Are you committed or are you dabbling?

Sometimes it is important to commit to a course of action.

Sometimes it is important to dabble for awhile.

How do you know which course will best serve you?

As a business strategy coach, I ask this question to my clients to help them think about the actions they are taking and the results they are seeing.

Too often, our actions are on autopilot and we do not think about the cause and effect.

When I think about a committed course of action, the words that come to mind are: obligate, pledge, be unstoppable, or planning with a goal in mind. The major point is that you are willing to be held accountable.

When I think about dabbling, the words that come to mind are: working at anything in a superficial manner, tentatively taking action or discovering to find out if you are interested to do more. The major point is that you are not being judged or being held accountable.

For many, dabbling comes first. Dabble when you are not sure of the direction you want to take. Think of dabbling as discovering what you REALLY want. It is a way to gather information to better understand what you like or don’t like, or to test your interest.

For example, let’s say you have created a product or service to offer your customers. Are you fully committed or just dabbling? The outward actions of those two paths are quite different. A client I work with talks about wanting to create women retreats, but she has not put together the strategic plan, built the website, created a list of prospects or started any of her marketing materials. At this point, she really is only dabbling with the idea.

Once you commit to a course of action, you feel and see the difference.

Think about the areas where are you still merely dabbling. Is it time to amp up the thinking and efforts to commit?