"5. What are you putting off out of fear? Usually, what we most
fear doing is what we most need to do. That phone call, that
conversation, whatever the action might be – it is fear of unknown
outcomes that prevents us from doing what we need to do. Define the
worst case, accept it, and do it.

I'll repeat something you might consider tattooing on your forehead: What we fear doing most is usually what we most need to do.

As
I have heard said, a person's success in life can usually be measured
by the number of uncomfortable conversations he or she is willing to
have.

Resolve to do one thing every day that you fear. I got into this habit by attempting to contact celebrities and famous businesspeople for advice.

6. What is it costing you – financially, emotionally, and physically – to postpone action? Don't
only evaluate the potential downside of action. It is equally important
to measure the atrocious cost of inaction. If you don't pursue those
things that excite you, where will you be in one year, five years, and
ten years?

How will you feel having allowed circumstance to impose itself upon
you and having allowed ten more years of your finite life to pass doing
what you know will not fulfill you?

If you telescope out 10
years and know with 100% certainty that it is a path of disappointment
and regret, and if we define risk as "the likelihood of an irreversible
negative outcome", then inaction is the greatest risk of all.

7. What are you waiting for? If you cannot answer this
without resorting to the previously rejected concept of good timing,
the answer is simple: You're afraid, just like the rest of the world.

Measure
the cost of inaction, realize the unlikelihood and repairability of
most missteps, and develop the most important habit of those who excel
and enjoy doing so: action. "

*** *** ***
Excerpted from
The Four Hour Workweek by Tim Ferriss, a book I've been living in some
ways for quite a long time, and in other ways frustratingly running
into walls still – but I'm learning from that and fixing those
annoyingly bad habits (like still spending more time each day on the computer working and looking at the
ocean beyond my deck, than actually being
out in the ocean surfing…SUPing…diving…).

You can skim and skip the rah-rah in it if you don't need
motivation to pursue your goals, but the rest of the nuts and bolts in
the book are quite informative and educational for life and business.