Your Ducks Do Not
Have To All Be In A Row
To Start

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Published by Rachelle Disbennett-Lee
Monday, January 14, 2002
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The expression, "Get your ducks in a row" refers to having everything figured out before you start a project. In theory, this is a good idea. In real life, it very seldom works. We almost can never have all the information we need to make a decision, so not only are our ducks not in a row, some may be missing.

Gathering just enough information to make an educated guess is so often what life requires. Life moves so fast that oftentimes there isn't enough time to gather all the information that one may wish they had and sometimes there is no information available at all. We just have to go on gut instinct.

It is good to have information and research and it can also be a great way to procrastinate. If we are waiting until we have enough information, we may never make a decision. At some point, we need to simply get into action.

Often as we begin a process, information that we need will reveal itself. This information would not have been available by any other means than by doing. Research is great. Experience, however, will tell us more than we can discover by reading someone else's ideas and concepts. Not to say this isn't good information, we just cannot let it stop us from taking our own turn at trying out the experience.

I tend to jump into things with little or no information. This is not always a good idea. I know people who never get started because they never have enough information. Somewhere in the middle there is a happy medium. I have discovered that taking time to research and discover other people's experience is helpful in creating my own process. It can help me avoid pitfalls and accelerate my process. I have also found that even once I get started I can continue to learn from others and enrich my own experience by discovering what others have practiced.

Coaching

How much information and research is needed before jumping into something is a personal preference. It depends on our own comfort level. Discovering this for ourselves can help us move forward on our own journey. We can decide at what point we have enough information to get started and also watch for pitfalls such as having too little information or using information gathering as an excuse not to start.

Check for yourself what you comfort level is and get used to having varying amounts of information. In today's world, information is everywhere, so it isn't difficult to gather. That is the good news. The bad news is that there is so much information available that we can actually suffer from mental indigestion. There can just be too much information to take in. We have to decide for ourselves when enough is enough.

Are you letting the lack or overload of information hold you back from doing something you want to do? What will it take for you to begin to gather your ducks and start?

Daily Success Formula

Information + Action + Willingness to be in the process = Moving forward

Quotes

"Anybody who has survived his childhood has enough information about life to last him the rest of his days." Flannery O'Connor

"Courage is often lack of insight, whereas cowardice in many cases is based on good information." Peter Ustinov

"Despite the continuing expansion or even explosion of information, there will forever be limits beyond which the devices of science cannot lead a man." June Singer

"Drowning problems in an ocean of information is not the same as solving them." Ray E. Brown