While reading a book a few weeks ago, I saw something very basic to the entire topic of self improvement. I understood so much more clearly why even though I have deep knowledge of this material, I have not been able to produce the results I desired in my life until now.

For years my focus has been on learning and understanding this information; not their twin sister – application. I have spent hours reading, studying and taking notes on these topics. Those hours moved me light years ahead mentally but they did nothing until now for my physical, daily environment. I have been so intent on getting my mind around these concepts that I failed to pay attention to the most crucial aspect of this process = personal action.

Throughout “Think and Grow Rich” Napoleon Hill gives his readers many action steps to complete and several daily tasks to perform. I always thought “I will read the entire book and then go back and DO what he suggests.” This was a HUGE mistake. Even if I was not in the right position, those action steps would have moved me closer to my dreams and would have begun the process of building up my self-esteem, self-confidence and my level of awareness of my innate ability to handle my big life goals. And, I incrementally would have been moving closer to what I desired, even if it was only a little bit at a time. I have since become an active student of the application of these concepts. It is only through action that I prepare the way and the method by which I can receive what I want in my life.

Please stop just reading about improving yourself and really think about whether you need to become an “active” student of “application” in your life. You learn the methods or the “certain way” only by doing, not by studying. Studying allows you to understand the process but to learn and internalize material you must act on all things that Napoleon Hill, Brian Tracy, Jack Canfield, Bob Proctor, Wallace Wattles and all the other personal growth authors tell you to do.

“Take the first step in faith and the rest will be revealed to you.” Wallace Wattles. Take is a verb. A verb requires action. Recently I came up with an idea to help law students. I did not have the product finished or know all the details of what I wanted to include in my product. I did not know the distribution method or how I would advertise the product. But, I took action. I called my mentor and booked an appointment with her to talk about my idea. As the month ticked down I worked on my presentation, read some more material and got more ideas.

When I finally went in to talk to her in person she loved my idea. I only showed her a short snapshot of the project and she ended up booking me to teach to over 70 students in a month and a half. All of this happened because I did not wait until everything was “perfect,” “complete,” “just right” or “totally finished.” I acted on my idea and my idea produced results. As I continue to take action on this project the next steps and new ideas keep coming to me. The project gets better and better and will help many people in the near future.

You can do this too. Stop waiting for the time to be right and just start working on your ideas. Without action nothing will happen. You will continue to pile up self-help books and seminar tickets and you will blame the books and speakers for not helping you. They are helping you; they are giving you the tools you need to move forward. Since they are not there to hold your hand when you act, you have to do it on your own. Remember small steps add up to big results. Last year I climbed Half Dome in Yosemite and I did it one step at a time. Sometimes it was hard, and sometimes it was fairly easy, but every step was important because it moved me closer to my goal.

While this may seem very elementary, taking action is crucial to your results and can delay or completely block your efforts if you do not pay attention to making things happen instead of just thinking about things happening. Like yin and yang: learning and application are two sides of the same coin.

After running in circles trying to accomplish some big goals in my life, I finally bit the bullet and hired a life coach. The differences I have seen lately have completely thrilled me. My coach has helped me in ways I never thought possible to expand my business and create real wealth for my family.

When we first met my coach took the time to get to know me. She did not ask me what I wanted to accomplish or what my goals were. I thought this was a little surprising at first but I now understand why she did it. Instead of rushing in to save the day, she wanted to understand what was holding me back in life. By understanding what my struggle points were, she could better craft a plan to help me move forward.

It took me awhile to find a life coach that I clicked with. One of the biggest criteria for me was personal responsibility. Would the coach call me back when they said they would? Would the coach follow up on a led that I gave them telling them that I wanted to work with them? And most importantly were these coaches demonstrating in their own life the type of results I wanted? Were they happy, healthy, wealthy, were they genuinely nice people and lastly did they have great relationships in their lives?

I had also made the choice that I personally wanted to partner with a female coach because women have unique concerns that a male coach might not always take into account or fully understand. This is in no way intended to disparage a male coach, it was just a personal choice I have at this time in my life. I have had male coaches before and they were great mentors.

After contacting a few women life coaches that met my criteria I was getting no where with finding the coach I wanted to work with. I put the thought in the back of my mind and continued working on my different projects and goals. Then on a cruise in the Caribbean I had the good fortune to run into a friend / acquaintance that did life coaching. I was a little nervous but I asked her at dinner if she would coach me and she to my delight said yes. Earlier that week I had watched her interact with people and more importantly observed how she connected with me personally. She was warm, gracious and had built a life for herself that I wanted to emulate. She was someone I could look up to and someone I wanted to work with deeply. Her coaching started off at my pace and was not a preset agenda she led all her clients through. It was truly personalized and was built for me and for what I wanted. She was also accessible and responded to my questions and concerns quickly. I did not have to hunt her down and felt like I was her only client. The sessions completely focused on me and what I wanted.

You have to first know where you are and how you got there before you can really take a giant leap into real success. My coach helped me see personal traits and flaws that I did not recognize or ones that I chose to ignore. Now don’t get me wrong, I am no stranger to personal growth and self-development courses, etc.. I am an avid reader, writer and I personally coach people to help them reach their goals and live their dreams. Because of this I know that to really get great results, I had to take my own advice and get myself a professional life coach.

You should really sit contemplate whether you are achieving the goals that you set for yourself. And more importantly are you merely shooting for goals you think you can achieve? Your goals should be a challenge, something to strive for and push yourself with. Not something that you can clearly see yourself doing. Your goals have to scare you a little bit and make you a tad nervous, otherwise you are not thinking grand enough. Remember that you are trading your life for the dreams that you set for yourself. Each moment you give up should be worth it. When you look back at your life you want to see great accomplishments and a truly fulfilled life, not a life that was lived in the shadows or played safe.

Think of the type of life you really want to lead and look at how you are living now. Do you think that your current habits, actions and thoughts are congruent with what you want to create in your life? What can you do to bring those three things into alignment.