what you're driven by. Are you monetary driven or life style driven? Because if you get it wrong your goal won't motivate you! Then identify your Direction (Goal) and Drive (why you want it). It’s not lack of desire that halts progress, it’s lack of direction and drive. 

The key to motivation is identifying exactly what your Direction and Drive are.

1. Control = Take Responsibility

Taking control may seem obvious but most of us do not do this and think of it as a daunting and down right scary task, however it must be accomplished as it is the first step of success. The hardest part of this task is actually figuring out how indeed to take control.

Luckily the answer is simple. To take control you simply need to take responsibility.  That's it, it's a simple change of mindset. Stop letting things happen to you and start making them happen. I know how harsh this sounds, but honestly who else is going to do it? The fact is in most situations we are angry with ourselves or the situation because we feel out of control. That last sentence was imperative, we are unhappy when we feel we're not in control. You see it is not the situation that is the problem it is your thinking. Every time one blames a problem on an external source be it the train service, that pipe that burst, the guy that bumped into you or the goal the world isn't letting you achieve. We are taking control away from ourselves and are essentially allowing things to happen to us. We are not in control. But you will find as soon as you take control of the results you are getting and the emotions your are feeling, they will diminish and your self esteem will grow because you are dealing with them.

The train service, maybe you should have left earlier considering that you had an important meeting?

The pipe, maybe you should have found the number of a good plumber, electrician and builder when you first moved in?

The guy that bumped into you, If you had higher self esteem would you really be getting that upset about someone accidentally bumping into you?

The goal you’re not allowed to achieve. It's your goal, why is it the world's responsibility to give it to you?!

Take responsibility to take control of the results you are getting and the emotions you are feeling. You can't control the world, but you can control how you react to it. The only thing you have complete control over is you.