Home Pastors Articles for Pastors The #1 Reason the Best Leaders Get Things Done (When Others Don’t)

The #1 Reason the Best Leaders Get Things Done (When Others Don’t)

efficiency Reason the Best Leaders Get Things Done (When Others Don't)

You probably have something exciting that you’ve been thinking about doing for a long time.

A change you want to make in your church or organization. Or a personal side project or initiative you want to launch.

No wonder…every leader has dreams, goals and hopes.

The problem is you haven’t done anything about it…yet.

And as a result, so few leaders end up with a track record of accomplishment.

Why is that?

Because almost all of us struggle with something the best leaders in their field don’t struggle with.

What is it?

It’s a bias so few leaders have. But the great ones all possess.

THREE FRIENDS—ONE BIAS

A few years ago, I began to notice a trend among some friends that were accomplishing a lot.

One good friend was launching a business and was frustrated with the lack of traction he was seeing that week. So he decided to host a webinar…10 days later. Believe it or not, 600 people joined him for it.

I had thought about launching a leadership podcast for about three years before I launched mine back in 2014. As I was thinking about launching a podcastanother friend took action and launched one. And in a time where almost no one was doing weekly podcasts, he even launched a weekly one. Talk about ambitious.

Now to a third friend. He’s a prolific reader (40-50 books a year) and a super smart thinker and speaker. I told him he needs to write a book. He said he had thought about it.

I urged him to do it and so did another friend. He just texted me the other day that this week, his first draft goes to the publisher.

What do all three leaders have in common?

THIS: a bias for action. When everyone else just talks about it, thinks about it or plans for it, they do it.

MAYBE YOU’RE HALLUCINATING

This challenges me because I tend to think about things a lot before acting.

I spent my 30s thinking about writing a book and wrote none (I’ve written four since, including my latest one, Didn’t See It Coming: Overcoming the Seven Greatest Challenges That No One Expects and Everyone Experiences.)

But I still haven’t launched a YouTube channel, even though I’ve thought about it for years.

Shipping beats dreaming. If you don’t act, you’ve got nothing. All you’ve got is a desire.

As Thomas Edison famously said, “Vision without execution is hallucination.”

ACTION IS STUNNING

Action is stunning because so few people actually do it. So few people act on their dreams.

Often the difference between you and the leaders you admire is they acted. You didn’t.

And you know what a desire becomes when it’s never acted on, don’t you? It becomes a regret.

Far too many people waste their potential, squander their vision and languish in mediocrity because they just don’t act.

So why don’t you stun someone this week? Act.

I’ll bet you even stun yourself when you do.