Deed is just another name for action. First you need to ensure you have thought and imagined the foundations of your business - getting clear on your products, services and customers.



Next you need to have "inked" these thoughts into plans, brochures, web sites and copy. Finally you need to take action.

Action is where you put your energy behind your thoughts. There are many sayings around the importance of action "You miss 100% of all shots you fail to take", "You've got to be in it to win it" and "The journey of 1000 miles begins with just one step" are a few of my favourites.

I see a lot of businesses fail at this step -particularly ones that incorrectly apply the law of attraction. Even the word attraction has two clues in it about what needs to happen to make the law work - "Traction" and "Action". Take the first step, put your plans in place, action your dreams, get traction and then leverage it to make even bigger results.

Unless you actually post out your letters and cards, pick up the phone, make those calls and put your plans into place then all you have created is an expensive dream.

It is sort of like dreaming about going on a holiday, writing out your itinerary and then not booking your tickets (and complaining that you didn't get your holiday). You need to take the first step (book your ticket) in order to be able to have what you truly have thought about - your holiday.

You need to take action - big and consistent action, to get the forces of the universe behind you for your success.

Action is what tells us more about a person's mindset than any other stage in the business growth process.

Some people leap in and take frantic action and end up like rats on a wheel - busy going nowhere fast but getting really exhausted in the process.

These people are showing their mindset of lack - they believe there is "not enough" time to plan - so they race off and take action without thinking things through. For some people this is fine if they have very deep pockets and can pay to go back and correct their mistakes, but for most businesses they will end up with "not enough" in other areas of their business - not enough money, not enough customers and not enough enjoyment.

Other people spend all their time in the planning and thinking phase - working hard on getting themselves into alignment with their thoughts but never getting to the word or action stage. These people also believe they are "not enough" - they are not good enough to succeed at their dreams, so they never truly get started.

Some people go beyond thought and spend a fortune on the words phase - arguing about every photo, every last word, making sure everything is 100% perfect before starting off on their journey. These people also have fears of lack - they believe that they are less than perfect and unless they can hide their imperfections with 100% perfect systems and processes in their business that no one will buy from them.

People who are comfortable that they are not perfect but they are pretty good and who are willing to take the first step and then improve as they go are the ones who ultimately are successful. These are the companies that believe in daily 1% improvement - every day do something 1% better than you did the day before. Pretty soon you have massive improvement and fantastic results.

It is the combination of thought - word - deed and then reflecting and learning from the process that makes the winning combination in business and life.

So - where are you stuck in your business process? What stage do you get stuck at? What is your preferred method of operating and how do you react when you are under stress? Do you take focused action or do you just sit and think?

Go back and look at your business process through the filters of thought, word and deed to see where improvements can be made.

Imagine starting out the year with clear focus, a targeted marketing strategy for the year and identified actions to get you started. December is often a "wind down" month - what better way to build your team, take stock of how far you have come and get traction for the coming year than with a Thought, Word and Deed planning day?