We’ve all heard the saying “Actions speak louder than words”. (And anyone who’s ever been around a four year old knows that that’s true.) But sometimes it’s hard to see what our own actions are saying.

We mean well — we have goals, we have plans, and we work hard. But do we do the things that will lead us to where we want to be often enough to really make them happen?

For example, right this very moment — mid post-writing even — I’m very tempted to go and take a break by reading a book for a few minutes. Except that I know that a “few minutes” will turn into a half hour in the blink of an eye, and by then it’ll be time to do something else, and so on.

I need to make sure that my actions line up with my words. Or in this case that my actions line up with my to-do list, which says that I need to write a post for this blog.

So here I am. It’s working this time, but every now and then I need to step back and make sure that I’m not spending my time doing things that sabotage my goals. (Or just put them off for way too long. In many cases that means avoiding things like aimlessly surfing the internet or reading forums.)

Of course no one is perfect. There have been (way too many) times when I did do exactly those kinds of things instead of taking the steps that will help me reach my goals. But it pays to step back and regularly ask what my actions are saying.