Going Nowhere?

• I've noticed through conversations with friends and self-introspection, that people tend to get obsessed with developing a strategy or plan for success and end up tinkering with that plan for ages instead of actually carrying it out.
• I'm a perfect example! I've been planning my novel for months. I became obsessed with researching. I spent most of my time checking out websites and reading books related to the content of my novel. I then started reading the works of great authors to get inspired. Then I read the books in the genre I wanted to write for. Then I read books on writing. Then I started developing a theme, and reduced the gist of my story down to one sentence. Then I gathered pictures that would inspire the landscape of my novel's setting. Then I started outlining......... then I realized I would die before I wrote the first damn sentence at the rate I was going.
• I have a friend as well. He's a musician and he wants to release an album. All the music is recorded and mixed....but he keeps postponing the release because he needs to secure a booking agent, a manager, get a marketing plan in place, talk to distributors, build a website, set up a tour and a million other things. The result is every 3 months that pass without him releasing the project...he has to go back into the studio to record more songs to make it sound fresher.
• I needed to sit down and write. He needed to get some cd's pressed. All the research, outlining, marketing, and scheduled tour dates would be for naught if we didn't hold up our ends of the bargain. I've realized that most of my life I've been planning for success. Well, it finally dawned on me that a plan is as valuable as used toilet paper unless you put that plan into action.
• You'll do well to plan a trip. But eventually, you have to get your butt up and get on the plane with full faith that it will get you to where you want to go. Otherwise, you'll be going nowhere.