- Are you enjoying your long To Do list and efforting your way through life?
- Are you enjoying taking massive action and making incremental progress?
- Are you enjoying the results you get when you take action from a frustrated, overwhelmed place?
Many of us are taking massive action in an attempt to compensate for the fact that it’s not aligned action.
“When you are taking action in your now, and it is not action in joy, it will not lead to a happy ending.” —Abraham
There are really three kinds of action. The first one is inspired, aligned action. In other words, action you take when you’re in alignment.
The second type is forced action. And the third type is massive action.
Those are just like they sound. Massive action is when you’re taking lots and lots of action. Forced action is when you’re taking action you don’t really want to. You don’t really feel like it, but you’re doing it anyway.
Most of us are taking some combination of forced and massive action trying to create the results we want in our lives.
But let’s talk about inspired action first. Because this is the juicy one—and the one many of us don’t have much experience with.
Inspired action is action in joy.
Inspired action is action you want to take. It’s action you enjoy, that feels good. It’s energy-giving, not energy-draining.
Inspired action has a flow to it. One step leads easily and effortlessly to the next step or next idea.
Inspired action takes on a life of its own. It’s as if the Universe has left you a breadcrumb trail and all you have to do is follow it.
Inspired action is often whispered to us from our intuition: Do this. Try that. Because when we are aligned, the Universe can conspire with us.
Things fall into place, solutions appear, you experience ease. All the lights are green, you meet just the right person at the right time, circumstances seem to line up for your benefit.
Inspired action feels—inspired! Ideas come to you out of nowhere. Just the right idea or right resource seems to show up at just the right time.
You’re able to connect the dots with ease. There’s no confusion. There’s the beauty of intuitive decision-making. There’s flow.
With inspired action, you feel called to do X, Y, or Z. It’s not about having to do something or “I should” do something.
“Action that is inspired from alignment is delicious.” —Abraham
All that sounds really really good, right? Well, that is inspired action!
And it IS available to you—if you get in alignment. Because inspired action comes from being in an aligned state.
But we’re not in alignment.
Here’s the thing: A lot of us are taking massive action to try to compensate for the fact that it’s not aligned action.
“Action offered from a place of contradicted thought is hard, unsatisfying work and does not yield good results.” —Abraham
I think of it as a simple formula. Misaligned action is always going to require massive effort to get results. Whereas aligned, inspired action is always going to take much less effort to get even better results.
I know what I’m saying is counter-culture in the sense that we prize hard work and effort. We wear busy like a badge of honor and applaud blood, sweat, and tears.
- The other day I saw a day planner embossed with Hustle Hard.
- And the book called Rise and Grind.
- I saw a magazine article titled: Stop Making ‘Workaholics’ a Dirty Word.
- And the quote from Mark Cuban: “Work like there is someone working 24 hours a day to take it away from you.”
Yikes. Hustle hard, grind, workaholic… those are signs of forced and massive action. Because we live in a culture of overwork.
But I’m suggesting a different approach—taking action that flips the switch from forced to flow, from energy-draining to energy-giving, from effort to ease.
It’s not that you won’t take action. Action is fun. It’s part of the rich experience of life.
“You are action oriented to your detriment. And we’re not trying to talk you out of action. We’re just wanting to talk you into alignment first, and then inspired action.” —Abraham
Let’s take a typical scenario.
There’s something you want. Some goal you want to achieve or shiny penny you want to acquire.
You typically go after it with action. You make To Do lists and project plans. You list steps and tactics. Then you buckle down and get to work.
The problem is a lot of time you don’t take much or any of that action in joy. You don’t take the time to get in alignment.
Instead, you push. You effort your way through. You procrastinate because you really don’t like taking forced action.
You try harder. You try more action. Your struggle and strive and strain. You exhaust yourself with action.
“If you do not take the time to line up your thoughts, there is not enough action in the world to compensate for that misalignment.” —Abraham
And you don’t enjoy the journey.
You think you have to take massive action to achieve your goals and acquire the shiny pennies you desire. Because massive action is what our culture applauds.
You really believe all this action is what it takes to get what you want.
And it works to some extent. You do make progress. You get results, even if they’re incremental.
”Hard work is not the path to Well-Being. Feeling good is the path to Well-Being. You don’t create through action; you create through vibration. And then, your vibration calls action from you.” —Abraham
Think about that: Your vibration calls action from you. That’s inspired action, my friend.
Upstream vs. downstream
We think massive action is the only thing that creates results. Not so.
Massive and forced action are going upstream. Always paddling so hard against the current. Always having to make such an effort.
Sure, you make progress. You paddle really hard against the current and you get a little further upstream.
Inspired action is going downstream. You stop paddling against the current. You let your proverbial canoe turn around and go easily and effortlessly with the flow.
When you take inspired action and go downstream, you enjoy the journey instead of efforting so hard upstream against the current. AND you get to your goal or shiny penny in ways and with an ease that will amaze you.
Are you ready for inspired action?
“As your desire to feel good leads you to thoughts that feel good, the perfect action will be inspired from that alignment. And that inspired action is always joyful.” —Abraham
Now here’s what I believe: Getting in alignment first and then taking inspired action creates a different—and better—result than not getting in alignment and taking action.
I would love for you to give inspired action a try.
First and foremost, inspired action is aligned action, so get in alignment. Get in a good feeling place.
Once you’re in alignment, let the Universe be your project manager—directing the action and whispering into your ear with intuition.
