Rather than considering it a conflict between “talking” and “doing,” I think it might best be seen as a clash between “planning” and “talking.” When we communicate with others, write, and “do” it feels so productive. But it usually isn’t.

So far, this “mental” approach has worked almost perfectly. I’m already nearing the second page for two extremely competitive keyword phrases. If I “make it” to the first page, I’ll have succeeded and should have a full-time income. I’m excited, of course.

krissy knox :)
http://www.twitter.com/iamkrissy

I hope you’ll forgive me for sounding a bit oddish about this, but I’ve been sort of doing the exact opposite. I have worked extremely little on my main website, and have spent almost all of my free time thinking and planning.

Rather than considering it a conflict between “talking” and “doing,” I think it might best be seen as a clash between “planning” and “talking.” When we communicate with others, write, and “do” it feels so productive. But it usually isn’t.

So far, this “mental” approach has worked almost perfectly. I’m already nearing the second page for two extremely competitive keyword phrases. If I “make it” to the first page, I’ll have succeeded and should have a full-time income. I’m excited, of course.

But my success wasn’t just “doing” — it was planning my course so that every moment I spent on the website was one that perfectly made sense, guaranteeing results.

Anyway, I hope this makes sense. :)

My new mantra for 2009 is very Nike!

Taking action now is great, but sometimes it can come at a significant cost that is more than you might want to pay.

I’m saying screw it though. The quality of some of the sites I see out there are just crap, yet they rank, make money and all that. So what’s my take away?

Just get er done….

But –

As a new blogger there truly seems to be so much to ‘do’ that it kinda all IS doing. Not the best sentence there grammatically but hopefully someone gets what I’m saying! Sure, I know the key is to add plenty of good content each day, but when every different aspect mentions another marketing/branding tool that you simply MUST use, it’s hard to know which avenues to make part of the ‘do’ list and which ones to brush past.

Here’s hoping that what I’m doing so far is enough!

Yet, responding to debates is good. In measure. It’s helped me articulate and hone my own feelings about a subject. But I have to agree with you and Chris–most of your time should be spent planning, writing, thinking. Wall time.

From where I sit – especially when observing someone like Chris )or anyone who’s clearly ‘doing their thing’) – getting as clear as you can about what your thing is comes first.

That settled (given it’s an ongoing, perpetual beta type of thing, mind you) the rest – boxes, names, etc – has context. YOURS. Then you just keep on being you, and get better at saying what’s yours to say in the way on you can while learning to enage your community.

All that takes learning, and learning takes experimenting, tinkering, listening, adjusting, course correcting and sailing on.

A solid personal context delivered with passion in a spirit of open experimentation and constant improvement and voila!

But is pretty easy to become convinced that success is due to the right box or the smart name, when what it was really is is a clear and powerful personal context shared from the heart by someone who cares – both about what they’re saying and who they’re saying it to – enough to give it everything they’ve got.

The other is called Quixoting. Quixoting (pronouned Key-ho-ting) is inspired by the life of Don Quixote and it is about ideas and the inspiration to ACT on them! I spent years letting my ideas wither away in my idea book. It was repressive and damaging. Now that I have launched my two blogs I feel great and love the new world of blogging.

My blogs are also interesting because of the names I chose (and, yes, I have read all the advice about having a short, simple name). Both have negative connotations. I want to try, over time, to change those perceptions through my content. With Quixoting especially, I like to remind people of Don Quixote’s daring nature, his impulsiveness to act. For me, it is so much better than an afternoon on the couch (even if, early on, people wonder if I have a touch of the Don’s madness)!

Cheers to all and another great article to make me think!

Quixoting: http://quixoting.typepad.com
Spin Strategy: http://quixoting.typepad.com/spin_strategy

Tell me, am I crazy? :-)

I woke-up, and started doing. I feel better about my one hour of doing, than my four hours of research.

Great post!