Have got an idea? Want to do something? Then do it. You’ll not get very far by just thinking about it. You’ll get nowhere by not doing it.

The biggest impediment in the way of everything we don’t achieve is the lack of courage to actually do it. Heck, we can’t even fail if we don’t attempt to do it.

When it comes to blogging and working online, most of us tend to be passive learners. It’s easy to read all the information and feel all wise and knowledgeable, but any information that is not put to any use is, well, useless.

In fact, I read two kinds of books/blogs/anything readable. 1) That is practically useful. 2) That is absolutely useless but has high entertainment value, e.g. fiction.

The problem starts when I read something that I mean to read for its practical value, but instead I reduce its value to mere entertainment. Reading information gives me the satisfaction that I’ve done something useful, but if I do nothing to incorporate this new information into my blogging/webmastering activities, I might as well have read another one of those John Grisham’s legal thrillers.

So here’s the best nugget of advice anyone can ever give you to transform your life: Try all of your ideas, and don’t be afraid of failure, for if there is anything worse than failure, it’s not even trying.

If you are held back by the excuse that you are not yet ready, you’ll never be ready. There’s always more to learn, isn’t it? And what you learn from experience far outweighs what you learn from passively observing. If you want to know how to swim, you’ll have to read the instructions manual. But if you want to swim, you have to take the plunge once!

Oh and I’ve been thinking of writing smaller (Seth Godin style) posts, and see, I’ve done it!

Update: Oh scary! Many bloggers have covered different angles of the same point today: Do what’s important and do it now! Brian recounts how he went through a life-threatening accident to realize he needed to do what he loved. Dave talks about the importance of spending time with people you love and urges us to do it right now. Meryl gives tips on balancing your work and personal lives by, again, doing what’s more important rather than what you mindlessly do.

Do you have any insights to share with us too?