Through observation of self and also through interactions with others, I have found that the ability to get things done i.e. the ability to relentlessly plough through challenges and execute on ideas comes down to two personal characteristics: A bias for action & the ability to think on your feet. Lets explore each of these a bit more:
1. A bias for action
Conditions are never perfect. There’s never enough clarity or data to make the right decisions, or never enough time or people to execute. The next best step never really presents itself as a clear path, you can never be fully sure that what you’re doing is the right. So you can choose, be hamstrung by the eternal chaos or do your bit to move the needle - be a part of the solution or be a part of the problem. People with a bias for action:
- Identify the critical path & quickly move down that path
- Keep momentum flowing
- Are fine operating with risk, ambiguity
- Are not embarrassed by mistakes
- Don’t take one problem and make it two.
- Don’t get bogged down by inessential or easily tweak-able details
2. Thinking on your feet
If you’re biased for action then you’re operating without complete information; but that doesn’t mean you’re going to be flying blind, you just need to think faster. A common notion is that to make progress, one must sit back and think slowly about all possible choices, carefully weigh all the pros and cons of every path and finally make the correct choice. Fact of life: There is no consistent correct choice . Even with all things carefully considered, you’re going to screw it up sometime. The only way to move things forward without doing dumb things is through your ability to squeeze the juice out of all available information, mentally play out all scenarios and quickly put your best foot forward. This also seems to be in line with the Pareto principle, a large chunk of the information you’re using to make a decision is probably unimportant and/or redundant.
Thinking on your feet is a complementary skill to being biased for action.